Barriers in Launching New Products : - A comparative study of Swedish B2B companies

Abstract: The marketplace in the 21st century is intense and highly competitive. Customers have a great variety of products and services to choose from, therefor gaining competitive advantage is crucial for a company´s survival. Companies cannot rely on previous product success, they have to be innovative in order to meet the ever-changing customer needs and wants. New product launch is a critical and challenging phase for every company, which is proven by the high failure rates. There are many barriers that can hinder and determine a new product launch process. This study focuses on Business-to-Business, small and medium sized companies within the Swedish steel and metal industry with the purpose to investigate what barriers occur when launching new industrial products. The study also aims to answer the question on what actions can be taken in order to overcome these barriers. This is a qualitative and comparative study based on a theoretical framework combined with empirical findings gathered from five in-depth interviews. By analyzing and comparing the findings throughout this study, the authors can conclude that there are many barriers that can occur and affect a product launch process negatively. The main barriers identified were lack of knowledge, effort, planning as well as targeting and competition. The study also resulted in practical suggestions and actions that can be taken in order to overcome these barriers and ease the launch process.   Key words: New product launch, Barriers in launch processes, B2B, Swedish companies, SME`s, Marketing