Title: Resource-based new product development: insights from the small car project of the Indian company TELCO

Authors: R. Venugopal

Addresses: Academy of Management Excellence, 30, Kothari Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600034, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The resource-based view of the firm (RBV) has spawned influential strategy frameworks to guide diversification and also a research stream that seeks to identify reasons for new product success and continuous innovation. This stream has borrowed the conceptualisation of the firm as a bundle of resources and made important contributions by its own right. In this paper, we present some fresh guidelines for new product development (NPD) that can result by borrowing from strategy not just the notion of a firm as a bundle of resources, but also the notions that underpin the strategy frameworks based on RBV. We illustrate with case evidence from the small car project of TELCO, India|s leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles (trucks), which has successfully diversified in recent times into passenger cars.

Keywords: automobile industry; diversification strategy; resource leverage; parenting advantage; resource-product matrix; new product development; NPD; resource-based view; RBV; small cars; TELCO; India; developing countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2005.006880

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2005 Vol.5 No.1, pp.71 - 82

Published online: 20 Apr 2005 *

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