An integrated approach to new product development
1/22/2001
In an economy propelled by the rapid development of new technologies and ubiquitous media influence, managers in all functions and at all levels of the enterprise will need to rethink traditional concepts associated with product creation, says Philip Francis in Product Creation: The Heart of the Enterprise from Engineering to E-Commerce. Francis, currently a partner at Mascon Information Technologies, has extensive background in new product development in industry and academia: he held executive positions at Motorola and AT&T and is a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology. Product Creation suggests that success in this new environment requires a fully integrated strategy with "all support functions—including information technology systems, operational systems, and the legal issues…working in harmony." With each chapter focusing on a function, Francis analyzes how each contributes to the mission of product creation, accounting for the conditions and issues defined by the new landscape.