A research note on intra- and inter-organizational postponement in the new product development process

Several cases reported in literature report that postponement in the new product development process reduces uncertainty making the new product development process more efficient. The research underlying this article tested the principle of postponement qualitatively as answer to reducing uncertainty in a dyadic company setting between supplier and client. It was found that, even so the client company uses postponement internally in their new product development process, it would not implement a postponement strategy incorporating suppliers. Thus, the study suggest the following remarkable conclusion: Despite the fact that postponement was developed as an interorganizational concept in distribution and that it is used in intraorganizational settings in new product development processes, a case study suggests that it is only partial suitable as an interorganizational concept in new product development settings. The �second Toyota paradox� could not be implemented in a comparable managerial setting. Different tools for uncertainty management in the front-end of innovation have to be found. Thus the information mining and decision making in the start of the NPD, the so called front-end of innovation, has to be done as well as possible, to reduce uncertainties as early as possible.