The motion picture industry is characterized by a high degree of artistic innovation that revolves around the project rather than the firm. Success is elusive and firms operate in an environment of symmetrical ignorance, that is, high levels of demand uncertainty as well as product uncertainty. This makes managing the commercial development of new products difficult. The study of the factors that drive success in new product development have been significant, however, little attention has been given to experiential and creatively driven products such as motion pictures. While a number of studies have attempted to find accurate means to predict performance in motion pictures, most of these have met with limited results, yet few, if any, have linked the knowledge gained from the study of new product development with the industry. Similarly, the impact of market orientation on firm performance and new product success has been the focus of much empirical research since the late 1980's and has been shown to be significantly associated with new product performance. Here, the marketing literature and the NPD literature converge, yet few studies have attempted to study how the same concepts might apply in motion picture production. The primary focus of this study was to explore the feasibility of the NPD and market orientation literature in the development of successful motion picture and whether or not similar application of this knowledge is tenable. As such, the study centers around two broad research issues: RESEARCH ISSUE 1: How can Australian films perform better? In other words, what are the factors that drive success in Australian motion picture production? RESEARCH ISSUE 2: What is the role of the audience in the development of successful Motion Pictures in Australia? Or in other words, do Australian filmmakers need to be "close" to their audience (market oriented) in order to attain higher levels of success. Australia has been used as a context primarily due to the accessibility of data. This represents a relatively new setting for the study of NPD and market orientation and a new industry. Therefore, an exploratory study was designed which utilized in-depth interviews with experts from three sectors of the Australian motion picture industry. This was deemed to be the best approach given the dearth of previous studies in this setting and the fact that the majority of past industry studies have been quantitative. The findings reveal some support for a significant relationship between success and new product development activities such as product advantage, market orientation, up-front homework, early product definition, cross-functional and coordinated teams, and launch. Product advantage, however, is better understood in terms of a movie's marketability and playability, that is, the perceived superiority of its attributes before and after its viewing. A market orientation is likely to be more effective in the motion picture industry when it helps a firm lead its customers rather than encourages a firm to be led by them. Finally, despite previous studies in the Australian industry, the number of scripts in development is unlikely to matter. What matters is that the scripts that are ready to move into production are evaluated fully and that full support is provided to those that make it through in order to give them the best chance for success.

New Product Development is vital to the performance of high-tech firms given the rapid change in technology and markets that they face. Drawing on the ambidexterity literature this study focuses on how firms can employ Ambidextrous Market Learning (AML), that is, the use of exploratory and exploitative market learning strategies simultaneously, to develop successful innovative products. Despite the exponential growth of studies focusing on ambidexterity, the literature portrays the ambidexterity concept as a present or absent like phenomena. However, in the current study, AML is conceptualised as a continuum of market knowledge that acts as a key source essential in creating customer value in the form of new products. Whilst research into ambidexterity contains abundant evidence of the positive effects of ambidexterity on firm performance, yet there is little discussion in the literature on the effects of AML on product advantage and the role of product innovativeness. A conceptual model comprising the relationship between AML, product advantage and product innovativeness is developed and empirically tested using 178 UK-based high-tech firms. The findings indicate that AML firms tend to develop products that have high product advantage. The study further focuses on how product innovativeness and product advantage constructs interact to create new product financial performance. Findings also suggest that marketing and technological discontinuity (product innovativeness from the firm s perspective) respectively has a negative and a positive moderating impact on product advantage. In addition, modelling product innovativeness from the customers perspective (customer discontinuity) in the same model sheds new light on the relationship between product advantage, product innovativeness and product performance. By further examining the moderating effects of marketing and technological discontinuity on the link between AML and product advantage, the analyses reveals the different scenarios in which the benefits of AML firms may outweigh its implementation cost.

隨著智慧型手機普及，大量行動應用程式(Apps)近年如雨後春筍般的出現，然而在大量且功能間相似的App中，如何脫穎而出實為值得探討之議題。 本研究依據先進者優勢作為理論基礎，並延伸探討產品特性及行銷策略對先進者優勢維持之影響，透過檔案分析法針對目前市面上數個成功的App進行個案研究，並同時對功能相仿的App進行交叉個案分析，期望歸納出能領導各種類App成功的方法。 本研究蒐集自期刊論文、相關書籍、報章雜誌及網路文獻之資料，經個案分析之研究結果如下： 1. 市場的先佔及高轉換成本為App先進者主要優勢來源；而較低的成本、市場不穩定性及先進者可能失誤，則為App後進者主要優勢。 2. 較佳的產品功能與產品創新能力，或較能提供更多附加價值之App，對App先進者優勢的維持有正向之影響。 3. 不同種類的App在先進者優勢之維持上略有差異，簡要歸納如下 (1) 遊戲類：受先進者優勢、產品優勢及行銷策略影響甚鉅，快速先占市場，並擁有良好產品功能及完整行銷策略較易帶來成功。 (2) 工具類：透過較佳的產品功能、產品品質與產品創新來維持先進者優勢，才能保持長期競爭力。 (3) 娛樂類：先進者優勢與產品優勢同等重要，快速先占市場將有助於發展與競爭力維持。 (4) 社交類：深受網路外部性之影響，故快速先佔市場並持續滿足使用者需求，才能避免被後進者淘汰。 / As more people use smart phones, the number of mobile applications (Apps) is increasing rapidly. However, with so many similar Apps, how Apps can stand out from competing products is an important issue. This study adopts theories related to First-Mover Advantages, Product Advantages and Marketing strategies to develop a general framework for analyzing factors that affect the success of first movers. We chose several well-known apps and used document analysis to analyze the secondary data collected from the Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, etc. Our major findings are as following: 1. Market preemption and high user switching costs are the main source of advantages for first-movers. Lower development costs, risks and the chance to avoid failure are the main source of advantages for the follower to succeed. 2. Better product functions and innovative features have positive effects on keeping First-Mover Advantages. Meeting customer needs and providing more added values also help maintain the advantage. 3. Different factors exist for different types of apps. Product advantages and marketing strategies are keys for Games Apps; app functionality, product quality and innovative features are important for productivity tools; first-mover and product advantages are important for entertainment apps; while network externality is the most critical one for social networking apps.