New product internal performance and market performance: Evidence from Spanish firms regarding the role of trust, interfunctional integration, and innovation type

This study examines the influence of the organizational climate in the marketing–R&D relationship during the new product development (NPD) process on new product performance. Two key variables—trust and interfunctional integration—serve to measure this interfunctional climate. This article distinguishes between internal and external success, such that three dimensions—“met cost goals,” “met time goals,” and “product advantage”—represent dimensions of internal success, whereas a market dimension represents external success. Furthermore, this research determines whether the type of innovation, in terms of newness, moderates relationships among these variables. According to surveys of R&D directors from 178 innovative Spanish firms that introduced 345 products, (1) trust is positively associated with interfunctional integration; (2) firms in which interfunctional integration exists obtain better cost, time, and product performance; (3) each dimension of internal success is positively associated with greater market success; and (4) newness moderates the intensity of the positive association between the met time goals and market success variables.