Purpose – The purpose of this empirical research is to identify the key success factors engrained in
the new product development (NPD) practices of companies that belong to the Italian sport shoe
cluster of Montebelluna.
Design/methodology/approach – Statistical analyses were undertaken on data collected through a
questionnaire submitted to a conveniently selected group of the population of firms localized in
Montebelluna. A series of one-way ANOVAs was run on the NPD performance metric. We then
measured the Pearson correlation between the degree of new product success and the factors that were
found to be statistically significant. We converted the response variable into a dummy and then we
tested the hypotheses with the normalized Cramer’s V-square to discriminate between the best
performers and the rest. Finally, we performed a regression analysis to build a model that explains a
large part of the variation in new product success.
Findings – Three macro factors have a positive influence on new product success: extended team
approach (also cross-company); customer orientation; and the use of advanced ICTs for new product
development.
Research limitations/implications – Further investigation is needed on the role of networking
with suppliers in new product development.
Practical implications – Sport shoe manufacturers should: proactively develop close relationships
with their customers aimed at NPD; integrate lead users in the NPD process; and implement strategies
to overcome their inhibition from investing in advanced ICTs for NPD.
Originality/value – Some factors that have been found as being important drivers of new product
success in other researches do not seem to play a relevant role in the companies we analyzed. The
study highlights the strategic role of lead users in contributing to the enhanced performance of
successful companies.
Keywords Product development, Shoes, Manufacturing industries, Critical success factors
Paper type Research paper