Innovation and factors affecting the success of NPD projects: Literature explorations and descriptions

This paper explores the innovation literature by focusing on technological evolution and revolution. Technological evolution is viewed in three perspectives: 1. the best time for new businesses to enter into markets, 2. the incumbents´ response to the challenge from an entrant, and 3. the mortality of firms in an industry. The characteristics of each perspective are described in detail. The emphasis on the technological revolution is viewed as the comparison between sustaining technology versus disruptive technology. Critical success factors in New Product Development (NPD) projects are also described to look at how the differences of factors for achieving the success between NPD projects and other projects are. Finally, this research concludes that the alignment between NPD projects and innovation could be examined.