The role of creativity in new product development process. Insights from the leading bank in Romania.

In an economic, social, and technological changing environment, creativity represents a competitive advantage for customer service-oriented organizations. As previous studies have not considered the role of creativity in the financial sector, this framework perfectly applies to the banking domain in which a permanent adaptation of the products for online communication is of paramount importance. Building off the 4Ps of creativity theory and the componential model of creativity, the present paper exploratory investigates the role of creativity in new product development processes in the banking system. A set of 30 semi-structured interviews with key specialists has been conducted. Focusing on the leading bank in Romania, and the largest in Southeast Europe, namely Banca Transilvania, the research emphasizes the way creativity is defined with respect to organizational performance, the role of creativity in developing good quality products, and the stimuli that trigger creativity in relationship with inside and outside stakeholders within the new product development process. The results show that, in a banking context, in which creativity implies a flow starting from idea generation to its implementation, the new product development process is based on multidisciplinary teams, mutual collaboration and communication, and attention to customers’ needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]