To achieve and maintain a superior competitive position, firms must develop market sensing capability-the ability to sense events and trends in markets ahead of competitors (Day 1994a). According to Day, in firms with superior market sensing capability, "the processes for gathering, interpreting, and using market information are more systematic, thoughtful, and anticipatory than in other firms" [emphasis added]. Although Day asserted that market orientation captures the essence of a market sensing capability, researchers have suggested that market orientation, by itself, does not provide the requisite ability to develop competitive advantage because of its focus on detecting rather than anticipating market trends. While prior research, most notably pertaining to market orientation, has addressed the detection of current market trends, a gap in our knowledge remains regarding the ability to anticipate future market conditions. This research seeks to address this lacuna by exploring a firm's market foresight capability, defined as the organizational capability that allows the firm to anticipate emerging shifts in the market before they are evident to competitors. Organizations possessing superior market foresight capability derive a multitude of benefits from having greater insight into future market conditions. These benefits include the ability to determine which future market trends warrant further exploration and exploitation, the identification of critical resources that will be needed in the future, and-of primary interest in this dissertation-the ability to develop new products that meet customer needs in the future. This research seeks to better inform managers as to the organizational characteristics that enhance the firm's ability to anticipate future markets by developing and testing a model of the antecedents and new product outcomes of a firm's market foresight capability. The constructs selected as determinants of market foresight capability are supported by dynamic capability theory, which focuses on the organization's information processes, learning culture, and coordination/integration influences that elevate lower-level capabilities of individuals and teams to an organization-level or dynamic capability. The organizational information processes that are hypothesized to positively impact market foresight capability include active scanning, market experimentation, and lead user collaboration. The impact of information processes on market foresight capability is contingent on an organization's learning culture (future orientation and learning orientation) and interdepartmental connectedness, which influence the coordination and integration of information between organizational actors. A firm's potential for long-term competitive advantage lies in using the insights resulting from its market foresight capability to create advantageous resource configurations. To create valuable resource configurations, the firm with superior market foresight capability must capitalize on its ability to anticipate change through the development of new product and service offerings that better serve the needs of customers. It is hypothesized that superior market foresight capability results in heightened new product creativity, faster speed to market, and better market-entry timing. These new product outcomes of market foresight capability are further hypothesized to lead to superior new product financial performance. Of course, firms cannot realize the hypothesized new product benefits unless they are able to capitalize on market opportunities. Therefore, the relationships between market foresight capability and new product outcomes are hypothesized to be contingent on organizational inertia.

When purchasing durable goods, consumers not only pay for current but also future consumption; consequently, forward looking behavior is an important consideration in durable goods markets. For example, anticipating that prices will go down in the future, consumers may delay the purchase today; such behavior has a significant impact on the firm’s marketing strategies. This dissertation investigates the impact of durability on two marketing strategies: new product introductions and supply chain design. The first part of this dissertation (Chapter 3) examines a durable goods manufacturer’s new product introduction strategy under different market environments where network effects and product compatibility are important. More specifically, this part explores the incentives of a firm to use either a replacement strategy or a skipping strategy—in the former, the firm commercializes the existing technology, while in the latter, it does not; in either case, an improved technology will be available in the future and the firm will introduce a new product at that time. Using a two-period analytical model with network effects, the analysis shows how the level of improvement in the new product, along with the type of compatibility between the products, interacts with network strength to determine the manufacturer’s optimal strategy. Under gradual new product improvement, there is a strict preference for replacement. In contrast, under rapid new product improvement, that preference only holds in markets with relatively high levels of the network strength; at lower levels of the network strength, skipping is preferred; interestingly, for moderate values of the network strength, the level of product improvement affects the manufacturer’s optimal choice differently under varying types of compatibility. The second part of this dissertation (Chapters 4 and 5) focuses on the supply chain design decisions of a durable goods manufacturer who is a sole supplier of an essential proprietary component for making the end product. Three different supply chain structures iii are considered. In the first, the manufacturer operates as a “component supplier” and sells the component to a downstream firm who then makes the end product. In the second structure, the manufacturer produces the end product using its component but does not make that component available to any other firms; here, the manufacturer operates as a “sole entrant”. Finally, the manufacturer can operate as a “dual distributor” who not only makes the end product using its own component, but sells the component to a downstream firm who then competes against the manufacturer in the end product market. The extant literature on the optimal choice among the above supply chain structures has focused mainly on static settings in a framework of price competition. By contrast, researchers predominantly use quantity competition to examine durable goods markets in dynamic (i.e., multiple time period) settings. Moreover, the literature notes diversity in optimal firm behavior under the two types of (i.e., price and quantity) competition. Therefore, to transition from supply chain design in a static setting to a more dynamic one where consumers are forward-looking, this part utilizes Chapter 4 to analyze the manufacturer’s choice using quantity competition in a static setting. This analysis (in Chapter 4) identifies precisely the shift in the manufacturer’s choice of supply chain structure when moving from price competition to a quantity competition framework. With that analysis as a benchmark, the next chapter focuses on the manufacturer’s choice in a dynamic setting. More specifically, Chapter 5 investigates the impact of durability on the optimality of the supply chain structures identified above. Using a two period setting, the analysis explores how the manufacturer’s preference for different supply chain structures is modified. The findings reveal that, e.g., when durability is taken into account, the manufacturer’s preference for the sole entrant role goes up, while the preference for the component supplier role goes down. Further, under certain conditions, the manufacturer may opt to be a dual distributor in the first period and then choose to become only a component supplier in the second period. The underlying rationale for such shifts in preference iv is directly linked to durability, which creates future competition and substantially reduces the manufacturer’s profitability in the long run. Interestingly, this negative impact varies across different supply chain structures. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the current literature on durable goods and enhances our understanding of the impact of durability on the optimality of distinct marketing strategies, and provides insights that are valuable to both academics and managers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to advance the knowledge on value co-creation in new product development (NPD) in the context of slow fashion, with specific emphasis on investigating the interest of slow fashion consumers to engage in the NPD process and brands' perspective regarding this. Via exploring the value co-creation phenomena in the slow fashion industry context, this study also intends to apply and discuss the suitability of currently available value co-creation theories for the slow fashion context. Methodology: This research employed an explanatory design with an deductive approach. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied using a self-administered online questionnaire for slow fashion consumers and semi structured interviews with two slow fashion companies. The questionnaire and interview questions were designed according to the subjects that emerged from a theoretical background constructed for the study. Findings: The consumers of slow fashion indicated a large interest for participation in value co-creation (VCC) activities in new product development (NPD), however on a low level of customer empowerment, mainly just giving suggestions and voting on design ideas by the brand. This wasn’t much affected by the customer typology or perceived relationship to the brand, however, the internalised extrinsic motivation lifted the contribution interest slightly. The two interviewed companies indicated to be interested to empower the customers to the same extent as the customers were mainly willing to. The companies saw the possibility to cater better for the customer needs as the main benefit, however, simultaneously they were concerned of the customers’ awareness regarding the garment quality factors or the lead times of the industry. Practical implications: The paper presents the current interest of the slow fashion consumers to participate in in VCC in NPD revealing their customer typology and perceived relationship to a brand as well as their motivations and barriers, which can be utilised by slow fashion brands when considering implementation of VCC in NPD. Originality/Value: The study represents an unexplored area of VCC in NPD research expanding knowledge by investigating the interest of slow fashion consumers to engage in the NPD process and the brands' perspective regarding this.

The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

No description available.

New product development and management are critical to the long-term success of the firm. New product development is also an area where the firm needs to improve performance. Two important new product decisions are selecting new concepts and estimating their future market potential and demand. Forecasting is a critical activity in supporting these two decisions. Unfortunately, forecasting is an activity where firms often struggle to be proficient. Recent advances in forecasting methods offer opportunities for improvement. One of the techniques is prediction markets, an emerging methodology that taps collective intelligence. Despite widely reported application and promise of prediction markets, they have yet to be adopted in marketing practice or examined in marketing academia. This dissertation addresses two research questions: do prediction markets produce better marketing forecasts than methods traditionally employed by firms, and if they do, how do they do it? To answer these research questions, two field studies are completed. The first is an empirical test of prediction markets compared to traditional forecasting methods implemented within a Fortune 100 firm. The second, based on a post survey, is an analysis of how market knowledge factors in combination with prediction markets design factors produce superior results. Study I finds that prediction markets do provide superior results in 67% of the forecasts and reduce error levels and ranges. Study II finds that out of several design factors, prediction market forecast accuracy is driven most by new information acquisition and knowledge heterogeneity. These findings contribute to MSI 2012-2014 Research Priorities and calls in the marketing literature to develop, better, real-time, intelligent decision support tools to help solve problems of the big data era and support improved demand forecasting. / Business Administration/Marketing

In emergent high technology industries, entrepreneurs and their new ventures play a critical role in enhancing economic growth. In these industries, we can easily see some new ventures grow more rapidly to outperform their competitors. However, looking beyond the surface, new ventures’ growth path is idiosyncratic. More specifically, when growing, new ventures pursue different paths in terms of 1) which technologies they develop, 2) which products they make, and 3) what markets they enter. The question that has struck me is why high-tech new ventures differ on these key strategic choices. Building on literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, industry evolution, and network, this dissertation tries to answer this important question by focusing on intra-firm factors, more specifically, the individual and structural attributes of new ventures. Types of founder experience and new ventures’ knowledge structure are examined in depth. My three studies, each presented as a separate essay herein, investigate how individual (i.e. founder experience) and structural attributes (i.e. knowledge structure) affect key strategic choices regarding i) product market scope (Wernerfelt and Montgomery, 1988), ii) technological search scope (Katila and Ahuja, 2002), and iii) the types of new products (Sanchez and Mahoney, 1996; Henderson and Clark, 1990), respectively. In each, I discuss the relevant theories, methodology, data sources, results and implications. By investigating intra-firm factors that trigger different entrepreneurial strategies, my dissertation responds to an important call – micro-foundation of strategy formation – thus filling a key gap in the entrepreneurship literature. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

This dissertation investigates causal factors that lead to implementing a top-down approach to platform product design as well as performance outcomes from such a design. A top-down approach to platform product design requires intentional planning of a new platform-based product design during the new product development process, incorporating a level of modularity into the new design, and planning derivative products based on common subsystems and interfaces. A thorough review of literature was used to build a theory of platform product design founded on risks and benefits. Benefits are that platform design can drive revenue, introduce cost and time efficiencies, lead to more reliable products and offer managerial benefits in the form of adjacencies. Risks include increased costs and time to market for the first product, reduced revenue due to commonality, sub-optimal product design, and increased management complexity during the NPD process. A conceptual model was then developed encompassing antecedents, contributing factors, and market performance measures to implementing a top-down approach to new platform product design. The model was empirically tested in the context of U.S. manufacturing firms using data collected from 249 manufacturing product design managers. Respondents included managers from B2B firms and B2C firms as well as small and large firms. In order to test the model, a new continuous multidimensional measurement scale of top-down platform product design was developed. Results showed that market turbulence, technological turbulence, a product that is new to the market and competitive strategies of differentiation and design for supportability are positively related to platform design. Firm type - B2B versus B2C - and firm size - large firms versus small firms - was found to moderate this relationship. Regarding firm type, products that are new to the market are positively related to platform design for B2C firms, not B2B firms, while a competitive strategy of design for supportability is positively related to platform design for B2B firms, not B2C firms. Regarding firm size, a competitive strategy of design for supportability is positively related to platform design for large firms, not small firms. These findings suggest that an important predictor of top-down platform design is risk or uncertainty. Results also showed that top-down platform product design is positively related to both short term and long term market performance although this relationship is significantly greater for long term market performance. In the short-term, performance as measured by sales and market share was greater than performance as measured by profits. In the long-term, performance measured by sales and profits was greater than performance measured by market share. Organizational support in the form of management buy-in and cross-functional integration partially mediates the relationship between platform design and long term market performance. Finally, strategic flexibility was found to have an inverse relationship with top-down platform down. Firms lacking strategic flexibility were more likely to pursue a top-down platform design. This is in line with findings that suggest top-down platform design is undertaken when uncertainty is high and strategic flexibility is an advantage These findings contradict conventional wisdom in new product development literature and offer a better understanding of why platform design is important in a way that has not been previously defined. / Business Administration/Marketing

No / This study contributes to the literature on shareholder value and financialization, which to date has produced few case studies at the individual firm level. We provide a grounded account of management control under financialization, focusing on the apparently dramatic turnaround in performance of one factory, located in the northeast of England (Midco). However, in contrast to some of the more prescriptive accounts of shareholder value implementation, we resist overly simplistic explanations that the turnaround was 'due to' EVA. Instead, we suggest that both the factory's prior experience of change, particularly TQM, plus the presence of economic insecurity facilitated the turnaround. We compare our findings with other relevant studies and suggest that EVA and financialized solutions do not constitute a panacea for struggling organizations. Specifically, a strategy prioritizing new product development may be incompatible with the type of practices introduced by Midco.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how Swedish banks leverage service quality to handle the changed customer expectations shaped by COVID-19-related product development. Due to COVID-19, the digital shift along with product development accelerated resulting in changed customer expectations within the banking sector. The authors acknowledge the gap in the literature regarding what changed customer expectations that arose, which is essential to understand service quality. To reach a conclusion aligned with the purpose that answered the three formulated research questions, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from the Swedish banking sector. The data was analyzed through a thematic approach allowing the authors to structure and analyze the findings. The findings revealed several changed customer expectations and that banks continuously handle these. It was concluded that service quality permeates the bank's operations, and the focus is directed toward the customer, fulfilling their needs and meeting expectations. Banks leverage service quality by integrating NPD, needs analysis for customer satisfaction, feedback, and exceeding expectations by providing extra services. Due to growing competition, leveraging service quality allows banks to reduce the risk of customers switching to competitors and differentiate.