A systematic review of literature relating to knowledge creation processes in radical new product development in the manufacturing industry

Abstract

This systematic review maps out the current literature of knowledge creation processes which may be applied to the specific context of radical new product innovation in the manufacturing industry. It follows a process which is transparent and objective by stating and following explicit methods for the search, extraction and synthesis of the data contained within the academic literature base. The perspective from which the knowledge processes have been discussed in the academic literature were used to categories the papers. The associated findings of knowledge process descriptions and success factors within each of the categories were extracted. The complementary concepts and theories extracted from the papers were synthesized into an overall picture of knowledge creation processes. This generalized process of knowledge creation may be applicable to radical NPD in manufacturing industry. A scoring system was used to grade the relevancy of the articles against three dimensions pertinent to the context of this review: radical innovation (as apposed to incremental) and manufacturing NPD as opposed to other industry processes and knowledge process relevancy. It was clear that no paper scored highly on all three dimensions leading to the conclusion that there is no clear understanding exists of the knowledge creation process which happens in the specific context of radical NPD in the manufacturing industry. What the literature tells us is that a generalised process of knowledge creation is described in rich detail within the literature and despite the disparate origins the process mechanisms, routes and success factors are surprisingly complementary. What is not known to any degree of certainty is whether the processes shown within the literature are generalisable or, more specifically, can be applied to the specific context of radical NPD in the manufacturing industry.