The Intellectual Structure of Product Innovation Research: A Bibliometric Study of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, 1984–2004

Product innovation research has matured substantially in the last two decades. A great deal of knowledge has been produced on various aspects of the discipline, so it is of interest to assess the state of the art the scientific community has reached in this discipline and the route it has taken. This perspective is investigated through a bibliometric study of the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), arguably the most important specialized journal on this topic. The work reviews all journal paper contributions in JPIM from 1984 to 2004 in determined time frames, assesses the citations contained in these papers, identifies how the citations are related to the various topics of production innovation research (topic‐related citation variety, topic‐related citation consistency, variation in topic‐related citation pattern), and offers a retrospective examination of the evolution of the field. The overall analysis of citations shows that most papers in JPIM cite at least one of the top 50 works identified by this study. This testifies to the strong impact of the most influential works on the intellectual structure of product innovation research. The observed citation pattern suggests that the top 50 papers gained influence in product innovation research either because they represent a relevant contribution on a fundamental topic that already has been authoritatively studied or because they investigate in a relevant manner a new topic. The paper suggests that JPIM might benefit in its aim to consolidate its position as one of the top academic business journals if published papers increasingly drew on the most influential works to inform their research design and explicitly stated the theoretical underpinnings they draw on in their research design. Overall, the analysis of the subperiods (1984–1988, 1989–1993, 1994–1998, and 1999–2004) provides evidence for the maturation of new product innovation research. Books covering a wide range of topics are replaced by journal papers addressing a specific topic; over time, specific topics emerge and become influential for the discipline's intellectual structure; papers published in JPIM augment their methodological rigor and increasingly address contingency factors. The paper also notes that obtaining relevance for JPIM authors constitutes a necessary condition for being considered by management researchers at large as an influential contribution to product innovation research.     

IMP thinking and IMM: Co-creating value for business marketing

We have extensive knowledge about the thematic development of the business-to-business marketing research. Much less is known, however, how major research contributions are created and disseminated, in brief, how the academic value is constructed between human and institutional actors. We address this issue by examining the relationship between IMM (Industrial Marketing Management journal) and the IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) research community in the creation of B2B marketing theory from the early 1990s to present. We argue that the relationship between the IMP community and IMM, led by Peter LaPlaca over the past 23 years, offers an exceptional living laboratory for studying academic value creation in the B2B domain. Based on documents and citation data from the late 1980s to 2016 we will show how the parties created new academic knowledge and value for each other through intensive interaction and collaborative activities. In conclusion, we discuss the forms of coordination between IMM and IMP and provide an outlook for the future of this unique relationship.     

Twenty Years of the Journal of Product Innovation Management: History, Participants, and Knowledge Stock and Flows

The Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM) serves as a marketplace for science‐based, innovative ideas that are produced and consumed by scholars and businesspeople. Now that JPIM has existed for 20 years, two intriguing questions emerge: (1) How has the journal evolved over time in terms of knowledge stock, that is, what are the characteristics of the growing stock of knowledge published by JPIM over the years; and (2) how has the journal evolved in knowledge flow, that is, how is JPIM influenced by other scientific publications and what is its impact on other journals? In terms of knowledge stock, over 35% of the articles published over the 20 years investigate processes and metrics for performance management. The next most frequently published area was strategy, planning, and decision making (20%), followed by customer and market research (17%). The dominant research method used was a cross‐sectional large‐sample survey, and the focus most usually is at the project level of the firm. The large majority of JPIM authors (60%) have a marketing background, with the remaining 40% representing numerous functional domains. Academics at all levels publish in JPIM, and though most authors hail from North America, the Dutch are a significant second group. JPIM was analyzed from a knowledge‐flow perspective by looking at the scientific sources used by JPIM authors to develop their ideas and articles. To this end a bibliometric analysis was performed by analyzing all references in articles published in JPIM. During 1984–2003 JPIM published 488 articles, containing 10,314 references to journals and 6,533 references to other sources. Some 20% of these references (2,020) were self‐references to JPIM articles. The remaining 8,294 journal references were to articles in 287 journals in the fields of management (25%), marketing (24%), and management of technology (14%). However, it should be pointed out that many domains were dominated by a limited number of journals. The second component of knowledge flow concerns the extent to which the ideas developed in JPIM are consumed by other authors. Again, bibliometric analysis was used to analyze data from the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) about citations to JPIM in other journals. For the period 1984–2005, the SSCI registered 7,773 citations to JPIM in 2,067 articles published in 278 journals (including the 2,020 self‐citations in JPIM). The functional areas most frequently citing JPIM are management of technology (25%), marketing (15%), management (14%), and operations management and management science (9%). Again, several domains were found to be dominated by a limited number of journals. At the level of individual journals the analysis shows a growing impact of JPIM on management of technology journals. The knowledge‐flow analysis demonstrates how JPIM functions as a bridge between the knowledge from various domains and the body of knowledge on management of technology. It suggests a growing specialization of the field of technology innovation management, with JPIM being firmly entrenched as the acknowledged leading journal.     

Supply chain management in industrial marketing–Relationships matter

The focal research topics in industrial marketing management have evolved significantly since IMM was first published in 1971. Part of this evolution has been the inclusion of research in supply chain management, which is the focus of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to assess themes across the classic articles in supply chain management (SCM) published in IMM, and explore how the field of SCM has evolved since their publication. A systematic literature review was used to assess SCM research in IMM, identify themes and publication patterns, and use these themes to assess gaps in extant research and opportunities for future research. Results of the literature review show that over 58% of the SCM research published in IMM has focused on buyer-supplier relationships and other purchasing and supply management topics. These will continue to be key topics in IMM. In addition, our literature review suggests opportunities for more SCM research in IMM around sustainability, logistics, and manufacturing innovation. These areas within the SCM umbrella are under-researched, yet yield significant opportunities for future research in a time of constant change within companies' distribution models.     

Intellectual evolution of social innovation: A bibliometric analysis and avenues for future research trends

Despite the fact that the concept of social innovation is extensively employed by scholars and practitioners, yet the conceptualisation and the research structure remained fragmented and scattered, because no rigorous attempt has been made to understand the core concept of social innovation. The notion of social innovation is multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary fluctuating from public-policy to environmental sustainability; which makes an investigation of the concept essential for business-to-business practitioners and scholars. By processing 370 publications from a sample of 125 journals and books with a total of 2941 citations, the authors unpack/unfold the intellectual foundation of social innovation in business and management domains by performing four bibliometric analyses and they evaluate the research domain qualitatively (1970–2019). By using co-citation, network visualisation through co-occurrence data, multi-dimensional scaling, and hierarchical cluster analysis, this research sheds light to the intellectual structure of social innovation including social value, economic value, societal impact, and bifocal innovations. This research reveals the key research clusters embodied by social innovation foundation. The present study identifies four important components for the future avenues of social innovation (i.e. opportunity, innovation practice, opportunity exploiter, value), and proposes a potential research framework to the researchers and practitioners, hoping to provide insights on social innovation.     

Mapping the invisible colleges of R&D Management

R&D Management has consistently been considered one of the top technology and innovation management journals since its inaugural issue in 1970. The purpose of this paper is to use bibliometric techniques to examine R&D Management in four time periods, 1986–1990, 1991–1995, 1996–2000, and 2001–2005 in order to reveal changes in its intellectual base. Bibliometric research has illuminated the knowledge domains of several technology and innovation management journals including R&D Management Linton and Thongpapanl, but there has not previously been a comprehensive detailed analysis focused only on R&D Management . Using co-citation analysis, this paper identifies the invisible colleges (research networks) associated with publications in R&D Management . The results indicate that Cohen and Levinthal's absorptive capacity model dominates the final two periods. The conclusions suggest how the absorptive capacity model might be more effectively utilized in future R&D Management research.     

Mapping value in business markets: An integrative framework

The value concept is key to understanding purchasing and marketing decisions in business markets. Despite its importance, a lack of clarity surrounding the conceptualization of value in business-to-business markets persists. This paper develops an integrative framework that identifies the various conceptualizations of value and maps the most often cited value papers published in IMM on this framework. The integrative framework makes distinctions between the value beneficiary (i.e., collective and individual value perceptions), the underlying value perspective (i.e., customers' and suppliers' value perceptions), and the reference object of value (i.e., transactional value based on expectations or experiences, and value of relationships). Positioning the IMM citation classics papers on this integrative framework allows us to identify core areas and promising research avenues for this key concept. In particular, we identify a need to further explore individual actors' value perceptions and the usage processes that lead to experienced value in use in business markets.     

Endogeneity bias in marketing research: Problem,causes and remedies

Endogeneity bias represents a critical issue for the analysis of cause and effect relationships. Although the existence of endogeneity can produce severely biased results, it has hitherto received only limited attention from researchers in marketing and related disciplines. Thus, this article aims to sensitize researchers intending to publish in the Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) journal to the topic of endogeneity. It outlines the problem of endogeneity bias, and provides an overview of potential sources, i.e. omission of variables, errors-in-variables, and simultaneous causality. Furthermore, the article shows ways to deal with endogeneity, including techniques based on instrumental variables as well as instrument-free approaches. Our methodological contribution relates to providing researchers aiming to publish in IMM with an initial overview of the causes of and remedies for endogeneity bias, which should be considered in designing research projects as well as when analysing data to obtain insights into cause and effect relationships (causal models).     

A Normalized Citation Analysis of Real Estate Journals

This study presents an analysis of the citation patterns and rankings for journals in real estate and related areas for the period 1990–1995. Journals were ranked based on the number of times they were cited in four base journals with adjustments for journal size and longevity. The results show that Real Estate Economics is the most cited journal among real estate publications, followed closely by the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics and the Journal of Real Estate Research . A temporal analysis reveals a shift in citations, over the time period, away from the traditional economics and practitioner-oriented journals to the academic real estate journals.     

Technological advancements and B2B international trade: A bibliometric analysis and review of industrial marketing research

In the current business and political climate, deliberations concerning international trading agreements and their importance to B2B firms are increasing. Although the volume and value of international exchanges are growing, this study reveals that literature exploring issues concerning B2B international business, and particularly the role technological advancements play supporting B2B cross-border trade, is limited. This paper provides an overview of research contributions published in the Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) journal in order to reveal the current state of knowledge, identify research gaps, and propose further research directions. Following a two-stage approach, we reveal that although ‘trade’ is at the heart of IMM research, there is a scarcity of empirical studies examining technological advancements and B2B international, as well as local, trade; some attention, however, has been placed on the exploration of B2B international trade issues. Building on our findings, we propose future research directions.     

Recent advances in identifying and theorizing the role of immigrant entrepreneurs,ethnicity, and culture in industrial marketing

This special issue of Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) features four articles that cover topics related to immigrant entrepreneurs, ethnicity, and culture in industrial marketing. This introductory paper summarizes the contributions of these articles and points out future research directions.     

A Bibliometric Review of Open Innovation: Setting a Research Agenda

Through an objective, systematic, and comprehensive review of the literature on open innovation (OI), this article identifies gaps in existing research, and provides recommendations on how hitherto unused or underused organizational, management, and marketing theories can be applied to advance the field. This study adopts a novel approach by combining two complementary bibliometric methods of co‐citation analysis and text mining of 321 journal articles on OI that enables a robust empirical analysis of the intellectual streams and key concepts underpinning OI. Results reveal that researchers do not sufficiently draw on theoretical perspectives external to the field to examine multiple facets of OI. Research also seems confined to innovation‐specific journals with its focus restricted to a select few OI issues, thereby exerting limited influence on the wider business community. This study reveals three distinct areas within OI research: (1) firm‐centric aspects of OI, (2) management of OI networks, and (3) role of users and communities in OI. Thus far, studies have predominantly investigated the firm‐centric aspects of OI, with a particular focus on the role of knowledge, technology, and R&D from the innovating firm's perspective, while the other two areas remain relatively under‐researched. Further gaps in the literature emerge that present avenues for future research, namely to: (1) develop a more comprehensive understanding of OI by including diverse perspectives (users, networks, and communities), (2) direct increased attention to OI strategy formulation and implementation, and (3) enhance focus on customer co‐creation and conceptualize “open service innovation.” Marketing (e.g., service‐dominant logic), organizational behavior (e.g., communities of practice), and management (e.g., dynamic capabilities) offer suitable theoretical lenses and/or concepts to address these gaps.     

The digital marketing capabilities gap

Over the past two decades, digitalization has revolutionized not only consumer marketing but also industrial marketing. Both industrial marketing scholars and industrial marketers seek insights to understand how our knowledge and practice of digital marketing has been structured and configured. To address this gap, we adopt the resource-based perspective as an organizing framework and systematically review 129 articles spanning two decades of research to identify different digital marketing capabilities in industrial firms. From this analysis, we identify four themes: channels, social media, digital relationships, and digital technologies. We then stress-test this knowledge with managerial practices by conducting an online survey of 169 managers, designed to establish the repertoire of current and future marketing capability needs of industrial firms. Herein, we identify two marketing capabilities gaps: the practice gap—which identifies the deficit between managers' ‘current’ practices and their ‘ideal’ digital marketing capabilities; and, the knowledge gap—which demonstrates a significant divide between the digital marketing transformations in industrial firms and the extant scholarly knowledge that underpins this. Based on these results, we build an agenda for future research on digital marketing capabilities.     

A systematic review of the trade show marketing literature: 1980–2014

The trade show marketing literature has been growing over the past decades, attracting a steady stream of research and journal publications. However, this body of research has not been subject to a systematic literature review. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to provide a systematic review of the trade show marketing literature with the aim of delineating its current state, trends, gaps and inconsistencies. To this end, multiple electronic databases were searched and 91 trade show articles published in 24 marketing journals were extracted. The extracted articles were carefully analyzed with the help of a comprehensive classification framework focusing on broad thematic, theoretical and methodological dimensions. The findings revealed that: (a) trade show research is marked by inconsistencies that concern core thematic issues, such as trade show participation modes, trade show activity stages and trade show performance; (b) trade show research is atheoretical for the most part, but has become increasingly theory oriented in recent years; and (c) trade show research is heavily dependent on a combination of cross-sectional designs and surveys, with limited application of other designs and data collection approaches. Building on these findings, the review proposes an extensive research agenda to help move the trade show marketing literature forward.     

India-focused publications in leading international business journals

Despite an increase in the number of India-focused articles appearing in leading international business journals, there has not been any attempt to conduct systematic reviews that can inform academicians and practitioners about research that has accumulated over the years and identify areas that may be worthwhile to pursue in the future. This article attempts to fill this gap by providing an overview of all publications focusing on the Indian context that appeared in seven leading international business journals between 1991 and 2008. Findings suggest that 74 publications involving 180 authors affiliated to 112 academic and six non-academic institutions from nine international locations contributed to the research by examining a wide variety of international business topics. Findings also reveal that authors affiliated to US-based institutions published more than others and the majority of top-cited publications appeared after 1995. Contributions of various authors and institutions are ranked and summaries of publication types, research methodologies, examined topics, and citations received by different articles are provided. This article concludes by suggesting avenues of future research.     

A Twenty‐Year Citation Analysis of the Knowledge Outflow and Inflow Patterns from the Journal of Product Innovation Management

Since its inception in 1984, an emphasis on cross‐functionality and interdisciplinary research was encrypted into the DNA of the Journal of Product and Innovation Management (JPIM). This essay explores the extent to which the journal has served as a platform for exchange of ideas between different disciplines by examining knowledge outflow and inflow with other scientific journals and disciplines over a 20‐year period (1994‐2013). Based on an extensive bibliometric database, we gain insights about how JPIM has evolved. We show that the journal has become a gatekeeper, importing knowledge mostly from the marketing and management literatures, and exporting knowledge to the technology and innovations management and the operations management domains.     

The impact of the product to service shift in industrial markets and the evolution of the sales organization

Marketing is undergoing a paradigmatic shift that involves a change in focus from the exchange of goods, which are usually manufactured output, to providing a service, which is fundamental to economic exchange (Vargo & Lusch 2004).Evidenced by three decades of marketing transformation in B2B (business-to-business) sales organizations, this paper examines the evolution of sales organizations as a result of the shift from product- to service-focused commerce. This paper also identifies areas of future research and practice in marketing. Findings suggest that the traditional product-focused sales organization will evolve in two directions. First, enhanced use of technology will reduce some traditional sales functions and even face-to-face contact. Second, customers who are important to marketers will experience improvements in the level of customer contact—leading to growth in customer-focused sales organizations and an increase in global account management teams. Changes in sales organizations will also lead to changes in the selection, training, and recruitment of salespeople as well as their roles.Direction for future research and managerial implications are highlighted throughout the paper as are changes likely to occur in sales organizations.     

Selling and sales management: An introduction to the special section and recommendations on advancing the sales research agenda

Effectively managing the sales function is a prerequisite for success in business markets. Thus, practitioners are increasingly interested in improving the performance of their sales function. However, there is evidence pinpointing that academic research in the area may be experiencing a decline in its status among other subject areas in the marketing discipline. Fortunately, advances in the field of selling and sales management as reflected in the organization of specialized conferences/meetings and the development of special journal issues hold the promise of enhancing the status of sales within marketing academia. Following this stream of activities, this IMM special section on “Selling & Sales Management” aims at stimulating the level of discourse regarding how research in our field can be advanced. The present article introduces the special section; next, it summarizes the articles comprising the special section; and, finally, it concludes with some thoughts on fruitful research opportunities in the sales area.     

Profiling leading scientists in nanobiomedical science: interdisciplinarity and potential leading indicators of research directions

Nanobiomedical science is a promising area in the application of nanotechnology. This paper profiles a group of 21 leading scientists in nanobiomedicine based on high publication rate and high citations. Comparisons with other researchers indicate that the leaders publish more in high impact journals and collaborate more extensively (team science). They reside most heavily in the United States and Western Europe. We compare their research publications using multiple indicators–Integration, Specialization and a Multidisciplinary Index. Relations among interdisciplinarity indicators generated support a three‐factor model based on principles of diversity. We locate this research among the disciplines using science overlay mapping. Key term analyses, based on keywords and on natural language processing help profile the research emphases of these leading researchers. Such results could serve as leading indicators to help identify directions of future nanobio development.     

The tale of two research communities: The diffusion of research on productive efficiency

The field of theoretical and applied efficiency analysis is pursued both by economists and people from operational research and management science. Each group tends to cite a different paper as the seminal one. Recent availability of extensive electronically accessible databases of journal articles makes studies of the diffusion of papers through citations possible. Research strands inspired by the seminal paper within economics are identified and followed by citation analysis during the 20-year period before the operations research paper was published. The first decade of the operations research paper is studied in a similar way and emerging differences in diffusion patterns are pointed out. Main factors influencing citations apart from the quality of the research contribution are reputation of journal, reputation of author, number of close followers; colleagues, “cadres of protégés”, Ph.D. students, and extent of network (“invisible college”). Such factors are revealed by the citing papers. In spite of increasing cross contacts between economics and operations research the last decades co-citation analysis reveals a relative constant tendency to stick to “own camp” references.