Collaborative Customers and Partners: The Ups and Downs of Their Influence on Firm Technology Competence for New Product Development

High technology organizations benefit from collaborative contributions of current customers, lead users, and major suppliers. New knowledge from these stakeholders propel firms to push technology competence for new product development. However, collaborations with these entities may also negatively impact the firm’s technology competence. Using data collected from high technology manufacturers, a model is tested which analyzes both curvilinear and linear influences on competence. Results support the curvilinear influence of lead user collaboration on technology competence, as well as positive linear influences of customer and supplier collaboration. Subsequently, we find technology competence has a positive influence on firm performance.