Unlocking effective coordination: A knowledge-based multilevel perspective on supplier integration into product development

Abstract

Supplier integration into product development (SIPD) provides better access to the specialized knowledge of suppliers but brings about interdependencies and difficulties related to effective coordination. The literature implicitly assumes that coordination in SIPD can be understood and resolved through a single-level view. This article challenges this assumption and argues for simultaneous attention to knowledge interdependencies at the product, supplier, and buyer–supplier levels. Component modularity, supplier knowledge modularity, and knowledge complementarity are focal concepts at each respective level. Theorizing from a knowledge-based multilevel perspective, this article constructs a typology of effective coordination. Interrelationships among the concepts reveal patterns of required coordination embedded in the system before product development, enabling partners to effectively direct coordination efforts during development. The framework exposes a dilemma overlooked in the single-level coordination view. For example, when there is low component modularity and high supplier knowledge modularity (i.e., opposing forces for and against coordination), it is difficult to reason how to coordinate SIPD. Proposing that each high/low modularity configuration calls for a specific type of knowledge complementarity, this article contributes to resolving this dilemma.