According to conventional wisdom, if an innovative new product development (NPD) effort is to stand any chance for success, the project must have a champion. The role of the champion has taken on almost mythic proportions, through oft‐told tales of the development of such disparate products as instant cameras, automobiles, and microprocessors. Notwithstanding the purportedly essential role that champions play, however, we have only anecdotal evidence of the manner in which effective champions operate and the benefits that they offer.

Stephen K. Markham and Abbie Griffin suggest that before we can explore questions about how champions affect product development performance, we must address an even more fundamental issue: whether champions actually influence performance. Using data from the 1995 PDMA study of best practices in product development, they test various widely held assumptions about champions and NDP performance. Specifically, they investigate the association between championing and the following variables: NPD performance at the program, firm, and project levels; industry characteristics; and project‐ and firm‐related NPD characteristics.

In several respects, the results of their study run counter to current beliefs about product development champions. For example, the study suggests that champions are just as likely to be found in large firms as they are in small firms. Similarly, the results indicate that the likelihood of finding a champion does not differ significantly between technology‐driven firms and marketing‐driven firms. For the firms in this study, champions are no more likely to support radical innovations than they are to back incremental innovations or product line extensions.

The results of the study suggest that champions do not directly affect firm‐level NPD performance. Instead, the results of this study associate increased championing with higher levels of NPD program performance, which positively affects firm‐level performance. The results of this study also do not support the notion that a champion can directly improve the market success of a particular project.