> The article is "Organizing for Effective New Product Development: The
> Moderataing Role of Product Innovativeness" by Olson, Walker, and Ruekert
> in the Journal of Marketing Vol 59, Jan, 1995.
>
> The question they asked ws, is there one type of organizing and
> coordinating structure that would be uniformly succesful in delivering
> more creative new products, cutting development time, and improving new
> product success in the marketplace. They concluded that the degree of
> innovativeness of the product being developed was a key determinant of the
> 'best' coordinating structure.
Their results are of some "higher order" significance also in that (a)
they show that academic research *can* contribute meaningful, useful
knowledge to management practitioners, and (b) that TQM and the like are
finally recognizing the importance of contigency and context.
-- .............................................................................. Spoils to the packager, rarely the inventor .............................................................................. Kevin Dooley...U Minnesota...Industrial Engineering...kdooley@maroon.tc.umn.edu New address! : http://www.me.umn.edu:70/1/home/kdooley