Title: Governing portfolio management for innovative new product portfolios: a conceptual framework

Authors: Christian Urhahn; Patrick Spieth

Addresses: Department of Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship, EBS Business School, Rheingaustr 1, 65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Germany ' Department of Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship, EBS Business School, Rheingaustr 1, 65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Germany; Department of Innovation & Technology Management, University of Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 4, 34109 Kassel, Germany

Abstract: Continuous innovation asks for new product portfolios that are balanced with respect to the innovativeness of its individual projects. Hence, firms need to proactively manage their portfolio innovativeness. Simultaneously, portfolio management (PM) literature suggests shifting emphasise from project selection towards governing the entire PM process. We therefore aim at explaining how portfolio-level innovativeness can be fostered by PM governance and how innovativeness in turn affects performance. Using dynamic capabilities theory, we propose a conceptual framework that postulates positive relationships between PM governance, innovativeness, and firm performance. We furthermore identified moderating effects of portfolio balance on the latter relation.

Keywords: new product portfolios; portfolio management governance; portfolio balance; portfolio innovativeness; product innovativeness; dynamic capabilities; conceptual framework; product innovation; continuous innovation; firm performance; new product development; NPD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2013.058448

International Journal of Product Development, 2013 Vol.18 No.5, pp.377 - 394

Received: 20 Mar 2012
Accepted: 22 Oct 2012
Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article