Abstract

New product development (NPD) is the major driver of profitability, maintains competitive advantage and ensures the survival of companies. Previous studies showed that a high failure rate was found in the projects of new product development, especially in the consumer market. Thus, this study aims at identifying the success factors of new product development projects at the manufacturing companies in Ho Chi Minh City. In accordance with this purpose, a research model is proposed for this study including four success factors: Nature of product, Project activities, Characteristics of market, and Corporate skills and resources. Total 400 questionnaires were sent to respondents who are project managers at the manufacturing companies, and then 123 feed-backs were considered qualified for the data analysis, with the response rate of 30.75 %. The results of this study show that the characteristics of market have the most positive impact on the success of projects in new product development. The nature of products as well as the corporate skills and resources are the two factors which are also found to have positive impacts on the success of projects in new product development. Meanwhile, the project activities also impose positive impacts on the success of the projects; yet, the impact level is less than the other three factors.