Flexibility in product development for success in dynamic market environment

Firms are adopting new product development as a competitive strategy for gaining competitive advantage in the globalized markets. In the highly dynamic environment, markets can undergo considerable change during the period of product development. In such a situation, adequate flexibility in various processes enables the firms to incorporate required changes into the product and production processes without having to pay excessive penalty in terms of time or cost. This paper discusses role of flexibility in various product development factors on the overall project success. The problem has been studied through questionnaire survey among more than 90 product development firms/organizations in India — both in public & private sectors. Results of the empirical study are presented and discussed to bring out dominant flexibility strategies for ensuring reasonable success in Indian business environment.