Quality and price are no longer enough for survival in the evermore competitive world market. Innovation through New Product Development (NPD) has become essential for companies' survival. One important aspect of successful new product development is communication. The thesis threats communication aspects within two development projects: the development of two instruments for detecting allergies. The focal company of this stydy is Pharmacia and Upjohn Diagnostics, a subsidiary to Pharmacia and Upjohn. The communication patterns were studied with the help of Tushmans model on communication, Minzbergs classification of organisation structures and Eppinger's and Krishnan's models on coupling of project activities. The posed research questions are:

• What are the different information needs within a NPD project?

• How is information transmitted and received by the participants within a NPD project?

• How do companies manage the information flows in a NPD project to improve time, cost and quality goals?

The results, built on several interviews with project managers in the studied cases, concluded that the information needs of a NPD project are dependent on the uncertainties facing the project and that problem solving information is transmitted mainly through informal channels, but has to be complemented by formal communication. Coupling of interdependent activities of a project improve the time, cost and quality goals of the project.

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