The Moderating Roles of Prior Experience and Behavioral Importance in the Predictive Validity of New Product Concept Testing

Concept testing has long been recognized as an important new product development (NPD) activity. As one of the widely used concept testing techniques, the method of intentions surveys relies on the purchase intentions of the potential buyers of new products and helps firms assess the viabilities of their new products before making major financial and nonfinancial commitments to their development. Despite the importance of intentions‐based new product concept testing and its widespread use by firms, the correspondence between initial behavioral intentions and subsequent purchase behaviors has been relatively low and heterogeneous, making it very difficult for firms to draw any useful conclusions from intentions surveys. Focusing on the predictive validity of intentions‐based new product concept testing and addressing several calls for future research to identify specific conditions making it more effective, this paper tests the moderating roles of prior experience and behavioral importance in the predictive validity of intentions‐based new product concept testing. It also tests whether people who state a positive intention and people who state a negative intention are equally accurate in their intentions. Finally, it tests the relative moderating roles of prior experience and behavioral importance in the intentions–behavior relationship. The results based on two longitudinal surveys first suggested that people's prior experience moderates the relationship between behavioral intentions and actual behaviors in a way that the relationship is stronger when prior experience is high as opposed to when it is low. Second, they showed that the level of importance that people attach to a behavior also moderates the relationship between behavioral intentions and actual behaviors such that the relationship is stronger when behavioral importance is high as opposed to when it is low. Third, they indicated that the behavioral intentions of people who state that they will not perform a behavior are more accurate than are those of people who state that they will perform it. Finally, the results suggested that the impact of behavioral importance is greater than that of prior experience. This study offers several implications. Most notably, the results can help firms better understand different factors affecting the predictive validity of intentions‐based new product concept testing and hence make more accurate new product decisions.     

Brand and product attachment in an industrial context: The effects on brand loyalty

The role of attachment as a driver of industrial brand loyalty has largely been investigated at the inter-organizational level, while there is a notable lack of studies on industrial buyers' attachment to industrial brands and products. By researching an empirical setting in which buyers have first-person experience of product use, this study proposes the existence of brand attachment and product attachment in an industrial context and tests their influence on brand loyalty based on the results of a survey of 317 owner-operators of heavy trucks. Findings suggest that while brand attachment positively and directly influences brand loyalty, product attachment indirectly drives brand loyalty through the mediating effects of brand attachment. Product irreplaceability, however, was found to be a direct driver of brand loyalty. The current research also proposes tests to measure the relationship between the constructs of brand attachment and product attachment. This research has several managerial and theoretical implications indicating that paying attention to the emotional meanings of industrial brands and products is warranted, as are further studies on the application of attachment in industrial marketing.     

The learning curve, R & D management, and marketing strategies for new products

This paper represents a review of the learning phenomenon which is useful in evaluating the potential of new industrial products. The learning curve in quantitative form provides a means for forecasting costs and prices in many industrial situations. While there are many metho-dological problems to be solved in any specific new project evaluation, the utilization of the learning curve should lead to improved estimates of costs, revenues, and profits. The important role of R & D management in connection with the learning curve is discussed. The interrelationships involving R & D, the learning curve, and marketing strategies are examined.     

How do industrial robots applications affect the quality upgrade of Chinese export trade?

This study examines the effect of industrial robots applications on the quality upgrade of China's manufacturing export products at the enterprise level. It analyzes import and export data obtained from the China Customs and Chinese Industrial Enterprises databases from 2000 to 2013. The results show that the industrial robots applications significantly promotes the quality upgrade of Chinese manufacturing export products. Moreover, the impact of industrial robots applications on the export product quality is dynamic; it initially increases and then decreases. Heterogeneity test results indicate greater quality improvement effects if robots feature applications in high-tech industries. We also show that importing more robots and for extended periods promotes the effects of industrial robots applications on the export product quality upgrades of Chinese enterprises. Mechanism tests reveal that industrial robots applications can upgrade the quality of export products by improving the labor productivity and human capital level of enterprises. Finally, spillover analyses show that industrial robots applications intensity significantly affects export quality upgrades through spillover effects.     

Experience curves and industrial policy

Experience curves purport to show that average real price or costs of a product decrease with its cumulative output and are used to justify increases in industrial concentration on efficiency grounds. But the published evidence for their existence is not always convincing. Even if they do exist, they are merely mongrel relationships reflecting many economic forces including technical progress and economies of scale in addition to ‘learning’ or ‘experience’. They should not be generalised to all products or be used to underpin industrial policy.     

Industrial Relations, Social Pacts and Welfare Expenditures: A Cross-national Comparison

Industrial relations and welfare state are interrelated. On the basis of time‐series data for 20 OECD countries, this paper discusses and tests the impact of industrial relations on social expenditures, including ‘social pacts’ as a means of combining wage moderation and welfare state reforms. The findings suggest that industrial relations have an impact mainly through the differential effects of distinct bargaining systems: a minor impact results from their externalities. The major impact ensues from their differing degrees of politicization, leading to higher expenditures in the case of peak‐level arrangements, as compared to more decentralized systems. Hence, the widely assumed potential of social pacts for welfare state reforms has been exaggerated.     

Identifying industrial new product success: Project NewProd

What is the key to success in industrial product innovation? This question is frequently posed, and many authors and managers have speculated as to which critical factors or variables decide the fate of new industrial products. What is missing in the debate is evidence based on actual new product successes and failures. Project NewProd is an investigation that was designed to fill this void. In this article we report the results of a study into a large number of successful and unsuccessful new products, project NewProd, whose goal was to identify the determinants of commercial success in industrial product innovation.     

An Ecological Perspective on New Product Failure: The Effects of Competitive Overcrowding

Practitioners and researchers have carefully explored the causes of new product failures. Studies have been conducted, results analyzed, and recommendations offered. Yet despite these efforts, new product failure rates have not decreased. In fact, they appear to be increasing in some product categories. Are we missing something? Noting that most research on new product failures has focused on a firm's activities in specific projects, William H. Redmond proposes that new product outcomes might also be influenced by macro-level or environmental factors. By focusing on environmental factors rather than a firm's activities in specific projects, we might better understand why competent firms in one industry consistently experience higher failure rates than those of firms that are no more competent, but operate in a different industry. For example, failure rates for new food products are consistently higher than those for new industrial products. With no evidence that product development professionals in industrial firms are simply superior to their counterparts in the food industry, Dr. Redmond suggests that we need to look beyond specific product development projects and consider the effects of the market in which these products are introduced. Encouraged by past successes, many firms in the food manufacturing business seek sales growth through the development and introduction of additional new products. Over time, this creates a market in which customer demand is fragmented into increasingly small niches and distribution channels are flooded with product choices. As a result, the failure of a new product is more likely than it might have been under less crowded conditions. In much the same way that the population of deer on an island is limited by the available food and physical space, food products are apparently faced with the market equivalent of natural selection. In the absence of available market niches and a clear competitive advantage, a new product's chances for success are meager. In a market that is overcrowded by existing products and new product introductions, it becomes increasingly difficult and uneconomical to identify opportunities for meaningful differentiation. On the other hand, industrial products face a much different set of environmental conditions. Compared to the food manufacturing business, relatively few new industrial products are introduced, and those introductions are typically successful. In most cases, the new products are simply replacements for inefficient or obsolete products. In such an environment, failed introductions are probably the result of errors in the product development process.     

Comparative industrial advertising: The content and frequency

Comparative advertising is the pratice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of comparative advertising in widely circulated industrial publications. The study examined approximately 2100 full-page advertisements in major trade publications for the years 1970, 1975, and 1980. It was found that comparative advertising is not the dominant format for industrial journal advertising. Further, there was a significant decrease in the use of comparative advertising from 1975 to 1980. Nevertheless, when industrial advertisers use comparative advertising, they tend to rely more frequently on implied comparisons rather than on the more aggressive, strictly comparative format. Also, industrial marketers seem to be more inclined to stress product features rather than price, distribution, or promotion when using comparative advertising.     

A decision-support system for evaluating sales prospects and launch strategies for new products

New products are important elements in the success of most industrial enterprises. But they are risky and costly. In this article, we briefly review methods that are used to evaluate the likely sales level for new industrial products prior to launch. Then, we report the results of a study of industrial product diffusion, focusing on those factors associated with successful market penetration. These results led to the development of a microcomputer based marketing decision support system (MDSS) that can be used to help plan the entry strategy for a new industrial product.     

New Industrial Product Design and Evaluation Using Multiattribute Value Analysis

Increasingly, the design of successful new industrial products is related to careful market assessment. Traditionally, managers and researchers have studied their markets by examining a small number of product attributes that are common across a range of informed respondents. In many ways, these techniques fail to meet the challenges posed by today's often heterogeneous, highly competitive, fast moving industrial markets. Ralph Keeney and Gary Lilien introduce us to a technique they call multiattribute value analysis, both describing the procedure and describing a comprehensive example. Their approach introduces considerable flexibility to the process of market assessment. Technically, it permits the evaluation of many more attributes, value tradeoffs, and synergies among attributes than do more traditional methods. In addition, it permits nonlinear evaluation functions that may be idiosyncratic to the individual. Practically, their approach, illustrated with a detailed case application, is shown to have significant potential for aiding product design decisions.     

选区激光熔化TC4粉末制备及成形工艺研究

为了提高气雾化制粉方法制备钛合金粉末的性能,使其更适应增材制造工艺,采用自主研发设计的电极感应气雾化制粉设备(EIGA)制备TC4钛合金粉末,研究雾化器气流汇聚角度对粉末粒度、粉末形貌的影响,采用马尔文激光粒度分析仪、氧氮氢分析仪、霍尔流速计、松装密度检测仪和工业CT等设备对粉末氧氮含量、流动性和空心粉含量进行测试。利用Concept Laser M2选区激光熔化设备对TC4粉末进行打印工艺验证研究,对比不同打印方向拉伸试样的室温力学性能,并分析选区激光熔化工艺成形TC4构件的显微组织。测试结果表明,当雾化器汇聚角度为25°时,53μm以下粉末的收得率最高,粉末性能最好。打印验证表明,粉末与Concept Laser M2打印设备的匹配度较好,力学拉伸数据能达到设备要求。因此通过改善雾化器结构能够有效提升气雾化法制备钛合金粉末的性能,并能与增材制造工艺匹配。     

Customer analysis for strategy development in industrial markets

This paper reports on concepts and techniques which have been developed for analysing customers and used as an aid to assessing the strategic position of companies in industrial markets. The emphasis on supplier/customer relationships presented here derives from the interaction approach to marketing and purchasing strategy. Many industrial markets are highly concentrated, and many companies develop in conjunction with key customers in a symbiotic relationship, where strategy evolves as proposals made by either side are either accepted or rejected. To take account of this we propose a 3-stage framework for analysing customers which builds on and transforms techniques traditionally used for an analysis of products. The purpose of the analysis is to improve the allocation of scarce marketing and technical resources, to reappraise the company's competitive position with different customer groups and to ensure that key relationships are managed effectively.     

Global alliance networks: A comparison of biotech SMEs in Sweden and Australia

The role of networks in business operations is widely recognized. We discuss social network theory, identify its main constituents, and outline a methodology and procedure that enable the identification and valuation of informal networks in an international business-to-business environment. Research is carried on informal Internet networks among firms in the biotechnology industry from Sweden and Australia. We use the methodology to recognize salient nodes, determine prominence and identify structural holes that allow the unveiling of brokerage opportunities that lie latent in networks. Global firms and suppliers of industrial products that are or can position themselves effectively in a social network are in a position to leverage considerable value.     

Developing a model of reciprocity in the importer-exporter relationship: The relative efficacy of economic versus social factors

This study develops and tests empirically a model of reciprocity in the importer-exporter relationship from an importer's perspective. A conceptual model with two distinct paths to reciprocity is proposed with a set of economic and social factors that influence an importer's reciprocity in its relationship with foreign exporters. The model is tested with a sample of 200 importers who have purchased industrial products from foreign exporters. The results indicate that reciprocity in the importer-exporter relationship is more heavily influenced by economic factors than by social factors. Theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.     

Identifying Key Customers for Novel Industrial Products

Managers responsible for novel industrial products seek to identify their most productive customers promptly, as a basis for deployment of marketing and development resources. Using a trial-and-adoption model, based upon invoice data from sales of novel industrial products over a five-year period, Richard Cardozo, David Smith and Madhubalan Viswanathan show that initial interpurchase interval (the time from initial purchase to first repeat purchase) identifies high-volume customers, no matter when they first purchased. In addition to demonstrating the usefulness of a trial-and-adoption model in analyzing purchases of novel industrial products, this study also describes for the first time four distinct purchase patterns for novel industrial products.     

Why Did Devlin Fail? Casualism and Conflict on the Docks

Following the decasualisation of dock labour in 1967 at the behest of the Devlin Committee it was widely anticipated that Britain's ports would enter a period of industrial peace and prosperity. In fact, the docks entered a phase of unprecedented militancy which persisted throughout the early 1970s. This paper examines why Devlin failed and demonstrates how continued insecurity on the waterfront, largely as a result of technological change, continued to be a source of conflict and dissension. More fundamentally, decasualisation was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for industrial peace on the docks, as institutional reform alone did not address many of the real troubles of the industry.     

Minimal Euclidean distance chart based on support vector regression for monitoring mean shifts of auto-correlated processes

Though traditional control charts have been widely used as effective tools in statistical process control (SPC), they are not applicable in many industrial applications where the process variables are highly auto-correlated. In this study, one new minimal Euclidean distance (MED) based monitoring approach is proposed for enhancing the monitoring mean shifts of auto-correlated processes. Support vector regression (SVR) is used to predict the values of a variable in time series. Through calculating minimal Euclidean distance (MED) values over time series, a novel MED chart is developed for monitoring mean shifts, and it can provide a comprehensive and quantitative assessment for the current process state. The performance of the proposed MED control chart is evaluated based on average run length (ARL). Simulation experiments are conducted and one industrial case is illustrated to validate the effectiveness of the developed MED control chart. The analysis results indicate that the developed MED control chart is more effective than other control charts for small process mean shifts in auto-correlated processes, and it can be used as a promising tool for SPC.     

Does purely predatory advertising exist?

"Purely predatory advertising" has been defined as advertising which redistributes market share but does not affect market demand. Purely predatory advertising is commonly assumed in the industrial economics literature; but its existence is an empirical question. Since cigarette advertising is widely considered to epitomize purely predatory advertising, we analyze firm level panel data for the United States cigarette industry to study the question of existence using an econometric procedure which corrects for autocorrelation and contemporaneous correlation. Statistical tests support the hypothesis that cigarette advertising is purely predatory.