Criteria employed for go/no-go decisions when developing successful highly innovative products

Based on a sample of 77 highly innovative products, this study examines the usage and the relative importance of a set of go/no-go decision criteria at four major gates of the new product development (NPD) process. The findings reveal that go/no-go criteria can be grouped into five dimensions: strategic fit, technical feasibility, customer acceptance, market opportunity, and financial performance. Strategic fit dimension is mainly applied in approving the new product concept. Technical feasibility dimension is crucial in approving the new product concept and the product prototype. The usage of customer acceptance dimension is notably high throughout the entire development process, particularly after product launch. Market opportunity dimension is mostly employed to approve the new product concept and the maintenance of the product on the market. Financial performance dimension stands out near the end of the development process.     

The Dark Side of Team Social Cohesion in NPD Team Boundary Spanning

Although team boundary spanning is conducive to achieving new product (NP) competitive advantage, these actions may not always deliver the expected performance. The current study makes an initial attempt to examine factors that undermine team boundary spanning positive effects on NP competitive advantage by proposing and testing a negative moderating effect of team social cohesion on the relationship between team boundary spanning and NP competitive advantage. Furthermore, the current study expects team social cohesion to have a stronger negative moderating effect on the relationship between team boundary spanning and NP competitive advantage when external task interdependence and project newness are high than when they are low. Data for this study come from 140 NPD projects developed and commercialized by Spanish manufacturing firms in high‐ and medium‐high‐technology sectors. The study’s results reveal a positive effect of team boundary spanning on NP competitive advantage. Furthermore, high levels of team social cohesion are shown to reduce the positive effect of team boundary spanning on NP competitive advantage. Finally, we found that project newness and external task interdependence accentuate the negative moderating effect of team social cohesion on the relationship between team boundary spanning and NP competitive advantage. The current study makes several contributions to the literature. First, findings from this study give us new insights into the significance of team boundary spanning to the success of NPs by revealing that boundary‐spanning activities are beneficial to achieving NP competitive advantage. Second, the study departs from existing research in that it exposes a dark side of team social cohesion for NPD teams engaged in boundary spanning activities. Last, the study expands extant research by proposing and demonstrating that project newness and external task interdependence bring about situations in which external groups present a threat to the collective identity of socially cohesive groups.     

Boosting environmental management: The mediating role of Industry 4.0 between environmental assets and economic and social firm performance

The adoption of new innovative ecosystems linked to Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in industrial firms has created new opportunities for performance. In this study, we investigate whether I4.0 can reinforce environmental asset management in achieving firm economic and social performance. We intend to contrast the existence of I4.0-based reward mechanisms for being green. Using a panel of 1028 Spanish industrial firms in 2009–2016 period and a partial least squares structural equation modelling econometric methodology, the research has obtained two main results. First, the management of environmental assets generates positive effects on the economic and social performance of the industrial firm. Second, research findings confirm the mediating role of I4.0, which ends up reinforcing the relationship between environmental assets and the economic and social firm performance. The results obtained highlight the importance of complementary relationships between digital and environmental transformation to promote firm performance. Implications for firm strategy and business models are also discussed.     

Fostering creative selling through ethics. An emotion-based approach

Research on salesperson creativity remains as one of the most under-researched topics in the sales literature despite the evidence that encouraging creativity in the sales domain is a source of competitive advantage. This paper aims to fill this research gap by exploring the influence of perceived ethical climate on salesperson creative performance, paying special attention to the role that emotions play in this process. Data provided by 176 supervisor–salesperson dyads confirm that the trust/responsibility dimension of an ethical climate is positively related to salesperson creative selling by increasing salespeople's organizational pride. Similarly, the perception of unethical selling practices negatively affects salesperson organizational pride, reducing the expression of creative behaviors. Moreover, the negative effect of unethical selling practices on creative performance is stronger (more negative) when salespeople's identification with an organization increases. Managerial implications and future research directions are also addressed.