Understanding customer need in the new product development context

Abstract

This thesis project concentrates on how understanding customer need and customer orientation can be improved in new product development. Understanding customer need during new product development process is very important for product success. The case company has decided to undertake new product development using LEAN principles. This change creates a need to improve the new product development process. This thesis offers recommendations for the case company’s new product development process around improved customer participation and understanding customer needs. The thesis project was undertaken following an action research approach. Best practices were discovered from the literature and five selected best practices were converted into interview themes. Data was collected by theme interviews. Fifteen case company managers were interviewed to collect information on how the selected best practices suit the case company’s processes and usages. The data analysis was conducted according to a qualitative research approach and the output of the analysis is recommendations for a new product development process where customer participation and need are considered. The first recommendation was validated by interviewing one Program Manager whose task is to improve the case company’s current new product development process. Validation was successful and generated one change to the recommendation. After the validation, a final recommendation for the new product development process was created, integrating customer participation and need. The next step from this thesis project is to send a release letter about this thesis and its results to the case company’s Directors who have the authority to change the case company’s new product development process.