Knowledge Integration in Inter-firm R&amp;D Collaboration: How do Firms Manage Problems of Coordination and Cooperation?

Johansson, Mattias; Axelson, Mattias; Enberg, Cecilia; Tell, Fredrik

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693924.003.0007

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Many academic scholars have stressed the importance of integrating suppliers into NPD projects (cf. Takeishi, 2001;Petersen et al, 2005;Johansson, Axelson, Enberg, & Tell, 2011). The practical implications of supplier involvement in NPD 8 have been discussed in several recent consultant reports (Andrew, Manget, Michael, Taylor, & Zablit, 2010;Capozzi, Gregg, & Howe, 2010;Silverstone et al, 2012;Tevelson et al, 2013), demonstrating that supplier involvement is highly relevant, not only 'academically', but also in practice.…”

Section: Manager a Is Responsible For Managing The Project That Will mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, collaboration with partners that are similar to the firm gives fewer benefits than partners that are diverse (Baum, Calabrese, & Silverman, 2000) since similar firms provide less diverse pools of information and know-how. However, it may be more difficult to collaborate with firms that are different than with firms that are similar, since similar firms share knowledge bases and pre-understandings (Johansson et al, 2011).…”

Section: Division Of Labour and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Problems with coordination are discussed by Johansson et al (2011), who point out that knowledge differentiation, interdependence, and uncertainties need to be considered when coordinating. However, even though cross-functional coordination can be problematic, a survey of cross-functional coordination in NPD demonstrates that it is beneficial to include multiple functional perspectives in these projects (Song et al, 1997).…”

Section: Cross-functional Teams In Npd Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is not possible to possess all the necessary technologies in-house (Johansson et al, 2011). Therefore, firms need to select specialized suppliers that can contribute with the required technology (see Papers 1 and 5).…”

Section: Integrating the Three Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplier Involvement in New Product Development under Technological Uncertainty

Melander¹

2014

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This thesis addresses the challenges that firms are faced with when collaborating with suppliers in new product development (NPD) projects under technological uncertainty. A critical observation that is made in this context is that technologies are evolving faster, making products more complex. At the same time, firms become more specialized. Due to increased complexity and specialization, firms do not possess all the necessary technologies in-house and therefore need to collaborate with external organisations to incorporate new technology into their products. Common collaborators are suppliers who become integrated into the buying firm's NPD project. Scholars and practitioners alike have stressed the importance of involving suppliers in NPD (Takeishi, 2001;Petersen, Handfield, & Ragatz, 2005;Silverstone, Wallis, & Mindrum, 2012;Tevelson, Alsén, Rosenfeld, Benett, Farrell, & Zygelman, 2013). However, finding suppliers and collaborating with suppliers in NPD can be problematic. In addition, external collaborations also impact the buying firm internally, since it often needs to coordinate its departments. Supplier involvement in NPD has been studied for decades (for an overview of the field see Johnsen, 2009), however, little is known about the impact of technological uncertainty in these settings. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to explore supplier involvement in NPD under technological uncertainty.The research in this thesis is based on six case studies that were conducted at two large system integrator firms: ABB and Ericsson. In total, 53 interviews and two workshops were conducted to collect relevant data. The thesis consists of a compiled summary and five appended papers. The framework that is developed in the thesis highlights that challenges in supplier involvement in NPD projects under technological uncertainty can be divided into challenges that are related to supplier selection, buyer-supplier collaboration, and internal coordination between R&D and purchasing. The main findings of these studies revolve around the identified challenges.Challenges in supplier selection are concerned with the issues of involving new suppliers or relying on old acquaintances, managing uncertainties, the dilemma of whether to commit to long-term relationships or to maintain flexibility, and deciding on which department that is responsible for evaluating and selecting the supplier. The present study of buyers and suppliers in NPD, shows the challenges that are involved in balancing control, reaching goal alignment, and managing transactional and relational governance. Internal challenges investigate the coordination between the R&D department and purchasing in NPD projects where suppliers are involved. The results of the study indicate that, in projects with high technological uncertainty, there is limited coordination between the R&D department and purchasing since purchasing had but little involvement in these projects. There is organisational separation however, where purchasing is mainly responsible f...

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Section: Manager a Is Responsible For Managing The Project That Will mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Division Of Labour and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cross-functional Teams In Npd Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integrating the Three Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Supplier Involvement in New Product Development under Technological Uncertainty

Melander¹

2014

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“…In fact, collaboration with partners that are similar to the firm gives fewer benefits than partners that are diverse (Baum et al 2000) since similar firms provide less diverse pools of information and know-how. However, it may be more difficult to collaborate with firms that are different than with firms that are similar, since similar firms share knowledge bases and pre-understandings (Johansson et al 2011).…”

Section: Collaboration In Npd Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buyer-Supplier Collaboration in New Product Development Between Two Equally Powerful Firms: A Case Study of ABB and SKF

Melander

2014

OSCM: An Int. Journal

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Collaboration in new product development (NPD) is becoming ever more important as firms specialize and rely on suppliers to provide the latest technology. Most studies on supplier involvement are of collaborations between a powerful buyer and a less powerful supplier, and taking the buying firm's perspective. In contrast, this study focuses on a collaborative NPD project between two equally powerful firms, including both firms' perspectives. A case study of a project between ABB and SKF was conducted. It is shown that not only is the supplier selection important, but it is also important for the buying firm to have an attractive project to motivate the supplier to join the project. Such attractions include business opportunities and learning possibilities. However, these learning possibilities could be viewed as harmful by the buying firm. Particularly when considering that the supplier was equally powerful. Fear of knowledge spillover that could make it possible for the supplier to become a future competitor could hinder the collaboration. These fears were avoided mainly through trust built during prior history with the supplier project.

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Achieving Sustainable Development by Collaborating in Green Product Innovation

2017

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Collaboration in green product innovation (GPI) is becoming increasingly important, and research on such innovation has grown in recent years. This study reviews literature on external collaborations in GPI to investigate drivers, inter‐organizational factors and intra‐organizational factors for such collaborations. The review includes a total of 67 papers. Survey studies and case studies are the methodologies applied most in the reviewed papers. The most common collaborators are suppliers and customers. Drivers include economic factors, regulations, customer demand, competitiveness and firm performance. Numerous inter‐organizational collaboration factors are presented and summarized in terms of partner selection, relationship management, knowledge access and agreements. Intra‐organizational factors mainly concern cross‐functional collaboration, capabilities and internal practices. Implications for policy and practitioners are presented. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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Knowledge Integration in Inter-firm R&D Collaboration: How do Firms Manage Problems of Coordination and Cooperation?

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Supplier Involvement in New Product Development under Technological Uncertainty

Supplier Involvement in New Product Development under Technological Uncertainty

Buyer-Supplier Collaboration in New Product Development Between Two Equally Powerful Firms: A Case Study of ABB and SKF

Achieving Sustainable Development by Collaborating in Green Product Innovation

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