Sourcing technology from suppliers in new product development – Purchasing’s role as a trouble shooter

Although the benefits of involving suppliers in new product development (NPD) under technological uncertainty are not unambiguously affirmed, many firms need to involve suppliers under these circumstances anyway as not all technological knowledge resides within the firm. Previous research argues that purchasing fulfils an important role in involving the suppliers in NPD. However, purchasing’s role under technological uncertainty has not been investigated in detail. The purpose of this paper is to explore purchasing’s role in technology selection, supplier selection and level of participation in NPD projects involving technology suppliers. Three NPD projects at one large hightech firm are studied. It is shown that purchasing had limited influence in the technology selection process. Furthermore, the results show that purchasing fulfils an important role in the supplier selection. More importantly, this paper identifies that purchasing has a role as a trouble-shooter throughout the collaborative NPD projects. Purchasing does not necessarily need to be a member of the project team, and be involved in solving daily, routine problems, but serves as a trouble-shooter to solve major problems related to the supplier’s strategy, the relationship with the supplier and commitment issues.