Collaboration in new product development using videoconferencing in entrepreneurial SMEs

Working with customers on developing new products, as transcending perspective of marketing, is of growing interest in recent years. Collaboration on new product development is recognized as beneficial to suppliers as well as customers. However, businesses are confronted with challenges on how to build and develop long-lasting collaborative relationships for innovation. Owner/managers would need to know about which platform to use as appropriate for different aspects in the relationship development. The advancement of virtual technology offers advantages in enabling customer engagement. This study explores how suppliers and customers are engaged in videoconferencing in collaborative innovation. Videoconferencing is used in both dimensions of the engagement, and to facilitate cognition and support affect which help form and cement trusting relationships when distance is a barrier. The authors explain the process of videoconference engagement by a ladder of engagement model through social networking theory in building and applying social capital