R&D and marketing integration in NPD in the pharmaceutical industry

Reports exploratory research focusing on this neglected area based on semi‐structured interviews with R&D and marketing managers of major international pharmaceutical companies. Major findings include the fact that few of the responding companies integrate marketing and R&D in the formulation of product development strategy which is a considerable source of resentment between the marketing and R&D functions. Also, whilst the move from functional specialisation to cross‐functional therapeutic teams is effective in focusing NPD activity and delivering projects on time, they ignore innovative opportunities that are not directly related to the project. External specialist companies are an increasingly important source of innovation and the ability to manage them effectively is essential for maintaining competitive advantage in the pharmaceutical industry.