Effective organizations are configurations of management practices that facilitate the development of the knowledge that becomes the basis for competitive advantage. A market orientation, complemen...

Market Orientation and the Learning Organization

The authors investigate the role of trust between knowledge users and knowledge providers. The kind of knowledge of special concern is formal market research. Users include marketing and nonmarketi...

Relationships between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust within and between Organizations:

The literature on product development continues to grow. This research is varied and vibrant, yet large and fragmented. In this article we first organize the burgeoning product-development literature into three streams of research: product development as rational plan, communication web, and disciplined problem solving. Second, we synthesize research findings into a model of factors affecting the success of product development. This model highlights the distinction between process performance and product effectiveness and the importance of agents, including team members, project leaders, senior management, customers, and suppliers, whose behavior affects these outcomes. Third, we indicate potential paths for future research based on the concepts and links that are missing or not well defined in the model.

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Product development: past research, present findings, and future directions

The development of commercially viable new products requires that technological and market possibilities are linked effectively in the product's design. Innovators in large firms have persistent problems with such linking, however. This research examines these problems by focusing on the shared interpretive schemes people use to make sense of product innovation. Two interpretive schemes are found to inhibit development of technology-market knowledge: departmental thought worlds and organizational product routines. The paper describes in some depth differences among the thought worlds which keep innovators from synthesizing their expertise. The paper also details how organizational routines exacerbate problems with learning, and how successful innovators overcome both interpretive barriers. The main implication of the study is that to improve innovation in large firms it is necessary to deal explicitly with the interpretive barriers described here. Suggestions for practice and research are offered.

Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms

In recent years, a market-oriented corporate culture increasingly has been considered a key element of superior corporate performance. Although organizational innovativeness is believed to be a pot...

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Market orientation and organizational performance: Is innovation a missing link?

It is proposed that a firm's strategy and how it perceives environmental uncertainty can influence the need for R&D–marketing integration. Factors related to organizational design and senior manage...

A Model for Studying R&D–Marketing Interface in the Product Innovation Process:

The difficulties and uncertainties associated with new product development are increasing along with the pressure to develop more new products. To succeed, companies are finding that they need to develop "better" new products and they need to do so faster. Unfortunately, many companies still follow organizational arrangements and management practices that lead to slow product development. This article examines why product development delays occur, the nature of these delays, and what can be done to avoid them. The findings are based on field interviews and a mail survey of managers involved in developing new products. The study has identified four major areas that affect the performance of the new product development process: senior management support; early integration of functional expertise; availability of resources and how they are managed; and an organizational environment that supports teamwork.

David Wilemon

Papers

A Model for Studying R&D–Marketing Interface in the Product Innovation Process:

Accelerating the Development of Technology-Based New Products

A Survey of Major Approaches for Accelerating New Product Development

The R&D-marketing interface in high-technology firms

The Impact of Organizational Integration and Product Development Proficiency on Market Success