Market Knowledge Dimensions and Cross-Functional Collaboration: Examining the Different Routes to Product Innovation Performance

Executive Summary The argument that market knowledge and cross-functional collaboration enhance product innovation performance has gained wide acceptance among scholars and managers. In this study, the authors use contingency theory and knowledge-based arguments to support this conclusion but, at the same time, qualify it in several ways. In particular, they complement extant knowledge with two main sets of findings. First, they distinguish among different dimensions of market knowledge (i.e. breadth, depth, and specificity and tacitness) and analyze their differential value for product innovation performance. Second, they investigate how formal knowledge integration mechanisms (i.e., use of documentation,…