Can objects provide a means to support effective management of new product development?

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature on communication and interaction in new product development (NPD) and boundary objects (BOs). The role and perception of BOs to span internal boundaries, such as functional and hierarchical are investigated with an exploratory study in a medium-sized, high technology firm. This paper, first gives the motivation for exploring BOs in NPD. Then the relevant schools of thoughts are introduced and research gaps in the prior knowledge are identified. This is followed by an exploratory empirical study which aimed to investigate the perception and role of BOs in NPD in practice and to better understand their importance. Findings from the empirical study indicated that in the context of incremental innovation and structured stage-gate NPD process, stakeholders perceive BOs primarily as documents to support the NPD process and build managerial confidence. NPD process mandated the creation of many documents that whilst helping the firm span hierarchical boundaries, were less effective across functional boundaries. Thus, much time and effort expanded on reporting and approval and less on integration between functions. These findings emphasised the need for supporting the management of NPD process with more effective BOs. Future work further to address the issue concludes the paper.