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The steps discussed may be iterated as needed. Some steps may be eliminated. To reduce the time the process takes, many companies are completing several steps at the same time (referred to as concurrent engineering). Most industry leaders see product research as a proactive process where resources are allocated
to identify market changes and seize upon new product opportunities before they occur (in contrast to a reactive strategy in which nothing is done until problems occur). Many industry leaders see product research as an ongoing process (referred to as continuous development) in which a product research team is always looking for opportunities.

Because this process typically requires both engineering and marketing expertice, cross-functional teams are a common way of organizing a development project. The team is responsible for all aspects of the project, from initial idea generation to final commercialization, and they usually report to senior management (often to a vice president). In those industries where products are technically complex, development research is expensive, and product life cycles are short, strategic alliances among several organizations helps to spread the costs, provide access to a wider skills set, and speeds the process.

People respond to new products in different ways. The adoption of a new technology can be analyzed using a variety of diffusion theories such as the Diffusion of innovations theory.

Example

The engineering development life cycle is a subset of the overall product and process development cycle. The formal development effort may come under the definition, implementation, and testing phases. The development life cycle, shown here for a software project (using the old waterfall approach) shows the distinct activities that need to happen either in series, with overlaps, or iteratively using a spiral methodology.

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* Contributed by: -
Vidhu Goyal,
Graduate from IMT Ghaziabad, Batch of 2006,
Currently working with Max New York Life in Gurgaon.