External Learning and New Product Performance: The Moderating Role of Knowledge Base and Market Forces

Description

This project aims to understand the role of external learning in emerging economies and its possible boundary conditions. Building on knowledge-based view and absorptive capability perspective, we propose that external learning contributes significantly to new product performance; however, its positive effect is conditional on firms’ knowledge base and market forces. In particular, we propose that the effect of external learning on NPD performance depends on firms’ knowledge base. We distinguish between two features of knowledge: knowledge breadth and knowledge depth. Knowledge depth strengthens the positive effect of external learning on new product performance, whereas knowledge breadth may be both a facilitator of and barrier to new product development success. We further propose that external learning has a stronger positive effect on product performance when competition intensity is high rather than low. However, external learning has a weaker effect on product performance when demand uncertainty is high rather than low. This project will carry important managerial implications for how firms can achieve NPD success by learning from others.