Paradox Paralyzes Producer Innovation

June 30, 2004
Study Says New Products Fail Because Producers Launch Them Poorly

A study of 650 companies by New York professional services firm Deloitte (www.deloitte.com), says manufacturers cite new products and services as the prime driver of revenue growth, yet those same manufacturers view the support of product innovation as one of their least important priorities.

This might help explain why the study, "Mastering the Innovation Paradox," says 50-70% of all new product introductions fail. For example, if a company fails to support a new product introduction with essential marketing such as research, public relations, advertising and other elements, it is bound to fail.

The study also says products representing more than 70% of today's sales will be obsolete by 2010.

Although companies realize they need to bring new products and services to market, they are unable to execute because of insufficient information on customer needs, reluctance to allocate spending on R&D and a disjointed approach to innovation across product, customer and supply chain operations.