Moderating roles of organizational inertia and project duration in the NPD process: an empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically validate the moderating roles of organizational inertia and project duration in the new high‐tech product development process. Design/methodology/approach – The study methodology involved two phases, viz. exploratory and descriptive. The exploratory phase, with the support of a focused literature survey, has resulted in a theoretical framework, which got later validated through the survey based empirical phase. Findings – The study results suggest that organizational learning and absorptive capacity could trigger a firm's technology acquisition intent, which in turn could increase the firm's propensity to new product commercialization. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, the study results did not support firm size as an antecedent to the firm's technology acquisition intent. Further, while the project duration is found to negatively moderate the technology acquisition intent to new product commercialization relationship, the study results did not support the moderating effect of organizational inertia on the same. Practical implications – The study findings suggest that segmenting technology market based on firm size may not be an appropriate marketing strategy; instead organizational factors, viz. organizational learning and absorptive capacity, should be taken as the basis of high‐tech market segmentation. Further, the study has provided the much needed empirical support to the new high‐tech product development process by explaining the moderating effects of organizational inertia and project duration on the relationship between technology acquisition intent and new product commercialization. Originality/value – The present study is one among those rare empirical investigations that explained the role of organizational variables in the new high‐tech product development process. In addition, the study provides the marketing practitioners the basis of segmentation for high technology markets.