Relative importance of time, cost and performance in the NPD process

Summary form only given. Using a conjoint analysis experiment, the authors consider how R&D, marketing, and manufacturing managers in Germany make tradeoffs among the three critical variables during the new product development (NPD) process: development schedule, development cost, and product performance. The findings are compared with a similar study of US firms (Rosenau, 1989). The comparison underscores the basic problem: US managers do not emphasize product development speed to the same extent as German managers