The Marketing/R&D Interface during the New Product Development Process (NPDP): A Re-Conceptualisation

Marketing's cross-functional relationships (CFRs) have received increasing attention from

researchers (Hutt 1995, Fisher, Maltz and Jaworski 1997, Workman, Homburg and Gruner

1998, Song, Xie and Dyer 2000, Dawes and Massey 2000). Webster (1997) has suggested

that the ability to manage relationships - both internal (cross-functional) and external

(strategic partners) will be a necessary skill for marketing managers in the future. It is the

contention of this thesis that nowhere is this ability to effectively manage cross-functional

working relationships between participants more important than in the new product

development process (NPDP) of organizations. Unfortunately, empirical evidence suggests

that this key corporate activity is very problematic in nature with the ultimate result often

being unsuccessful new products and extremely poor relations between cross-functional

participants (Souder 1981, 1988). This paper aims to develop a better understanding of the

antecedents and consequences of collaborative cross-functional working relationships

between the two main decision actors in the process, the marketing manager and the R&D

manager. Specifically, this paper attempts to add to and refine the extant knowledge

regarding the vital marketing an technical (e.g., R&D, engineering) cross-functional

working relationship (CFR) from a socio-psychological perspective by better integrating the

concepts of interpersonal trust and collaboration into a new conceptualisation of the CFR

between the two key functional decision makers.