The role of heavyweight product manager in new product development

Purpose – This paper seeks to empirically investigate how a heavyweight product manager (HW) can impact the cross‐functional team and project performance (PP) through actively influencing the ways and the extent of strategic alignment (SA), shared project mission, and clarity of project targets in the early front‐end stage. Design/methodology/approach – Based on past studies on leadership role theory and goal‐setting theory for teams, this study hypothesizes that the role of the HW for SA of the project, shared project mission, and clarity of the project target are positively related. The study further hypothesizes that these roles of the HW can have a positive impact on PP measures such as product cost, time, and customer satisfaction. Findings – Primary data collected from 191 new product development (NPD) projects from the US automotive industry were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. All the hypotheses presented in this study regarding the role of the HW in a cross‐functional team are supported. These roles of the HW also seem to indicate a positive relationship with overall PP. Practical implications – Rather than blindly subscribing to generic and prescriptive “best practices” for the HW, the causal relationship detailed in this study makes it now possible to rationalize the role of HW in cross‐functional product development teams. Through formal and informal influence of the HW, the project and the team gain SA, shared mission, and clear project targets that can drive better PP. Originality/value – This is the first study to focus specifically on the role of HW in NPD in a cross‐functional team environment.