Dynamic Modeling in New Product Development: The Case of Knowledge Management Enablers in a Food Product

One of the main problems for medium-sized companies located in the city of Monterrey, Mexico, is how to establish an efficient way to develop new products which not only considers factors that involve technical aspects, but also those that concern cultural issues. Frequently, medium-sized companies in Latin America do not have a clear leadership policy for their staff, despite this factor being increasingly important inachieving better performance. The objective of this research is to create a simulation model that represents the process of new product development (NPD) in the food industry. For this purpose, a medium-sized company in Monterrey was analyzed. The main focus was to develop a systematic approach that could help reduce the time span of product development. As a result, a dynamic simulation model (DSM) based on sequential logic was built that can be used widely in the new product development process. The proposed model helped us monitor each stage of new product development at the company studied. In order to achieve this, the authors incorporated certain knowledge management elements, particularly leadership and trust within teams. The authors then observed and conceptualized their effects on response time inthe new product development process. This research intends to offer new ways to understand this process by considering other factors beyond technical ones.