News Release

Leaders in Product Innovation Release Breakthrough Research Report

ANCASTER, ONTARIO, CANADA – April 18, 2003 – Why do leaders in product innovation derive 43% of their profits from new products, while average companies achieve only 28%? Best Practices in Product Innovation: What Distinguishes Top Performers, a breakthrough study just released by Stage-Gate Inc., reveals the gap between organizations that win at product innovation and those that do not. The study found that average performers in product innovation did not meet their sales, profit and market-share objectives 50% of the time. “The research clearly demonstrates why there is a significant disparity between those that know how to do product innovation right versus those that don’t”, said Dr. Robert G. Cooper, one of the authors.

Stage-Gate Inc., the leading provider of knowledge-based products and services to help companies maximize the value of their product innovation initiatives, today announced the release of this breakthrough research report in product innovation best practices. Authored by Dr. Robert G. Cooper and Dr. Scott J. Edgett, the foremost world leaders in product innovation, the study reveals the impact of performance drivers at the business unit level.

Reporting on over 100 business units, the study discusses the drivers of innovation strategy and the impact of each of these on performance, the linkages across innovation, strategy, portfolio and resources, and the impact of quality of execution of the new product development (NPD) process on organizations’ performance. It also provides organizations with the latest performance metrics of NPD process and practices.

What makes this research truly unique is the richness of the findings in NPD. Previous research had identified the critical success factors for winning innovation. “This research takes it a step further”, says Dr. Edgett. “We have been able to quantify how these factors affect performance. Therefore, we now truly understand their impact on an organization’s NPD program”.

The study also investigates the impact the organizational environment has on company performance by exploring the ‘softer’ issues in product innovation that have until now not been clearly understood. Dr. Edgett explains, “We’ve always known that some of the softer issues like senior management support, project team autonomy, and an innovative culture were important. But now we can quantify, for example, the impact senior leadership commitment to innovation has on an organization’s success”.

Also included are detailed case analyses on five best practice organizations. “True innovators do things differently than the rest,” said Dr. Cooper. “These case studies provide an in-depth look at what they’re doing to win in the marketplace”. Included are studies on Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Bausch & Lomb, EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc., ExxonMobil Chemical Company, and Kraft Foods Inc.