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This paper focuses on the increasingly important role of suppliers in new product development (NPD) programs of American companies. Limited attention has been paid to the contributions that suppliers can make to the effectiveness and efficiency of the NPD process. The comments made are intended to apply to the case of an original equipment supplier providing a component to a customer who is also the final manufacturer and marketer of a new product.The main drivers of this new role for suppliers include consolidation in both manufacturers' and suppliers' industries and the impact of global competition. Under the influence of competitive pressure, new product life cycles are decreasing which increases the importance of new product development time and product differentiation on competitive advantage. The paper discusses five issues involved in supplier participation in new product development: 0 What are the most effective ways to involve suppliers? 0 What are the obvious and less obvious benefits to manufacturers of supplier involvement? How does one select capable suppliers? o What do suppliers gain from the process? What are companies doing to maintain long-term satisfying NPD relationships with suppliers? Hypotheses are suggested incorporating the factors which influence supplier-manufacturer alliances. It is intended to test these in the context of the U.S. automotive industry and to apply those factors which test well in a test of a proposed framework model of the alliance relationship process in more than one industry. The proposed framework model takes account of the dynamic and non-linear nature of the NPD process and encompasses the respective roles of suppliers and manufacturers in an NPD relationship.The strongest predictors of new product success is understanding market requirements early in the new product development (NPD) process. A direct salesforce is one of the best sources of new product ideas and market information, although not fully leveraged in many f i i s . A recent study of 248 salespeople in nineteen high-tech E m s indicates wide variation in NPD involvement across and within a Em's salesforce.The study revealed that at the organization level, the length of the NPD cycle was associated with salesforce-initiated and NPD-headquarters initiated activities.In particular, the longer a firm's NPD cycle for product improvements, the lower the involvement the salesforce has in NPDheadquarters initiated involvement activities. A similar significant relationship exists between a firm's new product cycle time and the level of involvement in salesforce-initiated NPD predevelopment activities.At the salesperson level, several factors affect involvement in NPD activities. Most significant was the relationship between salesperson involvement and the distance between a salesperson's location and the NPD office site. The study shows that organizations can affect the degree of involvement that their salesforce or individual salespeople have in early phases of NPD.478

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