Role of customer involvement in new product development process of industrial enterprises: a conceptional research

The success of industrial enterprises is made possible by new productdevelopment. Therefore, industrial enterprises need to develop new productsaccording to customer demands and expectations in order to increase theircompetitiveness, sales and profitability. Participation of customers plays animportant role in the development of new products. The needs, demands andexpectations of the customers are constantly changing and need to be followedin the long run. Therefore, establishing long-term relationships with customersis very effective in developing new products. The aim of the participation of thecustomers in the development of new products in industrial marketing is todetermine the needs of the customers, to put forward new ideas, to facilitatethe product marketing and to minimize the costs. The other purpose ofcustomer engagement is to obtain the necessary information resources for theenterprise. Various methods are used to ensure customer participation in newproduct development. These are survey, focus group interview and internet.Using these methods, customers’ wishes and expectations are determinedand new products are developed accordingly. The aim of this study is todiscuss the importance of customer participation in the development of newproducts in a theoretical framework. In this context, customer participation in new product development process of industrial enterprises are examined.As a conclusion, establishing long-term good relations with customers witha relational marketing approach and providing customer participation in thedevelopment of new products make a significant contribution to the success ofthe enterprise. This study is expected to contribute to marketing managers andscientific literature on innovation management.