Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2017

Abstract

Previous research and literature highlight the factors that influence the success and failure of delivering new product development (NPD) to achieve back-end innovation. In particular, previous research identifies the key importance of executive sponsorship/championship on the success of back-end innovation by delivering NPD. Despite this key finding, NPD delivery continues to fail even with executive sponsorship/championship engagement. Stewardship is a construct that executive sponsors/champions use to ensure that the NPD delivery is aligned with the best interests of the organization and its stakeholders. The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of how stewardship affects the sponsorship/championship role and affects the delivery of NPD to achieve back-end innovation. To address this phenomenological gap in the innovation, product management, and stewardship literature, a qualitative inquiry was conducted to explain stewardship from the perspective of senior management roles in new product development projects and how it contributes to its successful delivery of innovation. Semi-structured interviews with individuals who have worked with or have served as executive sponsors/champions in small, medium, and large U.S. organizations in the service-based industry were conducted to understand their "lived" experiences in delivering new products. Their responses reveal that successful delivery of NPD is influenced by a stewardship capability expressed as acting with transparency, cultivating high performing team, building strong relationships/networks, and through a unique combination of perspectives forming a new phenomenon named "Panterprise Perspective" that are employed by both the sponsors/champions and the teams.

Keywords

consumer behavior, communication in marketing, Weatherhead School of Management, stewardship, new product development, sponsor, champion, back-end innovation, panterprise, collectivism, transparency, trust, strong networks, relationship, social capital, psychological safety, shared objectives, high-performing teams, communication.

Rights

© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Department/Center

Design & Innovation

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