today's knowledge based economy, the information as well as the information flows are increasingly

important issues, and ultimately, a major determinant of firm performance. Information is the most
important asset that a business owns and, increasingly, is the key source of competitive advantage for a
firm. For the high technology firms, which face an environment characterized by frequent innovation, high
mortality rates, high priority on research and development, and stiff competition, the management of
information is particularly crucial. These unique characteristics necessarily imply that the management
and control of information is a prerequisite to success (Mohr, 1996). 

The economic value of information has been well explored in the transaction costs approach to IS design
(Boisot, 1987; Ciborra, 1987; Ciborra and Olson, 1989). It is developed from the fundamental work of
Williamson (1975) where Information Systems (IS) are seen as facilitating transactions between entities.
In particular, the effect of asymmetries in information possessed by the two entities and the limited
capacity of decision makers for rational behaviour are characterised as major factors in dysfunction of
organisations. Williamson's concern was for economic analysis of firms through their use of information in
carrying out market-type transactions and making buy-make decisions. Ciborra (1987) uses the
transaction cost approach in IS to explain behaviour such as retention of information, misrepresentation of
information, and resistance to change. The traditional 'decision-maker' model of authors such as Keen
and Scott (1978) suggests that decisions are normally made by firms in a rational manner on the basis of
formal information. This model is rejected by Ciborra (1987) because of its lack of consideration of all the
stakeholders involved in the decision, as well as some well-reported characteristics of decision making
such as the reliance on 'informal' information (Mintzberg, 1973). 

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2. MIS AND NEW HIGH TECH PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT 

The survival of firms in today's business world is increasingly determined by their success in new product
development. More than one third of a high tech firm's revenue comes from those products that did not
exist five years ago. The high tech firms are those that invest heavily on research and development for
generating technological capability, targeting product cum process innovations. The unique
characteristics of high tech firms, driven by high complexity and high uncertainty, create very complex
demands on information flows as high tech environments tend to be information intensive, in which both
the amount of information is large and the speed of information transmission is fast. While the complexity
refers to the degree of multiple skills and competencies required to develop a new product, the
uncertainty is a central aspect of managing the product innovation process in general (Nambisan, 2003).
Egelhoff (1988) states that uncertainty at the NPD project level means that more information processing
and coordination are required to maintain integration between the project functions. 

The roots of the New High Tech Product Development (NPD) field can be traced to the R&D and
engineering management literatures of the 1960s and early 1970s (Nambisan, 2003). These two domains
gave early NPD research a project cum innovation-management orientation. Initially, the primary focus
was on managing and executing the R&D activity. However, as the need for the customer/market focus in
NPD activities increased over the next decade, the marketing discipline also became a key contributor to
NPD research. Themes such as the voice of the customer and lead user brought fresh insights to NPD.
An increased emphasis was also placed on the organizational processes and communication that
underlie product development. Consequently, organization theories became relevant (Nambisan, 2003).
The organizational perspective elicited many issues related to NPD processes and activities including
team structure and building, leadership, recognition and reward systems, team culture, conflict
management, group decision making, and communication. 

The extant NPD literature signifies the economic value of information (Krogh et al, 2001; Madhavan and
Grover, 1998; Nambisan, 2003). Nambisan (2003) reported that the Management Information System
(MIS) could be a reference discipline for NPD if it offers context-specific adapted theories, models, and
concepts. There are two major reasons for choosing NPD as the context to demonstrate the promise of IS
as a reference discipline. First, NPD is an interdisciplinary, applied field with a clearly defined research
focus and agenda. It has its own professional organization (Product Development and Management
Association), journals (Journal of Product Innovation Management, Visions), and conferences. Like the
IS, NPD is a relatively young field of study and has drawn extensively from other management areas. If
the IS is to serve as a reference discipline, it will be easier for it to contribute to fields of similar maturity
than to more established fields such as marketing. The recent rapid infusion of Information Technology in
product development activities also makes potential contributions from MIS. Second, as Nambisan (2003)
argued, by establishing itself as a reference discipline for NPD, MIS will signal its ability to contribute to
disciplines closely tied with NPD. 

However, the arguments of Krogh et al (2001) and Nambisan (2003) are contested by a few contributions
by authors viz. Culnan and Swanson (1986) and Tozer (1986), whose contention is that the NPD is a
customer voice driven process wherein the role of MIS is limited to the operational processes rather than
the expertise required for any integration or dissemination of information across different units of an
organization. It is in this context that the present study, which is basically exploratory in nature, assumes
significance. 

3. STUDY METHODOLOGY 

Case study method was employed for addressing the research gap by resorting to seven carefully chosen
case studies specific to the Indian context. The case study is an appropriate method of data collection for
pursuing the present research as it facilitates an empirical inquiry that helps investigate a contemporary
phenomenon within its real-life context, wherein the boundaries between phenomenon and context are
not framed as high tech industry segment of India as it signifies both high complexity and high
uncertainty. The specific cases chosen are from seven firms that were spread across the various
Information Technology clusters of India. There are 26 research variables (antecedents to MIS adoption
in NPD), which got evolved through the initial phase of the exploratory study. The responses were
collected from the product champions (i.e. the managers who headed the NPD projects in the seven
chosen firms). The data collected on the Likert scales (ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 representing 'not at all
important', 2 representing 'not important', 3 representing 'Neutral option', 4 representing 'important' and 5
representing 'very important') are summarised in Table-1. For ensuring the confidentiality of the firms
(from where the perception based responses were collected), the cases are all disguised. 

4. DISCUSSION ON THE RESULTS 

Although the chosen case studies refer to the firms that are similar in dimension and settings, they
represent different ways of managing, exploiting and nourishing information for attaining the competitive
advantage. However, their organisational strategy, structure and culture are in agreement with ideal
characteristics of high technology firms. The twenty-five antecedents to MIS adoption in NPD are given in
Column-2 of the Table-1. The possibility of the overlaps between / across variables have carefully been
tried to get minimised in the exploratory phase itself. Mean values of the ratings received across all the
seven cases have been reckoned as the indicators to the overall importance of the antecedents
influencing the MIS adoption in the NPD process. 

Out of the 25 antecedents to MIS adoption in NPD, there are 14 variables (Complexity in information
exchange, Coordination across the functional areas, Rapid change(s) in technology, Acquired NPD
capability by the firm, Concern to product quality, Concern to product performance, Time-to-market
delivery, After-sales support, Competition, Firm-level strategic intent, Role of Product Champions,
Acquired level of process efficiency, Role of new product goals, and Role of Centralization to the MIS),
which indicate their significant roles in the process of MIS adoption across various stages of NPD. These
variables should lead us to the build up of a theoretical research framework with propositions for
explaining the role of MIS adoption in NPD. 

It is clear that the seven antecedent variables viz. Risk-taking attitude of the firm, Intended price-point,
Intended promotional support to new product launch, Managerial expertise, Innovation capability,
Importance of external information, and Reusability of available information are worth taking up for further
description in the next stage of the research. Also, the role of the four antecedents, viz. Short-term
orientation, Project Management Capability, and Role of established procedures, and Rapid change(s) in
procedures across various stages of NPD are assessed to be having less importance in determining the
role of MIS in NPD. 

5. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 

There is of course the generic limitation to the present study. The use of case study method and the
choice of specific cases might have perhaps influenced the outcome of the exploratory stage of our
research. However, it is worthwhile here to note that the standard deviation across the mean ratings of
the chosen cases is very low, i.e.0.2693, which also indicates the soundness of the exploratory research
design and methodology employed in the present study. The outcome of the exploratory phase of the
study is indeed encouraging, which has influenced us to proceed with the descriptive stage for large scale
industry validation specific to the high tech industry segment of India. 

6. CONCLUSION 

A systematic approach to preparing MIS norms specific to NPD domain assumes considerable merit in
high-tech industry segments. Serious industry validation in this direction is expected to contribute
significant insights to industry practice. In order to mediate between the differing perspectives present in
the extant literature, we initiated an exploratory research with a specific reference to the high tech industry
segment of India. In addition to the identification of the antecedents to MIS adoption in MIS, the study is
also successful in arriving at a theoretical framework with key constructs for explaining the role of MIS in
new high-tech product development process. The framework once validated would help us identify the
critical factors that would influence the MIS adoption intention across the high-tech firms.