Hemant C. Sashittal

An Examination of Collaboration in High-Technology New Product Development Processes

Abstract For more than a decade, researchers have explored the benefits of eliminating organizational boundaries between participants in the new product development (NPD) process. In turn, companies have revamped their NPD processes and organizational structures to deploy cross-functional teams. These efforts toward interfunctional integration have produced a more responsive NPD process, but they don’t represent the endgame in the quest for more effective NPD. What’s next after the interfunctional walls come down? Pointing out that many high-tech firms have already taken such steps as integrating customers and suppliers into the NPD process, Avan Jassawalla and Hemant Sashittal suggest that such firms need to go beyond integration and start thinking in terms of collaboration. Using information from a study of 10 high-tech industrial firms, they identify factors that seem to increase cross-functional collaboration in NPD, and they develop a conceptual framework that relates those factors to the level of cross-functional collaboration achieved in the NPD process. Compared to integration, collaboration is described as a more complex, higher intensity cross-functional linkage. In addition to high levels of integration, their definition of cross-functional collaboration includes the sense of an equal stake in NPD outcomes, the absence of hidden agendas, and a willingness on the part of participants to understand and accept differences while remaining focused on the organization’s common objectives. Collaboration also involves synergy—that is, the NPD outcomes exceed the sum of the capabilities of the individual participants in the NPD process. Their framework suggests that structural mechanisms such as cross-functional teams can provide significant increases in NPD-related interfunctional integration. However, high levels of integration do not necessarily equate to high levels of collaboration. Characteristics of the organization and the participants also affect the level of collaboration. For example, achieving a high level of collaboration depends on participants who contribute an openness to change, a willingness to cooperate, and a high level of trust. Their framework also points to key organizational factors that affect the level of collaboration—for example, the priority that senior management gives to NPD and the level of autonomy afforded to participants in the NPD process.

Strategies of Effective New Product Team Leaders

Most leaders of new product teams are aware of the complexity of the problem they confront and the changes that must occur before cross-functional teamwork can accelerate new product development processes. Most know, for instance, that promoting cross-functional thinking, collaborative decision making, and concurrent organization of new product workflow are advantageous. Only a select few, however, consistently act on these insights and affect meaningful changes. The differences between more and less effective leaders lies less in what they espouse or profess and more in the process by which they learn and form new visions and develop new ways of defining their behaviors.

Marketing implementation in smaller organizations: Definition, framework, and propositional inventory

The process by which managers implement marketing plans in smaller industrial organizations has yet to be conceptualized in ways that can spur theoretical development or speak to the practical realities of managers from this growing, important segment of American industry. This article, based on an exploratory study of marketing strategy processes in 50 smaller, entrepreneurial organizations develops a framework to stimulate thinking and an inventory of propositions for future testing. The study finds market planning and implementation inextricably linked. Marketing implementation emerges as an organization’s adaptive response to day-to-day market events that is rarely scripted by plans and as a process that involves purposeful actions and improvisations as much as stopgap actions and firefights. The nature and extent of implementation-related improvisations appear to directly affect a firm’s market orientation, rate of growth, and strategic effectiveness.

Cross-Functional Dynamics in New Product Development

OVERVIEW: Managing human interactions and the transfer of technology and ideas among individuals and functional groups can be the most challenging aspect of new product development. Interaction, information sharing and cross-fertilization of ideas among people from R&D, production, marketing, and other functional groups is essential. However, problems arise when people with dissimilar orientations, experiences and interests are called upon to interact, make decisions, and participate in a co-creative endeavor like new product development. A closer examination of the human interaction processes that characterize new product development shows that effective leadership as well as followership, equitable distribution of power and a concern for building collaboration among participants can make human interactions more productive, facilitating the progress of ideas across the organization.

THE STRATEGIC MARKET PLANNING-IMPLEMENTATION INTERFACE IN SMALL AND MIDSIZED INDUSTRIAL FIRMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

When marketing strategy objectives fail to materialize, is it because the strategy was unsound or the implementation was ineffective, or both? Findings from a two-stage exploratory study of marketing implementation in smaller industrial organizations suggest that the complex interactions between planning and implementation processes, and planners and implementas, impact eventual marketing effectiveness. Depth interviews with fifty managers most knowledgeable about their firms marketing implementation processes shed light on the different ways in which the interactions are managed. Findings suggest that promoting closer interactions between market planners and implementas, or assigning the responsibility of both functions to a person or a group improves likelihood of strategic marketing success. Several implications likely to interest scholars and practitioners are discussed.

Managing expatriate: The role of mentors

Sending key managers on foreign assignments is common practice for multinational and international firms. Although firms spend considerable resources to support expatriates, the return they receive remains disappointing. Current research suggests that expatriates are very likely to cut short their visit, and/or return to dissatisfying careers. Effective mentoring promises to remedy some of these problems, yet few firms seem to implement the mentor concept in practice. Based on depth‐interviews of expatriates, we delineate the mentor’s role both in the home and host office. We also develop a checklist of activities for home‐office mentors.

The Role of Senior Management and Team Leaders in Building Collaborative New Product Teams

Abstract Most high-technology firms expect cross-functional new product teams to accelerate product innovation, increase creativity, and cut costs. However, the mere formation of teams seldom produces such results. This article reports findings from a recent study of new product development processes in 10 high-technology firms and highlights the actions of senior management and team leaders that are associated with highly collaborative new product teamwork.

The Impact of Leadership Modes on Team Dynamics and Performance in Undergraduate Management Classes

In business school environments, teamwork often factors into discussions about effective pedagogy. However, leadership of classroom teams has attracted virtually no attention from scholars. How teams should be led in the classroom and what kinds of outcomes different types of team leaders produce remain underdeveloped areas of inquiry. In this article, the authors present findings from a study of the relationships between leadership modes and the performance and dynamics of classroom teams. The authors found that emerging leaders are least effective, while designated and rotating leaders are most effective for fostering differing types of team dynamics. The authors also discuss pedagogical and future research implications.

Accelerating technology transfer: thinking about organizational pronoia

Abstract Most high-technology-based organizations rely on rapid transfer of technology and effective product innovation processes for competitive survival and profits. The concept of organizational pronoia is offered as a sustaining basis for adapting organizations and accelerating technology transfer processes. A continuum of organizational paranoia and pronoia , a typology of technology-transfer-related strategies and designs, and conceptual models of organizational adaptation, are proposed for future testing. Implications that might interest scholars, as well as practitioners, are also discussed.

Interact with me on my terms: a four segment Facebook engagement framework for marketers

Abstract Facebook is used by over 1 billion highly heterogeneous users each month. However, there exists little guidance for marketers when it comes to actionable consumer engagement strategies for this social media platform. The purpose of this article is to profile key segments of Facebook users and build an implementable marketing strategy framework that can help marketers better target their Facebook consumers, and better craft their marketing mix and Facebook campaigns. Based on focus group interviews and a qualitative survey, four distinct types of Facebook users are identified and profiled: attention seekers, devotees, connection seekers and entertainment chasers. Correspondingly, a four-segment marketing strategy framework is proposed to guide content creation and engage consumers in thriving Facebook brand communities.