An exploratory study of the effects of supplier relationships on new product development outcomes

The literature about the influence of suppliers on new product development (NPD) project outcomes shows mixed results. Focusing on supplier relationships, especially the concept of supplier involvement, we present a two-stage model explaining supplier relationships and their impacts on product quality, project development time and project cost. The level of supplier involvement on the NPD project is seen as contingent on the level of technical difficulty of the project. This model is tested using secondary survey data. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.