A Report on the Development of a Research Agenda for the Product Development and Management Association

One of the most critical steps in the development of a professional field is the development of a research tradition. The Product Development and Management Association has long been committed to the stimulation of quality research efforts in the field of new products management. Accordingly, to begin the development of a research agenda, PDMA sponsored a colloquium of academic and practitioner researchers. Philip C. Burger, then serving as PDMA's Vice President of Research, organized the meeting and reports on the results of a two and a half day discussion. Some of the topics emphasized include organizational behavior and leadership, dissemination of good practice and the importance of a benchmark study of new product success and failure as starting points.