Speeding Up New Product Development: The Effects of Leadership Style and Source of Technology

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study whose purpose was to investigate factors that contribute to the faster development of new products. Edward McDonough and Gloria Barczak collected data from 30 new product development projects in 12 British companies. They investigated the impact of leadership style and the source of the technologies employed in the project (i.e., internally developed or externally acquired) on speed of development. Their results suggest that leadership style influences speed of development. Moreover, the source of the technologies used in the project moderates the relationship between leadership style and speed of development.