Effects of Marketing-Manufacturing Integration on Product Innovativeness and Competitive Advantage under Uncertainty

Abstract

Today, in cross-functional integration in new product development (NPD), marketing-manufacturing integration (MMI) is considered necessary for success. Adopting Swink and Songs (2007) framework, this paper examines the influence of MMI in new product development on product innovativeness and competitive advantage. The proposed model was examined empirically on the basis of survey data collected from 138 NPD projects in Korean firms. Path analysis showed a negative relationship between MMI in the technical development stage and product innovativeness. Also, as MMI has been treated as a subsidiary factor that affects NPD, there needs to be a greater focus on MMI itself before applying it to NPD. Therefore, we added uncertainty as a moderating variable and evaluated the effectiveness of demand and supply uncertainty on the relationships between given variables in the model. Demand and supply uncertainty moderated the relationship between product innovativeness and competitive advantage.