Author(s)

Zu’bi M. F. Al-Zu’bi^*

School of Business, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of collaboration with suppliers and lead users in new product development (NPD) on innovation behavior. Such collaborations are regarded as advanced forms of external alliances. Survey data from two hundred and fifty-two manufacturing companies were collected from the European Union. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that both suppliers’ and lead users’ collaboration in NPD significantly affected innovation behavior. Lead users’ collaboration showed higher impact on innovation behavior compared with suppliers’ collaboration.

Suppliers Collaboration, Lead Users Collaboration, External Alliances, Innovation Behavior, EU

Al-Zu’bi, Z. (2016) Investigating the Effect of External Alliances on Innovation Behavior in the European Union Industrial Sector. American Journal of Operations Research, 6, 105-112. doi: 10.4236/ajor.2016.62013.