Supplier involvement in new product development and innovation: Taking stock and looking to the future

This paper provides a comprehensive and critical review and synthesis of the current state of empirical research into supplier involvement in new product development (NPD). The paper begins by defining supplier involvement in NPD and evaluating the rationale for supplier involvement in NPD. This suggests that early and extensive supplier involvement in NPD projects has the potential to improve NPD effectiveness and efficiency, however, existing research remains fragmented and empirical findings to date show conflicting results. The paper takes stock of the research on supplier involvement in NPD, tracing the origins of the literature to the late 1980s, and evaluating the development of the field up to the present day. From this broad base of empirical research the analysis identifies a set of factors affecting the success of supplier involvement projects. The paper concludes with a discussion of two emerging themes: (1) supplier relationship development and adaptation; (2) supply network involvement in product innovation.     

The implications of efficiency differences in sustainable development: An empirical study in the consumer product industry

Firms often invest in sustainable development projects to improve their environmental and societal performance. Given the broad spectrum of these projects and limited resources, managers face challenges in determining where to improve (e.g., improving water consumption and reducing carbon footprint). The study examines the connection between environmental performance and firm performance from a new angle to help managers make informed decisions. The study examines firms in the consumer product industry regarding their efficiency in the operational aspect, the resource-related environmental aspect, and the climate-related environmental aspect. It then employs panel data models to investigate the implications of efficiency differences across these aspects on firms' financial performance and business risk. The results indicate that the effects of these differences are adverse in general. Additionally, the relationship between the operational and environmental efficiency difference and financial performance is in an inverted-U shape. The study contributes to the literature by offering theoretical support and empirical evidence for the balanced portfolio approach in managing multiple environmental concerns. The study findings also provide managerial guidelines for decision-making. To gain a greater benefit, managers should aim to minimize the performance differences across multiple environmental aspects and manage a subtle balance between operational performance and environmental performance.     

Coping with coopetition—Facing dilemmas in cooperation for sustainable development: The case of the Dutch smart grid industry

This paper is amongst the first to examine coopetition strategy for sustainable development at the network level. Companies who want to successfully implement complex innovative technologies that support sustainable development need to collaborate with other actors of the innovation ecosystem, including their competitors, so that they can develop standards, interoperable products, pool knowledge, and resources and bundle forces to compete against other technologies. Collaboration with competitors brings benefits, but also many risks. We investigated how firms cope with these risks when establishing an innovation ecosystem to implement a new technology in society. We conducted research in the Dutch smart grids sector and explored how these firms minimize inherent risks of coopetition. We found that system‐building actors in the Dutch smart grid field not only minimize inherent risks, but from the start of their collaboration they implement so‐called enablers to prevent these risks upfront.