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What
is the NPDP Certification? 
NPDP certification enriches individuals and the organizations for which they work. This program advocates a structured preparation process that includes a wide range of product development information as an integrated body of knowledge. By using the certification program's structured preparation and examination process, professionals and their organizations can be confident that NPDP certification includes the most current thinking in new product development.
PDH stand for professional development hours. After you get the NPDP certification you are still required to keep yourself up to date on best practices in new product development and there is a minimal number of PDH required to stay certified. The chapter aims to provide events that satisfy this requirement by regular attendance.
You can learn about the NPDP certification on the PDMA Web Site
New Product Development Professional (NPDP) Certification – A personal experience.
Peter Umanec
After checking out the PDMA website I downloaded the study guide that lists the books and references that are meant to assist you in your preparation for the NPDP exam. After taking the exam, and reviewing what I did and did not study, I think that the list provided and the practice exam was pretty good. Here are a few comments and suggestions to help you out with your study.
You are allowed four hours to finish the exam and for those that have never experienced computerized examinations it was pretty slick. You have the ability to mark questions that you’re not sure of and return to them later. I found this a useful feature. Also, I noticed that the way some of the questions were worded gave away the answer to a preceding question. (Of course this could have been a trick.) Read the questions very carefully; there is a lot of word play in some of them.
The exam covers each of the following six areas more or less equally. The exact weighting are given below and were taken off the PDMA website. Instead of working through each reference book, from start to finish as I did, I would recommend that you focus on each topic area individually and use all the resources you have acquired to review and master that topic before moving to a new one.
New Product Strategy: 15%
Portfolio Management: 10%
New Product Process: 20%
Tools and Metrics: 20%
Market Research: 15%
Teams, People, and Organizational Issues: 20%
Here are the books and references that I worked with. I believe that these provided me enough material for the exam but it’s hard to gauge how much I already knew and how much I learned from these sources. It would not hurt to add other references from the NPDP study guide to this list if you feel you need more information on a particular topic.
Good luck.
New Product Development Overview
1. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony BiBenedetto, New Product Management (Great examples and Charts. My favorite book.)
2. Cooper, Robert G., Winning at New Products
3. Khan, Kenneth B., Editor, The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development 2nd Edition (A good reference book)
4. Wheelwright, S. C. and K. B. Clark, Revolutionizing Product Development,
New Product Strategy
1. Cooper, Robert G., Winning at New Products - Chapter 12
2. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony DiBenedetto, New Products Management - Chapter 3 & 4
3. Wheelwright, S. C. and K. B. Clark, Revolutionizing Product Development - Chapter 2
Portfolio Management
1. Cooper, Robert G., Scott Edgett, and Elko Kleinschmidt, Portfolio Management for New Products – General Reference, (Learn the names of the portfolio methods in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 5 a good one also)
New Product Process
2. Cooper, Robert G., Winning at New Products - Chapter 5
3. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony DiBenedetto, New Products Management - Chapter 2, 3, 4
4. Cooper, Robert G. and Elko Kleinschmidt, "New Products: What Separates Winners from Losers?", Journal of Product Innovation Management (available free from PDMA office - call (800) 232-5241 or (856) 439-9052)
Tools and Metrics
1. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony DiBenedetto, New Products Management - Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
2. Wheelwright, S. C. and K. B. Clark, Revolutionizing Product Development - Chapter 9
3. Griffin, Abbie and Albert Page, 1996, "PDMA Success Measurement Project: Recommended Measures for Product Development Success and Failure," Journal of Product Innovation Management (available free from PDMA office - call (800) 232-5241 or (856) 439-9052)
4. Kahn, Kenneth B., Editor, The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development - Chapters 12, 28, 29, 30, 31 & 32
5. Griffin, Abbie, Drivers of NPD Success: The 1997 PDMA Report - General
6. Griffin, Abbie, "PDMA Research on New Product Development Practices: Updating Trends and Benchmarking Best Practices," Journal of Product Innovation Management (available free from PDMA office - call (800) 232-5241 or (856) 439-9052)
7. Hauser, John and Don Clausing, 1988, "House of Quality," Harvard Business Review - (can download from Harvard Busness Review web site for $6) OR Clark, Kim B. and Steven C. Wheelwright, The Product Development Challenge - Part 5, Chapter 1
Market Research
1. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony DiBenedetto, New Products Management - Chapters 9, 16, 19, 20 and 21
2. Khan, Kenneth B., Editor, The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development 2nd Edition, Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 18
3. Cooper, Robert G., Winning at New Products - Chapter 9
4. McQuarrie, Edward F., The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide For Beginners - Chapters 3, 4, 5 & 6
Teams, People, and Organizational Issues
1. Wheelwright, S. C. and K. B. Clark, Revolutionizing Product Development - Chapter 8
2. Crawford, C. Merle and Anthony DiBenedetto, New Products Management - Chapter 14
3. Kahn, Kenneth B., Editor, The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development - Chapter 9
How to apply for NPDP Certification
The NPDP Examination is a computer-based exam administered by Thomson Prometric.
For exam information and how to apply, please check the bellow link: NPDP Certification
