The path of innovation : the impact of purchasing and supplier involvement into new product development

According to the “open innovation” approach, companies collaborate with external partners to support their innovation potential: in this context, Supplier and Purchasing involvement into NPD are used as ways to improve the ability to innovate. However, literature is not fully consistent, because 1) an integrated view is missing, because scholars have been focusing either on suppliers’ contribution to the firm innovativeness or on the enabling role of the purchasing department (through researches largely based on case studies, thus limiting the possibility to generalize conclusions); 2) there are dissenting opinions, with authors exalting the benefits of collaboration, and others remarking the criticalities. To overcome this gap, four theoretical frameworks have been developed, and then tested basing on data collected through an international Purchasing survey; the rational of the following analysis can be dived into two steps. First of all, Purchasing’s direct contribution to firm’s innovation processes has been evaluated: a framework investigating how innovation goals at a category level drive supplier involvement, and what is the resulting effect on category performances, in a context characterized by technological uncertainty, has been tested, and the corresponding effects analyzed in terms Purchasing department’s level of participation in NPD. Results show that innovation, as a category priority, does lead to emphasize supplier involvement, but this ensures better performance only when the Purchasing department is involved too; moreover, while category technological uncertainty is faced defining focused innovation targets, it emphasizes the need for supplier involvement only when Purchasing is fully integrated into NPD. Then, in order to evaluate the importance of some Purchasing enabling characteristics (status and knowledge), other frameworks have been developed and tested on the entire sample. Empirical evidence shows that, both adequate purchasing managers knowledge and purchasing recognition within the firm, have a positive effect on supplier involvement (and, indirectly, on innovation performance), being also interdependent.