The impact of IT and Open Innovation tools on the New Product Development Process

The impact of IT and Open Innovation tools on the New Product Development Process

Blomberg, F.L.

Hultink, H.J. (mentor)
Govers, P. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovation Management

2013-04-26

The process of New Product Development is one of the most important competitive factors in today’s market environment. Nevertheless, it remains an risky and uncertain business and both the academic field as companies try to identify best practices to improve this process. In the past two decades, firms have increasingly adopted Information Technology (IT) tools and services to improve NPD effectiveness and efficiency. Such IT tools can support knowledge and information management, collaboration and communication, but also in the design and engineering of the product. Developments in technology, like the emergence of Web2.0, and the shift from closed innovation to a more open innovation system has caused firms to gain interest in using open innovation and new media tools in NPD activities. New tools emerge or are added to existing software, which makes IT pervasive in all phases of NPD. To improve the process of NPD and to justify investments in IT, it is important for firms to understand the impact of these tools on NPD outcomes. Since these tools are relatively new, as is their use, little empirical research exists that investigates these relationships. The main goal of this study is therefore to investigate the use of IT and open innovation tools in the New Product Development process and its impact on NPD outcomes. The study is part of a cross-national study in the United States, Australia and The Netherlands. This thesis is concerned with the Dutch part. An online survey was distributed to 209 project-level NPD team members. The survey asked the respondents to evaluate the extent of usage of 18 IT tools for each major phase in the NPD process; the discovery, development and commercialization phase. Respondents also had to evaluate project outcomes for each phase, and indicate which external partners were involved per phase. Important controls and antecedents include product complexity, competitive intensity, open innovation climate, IT infrastructure, IT embeddedness and IT champion. The final sample of The Netherlands consisted of 104 respondents which results in a 50% response rate. The functional area of the participants is balanced between R&D (35%), Sales and Marketing (24%) and ‘Other’ (31%) representing CEO’s or directors. The firms of the respondents are either quite small (51% has less than 500 employees) or quite big (25% has more than 10,000 employees), predominantly established (68% is older than 20 years) and multinational (82%). The findings suggest that most companies involve customers and suppliers in their NPD activities. The extent of usage of new media and social media open innovation tools is lower than traditional tools (e.g. Email). Next to that, IT tool usage differs across phases. Total IT usage appears to be higher in the discovery and development phase compared to the commercialization phase. The antecedent IT infrastructure was found to have most significant effect on the use of IT, though not always as expected. While a better IT infrastructure has a positive impact Process & Project Management tools and Social Media Tools, it has a negative effect on Traditional Tools. This suggests that a better IT infrastructure causes a shift in the type of tools used in a company. Furthermore, Social Media tools (e.g. Social Networking tools) have a positive impact on Process Performance, while using Traditional tools in the commercialization phase can negatively influence Process Performance. This study provides a snapshot of the use and impact of a set of IT and open innovation tools. To understand its developments and impact over time, the use of specific IT tools by phase should be examined again in a few years. The impact of IT infrastructure on the use of specific IT tools also needs further investigation as well as the impact of Social Media on NPD outcomes.

Information Technology
Open Innovation
New Product Development
Social Media

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:78581d92-b290-41b6-b1a7-8f03b215f605

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 Blomberg, F.L.