Hart, S., Jan Hultink, E., Tzokas, N., & Commandeur, H. R. (2003). Industrial Companies' Evaluation Criteria in New Product Development Gates. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 20, 22-36.

Format: Peer-reviewed article

Type: Research — Non-experimental

Experience level of reader: Fundamental

Annotation: This study investigated the different criteria used in decision making at each gate in the new product development process. It also, measured which criteria were more important at different stages of the NPD process. Results indicated that market acceptance criteria were important throughout the process, while financial criteria were used more at the business analysis gate and after the product launch. Product performance criteria became more important during the product and market testing gates.

Setting(s) to which the reported activities/findings are relevant: Large business, Small business (less than 500 employees)

Knowledge user(s) to whom the piece of literature may be relevant: Manufacturers, Researchers

Knowledge user level addressed by the literature: Organization

This article uses the Commercial Devices and Services version of the NtK Model

• Use information regarding customer acceptance and product performance when making decisions at gate 6 and 7. Customer satisfaction and quality are also important criteria to consider at these gates.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. Seventy-three to fifty-nine percent of companies used these criteria at this point in the NPD process.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 6, Gate 7

• Use projected sales and financial information (unit sales, sales objectives & margin) as well as market potential information for decisions at the Implement Development Plan gate.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. Percentage of companies using these criteria range from 73% to 50%.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 4

• Refer to customer acceptance, satisfaction and sales in units as important criteria when making decisions at gate 8, Post Production Assessment.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. Between 77% to 54% of companies used these criteria at this gate.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 8

• Consider customer satisfaction and sales in units, margin and market share when making decisions at gate 9, Terminate Production.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. Between 79% to 51% of the companies reported using these criteria at this gate.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 9

• Consider customer acceptance, product performance, market potential and technical feasibility at the concept screening (second) gate.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. These were the top 4 criteria used at this gate, Percents of use ranged from 70 to 47.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 2

• Consider product performance and quality information when making decisions at gate 5, go to beta testing?
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. These two criteria were the top two in terms of usage at this gate, 73% to 65% of companies used quality or product performance information at this point.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 5

• Consider technical feasibility as the most important criteria when making the no go decision at this gate. Market potential and product uniqueness should also be evaluated at this point.
  Survey of 166 managers from Dutch and UK companies. Seventy to seventy-five percent of companies surveyed used this criteria at the Idea Screening gate.
  Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 1

Tip: Use market criteria during the concept screening gate 2, product related criteria during product testing gates 5 & 6, financial criteria during gates 8 & 9 (post production assessment and terminate production). (Ronkainen [1992])
Occurrence of finding within the model: Gate 2, Gate 5, Gate 6, Gate 8, Gate 9