Research on impact of supplier innovativeness on manufactures´ new product development

Supplier innovativeness is the key factor of supplier involvement in new product development. This paper examines the relationship between supplier innovativeness and manufactures´ new product development. For this purpose, we put forward a conceptual model which includes supplier innovativeness, relationship interaction; supplier development, new product development performance, and then the theoretical hypothesis are given. A large-sample survey is conducted on the basis of 238 Chinese manufacturers. The empirical research results using structural equation modeling method indicate that supplier innovativeness has no directly influence on new product development performance, relationship interaction and supplier development plays a fully mediating role between supplier innovativeness and new product development performance. Our study provides the theoretical support for the manufactures to use supplier innovativeness effectively. Finally, implications and the opportunities of future research were discussed.