Physical and virtual collaboration in new product development: A comparative analysis

The paper compares and contrasts the pros and cons of physical and virtual collocated teams within the context of New Product Development (NPD). The concept of formation of appropriate teams structure has been around for decades however, this topic has increasingly received growing attention and scrutiny over the last couple of decades. The selection, design and structure of teams have considerable impact on the performance and effectiveness of NPD process and its outcome. With the rapid developments and advancement of design aid tools and technologies and communication platforms to support the NPD processes the need to collocate physically the product design and development team physically becomes less prevalent. The implications of virtual teams, however, require further attention. This paper explores the developments of collocated teams with the NPD context. After a brief review of relevant literature, two case studies are presented from an on-going research project followed a comparative analysis using a framework developed by previous studies. The paper closes by highlighting the characteristics that are associated with effectively performing collocated teams.

[1]  N. Tokatli Global sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry—the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer , 2007 .

[2]  Junaidah Hashim Information Communication Technology (ICT) Adoption Among SME Owners in Malaysia , 2007 .

[3]  Wenjie Chen,et al.  The impact of information and communication technology adoption on multinational firm boundary decisions , 2016 .

[4]  Nader Ale Ebrahim,et al.  Virtual R&D Teams: A New Model for Product Development , 2015 .

[5]  L. Gilson,et al.  Virtual Teams Research , 2015 .

[6]  Chi-Ming Tsou,et al.  The effect of team characteristics and communication environment to the virtual team performance , 2012, Int. J. Netw. Virtual Organisations.

[7]  Erik Jan Hultink,et al.  4 Product development performance: strategy, organization and management in the world auto industry☆ , 1994 .

[8]  Juliana Hsuan,et al.  Outsourcing R&D: A Review, Model, and Research Agenda , 2010 .

[9]  Richard R. Reilly,et al.  New Product Development Speed: Too Much of a Good Thing? , 2009 .

[10]  K. Pawar,et al.  Virtually co‐located product design teams , 2002 .

[11]  Overcoming the Innovation Challenge: Examining the Determinants of New Product Innovation in Chinese SMEs , 2015 .

[12]  L. Horne New product development in textiles : innovation and production , 2012 .

[13]  Daniel Forgues,et al.  Teamwork in Integrated Design Projects: Understanding the Effects of Trust, Conflict, and Collaboration on Performance , 2011 .

[14]  Ayoung Suh,et al.  The Influence of Virtuality on Social Networks Within and Across Work Groups: A Multilevel Approach , 2011, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[15]  Harri Haapasalo,et al.  Enhancing Communication Practices in Virtual New Product Development Projects , 2015, Int. J. Innov. Digit. Econ..

[16]  Richard R. Reilly,et al.  Understanding Antecedents of New Product Development Speed: A Meta-Analysis , 2010 .

[17]  Lynda Gratton,et al.  The Third Wave Of Virtual Work. , 2013 .

[18]  Jorge F. S. Gomes,et al.  Critical success factors for cross‐functional teamwork in new product development , 2000 .