Teaching New Product Development Using the ‘CityCar’ Simulation

Abstract

Innovation management is an important subject which needs to be taught effectively in business schools and on engineering degrees. One of the key topics – new product development (NPD) – is complex and is challenging to teach. Management simulations are thought to provide a good mechanism for teaching intricate and practical topics and so an NPD simulation was developed – the CityCar. This paper describes empirical research on how students' perceptions of NPD change as they complete the CityCar exercise. Overall, the research shows that simulations have significant potential in teaching NPD. The changes in students' perceptions provide evidence that the CityCar exercise achieves its intended learning outcomes in demonstrating the importance of technical and commercial knowledge and the need for a disciplined management process in NPD. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.