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In recent years, scholars have devoted increasing attention to the use of methods in new product development. Although their positive impact on product success has been confirmed by a series of studies, little research has so far been conducted into the determinants of the successful method application. The purpose of this paper is to analyze two key determinants for the successful use of methods.

The paper adopts a structural equation modeling approach and analyzes the subject based on a large empirical sample of 410 product development projects.

The way the new product development process is formalized and the extent of top management support have a significant influence on the successful application of methods. Both factors lead to the use of more methods overall and drive the more thorough and intensive deployment of the specific methods used.

The paper shows how firms that are seeking a more methodical approach to new product development can consciously create the right determinants for the successful adoption of methods and by doing that can increase the success rate of their new product development activities.

This research adds to the literature on success factors of new product development in two distinct ways. First, the paper investigates the subject at the level of specific product development projects, based on a large empirical sample and using a structural equation modeling approach, for the first time. Second, the methods investigated were chosen in a systematic, multi step process in which the methods used by several functions involved in new product development were taken into account.