Product Development Capabilities Research Articles

Innovation Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study

The importance of new product development (NPD) and innovative capabilities in marketing, innovation, and business strategy has been recognized by management and researchers. Knowledge management and organizational capabilities have also been explored and evaluated by researchers and practitioners. However, the current literature shows a lack of connection between NPD, innovative capabilities, integrated shared knowledge, and organizational capabilities. Also, there is limited knowledge on the impact and the contribution of the integrated shared knowledge and the organizational capabilities to the firm's success, performance, and sustainability. This study aimed to determine if there is a link between NPD and innovative capabilities, integrated shared knowledge, and the organization's capability. The purpose of the research is to explore how shared knowledge and the organization's capabilities influence and contribute to NPD, innovative capabilities, and innovative management. A qualitative, multi-site case study through one-on-one, in-depth interviews with primary decision-makers from technology and innovative companies located in Texas State in the USA is employed. The primary research question that guided the project is: How do shared knowledge and the organizational capabilities that influence NPD and innovative capability contribute to the firm's success, performance, and sustainability? Respondent interviews have been imported and analyzed through NVivo qualitative data analytics software. Findings have been determined using NVivo 11 through theme analysis. A key finding is that shared knowledge and the organization's capabilities are linked and critical for NPD's success and innovative capabilities. A set of recommendations for future researchers is proposed.

Does Market Orientation Lead to Firm Performance? Exploring the Mechanisms and Boundary Conditions

The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanisms and boundary conditions that will enhance the effective transformation of the market orientation (MO) of the firm into firm market performance (PERF). We examined how MO influences PERF directly and indirectly through the new product development capability (NPDC) of the firm. We also examined the indirect conditional effect of social capital (SC) on the MO-PERF relationship through NPDC of the firm. Data from 313 managers and owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana was used for the study. Data was analyzed using the conditional process analysis software, PROCESS in SPSS 23.0. Findings indicate that MO has a significant influence on PERF. Further, NPDC partially mediates the relationship between MO and PERF. We also found the indirect relationship between MO and PERF to be declining at higher levels of SC. We discussed the implication of the study’s findings for theory and practice.

MENINGKATKAN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CAPABILITY MELALUI INNOVATION IN EXTERNAL RELATION DAN DAMPAKNYA PADA KINERJA PEMASARAN PENGRAJIN ULOS SIMALUNGUN (SEBUAH PENDEKATAN TEORITIS)

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically examine the concepts of Innovation In External Relations and New Product Development Capability, and to propose a conceptual model through the improvement of New Product Development Capability and its effect on the marketing performance of Ulos Simalungun craftsmen. This paper approach is a dimensional approach, conducting an assessment. to the variable dimensions contained in New Product Development Capability and Innovation In External Relations. A conceptual model of Innovation In External Relations in creating New Product Development Capability, and its impact on marketing performance. An important contribution in this study is the formation of a conceptual model on the marketing dimensions of microbusinesses in increasing New Product Development Capability, and the types of New Product Development Capability that can be applied in improving the marketing performance especially the craftsmen of Ulos Simalungun in North Sumatra.

The Impact of Service Quality on Business Commitment in Contract Manufacturing Services: An Exploratory Study of F&B Industry in Malaysia

Business environment is highly competitive for food & beverage(F&B)industry due to the low entry barrier. In order to improve their financial performances, F&B manufacturers opt to offer contract manufacturing services (CMS).There is a formal relationship established between the service provider and the buyer. However, the impact of service quality on retaining the business relationship particularly has not been empirically investigated. To fill this gap, this study explores the determinants of contract manufacturing service quality (CMSQ) and the interrelationship between CMSQ, customer satisfaction and loyalty of the F&B CMSs’ customers in Malaysia. Four focus group interviews (28 participants) were held in this study and they comprised 12 contract manufacturers and 16 business customers. Three new dimensions were discovered from the focus group interviews; product development capability, Halal certification and outcome quality in addition to the SERVQUAL dimensions. Relevantinformation via structured questionnaires were collected via online survey and drop-off method. 146 usable questionnaires were analysed using partial least squares. The results indicate that CMSQ consists of eight dimensions namely empathy, assurance, reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, outcome quality, Halal certification and product development capability. The Empathy dimension is the most important dimension influencing customers’ decision to stay with the contract manufacturers.CMSQ was found to have a small effect size on loyalty while customer satisfaction largely influenced loyalty. The result implies that CMSQ is a complement in the formation of customer loyalty while customer satisfaction is a significant predictor of behavioural intention.The findings also provide empirical evidence that the contextual specific service quality is essential particularly for contract manufacturing in F&B.

Addressing a sustainable supplier selection and order allocation problem by an integrated approach: a case of automobile manufacturing

ABSTRACT This study introduces a novel integration of language entropy weight method (LEWM) and multi-objective programming (MOP) method to address a sustainable supplier selection and order allocation problem. To show the applicability of the proposed method, a real case study of automobile manufacturing is considered. First of all, the indicators of the proposed problem are defined. Then, the LEWM is considered to select the suppliers. To meet the standards of the sustainable development goals and the global supply chains for a case of automobile manufacturing system, an optimization model is established. The proposed model has three objectives including the total cost and the carbon emissions to be minimized while the procurement value to be maximized. These objectives are based on the economic, environmental, and social impacts simultaneously to address the triple bottom lines of sustainability. In addition, the proposed method improves the relationship between the supply chain practitioners and the potential suppliers to achieve the product development capabilities and qualities to achieve the sustainable development goals and the global supply chain trend.

Knowledge Sharing, Organizational Capabilities, and Innovation Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study

The importance of new product development (NPD) and innovative capabilities in marketing, innovation, and business strategy has been recognized by management and researchers. Knowledge management and organizational capabilities are also explored and evaluated by researchers and practitioners. However, the current literature shows a lack of connection between NPD, innovative capabilities, integrated shared knowledge, and organizational capabilities. Also, there is limited knowledge on the impact and the contribution of the integrated shared knowledge and the organizational capabilities to the firm's success, performance, and sustainability. This study aims to determine if there is a link between NPD and innovative capabilities and the integrated shared knowledge and the organization's capability and explore how shared knowledge and the organization's capabilities influence and contribute to NPD, innovative capabilities, and innovative management. A qualitative, multi-site case study through one-on-one, in-depth interviews with primary decision-makers from technology and innovative companies in Jordan is employed. The primary research question is, how do shared knowledge and the organizational capabilities that influence NPD and innovative capability contribute to the firm's success, performance, and sustainability? Respondent interviews are imported and analyzed through NVivo qualitative data analytics software. Findings are also determined using NVivo 11 through theme analysis. A key finding is that shared knowledge and the organization's capabilities are linked and critical for NPD's success and innovative capabilities.

A Study on the Usefulness of Strategic Alliance Based on New Product Development Capability

A Study on the Usefulness of Strategic Alliance Based on New Product Development Capability

Social capital and firm performance nexus: the role of new product development capability and environmental dynamism in an emerging economy

Social capital and firm performance nexus: the role of new product development capability and environmental dynamism in an emerging economy

Product development and innovation: dynamic capabilities in base of the pyramid off-grid energy market in India

Dynamic capability is an emerging area in strategic management. It draws its strength from behavioural and evolutionary economics. The importance of dynamic capability in the area of strategy has been realised in multiple contexts. Recently, the authors researching the base of the pyramid (BoP) have been conscious of the need for the special capability to overcome resource scarcity and information opacity to enter and work in BoP markets. The paper through a case-based approach, identifies dynamic capability to be an important strategic management process that fits well with the special capability to overcome BoP barriers. The research traced product development and innovation capability as two important dynamic capabilities in three firms providing decentralised energy access to Indian rural poor. The paper ends with a suggestion on managerial and policy prescriptions and underlines the importance of such dynamic capabilities for firms to sustain business in BoP markets.

Experience base, strategy‐by‐doing and new product performance

AbstractResearch SummaryStrategy research views firms' diverse experience base as critical to new product success. It also champions strategy‐by‐doing in entrepreneurial settings. This study juxtaposes and bridges these two perspectives to better understand product development. We propose that while a firm's product portfolio diversity contributes to new product success only to a certain degree, design iteration—a postlaunch strategy‐by‐doing approach—is positively associated with new product performance. Our core contribution points to a complementary relationship: strategy‐by‐doing helps mitigate the capacity constraints problem that prevents firms from successfully adapting product development capabilities to a dynamic market. Our analysis of a sample of 2,182 nascent mobile apps from 564 top producers in the U.S. market supports our hypotheses. We discuss implications for product development, strategy‐by‐doing, and technology innovation literature.Managerial SummarySuccessful product development establishes firms' competitive advantage. The burgeoning digital economy increasingly prompts product development to depend on strategy‐by‐doing and requires firms to adapt a product's design over its lifecycle. Through analyzing a sample of newly launched mobile apps in the U.S. market, we find that while a firm's product portfolio diversity improves new product success to a certain degree, design iteration, a distinct approach to strategy‐by‐doing, underpins a new product's continual attractiveness to users. Moreover, frequent design iterations can overcome the barriers that innovator firms face when applying a diverse repertoire of experiences to product development.

The Need for New Product Development Capabilities from Digitalization, Sustainability, and Servitization Trends

Apparent from the latest pandemic, the dynamics and rate of change in society accelerate on a global scale. Ongoing mega-trends in society, such as digitalization, sustainability, and servitization, fundamentally changes the conditions for manufacturers when developing and providing new products. This study clarifies the combined impact and consequences on product development capabilities in manufacturing firms of the three mega-trends: (i) digitalization, (ii) sustainability, and (iii) servitization. The research is based on a pre-study, complemented with a semi-structured interview study at small, medium-sized, and large Swedish-based manufacturing companies, and a systematic literature review. The research makes evident that the main challenge is to empower engineers and development teams to model, present, evaluate, and develop expected and smart digitalized solutions in a time-limited environment and prioritize the most resource efficient and sustainable solution. Therefore, four complementary support resources are suggested: (i) a knowledge management platform, (ii) a data management platform, (iii) a set of criteria and metrics measuring progression, and (iv) support methods and tools to define, model, and evaluate solutions. When integrated into a digital platform, developers can simultaneously access and process the necessary information needed for sustainable, digitalized, and servitized solutions.

Dimensions of dynamic marketing capability and export performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework on the dimensions of dynamic marketing capability (DMC) and its relationship with export performance. The paper also proposes the mediating role of competitive hybrid strategy and the moderating role of environmental responsiveness in explaining the relationship between DMC and export performance. Design/methodology/approach By following the dynamic capability notion of the marketing and competitive strategy literature, this paper proposes a novel conceptualization of the DMC development process and the possible effect of DMC on attaining competitive advantage. Findings The paper postulates that a firm’s DMC can reflect complementary power when its higher-level marketing capabilities are bundled together to detect distributing channel members’ crucial needs, competitors’ action plans and satisfying market demand. As yet little is known about the main underlying dimensions of higher-level DMC construct, the paper contributes in proposing the key dimensions of DMC. Originality/value This research advances the knowledge-based view and resource-based views and evolves a solid foundation of DMC constructs comprising four higher-order marketing capabilities, namely, ambidextrous market orientation, customer relationship management capability, brand management capability and new product development capability. Thus, this paper contributes in DMC literature in explaining export performance.

Organizational capabilities and SME exports: the moderating role of external funding intentions and managerial capacity

Entry to export markets can stimulate business growth, yet remarkably few small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) pursue export strategies. Using data gathered from the UK Small Business Surveys and a theoretical framework that combines principles from the resource-based view of the firm with notions of “investment readiness” and “managerial capacity,” we examine the empirical relationships between new product development (NPD) and new market entry (NME) capabilities on UK SMEs export decisions. Among other things, we find that there are contexts in which SMEs should develop these capabilities concurrently and others in which they should develop them independently to minimize added managerial complexity. Our results also indicate that in the absence of strong managerial capacity, SMEs should prioritize NME over NPD capabilities. Our findings produce several interesting theoretical and practical implications for SME exports.

Unpacking the importance of intangible skills in new product development and sustainable business performance; strategies for marketing managers.

Firms need sufficient resources (tangible and intangible) and capabilities to build unique products due to customers’ demands and choices, market competition and globalization. Despite sufficient resources, many firms cannot build new products according to the customers’ preferences and market trends due to lack of marketing capabilities, lack of skilled marketing staff and lack of experienced managers. However, studies have not yet examined what types of intangible skills of marketing managers are prominent for building new products. This study examines the importance of the intangible skills; intellectual captial, financial literacy and business experience in new product development that results in sustainable competitive performance. We used a mixed-method approach; questionnaire (283) and interviews (16) for data collection and then applied structural equation modelling for testing the hypotheses. The results revealed that all the three intangible skills; intellectual captial, financial literacy and business experience significant influence new product development and sustainable competitive performance. However, considering the relative importance, financial literacy and intellectual capital are the most significant predictors of sustainable competitive performance and new product development respectively. Moreover, new product development fully mediates the path between intellectual capital and sustainable competitive performance while it partially mediates the link between financial literacy, business experience and sustainable competitive performance. Considering the importance of tangible resources, our study scrutinized that financial resources have a significant influence on new product development and sustainable competitive performance while technological resources do not play a significant role. This research recommends firms to emphasize on the improvement of intangible skills of the managers in order to build new products that result in sustainable competitive position. This study also recommends marketing managers to improve their financial skills and experience by participating in various seminars and workshops that can spur their new idea generation and new product development capabilities.

Entegris and SIMTech set up joint research lab

Entegris Asia Pte Ltd is establishing a joint research laboratory with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) to expand and enhance Entegris' product development capabilities using additive manufacturing (3D printing).

Dynamic capabilities and high-tech entrepreneurial ventures’ performance in the aftermath of an environmental jolt

This paper contributes to studies on dynamic capabilities (DCs) by showing that a neglected environmental contingency – i.e. the occurrence of a jolt – shapes the DCs–performance relationship. We focus on high-tech entrepreneurial ventures because these are the firms that jolts affect most; in so doing, we also advance the understanding of DCs in the entrepreneurship field. We argue that, in the aftermath of an environmental jolt, the high-tech entrepreneurial ventures that use internationalization and new product development capabilities to modify their resource configuration and regain environmental fit enjoy better performance. Econometric estimates on a sample of 340 Italian high-tech entrepreneurial ventures confronting the consequences of the global economic crisis that began in 2008 confirm that separately using these two DCs has a positive performance effect. This effect is stronger for relatively smaller ventures. Interestingly, despite synergies should arise from the combined use of the two DCs, we do not detect any superadditive effects.

Integrated linguistic entropy weight method and multi-objective programming model for supplier selection and order allocation in a circular economy: A case study

Green supply chain management is one of the most important strategies to enhance the competitiveness of modern enterprises. Traditional supplier selection methods seldom consider the entire supply chain. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated model combining the linguistic entropy weight method (LEWM) with multi-objective programming for supplier selection and order allocation in a circular economy. First, a comprehensive system of green supplier evaluation criteria is established, with each criterion clearly defined. Second, the LEWM is used to select qualified green suppliers, whose rankings are calculated. The proposed LEWM can not only select qualified green suppliers but also analyze each supplier’s performance on each evaluation criterion; it can also provide improvement suggestions for suppliers. Third, based on the characteristics of current global supply chains in the automobile manufacturing industry, the order allocation model is established. The order allocation model constructed in this paper has three objectives: total cost minimization, carbon emission minimization, and procurement value maximization. The weighted maximum and minimum operator method is used to solve the model. Finally, the paper introduces how to use the proposed two-phase model to solve the problem of green supplier selection and order allocation, and conducts sensitivity analysis on the model results. The results show that the proposed framework can effectively resolve green supplier selection and order allocation for an automobile manufacture, and verify the scientific validity of the proposed method. This study could help to improve the relationship between companies and potential suppliers, and to improve green product development capabilities and supply chain management quality, thereby enhancing companies’ market competitiveness.

Electronic Customer Relationship Management and Company Performance: Exploring the Product Innovativeness Development

The concept of this research springs from the controversy of previous research findings on the effect of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which is seen as an integrated concept and applied only to large companies and is rarely to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The main purpose of this research is to build a model and to investigate the effect of e-CRM capability, which is a development of the traditional CRM with internet technology support, as an effort in improving the marketing performance of SMEs through the exploration of innovative products development to address the gap. Innovation on products and services is a key component of SMEs business as a series of efforts to enhance their competitiveness in attaining superior business performance. However, SMEs have to be wary of innovation made if it is unplanned and not knowing their customers well. CRM comes to light as a management approach that enables companies to identify, fascinate, and increase profitable retention of customers through a good management relationship with customers as a support for innovative product development capability. The design of this research was descriptive research design. The data collection employed survey method with questionnaires distributed to 150 respondents of owners and managers of SMEs in Indonesia. The questionnaires were then processed and analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Amos 20.0 software.

The Structure of Absorptive Capacity in Three Product Development Strategies

This study develops and tests theory about different forms of absorptive capacity that support radical, differentiation and imitation product development strategies. Absorptive capacity theory provides a generalized explanation for how firms exploit their embeddedness in relationships with buyers and suppliers. We develop and test theory that relates combinations of four components of absorptive capacity (R&D capability, product development capability, cooperative embeddedness, and competitive embeddedness) to success rates in three product development strategies. We used data from the American pharmaceutical industry to estimate generalized linear mixed models. Our results confirm known relationships between R&D capability, alliance network position, and the development of radically new products, but reveal different sets of factors that influence differentiation and imitation. We describe a previously undetected influence of competitive embeddedness on the development of radically new products, a contrasting absorptive capacity structure for generic product development, and a mixed structure for differentiated product development.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CAPABILITIES: EXPLORING MEDIATING AND MODERATING LINKS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL PRODUCT ADAPTATION AND INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURERS’ BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Product development is the crucial marketing capability for successfully and sustainably bringing new or adapted products to the market. Throughout the process, companies face challenges in how to adapt their products to international unknown markets while simultaneously enhancing their business performance. Inconsistent and confusing results on this relationship dominate previous research. We argue that the realisation of the marketing strategy of international product adaptation can only be accomplished by relying on a firm’s product development capability. The mediating link between product adaptation and performance induced by the product development capability moderated by sales integration and information processing was examined and confirmed for industrial goods manufacturers for the first time, which advances marketing capabilities theory in approving that the implementation of marketing mix capabilities into marketing strategy, the integration of the sales function and the processing of market information display a performance augmenting effect. Our results show that firms have to evolve a strong product development capability in order to be able to successfully implement strategic international adaptation decisions.