ISBN: 9780230573840    Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Year of publishing: 2008     Format:  Hardback No of Pages: 288        

Development of new products, especially in high-technology sectors, is a high-risk task. Thus, understanding the factors that contribute to new product success or failure is vital to gain insights that should help in the planning of new product projects. This book investigates the process of new product development and the role of project team performance measurement system in the success/failure of new products. Positivistic agency theory and stewardship theory are used in this study to explain the control systems that diminish the agency problem. Social identity theory and self-categorisation theory are also used to clarify the cognitive, evaluative and emotional processes that motivate individuals to unite cohesive teams and augment their abilities. A theoretical framework has been developed, which takes into account the interaction of incentive and team effort, team effort and team effectiveness, team effectiveness and team performance and team performance and new product success/failure. This framework has been empirically tested in four Taiwanese multinational computer companies.
Key findings show that an open and non-discriminatory performance measurement system is the dominant incentive that motivates and influences performance of members of teams and in turn affects new product success/failure in the four cases.
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MAGDY G. ABDEL-KADER is Senior Lecturer at Brunel University, UK. His main research interests include management accounting and capital investment decisions. He has published in international journals such as Management Accounting Research and British Accounting Review. He is a co-author of books on investment decision in AMT and on enterprise resources planning (ERP) and co-editor of a book on performance evaluation of shop floor workers. ERIN YU-CHING LIN is Researcher at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Taiwan in the Tax and Legal Services department. Her main research interests include management accounting, auditing, and tax.
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