New product development in the UK tour-operating industry.

Abstract

This article identifies the tour operating business as a dynamic and innovative industry sector. It discusses alternative models of new product development (NPD) and the extent to which these need to be modified for services. The way which such a theoretical model may reflect industry practice is then explored through four case studies of tour-operating companies. On the basis of the insight developed from these studies, it is identified that such firms do not rigidly follow a new product development process, neither in terms of what activities they engage in nor with regards to the sequence in which they do them. It is proposed that this contingent approach to NPD is due to a number of factors that influence the firm grouped under three main headings — the product features of the innovation, characteristics of the innovating firm, and the external environment. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.