Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Date of Award

5-2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Granting Institution

Lynn University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PHD)

Degree Program

Global Leadership - with a specialization in Corporate and Organizational Management

Department

College of Business and Management

First Advisor

John Cipolla

Second Advisor

Robert D. Green

Third Advisor

Robert Riedel

Abstract

Successful new products and services are critical for business success in the global economy. Many companies, however, continue to find successful new product development (NPD) difficult. Few studies have investigated the impact of organizational culture on NPD. The literature suggests that environmental conditions intervene in NPD, but little research has been conducted on relationships between organizational culture, environmental conditions, and NPD success.

This dissertation develops a theoretical framework based on Nakata and Sivakumar's (1996) culture-NPD model which integrates four cultural values, environmental uncertainty, and firm size as keys to NPD success. Research questions and hypotheses originate from this theoretical framework. This framework should enable scholars to gain an in-depth understanding of relationships between organizational culture and successful NPD, and will lead managers to modify their organizational culture, structures, and strategies to enhance NPD.

This correlational (explanatory) survey research is the first to examine and explain relationships between organizational culture and NPD success rate in the telecommunication and the bicycle industries in Taiwan; the first to compare differences of organizational culture and environmental uncertainty between these two groups; and the; and the first to identify whether environmental uncertainty and firm size play critical roles in mediating the impact of organizational culture on NPD success. The survey, sent to 460 target participants, was comprise of a Clarity Scale, a Project Management Scale, an Innovation Scale, a Speed to Market Scale, a Product Quality Scale, a Team Member Satisfaction Scale, a Market Performance Scale, and an Environmental Uncertainty Scale. An independent 2-tailed t-test, hierarchical multiple regression and moderated multiple regression (MMR) were employed to examine these research questions and hypotheses.

Project management, market performance, and innovation were found to be significant positive explanatory variables of NPD success rates, while clarity, speed to market, product quality, and team member satisfaction were not. Two mediating variables, environmental uncertainty and firm size, did not completely mediate the impact of the cultural variables on the NPD success rate. However, the differences of organizational culture and environmental uncertainty between the two industries were identified .

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