Four decades of new product development research: An integrative review

Abstract

Changes in global market conditions and regulatory policies have led to a greater focus on new product development (NPD). To survive and compete in the market, organisations need to develop a comprehensive understanding of NPD, including the past and present trends in NPD research. This study attempts to address this need by analysing scholarly literature on NPD published in last four decades, i.e. 1976-2017. Unlike previous literature reviews that focused on specific NPD aspects such as performance measurement or model selection/evaluation, this study adopts a holistic perspective. By analysing 381 articles on NPD, we shed light on the underlying research trends, common research characteristics as well the gaps in research and potential directions for future NPD research.