"If only we'd known sooner" developing knowledge of organizational changes earlier in the product development process

Managers of canceled innovation projects may berate themselves retrospectively for not having known about downstream organizational changes earlier in the development process. The assumption that knowledge of changes can and should be captured in the early stages of product development is prevalent in both research and practice. This paper reports on a field study of 13 innovation projects in two Fortune 500 corporations. It details 51 change initiatives that the projects challenge their organizations to undertake. Findings provide insight into the difficulties of capturing knowledge of downstream organizational changes. The paper presents a model in which informational knowledge of what new activities are required to implement a new product must be complemented with interpretive knowledge of how those activities relate to the organization and strategy of the firm.