Time pacing of product development: The influence of goal clarity and autonomy

Although previous research has speculated that successful new product development processes are always time-paced, the execution of time pacing is difficult. In multigenerational product development, the development cycle of an entire product line is long and highly uncertain. Therefore, we explore how to ensure that product development moves along time pacing as viewed from the inner workings of the organization. Our research examines the relationship between minimal structures and the time pacing of product development. The results show that both the relative autonomy dimension and the interactive dimension of minimal structures have positive effects on the time pacing of product development. Furthermore, our study also shows a positive relationship between time pacing and multigenerational product development performance. We performed an empirical study and tested our hypotheses using data on Chinese firms. Our research contributes to the research of paradox management, time pacing, and multigenerational products.