Supplier involvement in product development: Challenges and mitigating mechanisms from a supplier perspective

Previous research on supplier involvement in product development projects has produced contradictory results, with some studies showing a positive relationship, others no relationship, and still others a negative relationship between supplier involvement and project performance. Drawing on data from 124 managers, project leaders, buyer members, and supplier members pertaining to 28 product development projects, the authors find that buyer-supplier collaboration positively relates to product quality, adherence to product cost targets, adherence to development budgets, and adherence to development schedules. Furthermore, their analyses show that communication frequency and intensity has a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship with project development budget and product cost.

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Analysis of relative structure on main influence factors of Supplier Involvement in New Product Development

2010 International Conference on Networking and Digital Society ◽

10.1109/icnds.2010.5479620 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Zhang Wei

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

New Product Development ◽

Influence Factors ◽

New Product ◽

Supplier Involvement ◽

Relative Structure ◽

Main Influence

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Role of supplier involvement and project leader in SNPD: a conceptual model and exploratory case study

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business ◽

10.1108/ijmpb-07-2020-0206 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Yuan Wang ◽

Jie Yang

Keyword(s):

Product Development ◽

New Product Development ◽

Leadership Style ◽

Project Leader ◽

Content Type ◽

Effective Leaders ◽

Supplier Involvement ◽

Sustainable Product Development ◽

The Relationship

PurposeThis paper focusses on the factors to sustainable product development (SNPD) projects success. More specifically, it aims to explore and understand the role of supplier involvement (SI) within SNPD. Additionally, it investigates how effective project leaders can facilitate effective supplier involvement and enhance focal firm's ability to successfully carry out sustainable achievement in product development.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework among SI, SNPD, project leader's personality and leadership style has been established. Six interviews collected from different industries are used to further explore the relationship among SI, SNPD, leader's personality and leadership style.FindingsThe difficulties in managing suppliers, the timing and extent of supplier involvement, communication method and frequency, as well as supplier contribution and challenge in SNPD has been summarized. The interviews also confirmed that effective leaders who possess certain personality traits enable appropriate supplier involvement, promote prosperous SNPD and enhance the relationship between SI and SNPD performance by allowing individual members, teams and organizations to function well.Originality/valueSustainable new product development (SNPD) has been recognized as one of the key factors to achieve environmental and economic success. The paper explores the role of supplier involvement in SNPD project and emphasizes the role of project leaders in the process.

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