The webinar, “The Best versus the Rest, how do your New Product Development practices measure up?” was organized on May 20th, 2021 by the PDMA. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is a global community of professional members whose skills, expertise, and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world. The Association organizes a wealth of activities and publishes the Journal of Product Innovation Management.

Speakers in the webinar were prof. Gloria Barczak and prof. Abbie Griffin. Prof. Barczak is Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Innovation in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. Prof Griffin holds the Royal L. Garff Presidential Chair in Marketing at the David Eccles School of Business and is also the Associate Dean for Business Innovation for the School of Medicine at the University of Utah.

Prof. Barczak and prof. Griffin presented the outcome of a survey among 651 global respondents on best innovation practices. Companies best in class in innovation show superior performance in sales and profits from new products introductions, as well as in overall business performance and profits. Clear correlations are found with the type of innovations strategy the company pursues as well as the innovation processes. Leading firms are more likely to utilize a strategy of being first with new products, markets, and technologies. Leading companies commercialize more radical and significant innovations but fewer incremental innovations than others. The most innovative firms are 20-25% faster in developing all types of innovations (radical, significant, incremental) than others. Best in class companies use a more flexible, agile innovation process. Leading firms invested more in new product development in 2020 during the pandemic compared to 2019 and were more likely to act proactively in the COVID-19 pandemic, where others reduce the investments in NPD.