Supplier Involvement in New Product Development

Supplier involvement in new product development (NPD) has received significant attention in the operations management literature. Based on a thorough meta-analysis of correlations for papers published in operations management journals from 1989 to 2014, this study assesses the performance implications of supplier involvement in NPD. The analysis at the aggregate level indicates a significant positive relationship between supplier involvement and overall NPD performance. However, the analysis also indicates that this relationship may be contingent on the presence of various moderating factors. Further, the detailed analysis suggests that it is important to understand that certain supplier involvement dimensions do not simultaneously affect all performance dimensions. This study highlights the dimensions of supplier involvement with the greatest impact, emphasizes the importance of considering moderating factors in future investigations, and identifies areas of future research on the topic.