Increased global competitions have urged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop new products faster. Virtual research and development (R&D) teams in SMEs can offer a solution to speed up time-to-market of new product development (NPD). However, factors that affect the effectiveness of virtual teams for NPD are still not adequately verified. This paper presents the correlations between virtual R&D team constructs and virtual team effectiveness by developing a “Virtual Research and Development Team” (ViR&DT) model. The items, which may influence the effectiveness of virtual teams, are taken from the literature. Through an online survey and by application of structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, the proposed model (ViR&DT) has been tested. The results suggest that the process construct is strongly correlated to the effectiveness of virtual teams. Therefore, NPD managers in virtual R&D teams should concentrate on the process of new product development rather than simply equipping the teams with the latest technology or employing highly qualified experts. Further empirical research is recommended to fully explore and appreciate the breadth of application of the ViR&DT model. This paper is a part of my PhD journey.

Nader Ale Ebrahim holds a PhD degree in Technology Management from the Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya. He holds a Master of Science in the Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran with distinguished honors. He also has over 19 years of experience in the establishment of the R&D departments in different companies, heading projects as the project director and project coordinator and implementing knowledge based system in the R&D department. His current research interest focuses on E-skills, Research Tools, Bibliometrics and managing virtual NPD teams in SMEs’ R&D centers. His papers/articles have published and presented in the several journals and conferences.

Virtual R&D teams
 
Collaborative teams,
 
questionnaires,
 
Team performance
 
cross-functional teams
 
product development
 

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