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Use by some firms of a revolutionary new form of market research, here termed “real‐time market research”, has been observed in certain dynamic product markets where technologies and consumer preferences change rapidly. In real‐time product research, firms produce small lots of new product models and research consumer reaction by offering product model variations to consumers. This product research has been made economically feasible by the development of methods for shortening the time required for product development, by the adoption of flexible manufacturing systems, and by the rise of important new regimes for designing products. Documents the apparent use of real‐time market research by some firms and discusses the new product design regimes which make real‐time research feasible and economic.

Researchers have investigated the link between business strategy and performance, the process of resource acquisition and employment, and issues associated with strategy implementation. However, empirical investigations into the moderating or mediating effects of resource deployment and implementation in the strategy‐performance relationship have been lacking. Data analyzed in the present study lends support for the notion that the appropriate strategy should be aligned with specific resource competencies if the strategy is to be successful.

Many new products are based on new technologies, which may in turn be based on new scientific discoveries. The extant literature on new product development has focused on how a firm may successfully commercialize new products. There is a corporate cost associated with new product failure, which extends beyond the final product‐manufacturing corporation to all the parties involved in the supply chain for the failed product. The new product development community has developed frameworks for managing the new product development process to minimize new product failure, notably by incorporating customer preferences into a cross‐functional approach to new product design and by creating a set of decision points or stage gates. The focus of these has been on the latter stages of the new product development process. Besides corporate decisions, society and its various institutions play a role in the shaping of new products from knowledge discoveries. Identifies how other participants may indeed influence the development of new products. Permits a more deliberate understanding of the possible impact of aiding or preventing a movement up the development hierarchy and so a clearer understanding of the potential benefits and opportunity costs may arise.

This study considers the viability of the combination strategy with regard to the Porter and Miles & Snow generic strategy typologies. Within each framework, it is possible to pursue a “combination strategy,” whereby dimensions of two or more pure strategies are incorporated simultaneously. The present study presents findings from a recent assessment of perceptions of 415 American and Mexican managers regarding their firms’ strategies and levels of performance. Data suggests that combination strategies can be associated with either inferior or superior performance. This paper also suggests that additional research should considerre‐visit the I/O versus resource‐based schism and seek to integrate the two schools of thought into a broader consensus.

The Internet is promised a brilliant future among the favorite tools of marketing researchers. Develops a typology of Internet marketing surveys showing the existence of eight different designs that can be used by marketers. However, researchers who plan to develop research using the Internet need to be aware of several problems related to this new tool. In particular we show that the nature of the Internet creates different sampling problems. To identify these problems, a seven‐step procedure following the steps of the sampling process is proposed. Several practical problems are then discussed.

Suggests that the strategic segmentation of industrial markets begins with an understanding of customers’ strategies. Reviews the existing literature on industrial marketing segmentation and analyzes a survey of industrial buyers. An empirical study supports the underlying contention that firms following similar product strategies will also practice similar buying strategies. The study asserts that the customers’ customers dictate purchasing behavior and suggests that industrial marketers should select ultimate markets which fit their strategic growth strength.

This chapter explores authentic leadership at the ‘edge of chaos’ – a transitional period from one kind of stability to another triggered by the emergence and implementation of newness. The authors argue that continuous, abrupt or unpredictable change at the edge of chaos impacts authentic leadership, resulting in the development of new values, new perspectives on legitimacy and new identities. Kinyanjui and Turcan identify four leader legitimation strategies, when introducing newness at the edge of chaos: feedback loop; conformance; familiar cues; and consistency and repetition. Kinyanjui and Turcan call for future research into the co-emergence of newness at the edge of chaos to equip decision-makers and policy-makers with a better understanding of legitimation strategies in the implementation of newness.

The purpose of this paper is to provide greater insights to managers seeking to time properly the launches of innovative new products (NPs) across multiple generations. This paper aims to address the rhythm matching problem by developing a typology and a conceptual framework of the interaction between a firm's technological readiness to launch NPs and a market's receptivity in influencing a firm's long‐term performance.

Based on the new product development (NPD) and diffusion of innovation literatures, the paper develops a model explicitly to address the rhythm matching problem by highlighting the interaction between a firm's technological readiness to launch new products and a market's receptivity in influencing a firm's long‐term performance. The logic of this model may be described as follows: long‐term performance is a function of matching: products to customer needs, marketing mix dynamics to customer segments and buying behavior dynamics, and logistics, supply chain management, and inventory to market dynamics and financial efficiency; uncertainty in: knowledge of needs, market segments and their dynamics, and market dynamics is all a function of time, as is financial efficiency. Therefore, a firm's long‐term performance is a function of these matches over time.

Deriving from the proposed model and typology, it was found that in independent rhythm windows, the management focus is on a single generation and each successive generation can be planned independently. In market‐imposed windows, firms aim at adapting their own NP readiness rhythm to the market receptivity rhythm. In firm‐imposed windows, firms have the initiative to drive the market receptivity rhythm. In dynamically resultant windows, everything is more complicated because firms' NP readiness rhythm and market receptivity rhythm influence each other.

The model and typology developed in this paper are a breakthrough result of synthesizing various traditions of NPD and diffusion of innovation research. It is believed that the paper provides a rich conceptual framework drawing together extant research on the development and introduction of new products. The framework is intended both to explicitly inform managers of the importance of rhythm matching as well as to the factors that influence such matching. It is also intended to provide a lens with which further research can be directed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of resource utilization in NPD and the long‐term success of the firms.

Adapting a concept from the biological sciences, organizational researchers have proposed a life cycle of organizational development from birth to death. Several distinct models have been postulated, ranging from three to ten stages. This paper proposes a five‐stage model and tests it empirically to assess the specific stage of the life cycle of any organization. Results of a twenty‐item scale that captures managers' perceptions of their firms' position in the life cycle are discussed. Knowledge of an organization's present position or stage of development can aid top managers in understanding the relationships between organizational life cycle, competitive strategy, and performance.