New Product Development and Innovation in the Maquiladora Industry: A Causal Model

Companies seek to stand out from their competitors and react to other competitive threats. Making a difference means doing things differently in order to create a product that other companies cannot provide. This can be achieved through an innovation process. This article analyses, by means of a structural equation model, the current situation of Mexican maquiladora companies, which face the constant challenge of product innovation. The model associates three success factors for new product development (product, organization, and production process characteristics as independent latent variables) with benefits gained by customers and companies (dependent latent variables). Results show that, in the Mexican maquiladora sector, organizational characteristics and production processes characteristics explain only 31% of the variability (R-2 = 0.31), and it seems necessary to integrate other aspects. The relationship between customer benefits and company benefits explains 58% of the variability, the largest proportion in the model (R-2 = 0.58).