R&D and marketing integration in Taiwan's IT industry

Abstract

Taiwan's IT (information technology) industry has achieved outstanding performance over the last two decades. However, no prior research had been dedicated to the NPD (new product development) project of Taiwan's IT industry. This study explored the actual R&D and marketing integration situation in Taiwanese IT firms. The results could be a good reference for those developing countries which are struggling to enhance their national competitiveness. This study found that the intangible perception of R&D-marketing integration has a higher impact on the actual achievement of integration than any other tangible integrating mechanism. Formalisation is the most effective tangible integrating mechanism to enhance R&D-marketing integration, because it clearly defined the NPD process. Joint reward system, informal social network, and job rotation significantly impact the actual achievement of R&D-marketing integration.