Absorptive Capacity and Source-Recipient Complementarity in Designing new Products: an Empirically Derived Framework

Numerous publications are dedicated to absorptive capacity and new product de- velopment (NPD). Most are centered on the recipient team, and very few consider the effects of the source team knowledge characteristics on the knowledge absorp- tion and the NPD performance. This paper analyzes the type of the external knowledge sourced from outside the organization and the process through which it is used by the recipient firm and the effect on NPD performance. This is done through a specific type of source team knowledge, the design, and through the NPD process in industries (clothing and construction) where it plays a key role. NPD cases were analyzed and clustered in three categories of design absorption processes. From these categories, a conceptual framework of the source-recipient knowledge com- plementarity and its impact on theNPDperformance is proposed. The main result is that the complementarity between the recipient and the source knowledge is a crit- ical aspect of the absorption process and therefore of the NPD performance. From a managerial perspective, this research highlights the role of design in the NPD pro- cess and how the combination of design knowledge with prior knowledge (marketing or technological) is related to NPD performance.

[1]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Managing Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity: How Do Organizational Antecedents Matter? , 2005 .

[2]  Noel P. Greis,et al.  Absorptive capacity and new product development , 2001 .

[3]  R. Gulati.  Does Familiarity Breed Trust? The Implications of Repeated Ties for Contractual Choice in Alliances , 1995 .

[4]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  Resource complementarity in business combinations: Extending the logic to organizational alliances , 2001 .

[5]  M. Chao,et al.  A Cross-Team Framework of International Knowledge Acquisition on New Product Development Capabilities and New Product Market Performance , 2005 .

[6]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  The Dimensions of Industrial New Product Success and Failure , 1979 .

[7]  Kenneth Munsch,et al.  Outsourcing Design and Innovation , 2004 .

[8]  Kathrin M. Möslein,et al.  Co-designing modes of cooperation at the customer interface: learning from exploratory research , 2005 .

[9]  R. Cooper.  Perspective third-generation new product processes , 1994 .

[10]  R. Garud,et al.  TRANSFORMATIVE CAPACITY: CONTINUAL STRUCTURING BY INTERTEMPORAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER , 1994 .

[11]  Robert Kreuzbauer,et al.  Embodied Cognition and New Product Design: Changing Product Form to Influence Brand Categorization , 2005 .

[12]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[13]  Andrew B. Hargadon.  Firms as Knowledge Brokers: Lessons in Pursuing Continuous Innovation , 1998 .

[14]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  Synergies and Post-Acquisition Performance: Differences versus Similarities in Resource Allocations , 1991 .

[15]  Celine Abecassis-Moedas,et al.  Integrating design and retail in the clothing value chain , 2006 .

[16]  M. Beverland.  Managing the Design Innovation–Brand Marketing Interface: Resolving the Tension between Artistic Creation and Commercial Imperatives* , 2005 .

[17]  Christine Moorman,et al.  The Contingency Value of Complementary Capabilities in Product Development , 1999 .

[18]  B. Kogut,et al.  What Firms Do? Coordination, Identity, and Learning , 1996 .

[19]  R. Verganti.  Innovating through design , 2006 .

[20]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Marketing Meets Design: Core Necessities for Successful New Product Development , 2005 .

[21]  Vivien Walsh,et al.  Design, innovation and the boundaries of the firm , 1996 .

[22]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[23]  Tim Beardsley,et al.  Shooting the Rapids , 1994 .

[24]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[25]  Stephen Roper,et al.  Knowledge Complementarity and Coordination in the Local Supply Chain: Some Empirical Evidence , 2003 .

[26]  Balaji R. Koka,et al.  The Reification of Absorptive Capacity: A Critical Review and Rejuvenation of the Construct , 2006 .

[27]  Gianmario Verona.  A Resource-Based View of Product Development , 1999 .

[28]  Rachel Cooper,et al.  Characterizing the Role of Design in New Product Development: An Empirically Derived Taxonomy* , 2005 .

[29]  M. Iansiti.  Shooting the Rapids: Managing Product Development in Turbulent Environments , 1995 .

[30]  Davide Ravasi,et al.  Managing design and designers for strategic renewal , 2005 .

[31]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[32]  Brigitte Borja de Mozota,et al.  The Impact of User‐Oriented Design on New Product Development: An Examination of Fundamental Relationships* , 2005 .

[33]  Robert W. Veryzer.  The Roles of Marketing and Industrial Design in Discontinuous New Product Development , 2005 .

[34]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: PAST RESEARCH, PRESENT FINDINGS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS , 1995 .

[35]  D. Teece.  Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy , 1993 .

[36]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[37]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital and Value Creation: The Role of Intrafirm Networks , 1998 .