New product development (NPD) in an alliance context crosses organizational boundaries and therefore makes team and leader empowerment and communication an ever more important topic for the successful accomplishment of NPD goals. We developed a conceptual model that addresses some key questions: Under what circumstances should the project team and leader be empowered? How much empowerment? And what effects does this have on communication and NPD performance? Using case study research, we developed a conceptual model portraying the impact of NPD project team and leader empowerment in the 'alliance focal company' (AFC - the lead company in the alliance) on the communication with a project's strategic partners, and the subsequent effects on project performance. Our model suggests that the efficiency of the development project (shortest, cheapest, and highest quality possible) is contingent upon how well the actual intensity level and the degree of media-richness of communication fit the required ones. Conversely, the actual intensity level and degree of media-richness of communication are enabled by a varying extent of team and leader empowerment, ranging from limited to significant. C 2012 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.