Title: Product development in manufacturing SMEs in a rural area

Authors: Margit Närvä; Pekka Belt; Sanna Kankaanpää

Addresses: Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Ilmajoentie 525, FI-60800, Ilmajoki, Finland ' Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, FI-90014, Finland ' Frami Ltd., Tiedekatu 2, FI-60320, Seinäjoki, Finland

Abstract: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fundamental to the welfare of regions. Innovativeness and efficient new product development (NPD) play an important role in firm development. The aim of this regional study is to clarify how NPD processes are organised in micro, small and medium-sized firms that manufacture machines for farming in a region, where farming forms the basis of a functioning food processing cluster. The study used semi-structured interviews to reveal the real status of NPD processes. It identified three main product development process types: non-formal, partly formal and formal. End users are seldom involved in assessing the ease of use of new products. Surprisingly, there was no clear relationship between the share of exports on one side and the formality of NPD processes or company size on the other.

Keywords: regional development; product development process; new product development; NPD; small and medium-sized enterprises; manufacturing SMEs; end users; food processing clusters; farming machinery; rural areas; micro enterprises.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIRD.2014.066584

International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 2014 Vol.5 No.6, pp.500 - 516

Received: 08 Jul 2013
Accepted: 16 May 2014
Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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