D.Comm. (Marketing Management) / Repeat purchasing of newly developed products is critical for new product success and customer profit maximisation. Yet this topic has received little or no attention from the literature. Today, as profitability is being challenged from global competition, marketers of consumable industrial products (MRO) have to understand better than ever before how to effectively and efficiently manage repeat purchasing to achieve their profit maximising objectives. The study investigates industrial consumable repeat purchasing from a high involvement purchasing perspective and identifies four purchasing constructs and their variables whichimpact customer purchasing decision making. These constructs relate to pre-trial purchase, trial purchase, first repeat purchase and long term repeat purchase decision making dimensions, each containing purchase decision making factors which the marketer is able to influence. The findings reveal that customers decide which vendor to select for a trial- purchase, heavily influenced by the transactional value offered and the customer's perceived probability of transactional value satisfaction with the offer. Retaining the vendor for a first repeat purchase requires confirmation of the perceived pre purchase satisfaction likelihood with the evaluation of the purchase and consumption experience. To be retained for continued repeat purchasing and profitability maximisation over the long term, requires marketing strategies that are based on the customer's repeat purchase orientation and the firm's ability to meet the customer's rising value expectations. Such orientation consists of either transactional or relational repeat purchasing. In the transactional case, vendor preference has to be maintained from a perspective of superior transactional value and transactional value .satisfaction whereas in the relational repeat purchasing case, vendor preference requires in addition.. vendor loyalty and buyer-seller relationships for retention. The empirical study verifies these findings which lead to a repeat purchasing framework and a predictor for measuring vendor retention. As vendor retention reflects a customer's attitudinal intent towards the product/vendor entity, marketers are advised to develop favourable customer attitudes before, during and after a purchase. By implementing customer relationship management (CRM), customer value, satisfaction, loyalty and value laden buyer-seller relationships can be created to achieve sustainable repeat purchasing and enhanced stakeholdervalue

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Launching a new product requires a creative and analytical approach that will embrace the needs of a variety of customers. Therefore the key to success, during the launch stage of a new product, lies in finding those customer segments which are most disposed to become early adopters. Once the new product has been launched and is widely accepted, the more conservative customers will be easier to sell to. This study proposes the launch strategy of an aerosol spray paint which is designed for the use in a DIY market of the automotive refinish segment. The study take a form of an assessment survey involving a literature review and a survey of managers and sales representatives of selected automotive dealerships and body repair shops. The literature review identified best practices that should be followed to launch a new product: starting with assessing the market potential of the new product, followed by a series of activities including pre-launch and then a full launch. The strategic marketing approach required to launch a new product is also described throughout the process. The empirical survey and research methodology employed in the study is described. This is followed by the survey questionnaire used for gathering the data needed for analysis. The research findings of the empirical survey are then analyzed and reported on. Various recommendations flowing from the results of the empirical study are presented in the final chapter.

In an increasingly volatile business environment, new product introduction is no longer a strategic option but a necessity for companies to sustain competitive advantage and for countries to achieve national economic prosperity. This is particularly true in such emerging economies as People's Republic of China, where traditional manufacturing enterprises are striving to achieve the move from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China'. Focusing on the issue of new product introduction by strategic alliances, I propose a theoretical model on the relationship between procedural justice, cross-functional integration and new product introduction. Albeit the notion that cross-functional integration can greatly facilitate the successful implementation of projects is widely acknowledged, contemporary research on cross-functional integration and new product introduction has paid insufficient attention to the issue of procedural justice. Research on whether, how and when cross-functional integration and new product development could be facilitated or promoted from a justice perspective is still in its infancy. Based on the findings of my field study in 2015-2016, I consider it necessary to take into account the effect of procedural justice in current streams of research on cross-functional integration and new product introduction. I argue firms that establish strategic alliances should pay greater attention to the issue of procedural justice in new product introduction. Moreover, I posit that the relationship between procedural justice and new product introduction is mediated by cross-functional integration. Finally, to address the discrepancies in previous research regarding the relationship between cross-functional integration and new product development, I test the effect of an insufficiently tested moderator, i.e., actual new product introduction strategy, on that relationship. Analyzing data from multiple sources in China, I obtain evidence in support of these arguments, finding procedural justice to exert a positive effect on new product introduction, and cross-functional integration and new product introduction strategy to exert a partial mediating effect and moderating effect, respectively.

Innovation is vital to the survival and prosperity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Such firms have the inherent liability of limited resources, which creates a barrier to their pursuit of innovative activities. To compete with larger incumbents and sustain competitive advantages, leaders, the principal decision-makers, play a key role in devising innovation strategies and have overall responsibility for firms' ultimate performance. This study draws on the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities perspective (DC) to develop a model linking leadership (resource) to innovation (dynamic capability) and product innovation performance (sustainable competitive advantage). In addition, it suggests that reward philosophy and entrepreneurial culture can enhance or hinder the effect of transformational and transactional leadership on exploratory and exploitative innovation in the context of SMEs. Using a quantitative research method, 151 valid pairs of questionnaires (i.e. 302 respondents) were collected from the top management of small and medium-sized manufacturing firms in China. The empirical findings showed that transformational leadership behaviors could foster both exploratory and exploitative innovations. Transactional leaders, consistent with the literature, could facilitate exploitative activities, but not exploratory innovation. The data analysis also indicated that different types of innovation delivered different benefits to firms. In addition, reward philosophy and entrepreneurial culture had divergent moderating effects on the relationship between leadership style and innovative outcome.

The strongest correlate of new product success is understanding of market requirements early in the new product development (NPD) process. This is true in high technology environments where rapid change and chaotic market conditions prevail. Although a firm's salesforce is viewed as one of many sources of new product ideas and market information, the involvement of salespeople in NPD activities varies widely across firms. This study examines salesforce involvement in a firm's NPD predevelopment activities, i.e. idea generation and screening, preliminary market assessment, and concept evaluation. Because of the limits of existing research in this area, a two-phase research design was used. The first phase developed a scale for measuring salesforce involvement in NPD predevelopment activities. This scale was incorporated into a study model. The second phase tested the study model, a linkage of salesperson involvement level to organization and individual salesperson attributes. The scale-development sample consisted of 136 sales professionals. The resulting scale was a nineteen item, multi-dimensional measure incorporating three factors of involvement: involvement initiated by the salesperson, involvement initiated by NPD-Organization, and a salesperson's cognitive interest in NPD involvement. In the second phase of the study, a sample of 248 salespeople from nineteen companies completed self-administered written surveys. At the organization attribute level, the length of the NPD cycle was significantly associated with involvement subscale measures. In particular, the longer a firm's NPD cycle for product improvements, the less involvement the salesforce has in NPD-headquarters initiated involvement activities. A similar significant relationship exists between a firm's new product cycle time and the level of involvement in salesforce-initiated NPD predevelopment activities. At the study model's salesperson level, a series of factors were associated to NPD team-initiated and salesforce-initiated involvement subscales. These factors are a salesperson's: customer orientation, location distance from NPD, level of feedback from NPD, membership on NPD teams, knowledge of where to send NPD-related information, and belief that information communicated to NPD will be appropriately used. Study findings suggest that organizations can affect the degree of involvement that their salesforce or individual salespeople has in early phases of NPD.

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