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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of Brazilian economic activity.

The literature review focuses on analyzing the innovation process characteristics regarding the innovation types. The authors carried out interviews with executives and managers in charge of innovation at the leading large companies in the respective sectors analyzed. The data analysis of this qualitative research was structured in three steps. The first step is the analysis of data collected for encoding, the second step, the summarization of the common points presented by the companies in each sector and, finally, the interpretation of these data, aided by triangulation from secondary data that support the analysis of the collected primary data.

The main contribution of this study is to characterize the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of the Brazilian economy, with a classification regarding the sectoral innovation standard.

The authors’ intent is that the paper can contribute with a comparative analysis among companies of the same sector and, subsequently, among companies of the different surveyed sectors. Thus, the characterization aims to present the companies’ innovation process and the comparative analysis aims to verify the innovation sectoral patterns. In addition, as implications for management practice, some strategies for better knowledge management in the organization are suggested for each type of innovation.

The main theoretical contribution focuses on the development of a conceptual model that structures the analyzed variables of the constructs “innovation process” and “innovation sectoral patterns”, allowing not only the characterization but also the comparative analysis of the representative organizations present in the sample.

For most of the past decade, it has been tough to find growth in consumer sectors such as packaged goods, media, food, and electronics. The proliferation of new brands and products has made operations more complex and expensive, while consolidation among retailers and the rise in private‐label store brands has shifted pricing power away from suppliers in household and packaged goods. A few consumer companies, however, are prospering or starting down new avenues to growth. These firms have moved beyond product innovation to emphasize demand innovation, which entails understanding the higher‐order needs of consumers, and then creating service and product solutions that directly address those needs. Mercer’s research has documented at least a dozen patterns of demand innovation in consumer markets. Some are relatively simple steps to enhance a product or service and thereby steal market share and expand margins. Others allow companies to leverage their assets in more radical ways, opening up entirely new opportunities. The experiences of Kraft, Procter & Gamble, and Netflix show how consumer companies can improve the consumer experience and find incremental ways to grow in the process.

Focuses on population characteristics that appear to make one nation more or less innovative for technical consumer products. Finds three predictors ‐ individualism, uncertainty avoidance and purchasing power ‐ to be related to national levels of new product ownership within Europe. Discusses the results, focusing on their implications for marketers seeking to export innovative technological consumer goods to Europe and elsewhere.

The study aims to provide insights into the changing nature and dynamics of business model innovation in India over the last decade.

This study uses a unique hand‐collected data set of 95 observations that mentioned business model innovation in India in the financial press between 2001 and 2008. The study analyses business model innovation trends across industries, firm types and newness of innovation.

First, with time the percentage share of business model innovations by new entrants has been increasing. Second, new entrants increasingly attempt efficiency improvements while targeting novel ways of meeting customer needs, whilst incumbents predominantly adopt efficiency‐based business models. Third, over the period of the authors' study, there was a clear shift in business model innovation away from IT‐related industries towards consumer goods, media and financial services. Fourth, new entrants introduced new‐to‐industry, whereas incumbents introduced new‐to‐firm innovations. Fifth, novelty‐centred business models of new entrants and incumbents were predominantly new‐to‐firm; but efficiency‐centred business models of new entrants and incumbents were new‐to‐firm and new‐to‐industry, respectively. Sixth, over time, novelty‐centred business model designs adopted by firms changed from being new‐to‐industry to new‐to‐firm type, whilst efficiency‐centred business model designs remained relatively unchanged.

Business model innovation is increasingly becoming a priority for firms globally in order to create competitive advantage, but little is known about the nature and dynamics of such type of innovation in India. The study analyses how business model innovation in India has evolved between 2001 and 2008. The study draws policy implications to stimulate and sustain business model innovation in India.

Discusses the increasing use of the show by marketers as a medium to launch new products. Analyses adoption theory and key characteristics of the show setting to explain how shows facilitate the acceptance of innovative consumer goods. Concludes that success depends on: organizing the exhibits and relevant information, integrating shows into product launches, and post‐show marketing.

The diffusion process of an innovation, whether it be a product, a service or an idea, will vary in function of the characteristics of that innovation, as well as of the agents to whom it is directed. The objective of this paper is to differentiate the behaviour of the different adopter categories that emerge at the time of the adoption of new products. Uses the methodology proposed by Mahajan et al., based on the Bass model, which allows for a distinction to be drawn between five categories of adopters, namely innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards, with reference to the acceptance process for new consumer durables. This is employed in an empirical application carried out with respect to the adoption of various consumer durables that are frequently found in the majority of households, whilst the demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of the individuals who make up each adopter category are used in order to differentiate their behaviour.

The identification of consumer innovators offers marketing managers the opportunity to tailor new products to the buyers who initiate the diffusion of innovations. Progress has been made in identifying such consumers in economic and social terms, but there are advantages of cost and convenience in isolating the personality profiles of innovators, during pre‐launch product testing. However, innovative consumer’s personality traits proved elusive. Reports an investigation of innovative brand choice in the context of new food purchasing employing the Kirton Adaption‐Innovation Inventory (KAI). This test of cognitive style correlates with several personality traits associated with innovativeness; it also has high validity in the prediction of behaviour. The research investigated the predictive validity of the KAI over a range of product continuity/discontinuity. The results suggest an operational measure of product continuity/discontinuity and supports the use of the KAI as a marketing tool.

This paper posits that by selectively applying open innovation, companies can enrich their stock of valuable ideas, effectively manage product development and upgrade their emerging businesses without wholesale changes to their innovation initiative.

This is a case study of the open innovation process at Whirlpool Corporation written by two Strategos consultants who have worked with the firm.

Whirlpool has developed a set of questions and discussion guides that help to inform the decision to go “open” or not at each step of the innovation process.

Whirlpool believes that open innovation is really about building and maintaining relationships and alliances. These relationships are managed by “relationship managers” as part of the new business development activities.

By changing the context to competences within any organization, not just Whirlpool, the company is now considering and pursuing a number of opportunities that would have previously been rejected, and Whirlpool is successfully expanding its business to adjacent spaces through the help of open innovation partners.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between proactive and reactive market research techniques during the development of new market offerings. The study focused on the financial and innovative performance of traditional market research techniques, such as focus groups and in‐depth interviews, in comparison to more co‐creation‐oriented techniques that are designed to capture customers' value‐in‐use.

The study was a two‐stage process. Study I, an empirical investigation of 195 development projects in European companies, examined how these companies use different market research techniques and how this relates to the profit margins of new products and services. Study II designed an experiment with 50 users of a consumer good and evaluated the contribution of different market research techniques, based on the degree of originality and customer value.

Significant differences were found, in terms of both content and originality, between the technique based on customer co‐creation and the two traditional market research techniques (Study II). These findings can help to explain why the relationship between the use of market research techniques and profit margin (Study I) is stronger for co‐creation techniques than it is for traditional market research techniques.

Despite empirical evidence that the application of market research techniques based on co‐creation can lead to original ideas, there is a lack of valid studies regarding how co‐creation techniques perform in relation to more traditional methods of collaboration with customers.

In order to cope with the challenge of developing successful fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) innovations, market research vendors offer several methodologies to test concepts. The purpose of this article is to examine the discrepancy between the well-established experimental real store methodology and the most recent of these alternative methodologies that is the virtual store.

A parallel testing of a new adult cereal was conducted in France with 200 shoppers in each store.

Results show that all attitudinal measurements are similar in terms of cognition and conation, but affect and behavior cannot be compared across both methodologies. In conclusion, virtual store testing is a new method that does not exactly fit with one of the previous.

The study is limited to a single product and should be generalized to more product categories.

Virtual store should be used carefully in order to take capital expenditure decisions. It generates different attitudes and behaviors, but more research is needed in order to debate on predictability.

With the emergence of virtual stores to test FMCG innovations, this paper is of high value for practitioners who have to proceed to several tests, with different objectives, before a product launch.