Creative Commons

The main focus of this study is the examination of the role of suppliers in the development of new product and services within a firm, not only as an external or a complementary body, but as a key partner and contributor to the whole process through close collaboration and cooperation. The study is compiled by an extended analysis of the key aspects of such an integration, from the buyer’s perspective mostly, such as timing and extend of supplier involvement and the correlation between them. A deeper insight on what is supplier involvement is also given, regarding the role of suppliers in the new product development stage and how impactful their contribution can be to the performance of the items/services produced, but also on the procedures of the NPD operations. What derived from this research is a model that best explains the supplier integration procedure from start, explaining the most critical issues that are most commonly faced and how those reflect on the total performance of this buyer - supplier venture. Starting from basic SRM operations such as selecting the best possible partner, we continue to give an insight on the inter - organizational functions among the sides involved and we conclude with potential outputs and outcomes of supplier involvement in NPD. Some real - life examples of the model are also provided through article research and gathering of secondary data.