Application of Focus Index in New Product Development

Businesses competition, at the level of innovation and number of New Product Introduction (NPI), made innovation and New Product Development (NPD) process as core components towards business success. Upbeat innovation is the driver for effective product development process. Research and Development (R&D) companies, regardless of size, have started reviewing their product development practices with the aim to identify areas for improvement. Hence, this research aims to propose a methodology to assess NPD implementation level and identify potential improvement areas within NPD of R&D based companies in Malaysia. The research adapts quantitative research tools and makes use of 186 survey data from R&D based companies in Malaysia. NPD implementation effectiveness and Focus level are calculated via descriptive analysis. Finding from the research suggested NPD constructs that presumed as important are not focused at the level that they reserved.