Optimization and neural network in new product development

New product introduction is vital to a firm’s growth and prosperity. A company needs to develop a process to determine how to find and develop new product ideas and finally, how to successfully introduce them into the marketplace. To address this problem, this study proposes a new approach that combines neural network, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and linear programming. A neural network is used to classify the feasibility of ideas/projects in new product development and the theory of AHP is applied to evaluate the interdependence among projects. A linear programming model is then developed and used to allocate the limited financial resources of the firm to the competing projects.