The Role of Business Relationships in New Product Development. The Case of Antrox-Nel Design

This paper focuses on the study of a new product development process in business-to-business setting. By adopting a case study research strategy, the main findings show how the evolution of a business relationship influences the whole product development process. The research also clearly shows how business relationships initiated from pre-existing social relationships tend evolve continuously, better adapting to the external environment and regenerating more easily compared to relationships established just for economic exchange. In addition, a novel product has been conceived that integrates lighting and architectural elements and exploiting a shared model of production. The result is an enrichment of design values and an increase of both turnovers.