Evaluation of communication patterns during NPD within European and Chinese context

Abstract

As companies struggle to develop new products for the global market, more firms are facing the need to access a critical resource for new product development (NPD) - people - that are dispersed throughout the world. This geographical dispersion means not only that those involved in new product activities are physically separated by time and distance, but that they are also separated by cultural differences. One of the challenges in managing global teams is communication. The major research in the field of NPD communication, focuses on communication in project teams inside a single company (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1995), however, inter-company communication during the NPD process has not been explored in detail. To enhance the understanding of the team-level drivers for successful NPD, this research focuses on the impact of communication in the successful operation of Global Product Development Teams using a simulated NPD environment-“Cosiga”. By analysing the communication context and project performance between European and Chinese physically collocated and virtual NPD teams, this research explains the communication patterns and functional relationships of four teams. The results demonstrate that although there are differences between European and Chinese NPD teams, with differences being more significant between the two virtual teams.