Developing successful products: a multivariate permutation analysis

The methodology of the NonParametric Combination (NPC) of Dependent Permutation Tests methodology (Pesarin, 2001) has been applied to explore the differences in behavior between those companies that develop successful products and those that are less successful. The research is based on a sample of 85 Italian companies working in a B2B (business to business) market in two specific manufacturing industries and considers New Products launched over a three year period. The sample has been divided into four groups, on the basis of the performances of the new product on the market and on the performances of the NPD process. We assume that each group of companies has different configurations in Product Architecture Approach, Organizational Mechanisms, Development Process and Strategic Capabilities. The results confirm the differences in Product Architecture Approach and Strategic Capability variables, whereas only a few of the Development Process and Organizational Mechanisms variables are different among groups.