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Jan Bodin, Department of Business Administration, Umeå School of Business and Economics, Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.

This dissertation focuses the attention toward inventors and key actors involved in product development projects. The study focuses on how a new product development process is carried out operationally and strategically in small, technology-driven firms. The study is based on findings from four case studies among small aircraft manufacturers, two from Sweden, one from Germany, and one from northern Finland. By using one of the Swedish cases as a platform, issues concerning the development process emerged and were summarized in sixteen statemens. The statements were then used as themes and checkpoints when gathering information from the three additional cases. The analysis has been made in two steps; first, a comparison between the platform case and the additional case were made based on the statements, second, issues emerging from all four cases are discussed.