Resource Management Processes of External Knowledge Resources: External Designers in Product Development Projects

Resource management processes that lead to value creation for customers are not yet fully understood. This paper sheds light on managerial decisions regarding the processes of structuring, bundling and leveraging of external resources that possess knowledge necessary for new product development projects. A model is proposed that illustrates the functioning of management processes of external resources and the mix of knowledge that managers draw on to guarantee commercial success of products. Results from a qualitative study on 16 firms show that structuring an open portfolio of external knowledge resources, bundling those that possess both design technical expertise and knowledge about customer needs and involving them throughout all the phases of development projects lead to the creation of value for customers.