Driven by the immensely competitive pressure imposed by globalisation, the ever fast
changing technologies, and customer demands, enterprises in the 21st century find that it is
imperative to shorten their product development life cycle (Labahn et al. 1996). Also,
Mclvor and Humphreys (2004) pointed out that, in order to survive, enterprises must
develop higher quality and lower-cost new products or services than their competitors.
More and more scholars and industry experts are beginning to realise that creating
innovative new products is the most important factor for enterprises to win out in the
struggle-for-survival world market (Gonza´ lez and Palacios 2002)