Involving customers in NPD process: A comparison of two telecommunication companies in Taiwan

Competition has become a common phenomenon in the global marketplace; innovation seems to be the most promising weapon for practitioners to sustain a competitive advantage under the pressure of fierce rivalry. Traditional innovation models, however, are unable to quickly and accurately meet the needs of customers. Involving customers to participate in the product development process is then employed to reduce the risk and accelerate the speed of introducing new products/services. From previous studies, four types of customers which were commonly participated in the processes of new product/service development were categorized. In order to extend the understanding of customer participation in new product/service development process, in-depth interviews were used to collect data from two Taiwanese telecommunication companies. Comparison between two companies on their new product development processes and the involvement of different types of customers were discussed. Results of this study could help practitioners reconsider the pros and cons of involving customers in new product development process. The academia could also benefit from understanding the utilization of customer participation from the practitioners perspective.