DESIGNOR: A decision support procedure for industrial product design

This paper presents a model-based methodology called DESIGNOR to support design decisions for new industrial products. Models and measurements are developed to assess the relationship between product features and market potential. The methodology incorporates a measurement survey for model calibration and leads to empirical tradeoff curves between design dimensions. The approach handles discrete as well as continuous features and can be incorporated into a procedure aimed at finding a profit maximizing design. It can be used to support decisions concerning product design as well as for product line expansion. The approach provides a consistent way of evaluating market potential for new industrial products and presents important advantages over other product design methodologies.     

The market research contribution to new product failure and success

This paper examines the use made by management of market research data in the evaluation of new product development (NPD) projects. Stressing the need for a systematic approach to NPD the paper sets out four brief case histories, the products being Crocodillo, Paul Masson wine, the Prudential's Holburn UK Unit Trusts, and Golden Wonder's Preludes. These case histories illustrate both the value of a systematic approach to NPD by building up a market research programme and also the limitations of market research data which cannot alone be any guarantee of success.     

Entry and market share success of new brands in concentrated markets

Two hypotheses related to the concentration/entry issue were tested. Unlike previous studies that have approached the issue from the standpoint of the number of firms that enter concentrated versus relatively nonconcentrated industries, the concentration/entry issue was studied at the brand level. Specifically, two hypotheses were tested: 1) an inverse relationship exists between brand concentration and number of brand entrants, and 2) an inverse relationship exists between brand concentration and success of brand entrants. Whereas the results did reveal the existence of an inverse relationship between concentration and number of entrants, it was extremely weak. The second hypothesis that the market share success of new brand entrants is inversely related to brand concentration was not supported by test results.     

The new product process: A decision guide for management

This paper presents some of the findings of the latest study in the Project NewProd research series. It attempts to bridge the research‐versus‐practice gap by giving some advice on putting the findings into practice. The study looks at the characteristics of new research projects in an attempt to uncover what separates winners from losers. This paper takes the key findings from the research study and formulates them into a guide for systematic new product development, giving a practical aid to those involved in the new product development process.     

The anatomy of the Korean general trading company

The historical development of Japanese trading companies is reviewed. The concept of “trading company” is developed along three dimensions: product diversification, area diversification, and functional diversification. The seven year history of Korean General Trading Companies is analyzed with regard to their historical background, modus operandi, and current problems. The analysis reveals that most of the Korean GTCs, in spite of their impressive performance in terms of trade volume, have experienced severe deterioration of profitability. Finally, the paper states the change of the Korean Government's policy on the GTCs and contemplates its implication for GTCs' future direction within the context of the definition of trading company.     

Industrial firms' new product strategies

This research examines the impact of the firm's product innovation strategy on performance results. A total of 19 strategy dimensions were uncovered, which capture the specific elements of firms innovation strategies. Three dimensions of performance, independent of each other, were also identified and were found to be closely linked to the strategy adopted. For a high-impact new product program, an aggressive strategy emphasizing sophisticated technologies, heavy R&D spending, and a focused program was found appropriate. In contrast, a conservative strategy featuring avoidance of new markets and new product classes and a close synergy with the firm's technological resources resulted in a high success rate program. Finally, a high overall performance was the outcome of a balanced strategy: technologically aggressive, market oriented, and synergistic.     

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.     

Union negotiations,product market cooperation,and profits

Within the context of a unionized duopoly with decentralized Right‐to‐Manage wage negotiations, this paper investigates how different measures of product market cooperation impact firms' profitability. In the presence of exogenous production costs, a classical result in industrial economics is that conjectural derivatives (CD) and conjectural elasticities (CE) lead to similar results, and CE reproduce exactly the same output decision level (and, therefore, profits) of the coefficient of cooperation (CC). These results show that wage bargaining alters those relations; in particular, the equivalence of the CE and CC no longer holds true.     

Determinants of the new product screening decision A structural model analysis

Many criteria have been proposed to aid managers in the difficult and complex new product screening decision task. Corporate synergy, production synergy, marketing synergy, competitive advantage and expected performance are shown to be five critical causal determinants of managers' overall evaluation of a new product's likelihood of success.     

Real exchange rate shocks and new product margins in the export market

This study examines the impact of industry real exchange rate (RER) shocks on plant and product exports using a comprehensive dataset for South Korea from 1990 to 1996. We find that RER changes have heterogeneous effects on real exports of existing exporters in terms of their productivity, and the positive RER depreciation effect on exports is more pronounced for less productive plants. At a product level, we find new evidence that a weak home currency prompts exporters to introduce new products to the export market, especially more remarkable for low-productivity plants. In contrast, a strong home currency leads to product exit with less significance.     

新产品市场安全的可拓物元评价模型及应用

新产品进入市场的安全问题是目前众多企业非常关心的实际操作问题,同时营销评价问题是以营销工程为主要支撑的市场营销科学研究之一,但传统的评价方法过于粗糙且不够全面。本文在其他学者的研究结果基础之上通过调查统计分析构建了比较客观全面的市场安全风险因素指标体系,运用可拓理论中的优度评价法建立了新产品入市的市场安全评价模型。实证研究结果表明这种评价方法具有较高的准确性,对于深入研究产品的营销安全评价问题有一定借鉴意义。     

Organization technology and the media and purpose dimensions of organization communications

Data collected from field research using structured observations indicate for task communications significant relationships between organization technology certainty (using Perrow's typology) and use of verbal and sign media and no significant relationship with use of object and written media. These data also indicate relationships between technology certainty and stimulus and problem solving communications purposes. Directionality of communications moderates these technology-purpose relationships, even exposing some additional relationships. The last section of this article proposes a reconceptualized model of organization communications, considering technology certainty, member mobility, and leadership style as independent variables and directionality as a moderating variable.     

Price-Anderson act declared unconstitutional: The decision and its effects on nuclear power

In March 1977, the $560 million limit on liability in the Price-Anderson Act was declared unconstitutional. The Price-Anderson Act sets forth a combination private-public insurance and compensation system for handling risks associated with commercial nuclear operations. The limit was found to violate the due process and equal protection provisions of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This paper examines the salient points of the decision which include: (a) the effects of nuclear plant operations on the plaintiffs; (b) the dependence of nuclear power development on the Price-Anderson Act; (c) the plaintiff's right to bring suit; and (d) the rationale for declaring the Act unconstitutional. The potential effects include the possibility that many utilities and suppliers of nuclear plant components will terminate their nuclear business, the availability of capital funds for nuclear plants will be reduced, and that cost of capital will be increased to reflect the greater risk of nuclear development.     

Mismeasurement of market returns

Virtually all empirical tests of the Capital Asset Pricing Model have assumed (usually implicitly) that returns of some New York Stock Exchange index measure the returns of the “market factor” without error. However, recent theoretical developments suggest that this assumption may be inappropriate. In this effort, an obverse tack is adopted — the asset pricing model is assumed correct and attention is focused on the impacts of incorrect specification of market returns. A simple errors-in-variables econometric technique is used to reevaluate the oft-cited study of Black, Jensen, and Scholes. The conclusion is reached that incorrect measurement of the market is itself an onerous and unreconciled problem which adds marked bias to tests of asset pricing mechanisms.     

Multibank holding company activity and local market structure: Some implications for intra- and interstate banking

This paper presents new evidence on the effects of multibank holding companies on the structure of local commercial bank markets for deposits. A distinguishing feature of this study is the use of pooled cross-section and time-series data. It is concluded that multibank holding company activity has had a procompetitive effect on the local banking markets in the sample. This finding, which is quite robust under alternative model specifications, has important implications for state and federal policy toward this organizational form and toward intra- and interstate banking.     

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 impact of market orientation on product innovativeness and business performance

The paper reports a study of the impact of market orientation on business performance. The use of product innovativeness is proposed as a mediator of the influence of market orientation on business performance. Product innovativeness is defined along two dimensions: use of new-to-the-firm and use of new-to-the-market products. Business performance was represented by relative price premium, sales growth, capacity utilization, and profitability. The findings provide support for the positive influence of market orientation on both dimensions of product innovativeness. However, only use of new-to-the-market products turns out to be a positive contributor to business performance.     

Unfolding market vision quality: understanding its dimensions,drivers, and before-launch performance

ABSTRACT

While prior research has recognised the importance of developing radical and really new product innovations for long-term business success, the factors underpinning successful development of such ‘market-driving’ innovations remain elusive. This study unfolds the extrinsic and intrinsic dimensions of market vision (MV) quality and investigates their drivers, the organisational and individual dimensions of market visioning competence (MVC). Further, it examines the extent to which MV dimensions influence before-launch performance – specifically, the ability to maintain breakthrough integrity (BI) of new products and achieve early success with customers (ESC) with market-driving innovations. Using a sample of 179 managers of innovative companies in Thailand, the results highlight that the MVC organisational dimension acts as a key driver for both dimensions of MV quality. While the MV extrinsic dimension influences BI, the instrinsic dimension of MV influences ESC – and ultimately, BI influences ESC. Research implications exist to advance the development of market-driving innovations.     

The dimensions of assortment: A proposed hierarchy of assortment decision making

Abstract

The merchandise assortment plays a fundamental role in retailing; it conveys the positioning of the retailer, and is a key determinant of image and patronage. However, existing literature covering a 50-year period is somewhat fragmented. A key problem with the literature is that it does not distinguish between different levels and dimensions of assortment, causing potential ambiguity in their interpretation in the modern retailing context. The lack of standardised terminology could potentially inhibit future assortment research in, for example, assortment measurement. In reviewing the literature, the critical dimensions of assortment are clarified with conceptual definitions and a hierarchical classification of assortment being proposed. Further, the assortment research is examined, identifying an imbalance between operational and strategic assortment research. As retail assortments expand and saturate, the need for assortment measurement research is argued with associated implications for retail management.     

The stakeholder product brand and decision making in retail financial services

Stakeholder products were introduced by the UK Government to help assist decision making in retail financial services. Such products are targeted particularly at low- to middle-income consumers and those in a position of vulnerability/weakness in personal finance markets due to low expertise and familiarity and a lack of interest and involvement. The current study offers a detailed investigation into whether the stakeholder policy initiative is likely to appeal to the specified target market and, hence, help the Government fulfil its objectives. A sample of 1002 consumers is employed in a quantitative study. Findings show that the stakeholder product brand (SPB) enjoys a relatively high level of general acceptance, but that it does not resonate particularly with the target market. The SPB is likely to be recognized as useful in aiding decision making by high-involvement consumers, as well as those consumers who are more familiar with financial services. Those who suffer from the illusion of expertise have marginally less positive attitudes towards the stakeholder brand when compared with other expertise groups. The data are indicative of few meaningful relationships between demographic variables and attitudes towards stakeholder products. Policy implications are highlighted.