顧客參與、產品創新程度與組織間關係對新產品開發績效之影響

The impacts of customer participation, product innovativeness and inter-organization relationship on NPD performance

黃錦華(Chin-Hua Huang)

指導教授 ： 林明杰

國立中央大學/管理學院/企業管理學系/博士(2012年)

摘要

處於商業環境日趨複雜的時代，許多企業已體認到持續成功地推出新產品，才能確保在市場上存活與成長，「顧客參與」為影響新產品開發成功的關鍵要素之一。然而，過去有關「顧客參與」對「新產品開發績效」影響的實證研究呈現出不一致的結果，此研究現象顯示需要進一步探討「顧客參與」的貢獻。
過去許多研究顯示「顧客參與」對「新產品開發績效」有正向影響；然而，部份研究發現密集的「顧客參與」並非總是產生好的結果，甚至會產生負向影響。本研究依據行銷、創新管理、與知識基礎觀點等文獻歸納出新產品開發主要分為兩種顧客參與方式：「提供資訊」與「共同開發」，並提出此兩種顧客參與方式會受到不同的「產品創新程度」，對「新產品開發績效」造成不同的影響。進一步來說，「提供資訊的顧客參與」配合「低產品創新程度」的情況下，會有較佳的「新產品開發績效」；另外，「共同開發的顧客參與」配合「高產品創新程度」的情況下，會有較佳的「新產品開發績效」。
另一方面，行銷與創新管理等文獻指出，企業採取「顧客參與」的方式進行新產品開發時會產生不同的績效結果，主要牽涉到企業與顧客間是否有建立緊密的雙方關係，「顧客參與」需要建立緊密的雙方關係下，才會產生較好的績效。本研究根據此論點並結合社會網絡文獻提出兩種「顧客參與」方式，皆會透過企業與顧客雙方間建立緊密的「組織間關係」後，進而能提升「新產品開發績效」。
為證實上述所提出的論述，本研究進行兩個實證研究與建立相關的研究假說，針對台灣179家高科技製造公司進行問卷調查，並以結構方程模式分析。研究一的研究結果顯示「提供資訊的顧客參與」在「低產品創新程度」情況下，對「新產品開發績效」的影響較佳；相反的，「提供資訊的顧客參與」在「高產品創新程度」情況下，對「新產品開發績效」的影響會變差。在「共同開發的顧客參與」方面，研究結果證實「共同開發的顧客參與」在「低產品創新程度」情況下，對「新產品開發績效」的影響會變差；然而，「共同開發的顧客參與」在「高產品創新程度」情況下，對「新產品開發績效」的影響較佳。本研究證明探討「顧客參與」對「新產品開發績效」影響時，需要考慮「產品創新程度」的情境因素。研究二方面，研究結果證實兩種顧客參與方式對「新產品開發績效」有正向影響之外，該兩種顧客參與方式亦會透過「組織間關係」來提升「新產品開發績效」，此研究結果指出在顧客參與高科技製造公司的新產品開發過程中，若能建立緊密的顧客與供應商關係時，更能增進「新產品開發績效」，本研究證明探討「顧客參與」對「新產品開發績效」影響時，亦須考慮「組織間關係」的中介效果。
本研究證實在探討「顧客參與」與「新產品開發績效」間關係應考量「產品創新程度」的調節角色與「組織間關係」的中介角色，此研究結果有助於解決過去探討「顧客參與」之影響所產生的不一致情況。

關鍵字

產品創新程度 ； 顧客參與 ； 組織間關係 ； 效能 ； 效率

並列摘要

The increasing complexity of business environment today has forced firms to successfully develop new products for growth and survival. Customer participation has been recognized as a critical factor in pursuit of new product success. However, the impact of customer participation on new product development performance has yielded conflicting results in the previous empirical studies. This implies a need for further investigating the contribution of customer participation.
The major thrust of extant literature shows the positive effect of customer participation on NPD performance; however, part of research report that customer participation does not always lead to desirable performance. Drawing on marketing, innovation management, and knowledge-based view literatures, the research finds out that customer participation concerning the NPD context distinguishes two forms: customer participation as an information resource (CPI) and customer participation as a codeveloper (CPC). Moreover, the research proposes that the relationships between the two forms of customer participation and NPD performance are contingent upon product innovativeness. In particular, CPI is more useful for new products with a low degree of innovativeness while CPC is more appropriate for new products with a high degree of innovativeness.
On the other hand, the literature on marketing and innovation management indicates that customer participation in NPD activities requires the establishment of close relationships between firms and customers for superior performance. The research proposes that the two forms of customer participation positively affect NPD performance through close inter-organizational relationships based on social network theory.
A sample of 179 high-tech firms in Taiwan is collected and two empirical studies are analyzed by structural equation modeling. In study one, the results show that the impact of CPI on NPD performance is strengthen in the low degree of product innovativeness while the impact of CPI on NPD performance is weaken in the high degree of product innovativeness. In addition, the results reveals that the impact of CPC on NPD performance is weaken when the degree of product innovativeness is low, whereas the impact of CPC on NPD performance is strengthen when the degree of product innovativeness is high. The research verifies the moderating role of product innovativeness on the relationship between the two forms of customer participation and NPD performance.
The results of Study two confirm not only the direct relationship between customer participation and NPD performance, but also the mediating effect of inter-organizational relationships on the link between customer participation and NPD performance. The finding suggests that firms should build strong relationships with customers during NPD cooperation, which can enhance NPD performance.
The research demonstrates that research for investigating the linkage between customer participation and NPD performance should consider either the mediating role of inter-organizational relationships or the moderating role of product innovativeness, which may help resolve the contradictory results obtained by researchers on the contributions of customer participation.

並列關鍵字

customer participation ； product innovativeness ； inter-organizational relationship ； effectiveness ； efficiency

參考文獻

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