A fuzzy-logic-based decision-making approach for new product development

The managers spend most of their time to take critical decisions in each level of the organizational hierarchy. Basically, the decision process is to weight diverse alternatives each having the purpose to attain some of the desired objectives and to figure out the best solution in the complete challenging goals set. In today's rapidly changing and highly uncertain environment, the strategic decisions have an extremely complex and fuzzy nature. In the meantime, the enterprises have tendency to appreciate the new product development (NPD) activities so as to deal with the innovation in the new economy and to fulfill the customer demands adequately. The aim of this study is then to improve the accuracy of decision-making in NPD under uncertainty. We first identify the decision points in the NPD process and the uncertainty factors affecting those points. Next, we determine the necessary decision models and techniques to help the decision makers to reduce their risks. Finally, we propose an integrated approach based on fuzzy logic to shape the decisions and illustrate with an application in software development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.