New Product Development Project Performance Research Articles

How to prevent ruining new product development projects with suppliers? A failure factors’ perspective

To efficiently implement Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) in New Product Development (NPD), literature examined the contribution of its success factors to NPD project performance. However, prior studies overlooked the compromising effects of ESI failure factors that should also be carefully managed to foster project performance. Following an in-depth literature review, we identify 16 failure factors and position them according to the collaboration phases, namely relationship design and day-to-day interactions. Then, based on data collected from a survey with 80 practitioners, we use Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to determine the degrees of risk criticality for each factor with respect to different thresholds of NPD project performance in terms of cost, quality, time and innovation. As such, we unveil the failure factors most detrimental to the project success, and provide practitioners with guidance to mitigate the ESI failure factors according to the performance criteria they prioritize the most and the performance levels they target.

Supplier involvement in NPD projects: the buyer's perspective on the complementary roles of social capital and social exchange for project performance

PurposeBuying firms involve suppliers early in New Product Development (NPD) projects to benefit from their capabilities. The authors investigate the joint impact on project performance improvement, of the social capital established throughout the project, and the strategic preferred buyer/supplier statuses awarded prior to the project, from the buyer's perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose a conceptual model underlining the complementary contribution to project performance of social capital dimensions and of preferred partners' statuses resulting from social exchange expectations. The model is analyzed with Partial Least Squares using 80 responses of purchasers and R&D managers involved in collaborative NPD projects with suppliers.FindingsThe relational capital built during the project has a positive central role, with a direct impact on NPD project performance and mediating effects through cognitive and structural capitals. The preferred partners' statuses have strong direct impacts on performance, and mediating effects that do not completely supplant the social capital's contribution.Practical implicationsThe implications for the efficient management of supplier involvement are twofold. First, the authors encourage strategic investments of buying firms to acquire preferred buyer's status and to support preferred supplier programs. Second, the authors alert them on the importance of establishing trust and shared cognition during the project.Originality/valueThis study captures NPD project performance from the social angle of buyer–supplier relationship management. It demonstrates the complementarity of relationship management at the strategic and operational levels, before and during the project unfolding.

Collaboration expectation gaps, transparency and integrated NPD performance: A multi-case study

This paper explores the implications of what happens when a buying firm's desired and realized levels of collaboration differ in the context of an integrated new product development (NPD) project. Using analysis of six case studies, we observe varying levels of such collaboration expectation gaps (CEG) and conclude that these gaps can impact NPD project performance. In addition, collaboration transparency is established when a firm and its partner firm comprehend the factors (benefits, risks, costs) that motivate collaboration between them. We observe that the presence of collaboration transparency impacts the emergence of CEG across the phases of an NPD project. These findings extend existing theory on buyer-supplier relationships in NPD projects and introduce CEG and collaboration transparency as important concepts in understanding improved collaboration performance.

Thinking alike or not: Performance implications of transactional psychological contract congruence in buyer–supplier new product development projects

AbstractA buyer–supplier new product development (NPD) project is an ambiguous and complex transaction, making neither formal contracts nor a collaborative relationship sufficient to ensure project success. NPD project performance could also be directly influenced by the transactional psychological contracts (TPCs) of project members due to their strong motivational effect. Adopting a dyadic view, we explore the performance implications of buyer–supplier TPCs (in)congruence using a matched, dyadic survey dataset from 279 NPD projects. We find that levels of congruence (congruent vs. incongruent), types of congruence (high–high vs. low–low), and directions of incongruence (buyer‐higher vs. supplier‐higher) all affect project performance. Challenging the conventional wisdom that buyer–supplier congruence is generally productive, we find that congruence in TPCs, a generally undesirable type of PC, lowers product quality in NPD projects. This is because congruence in TPCs locks project members in the status quo by creating psychological balance and removing healthy conflicts, which prevents a team from balancing between exploration and exploitation. The combination of buyer‐lower, supplier‐higher TPCs incongruence is most effective for improving both product quality and development efficiency. These results remind NPD project managers that buyer and supplier TPCs can interact to jointly affect project outcomes beyond individual influences of each party's TPC.

Performance implications of knowledge inputs in inter-organisational new product development projects: the moderating roles of technology interdependence

Successful inter-organisational new product development (NPD) is a key source of competitive advantage, yet many NPD projects are still failing. To generate new insights on the phenomenon, we examine the performance implications of knowledge inputs among collaborating organisations, both in terms of external input ratio and input concentration. We test a set of hypotheses using multi-industry primary and secondary data on 210 inter-organisational NPD projects. Results support our hypotheses about the negative effect of input concentration on design quality, which in turn is positively associated with product market performance. Although we surprisingly find a negative linear effect of external input ratio on design quality, our post-hoc analysis confirms the relationship to be an inverse U-shaped relationship. We also find support for the roles of technology interdependence in moderating the performance implications of external input ratio and input concentration. By clarifying how knowledge inputs affect project outcomes under different levels of technology interdependence, the study provides managerial implications regarding how to select innovation partners in order to create a knowledge portfolio that best improves NPD project performance.

Error management in new product development teams

ABSTRACT A few studies have examined error management culture (EMC) in the new product development (NPD) team context. This study investigates the role of EMC on the process outcomes (e.g. team learning (TL) and team creativity (TC)) and project performance (e.g. new product financial performance-NPFP) of NPD projects within the boundary condition of projects’ task complexities (e.g. routines and existing knowledge of tasks). By studying 179 NPD projects, we found that error recognition, psychological safety, and team reward attitude (TRA) create an effective EMC for NPD teams. We also revealed that effective EMC positively impacts TL and TC, and NPFP. Finally, we showed that the routine aspect of task complexity moderates the relationship between EMC and TL. In contrast, the existing knowledge aspect of task complexity does not moderate the relationships between EMC and process and project outcomes.

Role of automotive engineering changes in an emerging market

This paper examines the impact of automotive engineering changes (ECs) on the new product development (NPD) performance in the emerging market of India. For the purpose of measurement, an integrated framework is developed and applied. The framework consists of four constructs - significance of ECs, ECs involvement with NPD, ECs influence on material planning and logistics (MP&L) deliverables in NPD and overall NPD project performance. The study involved a total of 249 automotive engineers and managers from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and suppliers of the automobile market. Research outcome presents that the impact of ECs in overall NPD project performance. The paper also presents the scope, limitations, and conclusions of the study as well as the implications for future research.

Achieving Sustainable New Product Development by Implementing Big Data-Embedded New Product Development Process

Literature suggests that new product development (NPD) has an impact on sustainable organizational performance. Yet, previous studies in NPD have mainly been based on “experience-driven”, not data-driven, decision-making in the NPD process. We develop a research model to examine how the big data-embedded NPD process affects the sustainable innovation performance of NPD projects. We test the proposed model and conduct the cross-national comparison using data collected on 1858 NPD projects in the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), and Australia. The research findings suggest that big data-embedded business analysis, product design, and product testing increase sustainable innovation performance in all three countries. The study findings also reveal several surprising results: (1) in the USA, big data-embedded product testing has the highest effect on sales growth and gross margin, (2) in Australia, big data-embedded commercialization has the highest effect on sales growth and gross margin, and (3) in the UK, big data-embedded commercialization has the highest effect on second-year sales growth, first-year, and third-year gross margin; in addition, big data-embedded product testing has the highest effect on third-year sales growth and second-year gross margin.

What Does Front-End Research Build on? A Cocitation Analysis of the Intellectual Background and Potential Future Research Avenues

The front end (FE) of innovation is critical for a firm's new product success. Since academic interest in this research field has increased significantly, we include 168 FE papers and their 9119 references to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the FE literature. We use cocitation analysis to reduce their risk of researchers' implicit bias. We show that 11 intellectual research bases characterize extant FE literature: new product development (NPD) capabilities, NPD process, knowledge creation and NPD, organizational NPD creativity, externally influenced NPD creativity, external NPD creativity, new process development, social NPD capital, new product success, NPD project performance, and competitive NPD advantages. The citation burst analysis shows that researchers have varying degrees of interests in these topics. A better understanding of FE research's intellectual background and the identification of hot, cold, and evergreen FE topics are valuable contributions. For instance, FE researchers discuss the nature and characteristics of FE activities by referring to NPD process and new-process literature. They call for further assessments of this issue in order to make both the process implementation and the operationalization more flexible.

Role of automotive engineering changes in an emerging market

This paper examines the impact of automotive engineering changes (ECs) on the new product development (NPD) performance in the emerging market of India. For the purpose of measurement, an integrated framework is developed and applied. The framework consists of four constructs - significance of ECs, ECs involvement with NPD, ECs influence on material planning and logistics (MP&L) deliverables in NPD and overall NPD project performance. The study involved a total of 249 automotive engineers and managers from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and suppliers of the automobile market. Research outcome presents that the impact of ECs in overall NPD project performance. The paper also presents the scope, limitations, and conclusions of the study as well as the implications for future research.

Collaborative practices in new product development projects involving suppliers

Collaboration with suppliers in New Product Development (NPD) is essential for business competitiveness. However, the management of such collaborative project needs to focus on interactions between team members from different companies since they performed inter-organizational activities. While the impact of collaboration with suppliers on NPD project performance has been widely studied, the investigation of practices to support daily collaborative activities between both teams has received limited attention. This paper aims at developing a framework of operational practices for successful inter-organizational collaboration in NPD. The practices enacted by both project teams in six case studies were examined according to the stages of the collaboration and a knowing perspective. The results revealed some peculiarities linked to the inter-organizational context. Practices interact with each other across stages with a specific dynamic. More particularly, early in the project, practices to justify the collaboration with the suppliers are determinant for practices related to the creation of social interactions between project members and project commitment. The results also show that boundary objects are useful formal socialization mechanisms for supporting the undertaking of collaborative work.

A conceptual framework for impact of automotive engineering changes in new product development

The automobile market is characterised by global competition, highly demanding consumers, complex business environment, and diverse advancements of technologies. To compete, auto firms are forced to develop new products and introduce into the market on time by looking into all the possible areas of new product development (NPD) process. One of the areas that both academicians and practitioners have overlooked in the past is automotive engineering changes (ECs) and its impact on NPD. Organisations need to realise the significance of ECs, its involvement in NPD and its impact on overall NPD project performance and material planning and logistics (MP&L) performance. In this paper an attempt is made to develop, a conceptual framework of the critical dimensions of ECs. The dimensions were identified using the mixed method of literature review and expert opinion interviews. The experts represented the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), Tier 1 suppliers and logistics service providers (LSP) from Asia Pacific automotive sector. This paper presents the research outcomes, implications and limitations of the study.

Collaboration and opportunism as mediators of the relationship between NPD project uncertainty and NPD project performance

This study aims to conceptualize NPD (New Product Development) project uncertainty and investigate how the project uncertainty influences project performance through collaboration and opportunism. An empirical examination is conducted to test such relationships within the scope of Korean manufacturing firms, which are currently engaging in NPD projects with their key partner. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is performed to prove proposed hypotheses. The empirical findings suggested that higher level of project uncertainty leads to collaboration and opportunism and that these two factors come into play in project performance in an opposing way: collaboration serves as a driver of project performance whereas opportunism acts as a barrier against it.

An Empirical Study on the Effect of Supplier Collaborative Capability on New Product Development Project Performance and Buyer Satisfaction

빠르게 변화하는 기술의 발달은 제품의 수명주기를 단축시키는 결과를 가져오게 되었다. 이와 같은 현상은 신제품 개발시 구매자와 공급자가 함께 공동으로 제품을 개발하는 중요성이 점차 증대하는 하나의 원인으로 작용하였다. 이와 더불어 성공적인 신제품 개발을 위한 조직의 역량에 대한 기존의 연구들도 활발하게 진행되었다. 그러나 기존의 연구들은 구매자의 관점에서 다루어진 구조적 지식과 공급자 선정의 중요성 등을 강조한 논문들이 대부분이며, 공급자의 관점에서 분석한 논문은 매우 제한적이다. 하지만, 신제품 개발 환경이 점차 공급자에 대한 의존도가 커지는 것을 고려할 때에 공급자의 관점에서 필요한 조직 역량에 대한 연구는 필요하다고 판단된다. 본 연구는 이와 같은 선행 연구의 부족한 부분을 보완하기 위하여 공급자 측면에서의 성공적인 신제품 개발 역량에 초점을 맞추어 실시하였다. 지식기반이론과 여러 선행연구들을 바탕으로 공급자의 협업역량은 신제품 개발 프로젝트 성과와 구매자 만족도에 긍정적인 영향을 미치고, 신제품 개발 프로젝트 성과는 구매자 만족도에 긍정적인 영향을 미칠 것으로 가설을 수립하였다. 이와 같은 가설을 검증하기 위하여 신제품 공동개발이 활발하게 발생하는 자동차, 전기, 국방산업에서 수집한 설문자료를 바탕으로 구조방정식 모형을 이용하여 분석하였다. 연구결과 공급자의 협업역량이 높을수록 신제품 개발 프로젝트 성과가 좋아지는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 공급자의 협업역량이 높을수록 구매자의 만족도가 증가하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 이러한 결과는 기존 연구에서 강조하였던 공급자의 기술역량과 함께 관계역량에도 많은 관심을 기울여야 하는 것을 의미한다.

The interaction effect between intra-organizational and inter-organizational control on the project performance of new product development in open innovation

The importance of control in the success of a project was clearly established in project literature. However, the impact mechanisms of intra-organizational and inter-organizational control on the performance of new product development (NPD) performance did not receive considerable attention in the increasingly important context of open innovation. To fill this gap, this study explores intra-organizational and inter-organizational control and their interaction effect on NPD performance in open innovation. The results show that intra-organizational formal control and inter-organizational trust positively influence NPD performance, whereas intra-organizational professional control and inter-organizational contract control have no significant effect. The interaction effect between inter-organizational and inter-organizational control positively influence NPD performance. These findings provide new insights into effective control practices for improving NPD project performance in open innovation.

The role of financial control in new product development: empirical insights into project managers’ experiences

This paper explores financial control in new product development (NPD) project managers’ work. To supplement previous literature on controlling innovation activities, the paper focuses on NPD project managers’ versatile role of being under control (about meeting NPD project objectives), in control (about actually fulfilling those objectives by mobilizing the project team), and in a central role in further developing the NPD project management practice. This paper is an exploratory interview study based on in-depth interviews with eight NPD project managers in seven organizations. NPD project managers’ viewpoints need to be acknowledged, as they have a significant influence on NPD project performance; the support of financial control should be designed and utilized accordingly. Examining a versatile managerial role, such as that of an NPD project manager, potentially unveils fundamental questions in management control practices, e.g., how could financial control better support innovation activities. In this paper, we contribute to management control research by (1) highlighting the role of financial control in supporting NPD project managers’ work both in project model execution and wider reflections on the business impacts; (2) identifying the extended list of units of analysis of financial control needed to ensure that NPD objectives are met; and (3) showing that project managers desire a more active role from financial control in NPD project management. If more comprehensive accounting information was provided and used for project management purposes, this would imply new tasks to NPD project managers, controllers, and other parties involved in NPD projects—possibly shifting focus towards more comprehensive, long-term business impacts. Finally, based on our exploratory results, we provide six propositions to inspire future management control studies.

Motivation synergy, knowledge absorptive capacity and NPD project performance in multinational automobiles in Thailand

Employee motivation is crucial in technology intensive firms, particularly when individuals must utilize existing knowledge and apply past experience to enhance new product development (NPD). This research investigates the roles of project team's motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) on knowledge absorptive capacity (realize and potential) and NPD project performance (short and long run) relations. We use data obtained from returned questionnaire survey from NPD project leaders in multinational automobiles viewed as technology intensive firms in Thailand to analyze the relationships. Hierarchical regression analysis results suggest that intrinsic motivation can accelerate the influence of project team's potential knowledge absorptive capacity on the long-run NPD project success and that extrinsic motivation demonstrates its role in service of intrinsic motivation moderating the influence of intrinsic motivation with NPD project outcomes. In doing so, we contribute to technology management literature suggesting the condition under which performance impact of knowledge absorptive capacity can be enhanced. Implications for these results are discussed.

The Impact of Team Cognitive Styles on Performance of Radical and Incremental NPD Projects

Although prior studies increased our understanding of the performance implications of new product development (NPD) team members' functional backgrounds and demographic variables, they remained relatively silent on the impact of underlying psychological characteristics such as the team members' cognitive styles on project performance. The goal of this study is to explore the effects of NPD teams' cognitive styles on project performance in different kinds of NPD projects. Based on survey data from members of 95 NPD teams gathered in four Dutch manufacturing companies, hypotheses about the relationships between teams' cognitive styles and project performance of radical and incremental NPD projects are tested. Results of linear regression analyses show that the level of teams' analytical information processing positively affects project performance in both incremental and radical NPD projects, whereas the relationship between the level of teams' intuitive information processing and project performance depends on the radicalness of the project. These findings contribute to the academic discussion on team innovation, suggesting that, next to demographic and functional characteristics, cognitive styles in teams also significantly influence project performance.

New Product Development in an Emerging Economy: Analysing the Role of Supplier Involvement Practices by Using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo Technique

The research question is whether the positive relationship found between supplier involvement practices and new product development performances in developed economies also holds in emerging economies. The role of supplier involvement practices in new product development performance is yet to be substantially investigated in the emerging economies (other than China). This premise was examined by distributing a survey instrument (Jayaram’s (2008) published survey instrument that has been utilised in developed economies) to Malaysian manufacturing companies. To gauge the relationship between the supplier involvement practices and new product development (NPD) project performance of 146 companies, structural equation modelling was adopted. Our findings prove that supplier involvement practices have a significant positive impact on NPD project performance in an emerging economy with respect to quality objectives, design objectives, cost objectives, and “time-to-market” objectives. Further analysis using the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm, yielding a more credible and feasible differentiation, confirmed these results (even in the case of an emerging economy) and indicated that these practices have a 28% impact on variance of NPD project performance. This considerable effect implies that supplier involvement is a must have, although further research is needed to identify the contingencies for its practices.

Influence of Marketing Strategy on NPD Performance: Role of Customer Perceived Value and Product Characteristics

Marketing strategy may be one of the major causes of new product development (NPD) project success. However, many organizations ignore adequate marketing strategy leading to a poor NPD performance. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the associations among implementation of brand marketing strategy, customer perceived value (CPV), and NPD performance. The second objective was to determine whether the impact of customer perceived value on NPD project performance was moderated by product characteristics.