Marketing platform products for successful customer outcomes: an empirical investigation of project process integration

Abstract

Purpose Cross-functional teams engage in developing platform projects which become the basis of many smaller projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine how project teams engage in front-end plan formulation and backend work implementation. This paper shows the critical linkage role of platform product practices. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the conceptual framework and research model by using a survey questionnaire for the target respondents of product development managers from the USA and Korea. After refining processes, this study determines the items for each variable for the large-scale survey. Findings Results suggest that when heavy-manager and customers are jointly or separately involved with a project team for the formation of shared team purpose and mission, then there would be differences in terms of information quality, shared team purpose and mission and the project outcomes. If the primary roles of heavyweight leadership and customer involvement are to improve information quality in terms of reduction of uncertainty and equivocality, then the project team is empowered enough to work on the formation of shared team purpose and mission on their own. Platform product practices are a linkage between front-end planning and back-end work doing which guides more specific projects with shared purpose and performance goals. Research limitations/implications As the data collection was limited to the USA and Korea, generalizability across diverse contexts requires caution. However, the findings provide meaningful insight on how to manage projects in an environment of increasing complexity and ambiguity. Practical implications This study provides interesting insight into how project teams approach platform product development. Based on the empirical test, this study shows how cross-functional teams integrate front-end project plan formulation and back-end project work implementation. This study also presents how heavyweight manager and customer involvement addresses the front-end information challenges and influence platform product practices. Originality/value This study empirically tests the role of fuzzy front planning in impacting project team success. In particular, this study highlights the dynamic relationships between heavyweight managers and customer involvement, information quality (i.e. uncertainty and equivocality), and the nature of team purpose and mission which are all crucial for effective cross-functional teamwork.