Supplier involvement in NPD: A quasi-experiment at Unilever |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 10, DK-9220 Aalborg E, Denmark;2. Department of Operation Management, NTNU, Gløshaugen 2, 7865 Trondheim, Norway;1. Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal;2. Kedge Business School Marseille, Domaine de Luminy, BP 921, 13288 Marseille cedex, France;3. Universidade Europeia, Quinta do Bom Nome, Estrada da Correia, 53, 1500-210 Lisboa, Portugal;4. Advance-CSG, ISEG, University of Lisbon, Portugal;1. Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK;2. Department of Marketing, Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, P.O. BOX 4600, 90014 Oulu, Finland;3. Management School, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK;4. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, UK |
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| Abstract: | Growing technological complexity makes it impossible for individual firms to be updated on all technologies relevant to new product development (NPD). Involving suppliers, who have knowledge of complementary technologies, in the early phases of NPD is therefore quite a common practice. However, the timing of involvement presents a management challenge. We explore how task ambiguity pertaining to NPD affects buyer-supplier interaction. We set up a quasi-experimental study, manipulating causal ambiguity to observe how this impacts buyer-supplier interactions over time. Our findings reveal that causal ambiguity influences the role expectations and resource mobilisation of the suppliers before interaction, the actors' mobilisation and their pattern of interaction, and the transformation of outcome and mobilisation of resources ex post interaction. We discuss the implications for managers and researchers in a buyer-supplier context. |
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