Rudy K. Moenaert

R&D-Marketing Integration Mechanisms, Communication Flows, and Innovation Success

Rudy Moenaert, William Souder, Arnoud De Meyer, and Dirk Deschoolmeester report the results of their study of forty technologically innovative Belgian companies to examine the interaction between marketing and R&D. They studied one commercially successful and one commercially unsuccessful technological product innovation project in each participating company and collected data from one marketing and one R&D respondent per project. Communication flows between marketing and R&D are increased under conditions involving formalization of projects, decentralization, positive interfunctional climate, and role flexibility.

Communication Flows in International Product Innovation Teams

Abstract Recently, we have witnessed a strong growth in the internationalization of many firms’ product development activities. However, the lack of attention devoted by scientific research to the management of international innovation contrasts sharply with the importance attached to it as a cornerstone of international business success. Although several empirical studies and normative theories have specified the communication requirements in innovation teams, an empirically based insight is definitely needed on the communication requirements and requirements that prevail in the complex context of international innovation teams, in which the participants are located in different company units, countries, and cultures. This article addresses the following research question: viewing international innovation as an interfunctional activity, what are the communication requirements an international innovation team is facing, and what are the communication capabilities (interface mechanisms) that may be adopted to initiate, develop, and launch the new product effectively and efficiently? An extensive case study research project was designed to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework. Over a two year time period, the research team has investigated selected innovation projects in four European multinational corporations. The analysis of the case study data suggests five requirements that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of communication in international product development teams: network transparency, knowledge codification, knowledge credibility, communication cost, secrecy. To cope with these communication requirements, organizations may create firm level capabilities (parallel structures, cross-functional and inter-unit climate, communication infrastructure, goal congruence) and team level capabilities (core team, team leadership, formalization, procedural justice). The evidence from the in-depth case study research indicates that these mechanisms provide a parsimonious and powerful approach to address the communication requirements in international product innovation teams. After the information processing framework proposed by Tushman and Nadler 124 , the adoption of these mechanisms is expected to improve innovation effectiveness. This holds important consequences for the management of international product innovation projects. First, the innovating firm must balance centralization and decentralization, employ formal as well as informal strategies, and integrate ad-hoc and permanent strategies. Second, it highlights the critical role of the project leader. Given the fact that companies often select the most available person, rather than the best person for the job, the allocation of light weight project leaders may create heavyweight problems in international teams. Third, following the argument in favor of procedural justice, the absence of involvement may severely hinder cross-functional commitment to international innovation projects. Fourth, the innovating firm must also actively manage the communication flows with external parties. Failure to do so may result in flawed specifications, and a limited understanding about product design and market strategies.

An Analysis of the Use of Extrafunctional Information by R&D and Marketing Personnel: Review and Model

Abstract Successful technological innovation requires contributions from both technologists and marketers. Each group contributes information to the other, making the eventual use of this extrafunctional information a concern. In this article, Rudy Moenaert and William Souder report the findings of explanatory research conducted in Belgium and present a model to describe essential elements of this process. They argue that the value of extrafunctional information is determined by channel, message, source and receiver attributes. Further, this value is thought to vary throughout the stages of the innovation process and also to depend on organizational characteristics such as formalization, centralization, climate and the type of project structure.

Linking communication to innovation success in the financial services industry: a case study analysis.

Reports the findings of an exploratory case study research on the contribution of internal and external communication to the commercial success of financial service innovations. An extensive case study research involving four innovation projects was conducted within a leading Belgian bank. The desk research and the 32 in‐depth interviews with senior managers and project leaders served as a platform for theory development. A propositional framework was developed that offers a contingency perspective regarding the role of communication during the different stages of the service innovation process. While many of the existing studies in the field have exclusively focused on external communication, the effectiveness of internal communication is a critical success factor. Furthermore, path dependency effects were created in the project life‐cycle of the financial service innovation projects. Finally, the findings suggest that the effectiveness of internal and external communication depends on the level of intangibility, heterogeneity, simultaneity and perishability of the new service offering.

Project Team Communication in Financial Service Innovation

We examine the role of communication during the innovation process of new financial services from an information processing perspective. A contingency framework is developed on the role of communication and its impact on new financial services success. In order to assess the unique nature of the services context of this study, this framework also depicts the moderating impact of the specific services characteristics (intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability) on project communication during the innovation process. Project team communication is conceptualized by three types of communication: (1) intra-project communication, (2) extra-project communication involving (i) organizational liaisons, which refer to the transfer of intra-organizational communication by project members and (ii) gatekeepers of information, which refer to the transfer of extra-organizational information by customer-contact personnel. The relationship between project team communication and the reduction of innovative uncertainty on new financial service success is examined. Our contingency model implies that managers have to recognize the critical communication roles that project members and frontline employees may fulfill. The communication flows mediated by these individuals foster the uncertainty reduction during the innovation process. Moreover, financial service innovation management should conceive the service characteristics as sources of task uncertainty, as they may lower project communication effectiveness, i.e. the reduction of innovative uncertainty. Following the managerial implications of our model, we finally formulate directions for future research.

New Service Teams as Information-Processing Systems Reducing Innovative Uncertainty

This article theoretically and empirically examines the antecedents and consequences of project communication during the new financial service innovation process. The authors analyze project communication comprising both intraproject communication and extraproject communication (i.e., boundary spanners) and adopt the view that project teams within banks are primarily information-processing systems directed toward reducing innovative uncertainty. The research findings indicate that the level of complexity contributes to intraproject communication, whereas centralized project environments appear to be a barrier for communication within the project team. Curvilinear relationships (inverted U) are substantiated between project climate and intraproject communication and between formalization and boundary-spanning communication. The authors’ findings provide support for the fact that effective project communication is contingent upon the level of cross-functional cooperation and that the relationship with project success is an indirect one, mediated by the level of innovative uncertainty reduction.

Architectural redesign, interpersonal communication, and learning in R&D

An effective R&D organization needs information from a complex web of sources, including customers, suppliers, sales and marketing, and company management. Within the R&D organization, information must flow into and among numerous teams. This network of interpersonal communications can go a long way toward determining the success of a companys innovation efforts. In an exploratory study of a Belgian company operating in the telecommunications industry, Rudy K. Moenaert and Filip Caeldries examine the effects of interpersonal communication on market and technological learning in R&D. Trying to improve the flow of information into and within its R&D organization, this company designed its new R&D facility with an eye toward improving both market and technological learning throughout the organization. By locating R&D personnel in closer proximity to one another, management hoped to provide them with improved access to market and technological information, and thus increase their innovativeness. Contrary to expectations, placing R&D professionals in closer proximity to one another did not increase technological learning in this organization. In fact, technological learning actually decreased slightly during the period studied, though the change is not statistically significant. On the other hand, market learning and product innovativeness improved significantly during the period studied. For an R&D professional in this company, members of other R&D teams seem to be more important as sources of market information than as sources of technological information. Surprisingly, the relocation of R&D personnel also did not increase the amount of communication that takes place, either within a project team, between members of different teams, or between R&D professionals and the management steering committee. However, the architectural redesign does appear to have improved the quality of communication. R&D team leaders report that since the relocation, the information flowing into R&D has been more customer focused. This is attributed to the companys ongoing efforts to provide the tools and structures necessary for supporting the objectives of the architectural redesign. For example, implementation of quality function deployment (QFD) has helped innovation team members to focus more clearly on relevant information. The success of the architectural design required approaching this effort as a complex, ongoing process, rather than a quick-fix solution.

A grounded theory of world wide web search behaviour

The behaviours and underlying motivations of consumers and business people surfing the World Wide Web (WWW) are presently not well understood. Furthermore, until now no empirical studies have offered any scientifically sound guidance to marketing communication strategists as to using this interactive medium. Therefore, the authors have conducted an exploratory multiple-case study of this interactive behaviour and its underlying motivations. Consumers and business people were observed unobtrusively while navigating the WWW. During a retrospective in-depth interview, the underlying motivations were probed and the respondent was confronted with video images of his/her own navigation behaviour. The analysis and interpretation of these two sources of data resulted in the development of a grounded theory of search and surf behaviour on the WWW by linking the behaviour and motivations with the visited websites. The following five behavioural search scenarios were discovered from the data: exploratory surfing, wi...

International technology strategies: The role of innovation uncertainty

The present study investigates the relationship between technology strategy and competitive strategy in an international context. Adding an international dimension to the technology strategy construct suggests the study of variations in the locational distribution of R&D activities, that is, “where” R&D activities are performed. Observing that different international technology strategies may be used to pursue a particular generic competitive strategy, an attempt is made to explain the differential location of R&D activities in terms of the characteristics of the technology development process. Specifically, four propositions are developed relating the type of innovation uncertainty to variations in the locational distribution of R&D activities. Innovation uncertainty is reduced via the information processing activities of individuals. Following this observation, it is investigated which human resource and organizational structural arrangements contribute to a maximum reduction of innovation uncertainty. Such arrangements are found to differ between the various stages of the innovation process. Selected factors mediating the information processing perspective are introduced.

Social Impact of Implementing a Quality Policy in European Organizations

This paper presents results from an extensive European study about the perceived social impact of the implementation of a quality policy in various organizations. In the first two qualitative research phases the extent of a social impact was delimited whereas the companies quality policies were specified through the objectives pursued. In a final research phase a questionnaire was sent to 765 companies in the 15 countries of the European Union. The data showed the social impact was viewed as mainly related to the employees commitment, to upward communication, job security, career attention, quality of union management dialogue and training all showing a positive relationship with the implementation of the quality policy. Furthermore, it was shown that the company s objectives when implementing a quality policy related in a significant way to the reported social impact. The most pervasive relationship linked a positive social impact to a quality policy aiming at efficiency, effectiveness and organization q...