Analysis of supplier involvement in new product development and launch

Abstract

New or innovative products are growing in importance both in numbers and revenues, putting an extra stress on most current supply chains - defined conceptually as a buyer with a network of suppliers - as those were originally designed for efficiency purposes and existing products. While new products due to their characteristics, such as short life cycle, demand variability, and high investment risk, require responsive, flexible, adaptable supply chains and relevant practices. Those practices need to be properly tailored for specific different types of new products, perceived as a continuum of newness and change. This thesis examines supply chain management and supplier management practices for new products across different industries. This study has been conducted within the MIT Supply Chain 2020 Initiative using the academic and business literature research and an online survey as the methodology, and new product analytical framework as the study deliverable.

(cont.) The results of this study demonstrate that though there is a pronounced tendency to use suppliers more extensively to improve new product performance and general competitiveness, companies approach the supplier new product involvement very differently - depending on the type of new product in question and the specific mix of its key activity categories, which were identified in this study and corresponding framework as Flexibility, Control, Technology and Cost Focus.