Managing New Product Development and Innovation in Challenging Times

At its heart, such a loss points to serious problems with the innovative capability of the industry.

Accenture queried more than 270 senior executives involved with product development at major companies in Europe and the United States to find out if their pace of development has slowed, despite the need for these companies to introduce new, innovative products and services in an increasingly competitive market.

The survey found that:

• More than two-thirds (70 percent) of the companies stopped developing at least some services in the past year.
  
  
• More than half (58 percent) of the companies said the primary reason for discontinuing services was budget over-runs during new product development.
  
  
• Nearly one-third (30 percent) of companies said they were unable to attract the right level of in-house expertise for new-product innovation.
  
  

Challenging economic times, however, should not be a constraint on innovation. Other Accenture research shows that companies that outperform their competition continue to invest in refreshing their products and services even during an economic downturn. And as this Accenture study demonstrates, rigorous processes and a more effective platform for managing an open development environment can reduce the costs of new-product development, increase the chances of delivering breakthrough products while also positioning a company for market dominance and high performance in the longer term.

Related Content

• Accenture Service Delivery Platform Solution
• Accenture Solutions for New-Product Development and Innovation
• Finding the Mobile Competitive Edge 
• Managing through Challenging Times—A Communications Industry Perspective

Learn more about Accenture Research for the Communications Industry