Definition

product development or new product development (NPD)

Product development is a broad field of endeavor dealing with the design, creation, and marketing of new products. Sometimes referred to as new product development (NPD), the discipline is focused on developing systematic methods for guiding all the processes involved in getting a new product to market.

There are a number of organizations dedicated to supporting product development professionals, such as the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and the Product Development Institute (PDI). According to the PDMA, the organization's mission is "to improve the effectiveness of people engaged in developing and managing new products - both new manufactured goods and new services. This mission includes facilitating the generation of new information, helping convert this information into knowledge which is in a usable format, and making this new knowledge broadly available to those who might benefit from it."

This was last updated in August 2005
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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