Familiarity and competence diversity in new product development teams: Effects on new product performance

When developing new products, most firms use cross-functional teams, but research on the effect of functional diversity on new product performance returns heterogeneous results. We propose a measure of competence diversity that is more comprehensive than the common functional diversity proxy. Empirical findings, based on a survey of 142 product and sales managers, support the improved predictive validity of our scale. We further observe a mediating effect of the instrumental use of information in the competence diversity–new product performance relationship. Finally, we discuss the moderating effect of familiarity among team members on the relationship between competence diversity and the instrumental use of information. All authors contributed equally to this article and are listed in random order.     

Tacit meaning in disguise: Hidden metaphors in new product development and market making

This article explores the role of metaphor in product development processes and market making. Based on a sociocognitive perspective of innovation dynamics and required learning by market actors, the potential of metaphors for mental model development during new product development (NPD) processes is investigated. Three roles for metaphors as cognitive focusing devices for the co-evolution of producers' and consumers' mental models are inferred: mental model communication, mental model matching, and mental model creation. These roles are illustrated by examples that reinforce the need for creativity in applying metaphors as cognitive focusing devices in NPD and market making.     

The influence of business strategy on new product activity: The role of market orientation

In this paper, we propose that business strategy influences new product activity both directly and indirectly via its influence on market orientation. Accordingly, we develop a framework linking firms' relative emphasis on cost leadership, product differentiation and focus strategies to firms' customer and competitor orientation as well as their new product development and introduction activity. We use this framework to develop a simultaneous equations model that is tested on survey data from 175 Dutch firms of varying size and across different industries in the manufacturing sector. The surprising findings are that a greater emphasis on a focus strategy results in a decreased emphasis on customer orientation and that competitor orientation has a negative direct influence on new product activity and an indirect positive effect via customer orientation. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.     

股票市场发展与国家资源配置效率:基于股市信息效率视角的研究

中国股票市场发展已经经历20年的历程,很多方面都取得了巨大的发展成就,然而对于股票市场发展对中国经济增长是否产生了显著的正向促进作用,现有研究文献并没有达到一致结论.文章基于股价波动非同步性测度方法,从股票市场信息效率这一新的视角入手,实证检验股票市场发展与国家资源配置效率的因果影响关系,为这一领域研究提供了新的实证证据.实证结果表明:中国股票市场信息效率与国家资源配置效率显著正相关,且这种正相关关系在效益上升行业与下降行业没有显著差别,即高信息效率股票市场能引导社会在高资本回报率的行业内继续追加投资,在低资本回报率的行业内及时削减资本投入,从而提高资源配置效率.因此中国股票市场发展具有较好的经济效应,它对经济增长产生了显著正向促进作用.     

The price-perceived quality relationship: A meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of study results on the price-perceived quality relationship published from 1989 to 2006. The findings show that the price effect on perceived quality has decreased. Furthermore, the price–quality relationship is stronger in studies that use a within-subjects design, investigate higher priced products, and use samples from European countries but weaker for services, durable goods, and respondents who are familiar with the product. A striking null result indicates that the number of cues does not affect the price-perceived quality relationship significantly.     

Measuring Price Effects of Concentration in Mixed Oligopoly: An Application to the Swedish Beef-slaughter Industry

Empirical studies of market power focus exclusively on industries with private firms. Yet, it is not uncommon to find private firms competing with public firms or cooperatives (coops) within the same market. We develop an empirical procedure for measuring market-power and cost-efficiency effects of concentration in mixed oligopoly consisting of coops and investment-owned firms (IOF) and apply the procedure to the Swedish beef-slaughter industry. We find that the cost-efficiency effect of coop concentration more than offset its market power effect, resulting lower beef prices. IOFs are found to be price-takers in both cattle procurement and beef sales.      

Information diffusion and new product consumption: A bass model application to tourism facility management

This article applies models to measure and to understand how information diffusion influences tourists' consumption patterns. The study uses administrative data on a new festival's attendance and advertising. Bass's [Bass FM. A new product growth for model consumer durables. Manage Sci 1969;15(5):215-227] model and a modified version [Horsky D, Simon LS. Advertising and the diffusion of new products. Mark Sci 1983;2(1):1-18] to allow for advertising's effect. Results imply effectiveness of front loaded advertising. This result is due to increasing purchases that result from word-of-mouth information diffusion. However, a model with an effect of advertising is accepted as well as a model with no consideration of advertising budget. Examination of consistency and conceptual issues with models raises the need for models that are more realistic for the tourism product. A specific concern is developing models appropriate to analysis of attendance at a limited-duration innovative event (e.g., new product) held at a host to impact longer-term attendance of the host.     

Advertising effects on consumer welfare: Prices paid and liking for brands selected

The effect of advertising on consumer welfare has been the subject of dispute among economists, arising largely from disagreement among scholars regarding the persuasive versus the informative role of advertising. This paper reports two experiments that explore the welfare implications of advertising effects. Experiment 1 shows that the same advertisements can either increase or decrease prices paid for selected brands, depending on the degree to which the choice situation requires brands to be recalled in order to be considered. However, an increase in prices paid caused by advertising does not necessarily imply detrimental effects on consumer welfare. Experiment 2 shows that, even under circumstances in which differentiating advertising leads consumers to select brands with higher average prices, it can provide useful information to consumers that allows them to make purchases that are more in line with their personal tastes than are the choices of consumers not exposed to the advertisements.     

皖江城市带产业转移背景下高职院校社会服务能力的探索——以安徽财贸职业学院为例

高职教育的目标就是培养为社会服务的高技能人才。面对皖江城市带区域经济发展一体化的趋势,作为高等教育的重要组成部分,高职院校如何开展社会服务显得尤为重要。作为安徽省示范性高职院校,安徽财贸职业学院通过不同的服务模式,体现了地方高职院校服务社会的能力。     

The role of complementarity and partner brand price level in new product introduction strategy using bundle offers: A study on the quality perception of bundle components

The quality perception of a new brand improves when it is bundled with a product having a strong brand image, moderated by the level of complementarity between the bundle components. This study takes this research forward with the help of two experiments. The first experiment uses anchoring and adjustment process to conclude that the quality perception of a new brand further strengthens if bundled with a strong brand of a higher price category than itself. The second experiment concludes that the quality perception of the strong brand can also deter if bundled with a new product of uncertain quality.