During the
past 20 years, numerous studies have explored the R&D-marketing
interface and its role in the new product development (NPD)
process. Academics and practitioners (including a PDMA task
force) have examined commonly used measures of success, the
underlying reasons for the success of failure of NPD projects,
and the effects of R&D-marketing integration on both project-
and company-level success. Does this mean we have all the answers
when it comes to ensuring the necessary level of cooperation
and interaction between R&D and marketing? Of course not.
Abbie Griffin
and John R. Hauser note that prior research on R&D-marketing
integration is being reassessed in light of the movement toward
flatter organizational structures and cross-functional teams.
To facilitate that reassessment, and to help guide future research
in this area, they review recent research on the methods employed
for integrating R&D and marketing, and they propose several
hypotheses regarding those methods. They present their review
and hypotheses within the framework of a causal map they have
developed for studying functional integration.
The causal
map links cooperation to NPD success among situational dimensions,
structural and process dimensions, and outcome dimensions. The
desired outcome in any NPD effort is the timely commercialization
of a profitable product. The situational dimensions address
the amount and types of integration needed in a project, which
depend on such factors as the project phase and the level of
project uncertainty. The structural and process dimensions focus
on the actions taken to achieve functional integration. These
include relocation and physical facilities design, personnel
movement, informal social systems, organizational structures,
incentives and rewards, and formal integrative management processes.
The proposed
hypotheses focus on the methods for achieving functional integration
- that is, the structural and process dimensions of the causal
map. At first glance, these hypotheses seem to state the obvious.
For example, few would challenge the notion that quality function
deployment eliminates barriers to functional integration and
improves information sharing between functions. However, achieving
those benefits requires the presence of other factors such as
senior management involvement. Rather that examine these hypotheses
separately, researchers should explore the relative merits of
the methods for achieving functional integration. In other words,
future research must consider both the situational and the structural
and process dimensions of this framework.
