Lateral Marketing	The traditional product development approach rarely generates radical innovation. Many products that have revolutionized their respective markets are actually the result of pure chance or a spark of genius, rather than of a methodical analytical process. Lateral Marketing recommends being more creative with the innovation process. The authors suggest a specific method to do this – lateral thinking. Using a wide range of examples, they illustrate how companies can use this technique to think in new ways, and propose a methodical approach to apply it.
Philip Kotler and Fernando Trias de Bes, John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Blockbusters	Of the new products flooding the market every year, an exceptional few become blockbusters. For example, Colgate ended the 30-year reign of Procter & Gamble when it launched Total toothpaste, despite the maturity of the oral hygiene market. Blockbusters reveals that the drivers of such successes are different from the often-touted best practices in product development. The authors have identified five key success drivers based on a thorough statistical study of over 600 projects. From this study, they derive valuable tips for any company who wants to maximize its chances of getting a blockbuster the next time around.
Gary Lynn and Richard Reilly Harper Business, 2002.
Competitive Innovation Management	Innovation is a crucial corporate success factor. Yet, many companies are able to launch an innovative product at one time or another, few have managed to innovate sustainably. Competitive Innovation Management shows how innovation can be made systematic, provided that management systems are adapted accordingly. The author provides a detailed analysis of eight corporate innovation success stories to identify key drivers that can help improve innovative performance. This book offers an opportunity to create a sustainable competitive advantage.
James A. Christiansen, MacMillan Business, 2000.
Product Juggernauts	In this book, Arthur D. Little consultants describe the practices of leading companies in terms of product development, and conclude that there seven key drivers of excellence in that domain: manage the idea generation process; develop an ambitious plan; organize multidisciplicary project teams; empower this team; develop a customer-oriented culture; proactively manage professional development; control cycle time.
Jean-Philippe Deschamps and P. Ranganath Nayak, Harvard Business School Press, 1995.
Revolutionizing Product Development	Akin to Product Juggernauts in its devotion to the best practices of leading companies in terms of product development, this book by two Harvard Business School professors focuses in particular on: project prioritization methodologies; simultaneous engineering; project team organization options; cross-business line coordination methodologies; prototype potential optimization; post-project audits.
Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark, The Free Press, 1992.
Leading Product Development	This book, the sequel to “Revolutionizing Product Development,” examines the role of corporate executives in successful product development.
Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark, The Free Press, 1994.
Managing The Design Factory	This book invites readers to look at product development processes that employ production optimization techniques. The author specifically covers queue management, complex system management, and the theory of systems piloting, then offers several thoughts on how to improve product development performance.
Donald G. Reinersten, The Free Press, 1997.
Thinking Beyond Lean	This book examines how vehicle manufacturers responded to the challenges of multiple project management. In the late eighties, car makers started to notice the limitations of managing by project, as they recognized that managing eighteen projects simultaneously would lead to a costly level of complexity. The best performers, lead by Toyota, therefore started to think in terms of multiple project management, and achieved spectacular reductions in cost and cycle time required to launch new products on the market. The book relates the concrete conclusions that they authors have drawn from these experiences, which clearly have relevance beyond the scope of the automotive industry.
Michael A. Cusumano and Kentaro Nobeoka, The Free Press, 1999.
L'auto qui n'existait pas	The story of the successful development of the Renault Twingo is told from the perspective of a visiting CNRS scientist who witnessed the entire process. The author relates the basic organizational principles adopted by the Renault teams, and draws many interesting conclusions relative to the keys to successful product development, with particular emphasis on: coordination between different professional fields; interaction between 'project-oriented’ and 'job-oriented' thinking; supplier relationships.
Christophe Midler, InterEditions, 1995.
The Power of Product Platforms	This book recommends using a platform concept to organize product development, with each platform forming the basis for a new generation of products of a given type. The principle consists of defining the architecture common to each type of product, to spread the cost of developing and producing major product components, and thereby reduce the cost load of developing multiple product variants.
Marc H. Meyer and Alvin P. Lehnerd, The Free Press, 1996.
When Lean Enterprises Collide	This book, principally devoted to cost control techniques, offers interesting thoughts on the strategic impact of lean production methods. The author shows that it is illusory for companies to pursue sustainable differentiation, and consequently recommends that they acquire management skills required to succeed in a context of direct competition.
Robin Cooper, Harvard Business School Press, 1995.
Meeting of the Minds	This book analyzes two traditional product development approaches, i.e. the “push” model, which uses the latest research developments to win markets; and the “pull” model, which consists primarily of responding to customer demand. After showing the limitations of each approach, the author proposes a third path that combines the advantages of both push and pull, and describes its impact on marketing organization functioning.
Vincent P. Barabba, Harvard Business School Press, 1995.
Wellsprings of Knowledge	This book identifies four key creativity drivers inherent to every organization: know-how of personnel; know-how embodied in physical systems; management systems that support knowledge development; organizational values that direct and channel knowledge development. The author recommends that managers use all three of these drivers to foster creativity, and particularly emphasizes the importance of teamwork, testing, and openness.
Dorothy Leonard-Barton, Harvard Business School Press, 1995.
Emerging Patterns of Innovation	This book analyzes the reasons that Japanese companies are so successful at technological innovation, and shows that this success is based on seven breakthroughs relative to Western practices, among which figure: innovate on low-end products; start with 'low-tech' markets and migrate toward 'high-tech' markets; invest more in R&D than in production equipment; combine different technologies.
Fumio Kodoma, Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
Relentless	This book examines the principles governing the marketing approach used by Japanese companies, particularly in terms of new product development. The authors describe how these companies manage to offer products that are always one step ahead of the market by copying and improving upon competing products, and how they understand customer needs by relying much more on intuition and flexibility than on formal studies and planning.
Johy Johansson and Ikujiro Nonaka, Harperbusiness, 1996.
Managing Customer Value	The author observes that the customer value proposition could be managed more effectively in many companies, and that successful companies are perceived by customers as offering more value than their competitors. Based on this observation, the book describes a whole set of methodologies to identify and compare perceived proposition value, as well as measures to help focus company efforts on effective improvement priorities.
Bradley T. Gale, The Free Press, 1995.