The forgotten revenue of product development: learning new competence

The result of a new product development (NPD) process is not only a new product of desired quality but also learning new competence from problem-solving experience. The learning results in a core competence, unique to the company, that makes it competitive in the future. Research results show that groups of specialists develop core competencies through learning by experience from joint problem solving at the technological front line. Specialists in a particular field, talking the same professional language, act as a living system in a self-organizing group. Primarily individuals make experiences as tacit knowledge. It is then confirmed in a dialogue with colleagues in the specialist group to which the individual belongs. However, providing competence resources to high-technology projects of a complex nature requires cross-disciplinary teamwork. Therefore the knowledge from experience has to be transferred to a form that the entire organization can comprehend. This requires a creative learning process of innovating new concepts that all organization members concerned understand and find useful. To be successful, such a learning process must rely on a culture supporting it by an atmosphere of openness and innovativeness. It is therefore a managerial task to foster a supporting culture by giving suitable information to all levels of the company. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.