Sobrero, M. (2000). Structural Constraints, Strategic Interactions and Innovative Processes: Measuring Network Effects in New Product Development Projects. Journal of Management and Governance, 4, 239-263.

Format: Peer-reviewed article

Type: Research — Non-experimental

Experience level of reader: Advanced

Annotation: The author investigates relational impacts of interactions between individuals, external resources, and organizational characteristics on the process of new product development. He uses social network analysis to build a regression model that measures individual actions embedded in a larger set of actions and its effect on the innovation process.

Setting(s) to which the reported activities/findings are relevant: Government, Large business, Small business (less than 500 employees)

Knowledge user(s) to whom the piece of literature may be relevant: Manufacturers, Researchers

Knowledge user level addressed by the literature: Organization

This article uses the Commercial Devices and Services version of the NtK Model

Tip: When conducting a complex new product development project, long term and requiring basic research, involving external resources appears to improve the teams’ ability to stay on track with their time budgets. However, if the project is of low complexity, short term projects for one client, then utilizing external resources becomes a disadvantage.
Occurrence of finding within the model: Step 4.1