Identifying the Learning Methods for New Product Development in Fast-Growing Firms (Case Study: High -Tech Industries)

Considering the essential role that product development plays in fast- growing firms learning how to perform its activities can be highly valued, whereas product development activities are per se a proper context for knowledge acquisition. In this study, the narrative approach and the technique of deep and targeted interviews have been used to narrate the stories expressed by nine of the sales and marketing managers in rapid growth firms. These narrations were documented for identifying the different ways of learning. For the analysis of the narratives, the coding method was used. The results of the three-step coding indicate that the managers used 20 learning methods to perform the activities of product development. The 20 methods are categorized in the form of 4 learning sources in view of their nature to describe the following layout: learning from social interactions, learning by doing within an organization, learning from doing associated with market. The findings also show that the learning of social interaction is more versatile compared with other sources.