Analysing the Effects of Knowledge Management and Process Innovation on New Product Development (Case Study-SMEs in Shamsabad Industrial City, Tehran)

Today, there has generally been an increased need for new products and services due to rapid growth of products and competition in the market. In this paper is studied the role of knowledge management and process innovation on new product development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Shamsabad industrial city in Tehran.
For this purpose, dimensions and indicators of the study variables are specified by carefully reviewing the literature and expert opinions. Then, using simple regression, multiple regression, structural equations and two-way ANOVA test were performed to analyze the relationships between the variables. According to the results of the present study, knowledge management and process innovation are the most important success factors in new product development.
Findings: In addition to the impact on new product development, positive effect on variety of innovations, especially process innovation is one of the major benefits of knowledge management. However, according to the results of the research, enterprise characteristics such as establishment time, R&D personnel, the number of employees and the type of industry influence the impact of these relationships.