New Product Development Process Execution, Integration Mechanisms, Capabilities and Outcomes: Evidence from Chinese High‐Technology Ventures
| Published date | 01 October 2023 |
| Author | Matthew J. Robson,Fu‐Mei Chuang,Robert E. Morgan,Nilay Bıçakcıoğlu‐Peynirci,C. Anthony Di Benedetto |
| Date | 01 October 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12686 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 34, 2036–2056 (2023)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12686
New Product Development Process
Execution, Integration Mechanisms,
Capabilities and Outcomes: Evidence from
Chinese High-Technology Ventures
Matthew J. Robson,1Fu-Mei Chuang,2Robert E. Morgan,1,3
Nilay Bıçakcıo˘
glu-Peynirci 4and C. Anthony Di Benedetto5
1Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, UK, 2Rennes School ofBusiness, Rennes,
35065, France, 3Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, DK-2000, Denmark,
4University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK, and 5Fox School of
Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA
Corresponding author email: robsonm@cardiff.ac.uk
This study examines new product development (NPD) processes in high-technology new
product ventures in the emerging market context. Drawing upon the knowledge-based
view and the capability-based view, we propose a model that characterizes relationships
between NPD process executionstages and product competitive advantage, and accounts
for the moderating effects of NPD integration mechanisms on these relationships. Our
model also explains how pricing capabilities can become a liability that undermines how
product advantage impacts new productperformance. We test this framework within an
emerging market context that has been notably absent from the literature. Our data are
generated from 187 new product projects and a follow-up of 83 projects, from Chinese
high-technology ventures. Weidentify important theoretical interdependencies within our
structural model results. Specically,marketing–technical integration positively moder-
ates the relationship between product development and testing capability and commer-
cialization capability, while newproduct implementation capability positively moderates
the relationship of commercialization capability and product competitive advantage.Yet,
penetration pricing capability negatively moderates the link betweenproduct competitive
advantage and new product performance.
Introduction
New product development (NPD) typically em-
phasizes staged processes which seek to manage
project outcomes by guiding decision-making
across planning and execution activities (Bianchi,
Marzi and Guerini, 2020; Kagan, Leider and
Lovejoy, 2018). Though characteristics of NPD
processes have received attention in the man-
agement literature, a limited number of studies
have devoted attention to knowledge manage-
ment within NPD staged processes (Cooper and
Sommer, 2016; Rubera, Chandrasekaran and Or-
danini, 2016; Van Oorschot, Eling and Langerak,
2018). A prerequisite for NPD staged processes is
that diverse but integrated knowledge is essential
for delivering new product advantages (Cooper
and Sommer, 2016). In particular, product inno-
vations that realize high levels of advantage are
developed by rms via NPD processes that act
on market knowledge. That is, NPD processes
are able to create and integrate knowledge about
customers, competitors and how the market func-
tions (Sullivan and Marvel, 2011). Maintaining
© 2022 The Authors.British Journal of Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf ofBritish Academy
of Management.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distri-
bution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.
Chinese High-Technology Ventures2037
a clear orientation of NPD processes to market
demands is an especially difcult product man-
agement task for rms in emerging economies,
given an institutional emphasis on improving and
exploiting technical knowledge and fast-moving
market conditions.
Studies have shown that the management task
varies across the NPD process (Cooper, 2019;
Urbig et al., 2013). Within NPD processes, the
planning phase (i.e. idea generation and devel-
opment) precedes the go/no-go decision, and the
execution phase (i.e. product development and
testing, commercialization) follows it. Applying
the capability-based view, NPD processes consist
of stage capabilities that are the productofspecial-
ized assets embedded within the rm (Claudy, Pe-
terson and Pagell, 2016; Kim, Im and Slater, 2013).
Specialized stage capabilities create new knowl-
edge (Ethiraj et al., 2005; Mauerhoefer, Streseand
Brettel, 2017) but this must be transferredonwards
and integrated in the development of new prod-
ucts. The knowledge-based view underscores the
potential importance of knowledge integration
within NPD process execution, which is difcult
even for fast-moving competitors in emerging
markets to replicate (Verbeke and Yuan, 2013).
Previous research has mainly advocated the
importance of NPD process planning (Akbar and
Tzokas, 2013; Bianchi, Marzi and Guerini, 2020;
Cooper, 2008). Yet emerging market rms’ use of
process execution would appear to challenge the
view from developed rms that a procient front-
end planning phase contributes most to project
success (Gan and Govindarajan, 2018). Studies
have shown that Chinese technology rms are
adept at pushing a new product into the market
and thereafter adapting and improving it using
new knowledge created in commercialization
activities (Orr and Roth, 2012). Such processes
concentrate managerial effort and attention on en-
hancing the prociency of execution activities gen-
erally, and of the commercialization stage speci-
cally (Dubiel et al., 2018; Rubera,Chandrasekaran
and Ordanini, 2016). Still, characteristics of pro-
cess execution in dynamic transitional markets are
absent in the new product management literature
(Calantone, Di Benedetto and Song, 2011).
The challenge of achieving superior product
advantage and performance outcomes from NPD
staged processes is raised by the likelihood that a
rm’s capability inventory includes both strengths
and weaknesses (Sirmon et al., 2010). While the
NPD process literature indicates the presence of
complementary capabilities (e.g. stage capabilities
and integration mechanisms) (Ernst, Hoyer and
Rubsaamen, 2010), it is largely silent regarding ca-
pabilities which are strategic liabilities that might
dampen the outcomes of new product projects.
In the light of these gaps, we draw from the
knowledge-based view and the capability-based
view to address the following questions. How
do emerging market rms: (a) use NPD process
execution to drive product competitive advan-
tage and, in turn, new product performance? (b)
use NPD integration mechanisms to facilitate
such effects? (c) face liabilities linked to pricing
capabilities in their attempts to enhance new
product performance? Our model posits that the
integration of new knowledge occurs efciently –
during the course of NPD execution – in emerging
market settings and boosts product competitive
advantage. Yet this is not the end of the story, as
emerging market rms’ pricing capabilities could
weaken the link between new product advantage
and performance. To test our model, we examined
187 new product projects and a follow-up of 83
projects from Chinese high-technology ventures.
The ndings contribute to the management
literature in different ways. First, we extend the
knowledge-based view to address the gap in our
understanding ofrms’ execution activities to
create and integrate knowledge to achieve product
competitive advantage (Calantone, Di Benedetto
and Song, 2011; Kim, Im and Slater, 2013; Sul-
livan and Marvel, 2011). We highlight the key
role of commercialization capability in NPD
staged processes for emerging market rms in
China, which provides an ideal setting for the
study (cf. Rubera, Chandrasekaran and Ordanini,
2016). Unlike developed rms’ needtoperfecta
new product idea prior to launch, Chinese high-
technology venture managers use new knowledge
created in commercialization to develop product
advantage. Moreover, we reveal that the way mar-
ket knowledge is created and integrated through
NPD execution and integration mechanisms is all
important. We add to existing research that has
not provided a sufcient understanding of market
knowledge in dynamic NPD staged processes.
Second, our study is novel in its conceptual-
ization of NPD integration mechanisms, which
are internal structures and capabilities that inte-
grate knowledge for process execution (Morgan,
Vorhies and Mason, 2009). Specically, we posit
© 2022 The Authors.British Journal ofManagement published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf ofBritish
Academy of Management.
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