Step 2.3

Identify potential barriers to project progress through a preliminary SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of the envisioned product, again with input from key stakeholders. All monetary aspects — from financing the project, to the cost of producing the product, and the eventual selling price — are critical issues. 

Primary findings

Secondary findings

Primary findings

Barriers

Prioritization of other in house projects threatens collaborations. 
Non-experimental study
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Boundary reconfigurations can have unintended consequences such as work fragmentation, marginalization of smaller groups, and loss of control. Such upsets can reinforce or recreate old boundaries or threaten identities. 
Non-experimental study
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Boundaries exist between disciplines, departments, and organizations. The most difficult boundaries to overcome are those based on identity or ideological differences and power struggles. 
Non-experimental study
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Organizations in consortia have different interests, practices and principles which contribute to boundaries, or conditions that hinder the spread of innovation. 
Non-experimental study
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Scientists and principal investigators can increase their status from the physical size and location of their labs, creating a culture of “ownership” over resources and excluding smaller organizations. 
Non-experimental study
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Collaboration is a challenge because managers are pressed for time, reluctant to give over control, and accustomed to working in silos.
Non-experimental study
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Incivility in managers is correlated to lost productivity, decreased job satisfaction and decreased likelihood of knowledge sharing. 
Non-experimental study
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Incivility in a work setting reinforces isolation, thereby reducing dialogue. 
Non-experimental study
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People invest time and effort appraising negative workplace situations, which disrupts work and diminishes creative capacity. 
Non-experimental study
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Businesses and academia have different cultures which create different motivations for the organizations and their respective actors. These disparities can provoke tensions that are potentially detrimental to the project. 
Survey findings
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Rules controlling state aid are intended to address concerns about economic advantage and so funds are routed through state entities with the intent of preserving the internal market.
Case study findings
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Emphasizing gender through humor is prevalent although it harmfully excludes the less represented gender by imposing inappropriate roles. For example, making jokes at the expense of women and saying, “My wife thinks it’s funny” casts the female participants present as outsiders.
Study findings
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Besides the actual cost of supporting participation, members and would-be members report other barriers to participating in research networks: burden of reporting, insufficient time to participate, reputational costs, and opportunity costs.
Survey findings
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There is potential for one party to behave opportunistically and appropriate the benefits of the collaboration.
Survey findings
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Associating technology with masculinity systemically excludes and stymies progress of women in technology or at least burdens them with coping with their status as an ‘other’.  
Study findings
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The predominant opinion of gender in technology is that advancement is merit based and not influenced by gender; however interviews with team members are marked with categorical instances where gender is made relevant. Those categories are marginalizing the role of gender, referring to women’s gender, men connecting with men, and women maneuvering within the gender order. 
Study findings
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Personal interviews and questionnaires about gender bias can only reflect biases the subjects are themselves aware of, able to articulate, and willing to discuss honestly. Unconscious biases cannot be measured with surveys or interviews, especially if participants are reluctant to share their true feelings due to social pressure.
Study findings
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Universities commercialize relatively few inventions especially in cases where there is a lack of adequately trained staff or technology transfer services. 
Case-based research
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In a complex environment, determining precisely why a particular knowledge translation process failed may be challenging. Applying a systems approach may help to elucidate contributing factors.
Application of Graham’s Knowledge-to-Action Process model in occupational therapy.
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One of the factors practitioners may cite as an impediment to applying research-based knowledge is requirement for specialized skills or equipment, which may not be available.
Application of Graham’s Knowledge-to-Action Process model in occupational therapy.
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There may be unintended consequences associated with the application of research knowledge. They may unfold with a ripple effect, affecting other processes and outcomes. Sustained monitoring of the use of the research knowledge may help to bring potential adverse consequences to light.
Application of Graham’s Knowledge-to-Action Process model in occupational therapy.
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Carriers

Knowing why firms may be reluctant to share knowledge is important for effectively encouraging cooperation. 
Research – experimental 
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Removing disincentives and encouraging academic freedom fosters involvement from university inventors.
Case-based research
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Collaboration with universities has some distinct advantages over partnerships with other businesses:

  • Access to professors as individual decision makers
  • Framework for assigning intellectual property rights to knowledge
  • Reducing the danger of opportunistic behavior

Survey findings
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Universities are capable of hosting basic and applied research and offering services like incubation that promote knowledge management and industrialization.
Case-based research
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There is a positive correlation between productive collaborations and small group size, access to complementary technical skills, stable research sponsorship, access to extramural resources and leadership.
Case-based research
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Individual determinants of research utilization — personal characteristics that influence use of research findings in practice include: 1) a positive attitude toward research; 2) autonomy in action; 3) awareness of agency policy and educational level; 4) professional conference attendance; 5) cooperativeness and self-sufficiency; 6) job satisfaction; 7) involvement in work-related research activities; 8) time spend reading professional journals.
Literature review in context of professional practice.
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Organizational determinants of research utilization — characteristics of organizations and their operating units, and of relevant governance structures that influence the use of research findings in practice include: 1) organizational size, complexity; 2) administrative support; 3) access to research; 4) available time; 5) centralization of management; 6) presence of a research champion; 7) traditionalism; 8) organizational resource slack.
Literature review in context of professional practice.
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Methods

An Innovation Systems perspective suggests that end users should be involved in the identification of enabling or constraining factors to innovation. End users should also be involved in joint actions to capitalize on possibilities and remove impediments that may exist (e.g., legislation, infrastructure, policy, culture).
Case study of an agricultural system within The Netherlands.
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From a design perspective, a user-centered approach is necessary to ensure that a concept [for a device or service] will be useful and indeed used. However to deployed in a real environment, it is also essential that the solution can be used by everyone, including family members their carers, and doctors. Ideally, the solution should be useful to all people.
Survey and device trials involving persons with physical and/or cognitive impairments.
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Implementation Issues: These include potential barriers or carriers and can b organized in nine categories: 1) Organizational; 2) Financial; 3) Legal; 4) Ethical; 5) Professional; 6) Users; 7) Logistics; 8) Cognitive; 9) Content.
Literature review grounded in practical experience of health care professionals.
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Review the project's value proposition and product pricing estimates with potential customers early in the process. Such marketing practices can identify hidden barriers to customer adoption, such as the presence of alternative approaches to meeting the need, which exist or are already in development.
Conclusions drawn from case studies and experience.
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The early assessment of potential barriers to NPD include an initial understanding of the manufacturing requirements and implications of the envisioned device.
Conclusions drawn from case studies and experience.
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Voice of the Customer Information as a Best Practice for the NPD process: 1) Market and buyer behavior studies are a valuable source of information for planning the market launch. 2) Market research as a tool to help define the product. 3) The customer or user ought to be an integral part of the Development process. 4) Identification of customers or users real or un-articulated needs and their problems, is considered fundamental to voice-of-the-customer research, and should be a key input to product design. 5) Working with highly innovative users or customers.
A quantitative survey of 105 business units, supported by team's experience in NPD modeling, consultation, application and analysis.
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Measures

Incivility in the workplace is defined as, “low intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms for mutual respect”. 
Non-experimental study
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Tips

Effectively reviewing information from past new product development projects while integrating marketing and research and development will significantly influence product launch proficiency, design change frequency and technological core competency fit.
Survey. Significant interaction for product launch proficiency (F=4.49, p<.05), design change frequency (F=4.32, p<.05) and technological core competency fit (F=5.22, p<.05).
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Ensure match between envisioned innovation and the core products and competence of organization, to ensure the resulting device/service is not orphaned and instead has future core support.
Three case studies supported by 18 interviews.
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Secondary findings

Barriers

An overall lack of research project resources might restrict stakeholder collaboration to superficial levels, and could limit the degree of knowledge translation and uptake.
Source: Ebata (1996). In: Jansson, S. M., Benoit, C., Casey, L., Phillips, R., & Burns, D. (2010)

In a practice context that requires research knowledge to be valued above all other forms of knowledge, practitioners may rebel and apply, in substitution and without disclosure, their own experience-based (tacit) knowledge.
Source: Whiteford (2009). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

New knowledge might not be used if it cannot be readily applied to policy and practice imperatives, or if it is released in the context of heated or incompatible political contexts.
Source: Boutiler (2001). In: Jansson, S. M., Benoit, C., Casey, L., Phillips, R., & Burns, D. (2010)

One of the factors practitioners may cite as an impediment to engaging in the knowledge translation process is a discomfort with evaluating research-based knowledge (evidence). As one example, limited understanding of statistical analysis can be an impediment.
Source: Bennett (2003); Metcalfe (2001). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

One of the factors practitioners may cite as an impediment to engaging in the knowledge translation process is a discomfort with evaluating research-based knowledge (evidence). As one example, research-based knowledge (e.g., scholarly literature) may be scattered across multiple sources and it may be challenging for the practitioner to assess its relevance and applicability
Source: Metacalfe (2001). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

One of the factors practitioners may cite as an impediment to engaging in the knowledge translation process is a discomfort with the perceived rigidity of some research products (e.g., clinical reviews, clinical practice guidelines, care maps and critical pathways). Practitioners may be concerned that the products will reduce their autonomy and supersede their clinical judgment.
Source: Metacalfe (2001). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

Peer-reviewed journals can be challenging sources of knowledge for practitioners. One factor that can impede knowledge translation is a misalignment between the knowledge (evidence) context and a specific practice context.
Source: Cheater (2005); Grol (2003). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

Peer-reviewed journals can be challenging sources of knowledge for practitioners. One factor that can impede knowledge translation is the practitioner’s ability to critically evaluate the available knowledge (evidence).
Source: Grol (2003). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

Peer-reviewed journals can be challenging sources of knowledge for practitioners. One factor that can impede knowledge translation is the sheer volume of available knowledge (evidence).
Source: Grol (2003); Bannigan (1997); Cusick (2000). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

Peer-reviewed journals can be challenging sources of knowledge for practitioners.One factor that can impede knowledge translation is the ability of the knowledge (evidence) to be applied in practice.
Source: Grol (2003); Straus (2009). In: Metzler, M. J. & Metz, G. A. (2010)

Stakeholders may not respond well to imbalances in the distribution of decision-making power, process controls or project resources. Researcher should try to achieve a balance or explain why differences must exist.
Source: Martens (2005). In: Jansson, S. M., Benoit, C., Casey, L., Phillips, R., & Burns, D. (2010)

Carriers

Technical Resources, Skills & Activity: A company's technical resources (including production resources, skills of engineering staff, experience in R&D) are important factors in successful products.
Source: In: Calantone, R.J., diBenedetto, C.A. (1988)

When planning, implementing or evaluating a knowledge translation (innovation) process, diffusion theory suggests that one of the factors that can influence the appeal of new knowledge to a potential knowledge user is the compatibility of the new knowledge with respect to past practices, current values, and existing needs. Generally, adoption strength increases as the fit with the current context increases.
Source: (Rogers, 2003). In: Ashley, S.R. (2009)