New Product Development Performance Research Articles

Dynamic Capabilities and New Product Development Performance

The paper aims to propose a structured multi-dimensional framework linking higher organisational capabilities such as dynamic capabilities (DC) and new product development (NPD) performance as a means by which the sustainable competitive advantage can be realised. The study lends support to supply chains that enable the firms to generate an economic surplus into the future. For this purpose, this study examines the complex inter-relationships between DC and performance in NPD using a multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach using automotive industry data. The components of the DC model including the three capacities of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguration have been operationalised in cases featuring extensive supplier involvement in NPD projects. The findings of the study highlight that superior NPD performance including effectiveness, efficiency, and product content can be explained well by identifying and evaluating the effects of the organizational and managerial processes underlying the micro-foundations of DC.

The influence of leadership styles on new product development performance: the moderating effect of product innovativeness

PurposeThis article aims to examine the impact of leadership styles on new product development (NPD) and how product innovativeness of NPD projects moderates this impact. The results reveal the implications of different product innovativeness for leaders of NPD projects in achieving successful outcomes.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a questionnaire survey of NPD team members who were involved in NPD. Participants were employees from different departments, including research and development (R&D), quality control (QC), production and marketing. These individuals worked in innovative manufacturing industries such as automotive and auto parts and electronics.FindingsResults show that transformational leadership has a significantly positive effect on new product success and NPD speed, whereas transactional leadership has a significantly negative effect on both outcomes. Furthermore, the positive impact of transformational leadership on new product success for high innovativeness is stronger than for low innovativeness. In addition, the negative impact of transactional leadership on both new product success and speed for high innovativeness is stronger than for low innovativeness.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the sample size was fairly small because of limited access to middle-level management and low willingness to share information involving the firms' production. Second, since both transformational and transactional leaderships are multidimensional, each dimension may affect performance in different ways. Third, the respondents were mainly from a single department which could omit varying perspectives.Practical implicationsThe research findings provide recommendations on how different leadership styles support team members to effectively perform NPD tasks in either high or low innovativeness.Originality/valueThis study extends the theory of leadership by providing a holistic understanding of how leadership styles affect NPD performance. It also extends the understanding of how the impact of two different leadership styles on NPD performance is moderated by product innovativeness.

The Link between the Consumer and the Innovations in Food Product Development.

New lifestyles, higher incomes and better consumer awareness are increasing the demand for a year-round supply of innovative food products. In past decades, important developments have been achieved in areas related to food and the food industry. This review shows that factors influencing performance in new product development (NPD) are dynamic and continuously guiding project development. The data obtained by direct involvement of consumers can impact positively successful product development and enhance the company’s financial performance. The study of consumer behaviour and attitudes towards new foods encompasses multiple aspects, such as preference, choice, desire to eat certain foods, buying intentions and frequency of consumption. Additionally, both the consumers’ willingness to purchase and the willingness to pay a premium are important in NPD, launching and success.

Gains or pains? Investigating effects of R&D collaboration intensity and technological diversification on new product development

ABSTRACT Research and development (R&D) collaboration plays a vital role in the development of new products. As both external knowledge sourcing and internal knowledge base contribute to new product development (NPD), this study examines how a firm’s R&D collaboration intensity and internal knowledge base properties (i.e. related and unrelated technological diversification) affect its NPD performance. To test the proposed model, we manually collect multi-source data such as patents and new product announcements in the Chinese automobile industry. The empirical analysis reveals that the relationship between R&D collaboration intensity and NPD performance is inverted-U-shaped. Moreover, an increase in a firm’s related technological diversification steepens the inverted-U relationship, while an increase in unrelated technological diversification flattens the curve. This study contributes to the literature on R&D collaboration and NPD by elaborating the contingent roles of related and unrelated technological diversification. As NPD activities are usually knowledge-oriented, firms should commit more seriously to their internal knowledge-based properties when making the decision of R&D collaboration solutions.

Strategy, accountants’ activities and new product development performance

Prior literature indicates that activities carried out by accountants in new product development (NPD) are important. We explore the relationship between accountants’ activities and NPD performance. We extend prior studies to identify the possible activities carried out by accountants within the NPD process to include five types of activities: basic, cost planning, cost control, profit management, and risk management. We argue that the relationship between accountants’ activities and NPD performance is contingent on firm strategy. We mainly use sales from new products over total sales to measure NPD performance. Based on a large-scale survey, the findings confirm our conjecture that the effects of the five types of activities on NPD performance generally vary as a function of the strategy adopted by the firm. The implication of these findings is that in combination with the chosen strategy, firms should concentrate on the specific activities of accountants that can improve NPD performance.

Finding Common Ground: HR Manager and Line Manager Alignment on Climate and Innovation Performance

Both HR managers and line managers play a significant role in implementing espoused organizational HR practices, yet these two entities often hold different views of both the intended and implemented practices within the organization. To date, the research literature is not clear about how either alignment or misalignment of the perceptions of these important groups affects HR practice implementation or downstream performance outcomes. Using HR system strength theory as a theoretical guide, this study leverages the concept of consensus amongst HR managers and line managers to determine if alignment affects the innovation performance of new product development (NPD) teams in the Chinese automotive industry. Specifically, the paper examines the effects of alignment on innovation performance through important mediating variables: climate for cooperation and climate for innovation. Drawing upon a sample of NPD units in 73 firms, we find that both innovative climate and cooperative climate are significantly higher when HR managers’ and NPD managers’ perceptions of HR practices are aligned rather than when they are misaligned. Under the condition of perceptual misalignment, higher levels of innovative and cooperative climates are observed when NPD managers report higher implementation of HR practices than when HR managers report higher levels. Moreover, we find that innovative climate significantly mediates the relationship between HR practice perception alignment and NPD performance. A similar result was not found for cooperative climate. The findings further advance HR system strength theory and demonstrate the importance of managerial alignment in practice implementation.

Firm collaborative capability and new product development performance: the mediating role of heterogeneous knowledge acquisition

PurposeFrom the dynamic capability perspective, the aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for collaborative capability, including scanning, relational skills and adaptation and to test the impact of each dimension on the acquisition of technological and marketing knowledge from partners. The conceptual framework also suggests that these two types of knowledge acquisition have different impacts on new product development (NPD) creativity and speed.Design/methodology/approachThis study builds a theoretical framework and tests it with survey data from 289 Chinese manufacturing firms.FindingsFirms with strong collaborative capability are identified to gain better knowledge acquisition from their partners and achieve higher NPD performance. While acquired technological knowledge has a greater effect on NPD creativity than acquired marketing knowledge, the latter has a greater effect on NPD speed. In addition, these two types of knowledge acquisition form different mediating paths between collaborative capability and NPD performance.Practical implicationsThis study not only underlines the important role of collaborative capability in facilitating knowledge acquisition, which in turn improves NPD performance, but also suggests that decision-makers should note the different roles of technological knowledge and market knowledge in influencing NPD performance.Originality/valueThese findings enrich the understanding of how firms enhance NPD performance by developing collaborative capability in a major emerging economy (i.e. China). In addition to demonstrating the differential effects of heterogeneous knowledge acquisition on NPD performance, different pathways of mediation through knowledge acquisition are also identified in the relationship between collaborative capability and NPD outcomes.

Impacts of external involvement on new product development performance: moderating role of organisational culture

ABSTRACT In this work, the impact of external involvement on new product development (NPD) performance was explored from the knowledge-based and resources-based views. By placing organisational culture within the competing value framework, the moderating effects of multiple dimensions of organisational culture were investigated. With empirical survey data from the high-performance manufacturing project across 10 countries and 3 industries, the hypothesised relationships were tested by hierarchical regression approach. The results highlighted that the specific cultural dimensions are statistically related to external involvement effectiveness. Development culture and group culture positively moderate the impacts of customer/supplier involvement on NPD performance. By contrast, rational culture’s moderating effects are not significant and hierarchical culture negatively moderates the relationship between customer involvement and NPD performance. In particular, the information and resource derived from external customers and suppliers cannot be effectively integrated into NPD process in the absence of appropriate organisational culture, thus leading to a poor NPD performance.

Mediation of scenario planning on the reflection-performance relationship in new product development teams

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to reveal the mediating role of scenario planning between reflection and task performance in new product development (NPD) teams.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional research design was used to collect data from 78 NPD teams and 194 employees. The mediation analyses were conducted through the bootstrap PROCESS macro method.FindingsThe results of this study yielded support for two of three hypotheses. The authors found that the relationship of reflection with product development speed and new product success is mediated by scenario planning. There was no mediation of scenario planning between reflection and product development cost.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings show how teams can capitalize on reflective thinking practices to increase NPD task performance through scenario planning.Practical implicationsThis study provides useful guidelines for team leaders on how to accelerate product development processes and to increase the market success of a new product. Leaders should encourage their teams to review their previous performance metrics with ongoing changes in the business environments.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the mediating role of scenario planning on the reflection–task performance relationship in NPD teams.

The performance effects of management control instruments in different stages of new product development

PurposeThe study builds on existing research in management control (MC) and innovation management. The purpose of this study is to identify patterns in the application of MC instruments which contribute to successful innovation. The application of MC instruments can reduce potential risks and make the new product development (NPD) process more transparent and efficient.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use dyadic data to determine the effect of 58 MC instruments on NPD process stage-specific performance and subsequent innovation and firm success. To provide empirical evidence of each MC instrument’s effectiveness, three importance-performance matrix analyses were conducted that assess the impact of each MC instrument.FindingsThe authors identify patterns in the application of MC instruments which contribute to successful innovation activities and the authors determine the impact of MC instruments on NPD performance, innovation performance and firm performance in different stages of the NPD process.Practical implicationsThe authors provide knowledge that can be used by managers to review their actual application of MC in the NPD process and to select their instrument set.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the MC literature by examining data from a cross-industry study on the effects of MC instruments during the NPD process. The authors include a comprehensive set of MC instruments and show how their effect changes between the different stages of the NPD process.

Business model designs, big data analytics capabilities and new product development performance: evidence from China

PurposeAlthough the business model (BM) has become a top priority in management research, existing literature still offers a confusing and partial picture about how to leverage BM designs for new product development (NPD) because of two limitations. First, research has paid little attention to different BM designs' effects on NPD performance. Second, few empirical studies have examined the moderating roles of firms' learning capabilities, such as big data analytics capabilities (BDA capabilities). This study aims to investigate the effects of BM novelty design and BM efficiency design on NPD performance and the ways in which BDA capabilities moderate these effects.Design/methodology/approachA literature review provides the model and hypotheses. Using a sample of 208 Chinese firms, the authors conducted an empirical test following multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrate that BM novelty design has a positive effect on NPD performance while BM efficiency design takes the form of an inverted U-shape. Moreover, BDA capabilities (i.e. BDA technology capability and BDA management capability) have complicated moderating effects on BM novelty design- and BM efficiency design-NPD performance relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThe results may be affected by both the context (solely in China) and type (cross-sectional) of the data set. This study has explored the moderating effects of BDA capabilities, further studies considering other significant practices such as social media usage, could yield richer insights that would help validate the results of this study.Practical implicationsFirst, we suggest that managers should be explicitly aware of the different impacts of BM novelty design and BM efficiency design on NPD performance. Second, this study encourages managers to build relevant BDA capabilities to work with BM designs to improve NPD performance.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to investigate BM designs' complicated influences on NPD success and explore BDA capabilities' moderating effects on the BM design-NPD performance linkage.

The Role of Knowledge Management and Technological Innovation in the Performance of New Product Development: An Empirical Study of Pharmaceutical Industry in Jordan

So far, firms are ignorant of actual implications of managing knowledge and technology innovation. So far, firms are ignorant of actual implications of knowledge management and technology innovation. This research investigated the role of managing knowledge and innovation technology in new product performance of Pharmaceutical Jordanian manufacturing firms. Data were gathered from 4 firms out of 15 companies by developed questionnaire. The Cronbach’s Alpha was utilized to examine reliability, and multiple regressions analysis was conducted for hypothesis testing. 
 
 According to extant literature, a research frame was designed showing a positive correlations’ among research constructs. Results of regression analysis reveal that knowledge management with (Knowledge creation and knowledge transfer) and technology innovation with (product innovation and process innovation) impact new product performance with its constructs. Results of regression analysis reveal that knowledge management and technology innovation effect new product performance. Results of this research may assist academics and managers in designing knowledge management programs to achieve higher technological innovations in product and process to develop new products performance through a successful financial and marketing performance. The study concludes and recommended to conduct further research.

Making the right business decision: Forecasting the binary NPD strategy in Chinese automotive industry with machine learning methods

The new product development (NPD) is crucial to firms’ survival and success. Tough decisions must be made between the binary NPD strategy (i.e. incremental NPD strategy and radical NPD strategy) to ensure that scarce resources are allocated efficiently. The inappropriate NPD strategy that does not meet the internal and external conditions may lead to resources waste and performance decline. The binary NPD strategy forecasting is helpful to guide the firms when to improve existing products and when to develop ‘really new’ products. Therefore, the primary purposes of this study are to construct an evaluating indicator system and to find the appropriate method for the binary NPD strategy forecasting. Here we obtain 1088 valid sample datasets from Chinese automotive industry, covering the period 2001–2014. The empirical results indicate that RS-MultiBoosting as a kind of hybrid ensemble machine learning (HEML) method demonstrate an outstanding forecasting performance in dealing with the small datasets by comparison with the other four ensemble machine learning (EML) methods and three individual machine learning (IML) methods. The findings can help firms to make the right business decision between incremental and radical NPD strategies so that they can avoid resources waste and improve the overall NPD performance.

Improving the performance of customer participation in new product development: the moderating effect of social media and firm capabilities

ABSTRACT Drawing upon the knowledge-based view, this study divides firm knowledge-processing capability (KPC) into market and technical knowledge-processing capabilities, and examines the moderating effect of social media use and two knowledge-processing capabilities on customer participation (CP) in new product development (NPD). The results show that social media use enhances the effect of customer participation on NPD performance (product innovativeness, market performance, and financial performance); firms’ two key capabilities (market knowledge-processing capability and technical knowledge-processing capability) further strengthen the moderating effect of social media use. Furthermore, the effect of customer participation on product innovativeness follows an inverted U-shape. This study not only confirms the crucial role of social media use and firm capabilities in customer participation in NPD but also provides firms with theoretical direction for how to use social media.

The mediating role of quality management capability on the dynamic capability - new product development performance relationship: An empirical study among new product development units in the electronics sector

This article is a pioneer work that examines the mediating role of quality management (QM) capability on the relationship between dynamic capability and new product development (NPD) performance in the electronics sector. Dynamic capabilities help a firm sustain its competitiveness in the changing environment, and the electronics industry is chosen as the setting for the research, considering the high level of dynamism in terms of customer preferences, competition, and technology. The proposed model is validated through an empirical study among 123 NPD units in the electronics manufacturing sector. NPD performance is analyzed employing structural equation modeling on the competitive performance, customer satisfaction, development cost and development time. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis that the dynamic capabilities affect the NPD performance along all the dimensions except development cost and QM capability mediates on these relations. The findings can be used by the decision-makers worldwide and across industries to achieve enhanced NPD performance.

Effects of cross-functional integration on NPD success: mediating roles of customer and supplier involvement

The purpose of this study is to explore how cross-functional integration (CFI) influences external partner involvement and subsequently promotes new product development (NPD) project success. On the basis of survey data collected from 297 manufacturers around the world, structural equation modelling and bootstrapping approaches are used to test the proposed research model. The findings of this study reveal that CFI not only directly promotes NPD success but also does so indirectly by enhancing external partner involvement (i.e. customer and supplier involvement). The results provide a theoretical contribution to the study of CFI and also extend our practical understanding of the underlying mechanisms that CFI improves NPD performance via involving external supply chain partners in NPD projects more efficiently.

Standardization Alliance Networks, Standard‐Setting Influence, and New Product Outcomes*

Standardization alliances evolve through collaborations among firms for developing and implementing industry technical standards. Cooperative standard setting can help allied firms to gain access to external knowledge and technologies, but it is unclear how the configuration of a standardization alliance can result in improving a firm’s performance in new product development. This study examines how standardization alliance network‐based resource advantages vary across a firm’s network position and the firm’s ability to influence industry standard setting and new product outcomes. Empirical analyses, based on archival data from 170 Chinese automobile manufacturers from 1999 to 2013, indicate that firms that span structural holes in standardization alliance networks gain an advantage when focusing on early new product introductions but suffer a disadvantage when aiming at more innovative products. In contrast, taking a central position in standardization alliance networks is negatively related to a firm’s speed in bringing new products to market but positively related to the firm’s new product introduction rate. Further, standard‐setting influence significantly mediates the effect of network position on a firm’s new product speed to market. Increasing centrality and structural holes can lead to the improvement of a firm’s standard‐setting influence, and this, in turn, positively affects speed to market.

목표원가, 개발일정 관리가 신제품 매출에 미치는 영향: 품질목표 달성도의 매개적 역할

This study analyzes the effects of managing target cost and development time for a new product on achieving target quality level, which should be simultaneously considered in New Product Development(NPD) processes, and on sales weights of selling new products which is one of the NPD performances through the mediating role of achieving target quality level. Besides, we also explored whether R&D resource input intensity as moderating effect influences the effects of managing target cost and development time on achieving target quality level. As the results of this study, from the perspective of small and medium sized manufacturers and the first tier suppliers who play a leading role in customer and market change by developing new products before their competitors for the main products, we could empirically identify that the management of target costs and development time showed positive(+) influences on achieving the target quality level of new products. Furthermore, as a result of empirically examining the mediating role of achieving target quality level in order to specifically understand the relationships between the management of target cost along with development time and the sales weight of new products, it has a partially mediating role in the relation between the management for target cost and the sales weight, and it has fully mediating role in the relation between the management of development time and the sales weight. Finally, we found that there is no moderating effect in the positive influences of target cost management on achieving the target quality level as the size of the R&D resources increases.

Entrepreneurial and alliance orientation alignment in new product development

Given different strategic logics and implications of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and alliance orientation (AO), this study develops an integrative model of an alignment between EO and AO in the context of new product development (NPD) and articulates the results of a study designed to examine its effects on a firm's NPD activities and performance outcomes. The authors empirically investigate the model through a cross-sectional survey of 141 Taiwanese electronics firms. Drawing from the coalignment perspective, these firms are distinguished into four strategic groups labeled as EO (high EO and low AO), AO (low EO and high AO), EA (high EO and high AO), and CO (low EO and low AO) firms. Empirical results suggest that the four groups of firms significantly differ in terms of NPD process characteristics (decision-making flexibility, market-focused learning, and internally focused learning), program characteristics (product program meaningfulness and newness), and performance outcome (new product success). Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are demonstrated.

The moderating effects of job design on human capital and NPD performance

PurposeIn response to calls for the extension of job design research for the strategic team particularly in high-velocity environment, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of job design in the relationships between project team viewed as human capital resources and new product development (NPD) performance in the short and long run. Based on survey data from 117 NPD project teams in high-technology multinational companies (MNCs) in Thailand, this research finds that job design (i.e. autonomous, task identity and feedback) moderates the effects of human capital resources on NPD project success. In addition, job design works in concert with human capital resources to affect managing NPD project-to-project in the long run. Designing jobs by providing autonomy, identity and feedbacks could trigger the stronger contribution not only for fostering knowledge creation in the NPD project team, but also encouraging intrinsic motivation to commit extra effort to achieve NPD goals. This research contributes to the job design literature of how job design works for NPD project team to achieve short-and long-run NPD performance. Implications for these results are discussed.Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data from 117 NPD projects in high-technology MNCs in Thailand, this research uses hierarchical regression to do analyses.FindingsThis research finds that job design (i.e. autonomous, task identity and feedback) moderates the effects of human capital resources on the short-run project performance. In addition, job design works in concert with human capital resources to affect managing project-to-project in the long run.Research limitations/implicationsThis research contributes to the job design literature of how job design works for NPD project team to achieve short-and long-run NPD performance.Originality/valueInvestigating the moderating roles of job design in the relationship between human capital resources and NPD performance in the short and long run.