Japanese and British Companies Compared: Contributing Factors to Success and Failure in NPD

Continued prosperity in the competitive environment of the 1990s requires that companies successfully develop and launch new products. Japanese companies have been more successful in this attempt than others. A study compared the rates of new product success and failure of Japanese- and British-owned firms that conduct business in the UK and their respective views on the factors that have contributed to these successes and failures. The findings of this investigation provide a unique comparison of various aspects of new product development. Both Japanese and British firms appeared to have slightly higher rates of new product failure than earlier studies on US firms. The Japanese companies, although not significantly different than the British companies, have reported a marginally higher rate of successfully launched products. Japanese firms were found to place more emphasis on meeting consumers' needs with good quality and reliable products at competitive prices.