Breakthrough R&D Stakeholders: The Challenges of Legitimacy in Highly Uncertain Projects

We studied the management of internal R&D stakeholders and their involvement dynamics in breakthrough R&D projects. Building on a longitudinal research partnership with a global car manufacturer since 2005, this research highlights the important dynamics of involvement among internal R&D stakeholders in the engineering development organization. Some stakeholders—who served as experts, innovation design strategists, or internal collaboration strategists—succeeded in involving the individuals needed for the project's progress, sometimes generating an over-commitment. The success of the rationale of these stakeholders on engineering resource involvement depended on the perceived legitimacy of their owners.