Coordination of New Product Development and Supply Chain Management

Abstract

New product development (NPD) and supply chain management (SCM) enable companies to respond to new demands in a responsive manner. The scarcity of research addressing the coordination of NPD and SCM is notable. The purpose of this research is to identify and examine linkages between NPD and SCM through a case study that includes a Swedish furniture wholesaler. Several linkages that stress the need of using an integrative NPD process where the design functions are aligned with other main functions of the company were identified. For example, it was observed that a strong focus on the demand side (NPD) has induced high demands on the supply side (SCM) of the case company. Therefore, the NPD process to a larger extend needs to incorporate main supply functions and other sales-related functions that support the commercialization of the product. This promises to create a consumer-oriented business, especially needed in markets where products have short life cycles and where having a short time to market is crucial. Within future research, it will be interesting to expand this research to companies that operate in different markets and/or have different objectives and to provide an inclusive description of the consumer-oriented business model.