Recent Question/Assignment

NPD practices report
Value: 35%
Due date: 09-May-2016
Return date: 31-May-2016
Length: 3,500 words
Submission method options
Alternative submission method
Task
This task requires you to critically evaluate the new product development practice of your own organisation or an organisation that would like to work with. (If you do not have direct access to an organisation you can complete this task with using secondary research).
Your task:
• Drawing on relevant literature on new product (or service) development models and factors for success in NPD - identify and discuss in detail critical success factors and issues that are relevant to the organisation you have chosen to study.
• Prepare a detailed analysis of the organisation's new product development practices, discussing in detail areas of strength and weakness. Make sure that you include in this discussion any specific details of the organizational context or industry context that are relevant for your analysis. As well as making your own observations, you can draw on interactions and conversations you may have had with relevant parties such a customers, suppliers and/or company employees.
• Finally make detailed recommendations for areas in which the company could improve their new product development practice. It is important in this section that you justify you recommendations by linking back to your earlier analysis and relevant NPD literature that you have previously discussed.
Your work should be referenced using APA Style.

Rationale
This assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to examine in detail how new product development works in practice. Focusing on a particular organisation gives you the opportunity to appreciate how the particular context that a business operates in will influence the way it conducts new product development.

This task aligns with subject learning outcome 3:
• to be able to evaluate the new product practices of an organisation and make recommendations for improvement that demonstrate knowledge of success factors in new product development
Marking criteria

Criteria to be Assessed HD DI CR PS FL
Use of relevant literature on NPD or NSD models and factors for success
Value 30% Integration and originality in the selection and handling of relevant theory. Wide range of sources integrated in systematic way. Insightful and appropriate selection and use of theory from a good range of sources. Good selection of theory from a range of sources in a systematic way. Limited research - incomplete in some areas.
Inaccurate or inappropriate use of literature
Critical evaluation of chosen organisation
Value 30% Identifies and insightfully discusses areas of strength and weakness in NPD practices. Strong links to organisational context and relevant theory in evaluation. Identifies and clearly explains
areas of strength and weakness in NPD practices.
Links to organisational context and relevant theory in evaluation Identifies and discusses areas of strength and weakness in NPD practices. Discussion of some relevant issues in theory and organisational content in evaluation. Simple discussion of areas of strength and weakness in NPD practices. Works reflects limited engagement with organisational context or relevant theory. Not all aspects of task completed in sufficient detail. Poor evaluation.
Significant gaps in knowledge of innovation and lack of understanding of company’s NPD practices.
Recommendations to address areas of weakness
Value 30% Excellent recommendations made, linked to the evaluation. Theory used in insightful way to justify recommendations and discuss enhancement of NPD practices Very good recommendations made, linked to the evaluation. Used theory systematically to justify recommendations and discuss enhancement of NPD practices Good recommendations made, linked to the evaluation results / may not have linked back systematically to relevant theory
Some recommendations made / not well linked to the results of the evaluation or relevant theory
No recommendations made / no justification

Referencing using APA
Value 5% Referencing is consistently accurate Referencing is mainly accurate Referencing is mainly accurate Some attempt at referencing Referencing is absent / not systematic
Presentation
Value 5% Polished and imaginative approach / very professionally presented Logically organised / professionally presented / Shows organisation and coherence. Attempted to organise in a logical manner Disorganised / incoherent
Presentation
Presentation details will available in the resources section of Interact.

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