The Role of Market Information in New Product Success/Failure

Although no single variable holds the key to new product performance, many of the widely recognized success factors share a common thread: the processing of market information. Understanding customer wants and needs ultimately comes down to a company's capabilities for gathering and using market information. And another well-acknowledged success factor the integration of marketing, R&D, and manufacturing focuses on the sharing of information. In other words, a firm's effectiveness in market information processing—the gathering, sharing, and use of market information—plays a pivotal role in determining the success or failure of its new products. Brian D. Ottum and William L. Moore describe the results of a study that examines the relationship between market information processing and new product success. They also explore the organizational factors that facilitate successful processing of market information, and thus offer ideas for better managing the development of new products. The respondents—marketing, R&D, and manufacturing managers from Utah-based computer and medical device manufacturers—provided information about 58 new products, including equal numbers of successes and failures. The survey responses reveal strong relationships between product success and market information processing, with success most closely linked to information use. In other words, the gathering and sharing of information are important, but only if the information is used effectively. In 80 percent of the product successes studied, the respondents ultimately possessed and used a greater than average amount of market information. And in 75 percent of the failures, the respondents knew less than average about the market at project inception, and gathered or used less than the average amount of market information during the project. For the projects in this study, the integration of marketing, R&D, and manufacturing contributed not only to the sharing and use of information, but also to overall project success. However, the results of the study suggest that the way in which a project is organized plays only an indirect role in determining new product success—most likely by improving the processing of market information. From a managerial perspective, the most important variables identified in the study are market information shared, market information used, and financial success.     

Ways to improve pioneer new ventures' performance in the ICT industry

This paper analyses how marketing capabilities and low cost orientation improve the performance obtained by technology new ventures that enter the market early. In a sample of 104 new ventures of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, the authors have developed a regression analysis allowing them to demonstrate the direct and indirect effects proposed in the hypotheses. The results obtained show that early entry into the market has a positive influence on new venture performance, as the joint moderator effect of marketing capabilities and low cost orientation is greater than the effect of each variable taken on its own. Furthermore, this study explores if the effects of the analysed factors are different between telecommunications and electronic and computer new ventures. This study shows that marketing capabilities and low cost strategy are complements rather than substitutes in moderating the relationship between entry timing and new venture's performance, especially for the telecommunications new ventures.     

Got milk? The rapid rise of China’s dairy sector and its future prospects

This paper synthesizes recent research and new empirical findings to build a more comprehensive understanding of developments in China’s dairy sector. China’s tremendous rise in dairy demand has been driven by several mutually reinforcing factors: including rapid income growth, promotion by the government and dairy industry, changes in urban lifestyles, and the development of new, more sophisticated marketing channels. Domestic milk output has grown to satisfy rising demand largely by increasing the dairy herd. Substantial increases in productivity have been achieved through technology adoption, but there is evidence that the torrid growth has created inefficiencies because adaptations to marketing rules, infrastructure, and institutions have not kept pace with the changing environment. These results suggest there is ample room for future growth in both domestic milk production and dairy demand, but multinational firms and imported products will likely play and increasing role as China’s dairy market continues to develop.     

The importance of customer input in the development of very new products

This research explores the acquisition of customer input and its importance in the development of very new products. Data were gathered on 55 product development projects from the computer telephony integration industry – a new industry experiencing rapid technological change. The data were used to test hypotheses concerning the relationships between product newness, the importance of customer input in the development process, and the use of customer intensive market research methods. We found that the importance of customer input increases with market newness of a product up to a point and then drops off for very new products, whereas the importance of customer input increases with technological newness of a product without dropping off. We also found that the importance of customer input significantly increases the use of customer intensive market research methods; whereas, neither market nor technological product newness in themselves had much direct effect on research methods.     

润滑油市场的挑战与战略

中国加入WTO后，润滑油市场面临新的竞争形势，在分析润滑油行业及润滑油市场特点的基础上，说明润滑油消费的特点并提出相应的营销策略，根据国外大石油公司的发展战略，提出国内企业的新战略；营销联盟，连锁经营和网上营销。     

Creating or destroying value through mergers and acquisitions: A marketing perspective

A majority of mergers and acquisitions are horizontal, combining companies within the same industry. They are most frequently motivated by a desire to achieve revenue and profit growth through market expansion or by adding new product lines, with cost efficiencies being a secondary agenda. However, the modest body of literature on post-merger performance using marketing metrics indicates that marketing objectives such as sales revenue and market share growth are rarely achieved. This paper reports on a detailed study of 45 M&A deals undertaken to develop a deeper understanding of how marketing performance is affected by mergers and acquisitions. Our results show that marketing performance improved along two dimensions — sales revenue growth, and a reduction in selling, marketing and administrative costs as a percentage of sales revenue, suggesting the realisation of synergies in these areas — economies of scale and scope. However, these benefits did not follow through into better returns on sales suggesting that the marketing cost economies are not sufficient to outweigh cost diseconomies in other parts of the business.     

纺织服装企业营销系统组织创新研究——以陕北地区毛纺织服装企业为例

国内纺织服装企业适应市场能力普遍较弱,市场淘汰率较高,大多数还处于职能式进行单一的产品生产,市场反应能力较差。纺织服装企业要提高市场竞争力,就必须建立起科学、合理的营销组织机构,通过组织创新,合理地配置资源,提高企业的营销能力,从而提升企业的市场竞争力。本文在对陕北毛纺织服装产业进行深入调研的基础上,结合理论分析与实证研究,通过结构方程模型(SEM),分析了毛纺织服装企业在营销组织创新时存在的问题以及营销组织创新与营销能力和绩效间的关系,为陕西省服装企业提升市场竞争力提供具有针对性的对策建议。     

The effects of perceived industry competitive intensity and marketing-related capabilities: Drivers of superior brand performance

Since the early 1990s the theoretical and practical issues associated with organizational capabilities have been a major research focus in marketing. However, there has been little focus simultaneously on industry environment and internal competitive capability development. A manager's perception of his/her industry environment has the potential to impact the firm's marketing-related capability development through their strategic responses to their perception of the environment. This paper advocates that managers (i.e., firms) perceiving their industry environment as turbulent will develop superior market learning and marketing capabilities. Market learning will assist in the process of building superior marketing capabilities. Both capabilities lead to higher brand performance. To explore these issues a study was designed to measure perceived industry competitive intensity, market learning and marketing capabilities. Data were gathered from senior managers of commercial firms and the results largely support the hypothesized theoretical relationship that industry competitive intensity influences market learning activity and marketing capability development. Interestingly, the study findings suggest that market learning impacts brand performance through marketing capability. The findings significantly contribute to the debate on the influence of the competitive environment on a firm's internal capability development which suggests the need for further research to examine the industry competitive intensity-internal capabilities-firm performance relationship.     

Principles of New Product Management: Exploring the Beliefs of Product Practitioners

Conventional wisdom might lead us to conclude that the various disciplines involved in product development and management are often at cross-purposes. For example, practitioners from R&D and engineering have been known to suggest that marketing fails to understand the technical trade-offs involved in product management decisions. Conversely, marketing professionals sometimes complain that their technology-oriented colleagues pursue product development initiatives without adequate market awareness. And practitioners from both sides of this debate have asserted that research on new product development tends to be of the ivory tower variety, with little or no relevance for industry. Are such complaints valid? Perhaps it is time for a reality check. By searching academic literature on product development, Roger J. Calantone, C. Anthony Di Benedetto, and Ted Haggblom have compiled a list of 40 fundamental principles of new product development. This list forms the basis for a survey of new product practitioners from marketing and technical disciplines. The study provides a means for assessing whether practitioners agree with the fundamental principles of new product development that are identified in current academic literature. By obtaining responses from both marketing and technical professionals, the survey also sheds light on whether those two groups hold fundamentally different beliefs regarding new product development. The survey results reveal strong overall agreement among practitioners regarding these fundamental principles of new product management. Managers believe that 80% of the principles are either usually or almost always true. In other words, the survey results support the idea that the academic community is pursuing research issues that are relevant to practitioners, and that they are reaching valid conclusions. There are only a few cases in which the responses from the technical and marketing practitioners differ. Those disagreements probably result from differences in the basic orientations of the two groups. For example, it is not surprising that marketing managers would be more likely to agree that “product users and the marketplace form the most important source for new product ideas,” while technical managers more strongly support the idea that “radically new technologies constitute an important source of new product ideas.” The respondents noted overall disagreement with only a few of the 40 principles. In many of these cases, the academic literature has reached mixed conclusions. In other words, these “principles” might actually be oversimplifications, and further research is probably needed before we can fully understand the issues involved.     

Success Factors Of High-Tech SBUs: Towards a Conceptual Model Based on the Israeli Electronics and Computers Industry

Of the few studies that have been performed on success and failure of business units in industrial organizations, most were based on marketing and financial data collected in the PIMS program. This study explores the factors contributing to success and failure of high-tech business units. It is based on a survey conducted in the electronics and computers industry in Israel. The article argues that the success of business units in this industry should not be measured in financial terms only. There are two additional dimensions to success: positioning in the market and preparing the necessary assets and infrastructure for future development, manufacturing and marketing of new products.Some unique success and failure factors, other than those revealed in studies at the product level, were found to contribute to the success of high-tech business units.     

Product-market strategies in the minicomputer industry

The minicomputer industry has undergone rapid technological change over the last decade and is now characterized by high growth, the emergence of new markets, and intense competition. This article addresses the marketing strategies employed by large and small firms in the minicomputer industry and identifies trends and dimensions that are important for success in such a rapidly changing environment.     

建筑业营销

建筑业营销是在营销学的基础上发展的。但营销学主要面向消费品制造业．适用于建筑业的营销教材和实务指导并不多．一些学注意到这个问题并开展了一些研究。营销是一项管理活动．内容包括搜集市场信息，确认服务机会，开发战略，建立优先次序和动员资源以实现销售。建筑业营销活动通常分为七类．即信息服务、广告，公共关系与公共宣传，公开出版物，企业形象计划、定价战略与额外服务，直接营销等。本就以这些研究成果为基础．整理出一些基本理论和概念．以帮助对建筑业营销活动的理解。     

煤炭市场差异化营销策略探讨

我国许多行业都面临着同质化的问题,煤炭行业也是如此。传统的营销手段已很难适应快速变化的市场和千差万别的客户需求。实施差异化营销,形成差异化优势,是一种值得借鉴的现代营销策略。探讨了差异化营销的内涵和理论基础,以及实施差异化营销策略的动因。并以淮北矿业集团为例,分析了煤炭市场差异化营销策略。     

美国成品油销售市场发展特点与启示

纵观美国成品油销售市场一个多世纪的发展历程,可以总结出以下特点:竞争激烈,行业形成期即埋下竞争的种子;金融创新、技术创新和营销创新齐头并进;油品规格多样,区域间供需不平衡;配送体系高效并富有灵活性;仓储行业竞争激烈,油库数目急剧下降;成品油批发形式多样,炼化企业通过批发价格影响销售;生产、炼油、销售脱离,纵向一体化程度逐渐减弱.借鉴美国的成品油销售行业的发展经验,中国成品油销售企业应加大创新力度,推动营销重心向客户转移;积极营造配送网络,降低成品油输送成本;创新体制机制,使销售成为企业最活跃的一环;采用竞合策略,减少降价对企业的冲击.     

关于天然气批发环节客户评价体系及精准营销的思考

近年来,中国天然气行业市场化改革不断深化,市场原有竞争格局受到挑战,但供应商现有客户评价管理较为粗放,客户评价体系不尽完善。新形势下的天然气行业客户评价及精准营销体系亟待建立,新体系遵循的原则包括:多维衡量,因地制宜;分类细化,量化评价;结合场景,灵活运用。可依据"销量、价格、效益、信用、协作"5个维度及15个指标,选取所需指标并赋予权重,获取指标数据源,运用分数归类定级方法进行判断。客户评价是工具,精准营销是措施。建议从做好精准营销基础项目、立足本职工作替客户分忧、运用大数据探索精准营销3个层面进行规划与升级。     

Innovation strategies in the enzyme industry

Abstract The enzyme industry is characterised by a rapid rate of technological change and market dynamism. There are over 2000 different types of enzymes with patent cover and yet only a fraction of these have been successfully commercially exploited. What innovation strategies are used by UK suppliers? Could the success rate be improved? This paper reports the findings of a recent survey of UK enzyme suppliers to investigate their approaches to the management of innovation. The main thrust of the research considered the role of marketing and especially the role of customer involvement in the innovation process. A variety of approaches were found but essentially the customer has a fairly restricted part to play in innovation in this dynamic and technological market.     

Incumbents in a dynamic Internet related services market: Does customer and competitive orientation hinder or help performance?

The Internet challenges many incumbent firms to adapt their marketing strategies by developing and offering new products involving Internet technology. Existing literature on market orientation and performance of services suggests that market orientation, and its components, are likely to facilitate effective adaptation. In contrast, the marketing innovation literature suggests market orientation may be too reactive and inhibit effective adaptation. Our results suggest some merit to both perspectives. Client orientation hindered performance of Internet advertising services, while competitive orientation facilitated performance. In addition, limited support was found that suggested superior performance occurs in an environment with a diverse client base and clients possessing in-house capabilities that “compete” with agencies for Internet advertising services. Implications for incumbents pursuing product growth strategies via new, technology related services in dynamic environments are discussed.     

我国监理企业的市场营销探析

随着国内外市场的全面融合,国外一些优秀的项目咨询公司必将进入中国市场,工程咨询市场的竞争日益激烈,我国监理企业只有重视市场营销,准确及时地把握市场信息,转变经营理念,适应行业的发展,才能使企业立于不败之地。文章对监理企业市场营销的特点进行了简要的阐述,分析了我国监理企业市场营销现状及存在的问题;参考现代市场营销理论,提出了监理企业市场营销的模式和框架体系,并针对实施监理企业市场营销提出了一些策略。     

Joint marketing and sales appointment: Uncertainty from intertwining of marketing and sales in one position

The integration of diverging thought worlds of marketing and sales can have many synergistic benefits for industrial firms. However, intertwining marketing and sales in one position introduces coordination costs—costs that have, for the most part, been ignored by the existing B2B literature. The authors argue that appointment announcements of new executives to joint marketing and sales positions (M&S) puts these costs in stark relief, especially relative to new marketing-only (M) or sales-only (S) appointments' announcements. Leveraging event-study methodology and latent instruments, this research examines secondary data on over 800 executive appointment announcements, 436 of which are related to marketing and sales. The authors find that new appointments to joint M&S positions introduce hard to simultaneously balance change across diverging thought worlds that results in uncertainty and hurt firm value. Drawing on structural-contingency framework, this study finds that less formalization of tasks, represented by insider status of an appointee, can mitigate this disruption, by stabilizing structures during change. Furthermore, specialization in B2B marketing technology weakens the negative effect of announcements of joint M&S appointments, because such positions lean heavily towards sales and thus require less coordination between the two functions. However, specialization with respect to industry environment, represented by market concentration, exacerbates the disruptive effect of appointing new executives to joint M&S positions.