This paper presents a systematic bibliographic review and points out research directions for the Customer Integration in the Product Development Process theme. This theme is considered significant in the bibliography of Marketing, Quality, Technological Innovation and Competitive Strategy, because it enables companies to know better the real market needs, contribute to the development of better products, and use the knowledge gained by customers. 72 articles that address this issue, from 1980 to 2008, were collected. The interest in the topic by the academic area has increased significantly since 2002; it can be noted by the growth on the amount of articles published and by the incorporation of this theme in books chapters on management of product development. The following dimensions that involve the subject and predominate in the articles analyzed are identified below: fundamentals for customers' integration, criteria by the choice of customers, types of interaction between the enterprise, and its customers and the benefits obtained by the customers' integration on product development. Future in-depth studies, through case study and research, is recommended on the understanding of the theme, the practices and relations between the dimensions, as well as on the relations of cause and effect between the practices and the performance of product development process.
Product development; Customer integration; Systematic bibliographic review; Customer integration on product development
