Proactive customer orientation and joint learning capabilities in collaborative machine to machine innovation technology development: the case study of automotive equipment manufacturer

Research background: There is a considerable amount of literature focused on customers’ motivation to participate in cooperative new product development [NPD], but previous research neglected the suppliers’ perspective concerning organizational mechanisms for the facilitation of customer involvement in cooperative new product development. Purpose of the article: The aim of the study is to explore the influence of two kinds of dynamic capabilities, proactive customer orientation [PCO] and joint learning capability [JLC] on the acceptance and use of machine to machine interaction [M2M] in collaborative innovation development [CID], from the supplier’s perspective. Methods: The research is based on a case study carried out from June 2018 till June 2019 of a Polish automation integrator supplying a manufacturer of automotive equipment, i.e. automotive industry, in a fully robotized workstation. In order to understand how the company functions in this case, in-depth interviews with the company’s employees have been conducted. Findings & Value added: The results revealed that intelligent devices, interacting machines, and real-time data transfer to the supplier may cause disruptions through their impact on establishing trustful business relationships. We believe our findings could have a profound impact on the way how proactive customer orientation and relational interactions supported knowledge sharing and joint learning sense-making through operational meetings and on-the-job workshops which role was to evaluate the collaborative project.