IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v44y1998i11-part-2ps1-s18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of R&D Team Co-location on Communication Patterns among R&D, Marketing, and Manufacturing

Author

Listed:
  • Christophe Van den Bulte

    (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6371)

  • Rudy K. Moenaert

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Ghent, Hoveniersberg 4, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

Abstract

Reducing the physical distance among R&D engineers and between R&D and marketing is widely believed to result in more frequent communication, and hence higher product development performance. However, the empirical evidence for the effect of co-location on communication frequency is problematic for two reasons: (1) the evidence often features either little contextual realism or doubtful internal validity, and (2) the analysis does not deal with the statistical problems typical of network data. Our study avoids the first problem by using sequential network data collected from a quasi-experiment at an industrial company that regrouped its R&D teams into a new facility. We avoid the second problem by using Wasserman and Iacobucci's (1988) method for the statistical analysis of sequential network data. Our results show that communication among R&D teams was enhanced after co-locating these teams. Surprisingly, communication frequency between R&D and marketing was not affected by the increased physical distance. This may suggest that business procedures accompanying the relocation prevented a widening gap between R&D and marketing. Alternatively, it may indicate that the effect of co-location depends on the content and medium of the communication flows.

Suggested Citation

  • Christophe Van den Bulte & Rudy K. Moenaert, 1998. "The Effects of R&D Team Co-location on Communication Patterns among R&D, Marketing, and Manufacturing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(11-Part-2), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:44:y:1998:i:11-part-2:p:s1-s18
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.44.11.S1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.44.11.S1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.44.11.S1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    2. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    3. Morelli, Mark Damian. & Eppinger, Steven D. & Gulati, Rosaline K. & International Center for Research on the Management of Technology., 1995. "Predicting technical communication in product development organizations," Working papers 3602-95, 1995. WP (Intern, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    4. Stanley Wasserman & Dawn Iacobucci, 1988. "Sequential social network data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 53(2), pages 261-282, June.
    5. Michael L. Tushman & Ralph Katz, 1980. "External Communication and Project Performance: An Investigation into the Role of Gatekeepers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(11), pages 1071-1085, November.
    6. Mary Beth Pinto & Jeffrey K. Pinto & John E. Prescott, 1993. "Antecedents and Consequences of Project Team Cross-Functional Cooperation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(10), pages 1281-1297, October.
    7. David W. Conrath, 1973. "Communications Environment and its Relationship to Organizational Structure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4-Part-II), pages 586-603, December.
    8. Rafii, Farshad, 1995. "How important is physical collocation to product development success?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 78-84.
    9. Stanley Wasserman & Philippa Pattison, 1996. "Logit models and logistic regressions for social networks: I. An introduction to Markov graphs andp," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 401-425, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sosa, Manuel E., 2003. "Factors that influence technical communication in distributed product development : an empirical study in the telecommunications industry," Working papers WP 4123-00., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    2. Manuel E. Sosa & Steven D. Eppinger & Craig M. Rowles, 2004. "The Misalignment of Product Architecture and Organizational Structure in Complex Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(12), pages 1674-1689, December.
    3. Manuel E. Sosa & Martin Gargiulo & Craig Rowles, 2015. "Can Informal Communication Networks Disrupt Coordination in New Product Development Projects?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 1059-1078, August.
    4. Lori Rosenkopf & Paul Almeida, 2003. "Overcoming Local Search Through Alliances and Mobility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 751-766, June.
    5. Swink, Morgan L. & Sandvig, J. Christopher & Mabert, Vincent A., 1996. "Adding "zip" to product development: Concurrent engineering methods and tools," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 41-49.
    6. Tom Broekel & Wladimir Mueller, 2018. "Critical links in knowledge networks – What about proximities and gatekeeper organisations?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(10), pages 919-939, November.
    7. Goh, Shao Hung & Eldridge, Stephen, 2019. "Sales and Operations Planning: The effect of coordination mechanisms on supply chain performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 80-94.
    8. Haberstroh, Martin & Wolf, Joachim, 2005. "Individuelle Autonomie in Projektteams," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 585, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    9. Nils Grashof & Alexander Kopka, 2023. "Widening or closing the gap? The relationship between artificial intelligence, firm-level productivity and regional clusters," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2304, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    10. Fisch, Jan Hendrik, 2003. "Optimal dispersion of R&D activities in multinational corporations with a genetic algorithm," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1381-1396, September.
    11. Nils Grashof, 2019. "Firm-specific cluster effects - A meta-analysis," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 1906, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    12. Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa & Lorena Ruiz-Fernández & Eduardo Sánchez-García, 2020. "Explanatory Factors of Entrepreneurship in Food and Beverage Clusters in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-22, July.
    13. Brian T. McCann & Jeffrey J. Reuer & Nandini Lahiri, 2016. "Agglomeration and the choice between acquisitions and alliances: An information economics perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 1085-1106, June.
    14. Hoegl, Martin & Proserpio, Luigi, 2004. "Team member proximity and teamwork in innovative projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1153-1165, October.
    15. Grashof, Nils, 2020. "Putting the watering can away Towards a targeted (problem-oriented) cluster policy framework," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/4, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    16. Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Mathijs de Vaan, 2014. "The formation of economic networks: a proximity approach," Chapters, in: André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), Regional Development and Proximity Relations, chapter 7, pages 243-266, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Nils Grashof & Dirk Fornahl, 2021. "“To be or not to be” located in a cluster?—A descriptive meta-analysis of the firm-specific cluster effect," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(3), pages 541-591, December.
    18. Anders Malmberg & Peter Maskell, 2006. "Localized Learning Revisited," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 1-18, March.
    19. Cilem Hazir & Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2014. "Determinants of cross-regional R&D collaboration: some empirical evidence from Europe in biotechnology," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(2), pages 369-393, September.
    20. Nils Grashof, 2020. "Spill over or Spill out? - A multilevel analysis of the cluster and firm performance relationship," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2013, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Mar 2020.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:44:y:1998:i:11-part-2:p:s1-s18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.