The Fuzzy Front End (FFE) is considered the first stage of New Product Development (NPD).
The fuzzy front end decisions have great impact on product quality, costs, and time spent on
new product projects. This paper seeks to identify which fuzzy front end activities and practices
contribute the most to new product success of Brazilian Technology-Based Companies (TBCs)
in the medical device industry and to provide a causal model for the fuzzy front end of new
product development. The data were obtained by a survey carried out in 30 small companies
including 49 new product projects. The companies were requested to choose new successful and
unsuccessful product projects. The results demonstrate that successful projects are distinguished
from unsuccessful projects due the follow practices: marketing orientation, the company
competence to translate client needs into product characteristics, proficiency in idea generation,
the interface between Marketing and R&D in the fuzzy front-end and the role performed by
the leader project. Having got these findings, it was possible to propose a causal model with
the critical success factor in four dimensions: strategic; process; organization; and leadership.