Examining new product development project termination decision quality at the portfolio level: Consequences of dysfunctional executive advocacy

Thomas G. Lechler, Janice L. Thomas

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Articlepeer-review

    32 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    When to terminate a new product development (NPD) project is an important economic decision and an interesting managerial dilemma. To date research examining NPD termination decisions has been largely focused on the single project level examining the impact of formal termination decision processes. This study examines these decisions at the organizational level exploring the impact of both executive advocacy behaviors and organizational context on the quality of 150 termination decisions in 40 German R&D units of pharmaceutical companies. We confirm that adopting termination decision processes such as formal decision criteria and decision committees has positive influences on the quality of the termination decision. However, our results also demonstrate that dysfunctional executive advocacy behavior has a greater negative influence on the quality of project termination decision suggesting that, while organizational governance components can and should be used to mediate executive behaviors, these factors alone will not ensure high quality NPD termination decisions.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1452-1463
    Number of pages12
    JournalInternational Journal of Project Management
    Volume33
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct. 2015

    Keywords

    • Executive advocacy
    • New product development
    • Pet projects
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Portfolio management
    • Structural equation modeling
    • Termination decision

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