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Call For Papers
Special Issue of the Journal of Product Innovation Management
“Decision Making in New Product Development and Innovation”

The Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM) is planning to publish a special issue on “Decision Making in New Product Development and Innovation.” Recognizing the importance of new products and innovation to organizations, the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) has sponsored and funded three major studies identifying “best practices.” These studies focus on the number and types of activities conducted by firms during the new product development (NPD) process and the relationships between the proficiency in executing these activities and new product and firm performance. Although these studies have greatly increased our understanding about activities, they have neglected the second aspect of NPD and innovation processes that are fundamental to success—NPD and innovation decisions, which are critical because of the considerable resource commitments and opportunity costs involved in developing and commercializing products. Furthermore, such decisions determine the set of products a firm commercializes, ultimately impacting profitability.

Relatively little past research has focused on decision making in NPD and innovation. Studies have focused on the various types of evaluative criteria and dimensions used at different points in the process, the usage and relative importance of these criteria at different points, the relative association between the various dimensions of decision making criteria and new product performance, and problems likely to be associated with decision making practices. These prior studies have provided important insight regarding the use and importance of different evaluative criteria and dimensions at the various decision points, but gaps remain. For example, an important conclusion from this research is that the criteria and dimensions used, as well as the formality of the evaluation processes, vary across firms. What causes this variation? How are the evaluative criteria and dimensions chosen? Also, what is the role of decisions in controlling projects? The proper amount of control is paramount. Allowing too many projects to make it to the market is problematic just like killing off too many NPD projects prior to completion. Selecting the best opportunities to pursue is difficult, and controlling NPD projects is essential to effective use of scarce resources and the avoidance of escalation of commitment.

The main objective of the special issue is to advance our understanding of NPD and innovation decision making for individual projects and products as well as project and product portfolios at corporate, business-unit, and alliance levels.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The number and timing of review points.
• The number and type of review criteria.
• Decision-maker characteristics.
• Differences in review practices by product type (incremental and radical products) and functional area (marketing, technical, and financial).
• The association between review practices, proficiency, and new product performance.
• Identification of leading indicators able to provide early warning signals of process problems.
• The role of metrics in decisions (number, type, etc.).
• Problem reporting and “whistle-blowing” during failing NPD projects.
• Differences across industry settings (business-to-business [B2B] vs. business-to-customer [B2C]) or countries/cultures as they pertain to selecting and controlling NPD projects.
• Composition, policies, and practices among project authorization committees (or review teams).
• Communication methods used by decision-makers and their efficacy.
• Best practices in portfolio management.
• Methods and best practices for products harvest and deletion decisions.

For empirical studies, we encourage a wide range of methodologies, including but not limited to agent-based modeling, systems dynamics studies, dynamic simulation of global launches, quantitative history-based studies, event history analyses, decision-making experiments, personal interviews, and surveys. We also encourage conceptual and analytic work.

Papers (other than commentaries) will be held to the normal standards of academic rigor with respect to methodological and data analytic issues. All manuscripts must be original, unpublished works that have not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Submit a typed double-spaced original in a Word file by March 1, 2009. Please follow JPIM style guidelines and remove any information that might reveal the authors’ identity. The title page should include names and addresses of authors, academic or professional affiliations and the complete address of the corresponding author. JPIM maintains a double-blind review policy. Also, it is acceptable to recommend potential reviewers for submitted articles provided that they are not familiar with the article.

The special issue coeditors are Jeffrey B. Schmidt of the University of Oklahoma and Regina C. McNally of Michigan State University. Please submit articles to Jeffrey B. Schmidt, University of Oklahoma, Michael F. Price College of Business, Division of Marketing & Supply Chain Management, 307 W. Brooks, Suite 1G, Norman, OK 73019-0450. Tel.: (405) 325-5915. Fax: (405) 325-7688. E-mail: jbs@ou.edu.

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