Abstract:

In this paper I intend to focus upon the growing significance of new product development and brand strategy within the GCC markets - and indeed, the Middle East as a whole. In order to do so, I will examine first the growth of NPD in Western Europe over the past 20 years and the changes in approach which have both accompanied that growth and in turn resulted from it. I will then go on to describe how we have become involved in the application of new product development techniques in the Middle East markets, the lessons we have learned from this, and our views regarding the significance of new product and brand development in the 1990s.