New product development proficiency and multi‐country product rollout timeliness

The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in the understanding of the indirect effects of marketing and technical factors on time efficiency in developing a new product and international new product launch.

This paper adopts a contingency perspective in examining the relationships between antecedents and on‐time completion (or timeliness) of new product development (NPD) and international new product rollout (INPR). A conceptual framework is tested based on data obtained on 232 NPD projects undertaken by Korean firms.

The results show that NPD proficiencies mediate to a greater or lesser extent the effects of key antecedents (e.g. cross‐functional linkages, project fit with available marketing resources, and effective coordination of headquarters‐subsidiary/agents' activities) on timeliness in NPD and INPR.

Empirical research on the role of marketing and technical proficiencies in improving NPD timeliness and rollout timeliness in the context of international NPD affirms the importance of adopting a contingency perspective in examining the antecedents of NPD and multi‐market entry timeliness.

This paper lends insight into the role of overseas subsidiaries or agents in helping to build the technical proficiencies of emerging country companies.

This is the first review focusing on the mediating influences on time dimensions (e.g. timeliness) in multi‐country product launches.