MANAGING RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT - MARKETING INTEGRATION IN THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Cross-functional coordination and collaboration between R&D and market ing is crucial to the success of the new product development process. By understanding how organizational characteristics influence the qual ity and quantity of information exchanged during the planning and impl ementation stages of innovation, managers can take steps to increase t he communication within their firm, and thereby increase the probabili ty of new product development success. This examines the effects of se veral organizational characteristics posited to play an important role in the effective cross-functional information exchange using data col lected from 376 U.S. firms. The authors found (1) positive impacts on information exchange are attributed to a formalized system of procedur al interaction, the quality of the cross-functional relationship, and a joint-rewards structure; and (2) the quality and quantity of cross-f unctional information exchanges are influenced negatively by the lack of credibility, and positively by rewards for interaction and a high q uality of cross-functional relationship. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 19 96