The effect of experienced R&D teams on producing unique products: analysis of 140 small and medium-sized high-Tech start-ups in China

ABSTRACT

The effect of R&D teams on new product development has been recognised, but debates remain regarding the influence of experienced R&D teams on product uniqueness. This study identifies the type of experience attribute in R&D teams and how it can influence product uniqueness using a sample of 140 Chinese small and medium-sized high-tech start-ups. Results indicate that a U-shaped relationship occurs between R&D team experience depth, breadth, and product uniqueness, and the curvilinear relationship between R&D team experience depth and product uniqueness can be weakened by the degree of executive embeddedness. It suggests that the embeddedness of top managers and the organic composition of team members’ experience attributes should be emphasised to develop unique products.

KEYWORDS:

• New product development
• R&D team
• team diversity
• executive embeddedness

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Senior Lecture Stephen Xu Zhang at the University of Sydney and Dr. Yameng Zhang at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University for their extraordinary suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liangxing He

Liangxing He is currently an Assistant Professor at School of Business Administration, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics. He is also a Fellow of the Entrepreneurship Research Center of Nankai University. He received his Ph.D. from Nankai University. He was also a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney. His research interests focus on entrepreneurship cognition, product innovation. His work has appeared in both book chapters and journals, such as the Academy of Management Proceedings, Chinese Management Studies. He got the best paper award from the 2019 Academy of Management Annual Meeting. He has severed as a reviewer for some journals and top management associations.

Leven J. Zheng

Leven Jianwen Zheng holds Ph.D. degree at International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Management School, University of Liverpool. His is also a senior visiting researcher at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on international business strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship and digitalisation in emerging markets. He got several best paper awards from the Academy of Management Annual Meeting. His research has appeared in the top conferences and journals, such as AOM (2019, 2018), European Academy of International Business, the Academy of Management Proceedings, Asian Business & Management. He also got a Nominated for Best Paper Prize from Strategic Management Society (SMS) 2020. He has severed as a reviewer for some journals.

Yulin Wu

Yulin Wu is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Business School, the University of Sydney. His research interests focus on international business and entrepreneurship.

Chia-Huei Wu

Chia-Huei Wu is currently an Assistant Professor at Institute of Service Industries and Management, Minghsin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. She received Ph.D. degree in Technology Management from University of Chung Hua. Dr. Wu has well over 50 published peer-reviewed journal articles. Her recent research interests in technology management, consumer behaviour, e-commerce and big data. She is serving on the editorial boards of some journals.

Wei Liu

Wei Liu is currently the Distinguished Professor at Business School, Qingdao University. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). He received Ph.D. from the University of Sydney. Professor Liu’s current research broadly covers corporate social responsibility, green innovation, and strategic management. His research has appeared in journals including Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Emerging Markets Review, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Finance Research Letters, and others. He has received a number of awards and honours such as Academy of Management Annual Meeting GWU-CIBER Best Paper (Finalist), Academy of International Business Annual Meeting Best Paper (Finalist).