Impact of technological uncertainty in supplier selection for NPD collaborations: literature review and a case study

This paper combines a literature review and a case study of supplier selection for new product development (NPD) collaboration to illustrate the impact of technological uncertainty and how firms cope with it. In the review, 21 relevant papers were found after an extensive search. The case study is based on an NPD project to select suppliers for a cable for high voltage transmissions, transporting energy from wind farms at sea to stations located on land. The literature review reveals that supplier selection for NPD under technological uncertainty is indeed problematic. It is not clear from the literature review how firms should select suppliers. Some studies point towards the importance of prior collaborations while others suggest that firms should search for new suppliers and broaden their network. There are a number of aspects that our literature review does not tell us, and consequently we provide suggestions for future research