The analysis of New Product Development (NPD) - Stage-Gate as the suitable process for NPD: a Case Study on Spanish company

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MSc Business Management with
Entrepreneurship
Masters Dissertation
SESSION 2013/14
The analysis of New Product
Development (NPD) - Stage-Gate as
the suitable process for NPD: a Case
Study on Spanish company.
AUTHOR:
Alberto Rey Varela
40131323
Supervisor: Maggie Anderson

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by
Alberto Rey Varela
August, 2014
Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment
of the Degree of
Master of Science
in
Business Management with Entrepreneurship
The analysis of New Product Development (NPD) -
Stage-Gate as the suitable process for NPD: a Case
Study on Spanish company

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Declaration
I declare that the work undertaken for this MSc Dissertation has been
undertaken by myself and the final Dissertation produced by me. The work has
not been submitted in part or in whole in regard to any other academic
qualification.
Title of Dissertation:
The analysis of New Product Development (NPD) - Stage-Gate as
the suitable process for NPD: a Case Study on Spanish company
Name (Print): Alberto Rey Varela__________________
Signature: _________________________________
Date: 15/08/214_________________________

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Abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to conduct a research into the new product
development process in a case study organisation. The organisation stated that
they have serious problems at the development of new products, these being
one of the weaknesses of the firm. The researcher contacted with the
organisation in order to analyse and provide a possible solution to the New
Product development strategy. Consequently, due to the model features
suitable for the case study, and the previous knowledge form the researcher,
the Stage-Gate model from Cooper (1986) has been chosen in order to fill the
gaps of new product development process in the case study. The use and
implementation of Stage-Gate in organisations is analyzed in depth and is
adapted specifically to the case study. Finally the dissertation provides
recommendation for future implementation of the Stage-Gate process in the
case study.
In order to conduct this research, the author chose to collect primary data using
deductive approach (Saunders et al., 2012). Selected methods for data
collection include: semi-structured interviews and direct observation of the case
study. To analyse the collected data, this research has selected the model from
Miles and Huberman (1994), by coding the data obtained from the researcher.
Keywords: New product development (NPD), Product development process,
Stage-Gate process, Stage-Gate process in NPD.

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Acknowledgments
Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Maggie Anderson for the
continuous support and her guidance, which helped me during entire research
and writing of this dissertation. Furthermore I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to all research participants for their valuable insight that has helped
me in completing this paper. Last but not the least; I would like to thank all my
family and friends for supporting me spiritually throughout my study at
Edinburgh Napier University.

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INDEX
Declaration ......................................................................................................... 3
Abstract .............................................................................................................. 4
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................. 5
List of Figures..................................................................................................... 8
List of tables ....................................................................................................... 9
1. Chapter 1 - Introduction ................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.1. Introductory overview .............................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.2. Research context ...................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.3. Research objectives...............................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.4. Value of the study...................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.5. Research approach................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
1.6. Structure of the dissertation....................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
2. Chapter 2 - Literature Review.......................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
2.1. New product development......................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
2.2. Stage-Gate Systems - Tool for Managing the New Product
Development....................................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
2.3. Stage-Gate process - Theoretical explication¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
2.4. Analysis of Stage-Gate process in organisations¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
2.5. Misconceptions about the Stage-Gate process¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
2.6. Implementation of Stage-Gate process..¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3. Chapter 3 - Research Methodology..............¡Error! Marcador no definido.

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3.1. Introduction.............................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.2. Research questions................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.3. Research Approach................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.4. Research Method...................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.5. Data Collection - instrument design........¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.6. Pilot the instrument.................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.7. Sample...................................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.8. Data collection........................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.9. Data analysis..........................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.10. Ethical Issues......................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
3.11. Limitations...........................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
4. Chapter 4 – Data Description........................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
4.1. Suggestions for future researchers ........¡Error! Marcador no definido.
5. Chapter 5 - Data Analysis and Discussion....¡Error! Marcador no definido.
5.1. Coding the data......................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
5.2. Analysis of the data................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
5.3. NPD process in KAUMAN ......................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
5.4. Stage-Gate process in KAUMAN ...........¡Error! Marcador no definido.
6. Chapter 6 - Conclusion and recommendations¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
6.2. Research approach................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
6.3. Limitations of the Study..........................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
6.4. Recommendations .................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
6.5. Chapter’s summary ................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
References....................................................................................................... 10
Appendices..........................................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Appendix A – Transcripts of interview 1 (P1)...¡Error! Marcador no definido.

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Appendix B – Transcripts of interview 2 (P2)...¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Appendix C – Stage-Gate Systems (Cooper, 1986) (next pages) ......... ¡Error!
Marcador no definido.

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List of Figures
Figure 1 Structure of the dissertation .................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 2 Structure of Literature Review...............¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 3 Perspective to analyse NPD (Trott, 2012)¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Figure 4 Network Model of NPD (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)................ ¡Error!
Marcador no definido.
Figure 5 Stage-Gate process for NPD (Cooper, 1986)¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Figure 6 Initial Screen..........................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 7 Preliminary Assessment........................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 8 Second Screen......................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 9 Definition or detailed investigation.........¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 10 Decision on Business Case.................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 11 Development .......................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 12 Post development review ....................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 13 Validation ............................................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 14 Pre-commercialization business Analysis¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Figure 15 Production and market launch.............¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 16 Post implementation review.................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 17 Modifications o Stage-Gate process (Cooper, 2008)................ ¡Error!
Marcador no definido.
Figure 18 Structure Research methodology........¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 19 Structure of Chapter 5.........................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Figure 20 Why Stage-Gate process in KAUMAN?¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Figure 21 Stage-Gate process adapted to KAUMAN¡Error! Marcador no
definido.

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List of tables
Table 1 Participants of interviews.......................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Table 2 Coding categories and concepts emerged¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Table 3 NPD process in KAUMAN ......................¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Table 4 Weakness and Strengths of NPD in KAUMAN¡Error! Marcador no
definido.
Table 5 Weakness of NPD in KAUMAN ..............¡Error! Marcador no definido.
Table 6 Members of project team in the Stage-Gate process in KAUMAN ¡Error!
Marcador no definido.

11. References
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