Here is a method to do what your wanting to do. Adjust the code to reflect your files.
This is for Office 2000, you will need to check for your version of MS Office for the correct Registry path settings. I use a registry call in case the user has installed to another location and or a different drive.

code:

---

$WP = READVALUE("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\InstallRoot", "path")
$LW = $WP+"Winword.exe d:\temp\mynew.dot"
RUN $LW

---

HTH...