Is more information technology better for new product development

Purpose – Firms spend considerable amount of money on information technology (IT) to improve their processes, thereby reducing costs, enhancing quality and getting to market faster. Consequently, understanding the effective relationship between the IT department and new product development (NPD) teams can inform whether firms reap the expected benefits from their IT. The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial observation that helps in recognizing the unique relationship between the IT department and NPD teams.Design/methodology/approach – Mail surveys resulted in 21 dyads (IT department head and NPD team leader) from manufacturing firms in 14 different industries. These data are analyzed by correlations, Wilcoxon's paired signed‐rank tests and crosstabs.Findings – The results demonstrate that IT department and NPD team leaders share similar understanding regarding the role of IT in NPD. Moreover, the results provide evidence that more IT is better for NPD flexibility, but it also increases product...

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