Gone are the days of Export Managers traversing the globe with a brief case full of product samples looking for a willing buyer. But how far have we really progressed in our approach to new product development (NPD)?

A large number of our new products fail in the market place and a significant proportion of our NPD resources is focussed on products that will never return a dollar to the company. We still kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince. Very few NZ companies truly apply user-centred design. Companies that apply appropriate NPD practices and processes are in the minority. Integration of new product planning and portfolio management into overall company strategy is seldom done, or done well. Perhaps it’s not surprising there are more frogs than princes.

At the very heart of this problem is the lack of understanding of what is required to maximise NPD success – doing the right things, doing things right, measuring the results and learning from these results to ensure continuous improvement. We need more people in our companies who truly understand these basic principles and are able to apply them in a pragmatic and effective way. We need to recognise that NPD management requires a special set of skills.

To this end, PDMA-NZ, together with Massey University, is working towards a set of training modules that will prepare people for PDMA certification. Refer http://www.pdma.org/recognition_nrdp.cfm for further information.

Your feedback and comments on the state of NPD management in NZ and the proposed training and certification are welcome through the message board on the PDMA-NZ website http://www.pdma-nz.org