Title: Emerging markets firms' catch-up strategy in new product development: cases from Chinese companies

Authors: Crystal X. Jiang; Qin Yang; Sangcheol Song; Madan Annavarjula

Addresses: College of Business, Bryant University, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, RI 02917, USA ' School of Business, Robert Morris University, 6001 University Blvd., Moon Township, PA 15108, USA ' Saint Joseph's University, Haub School of Business, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA ' College of Business, Bryant University, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, RI 02917, USA

Abstract: To catch up with their counterparts in global competition, emerging market firms (EMFs) need to build their innovative capabilities for new product development (NPD). Drawing on internationalisation and knowledge management perspectives, we extend Mathews' (2006) 'linkage-leverage-learning' (LLL) framework and present an exploratory analysis of how Chinese firms as an example of EMFs overcome their resource disadvantages and exploit internationalisation opportunities in facilitating their NPD. We suggest that to enhance their NPD, Chinese firms first need to exploit external resources through linking with domestic governments and industrial clusters. Second, Chinese firms should learn from their foreign subsidiaries and hire heterogeneous R&D personnel to facilitate their NPD. Third, top management team members acting as product champions can help Chinese firms leverage their valuable resources in support of their NPD activities. This article contributes to the extant literature by identifying key drivers that facilitate the NPD of Chinese firms.

Keywords: emerging markets; new product development; NPD; linkage; leverage; learning; China; catch-up strategy; innovative capabilities; innovation; internationalisation; knowledge management; external resources; domestic governments; industrial clusters; foreign subsidiaries; R&D personnel; research development; top management teams; product champions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2016.077578

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.324 - 339

Received: 07 Mar 2015
Accepted: 03 Sep 2015
Published online: 06 Jul 2016 *

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