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Multinational companies are very active players in the business environment in the Asia Pacific region. This article gives some views on how a multinational corporation should approach this region. The major differences between the Asia Pacific region and other regions of the world are underlined and specific steps in strategy formulation and implementation at the business and corporate level are proposed.

Looks at the use of test‐marketing among European financial institutions. A total of 46 companies participated in the study. It is shown that, on average, test‐marketing is the least frequently conducted new product development stage (16‐18 per cent). It is also the least proficiently managed. Describes five factors that inhibit the use of test markets in the financial services sector: it is just as costly to test‐market as to launch; the new product is a copy of a competitor′s product; the value of the product has been established earlier through research; it is difficult to produce test‐market conditions; it is unwise to delay the product′s launch for competitive reasons. Finally examines some of the purposes of test‐marketing.

Provides a review and ready reference to recent writings on new service development (NSD), especially for the financial services sector. Discusses the types of new service development, the purposes served by them and the processes. Refers to the key activities of NSD and measures its success. An annotated bibliography supplies a very useful guide to the new service development literature.

While there have been many studies on new product development issues, there have been relatively few that deal with new service development. This study investigates the banking and insurance sectors in South Africa. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken and propositions formulated. A study of new service managers was undertaken to establish success and failure factors in developing new banking and insurance services. The results are reported from both sectors and the differences between them are discussed. The implications for the financial services sector are dealt with in detail.

Financial firms often attempt to benchmark competitors or related service industries to improve new product development (NPD) and other key business processes. Although much has been learned about innovation in banks and other financial institutions in recent research studies, gaps in knowledge of best practices and cross‐industry differences remain. A Canadian survey reveals variations in strategic management of new products and innovation in banking and other financial sectors. Banks should exercise caution in interpreting the findings of benchmarking projects before adopting practices from other industries. The study also compares innovation successes and failures. Critical factors were identified which have received relatively little attention in previous work. Human resource strategies such as recruitment, evaluation systems, rewards and incentives appear to be very important for success. Investment in R&D, broadly interpreted to include process and administrative innovation, is also crucial. Joint ventures and cycle time reduction are found to be positively related to success. The study confirms the importance of a proactive and organized approach to innovation in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore events venues management's attitudes and practices toward new product development and innovation within the event industry.

The approach is a multiple case study of different types of events venues in Scotland. A sample of seven events venues was selected.

The paper shows that most managers consider “market penetration” and “market development” as the most important growth strategies and directions for their venues. The level of risk becomes a major factor influencing the decision making process in NPD and maybe unsurprisingly, finance acts as the key driver. Also, differences amongst the venues are apparent in whether NPD is driven “top down” or “bottom up”.

While the findings may be applicable to events venues located in other parts of the world, further research would be required to confirm this.

The paper will be useful to events venues, or those advising such clients who are considering NPD for their businesses.

Results are discussed in the context of theoretical and empirical work on innovation, and product development.

Despite the importance of the service design process, existing prototyping methods still have technical limitations, thus hampering the development of realistic service-experience simulations that can effectively reproduce service delivery situations and environments. In this study, a service-prototyping method based on 3D virtual reality (VR) technologies, the physical environment of a test bed, and related standard management procedures are described. In addition, a service-prototyping process for a servicescape is proposed based on a case study of an actual duty-free shop. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study adopts a qualitative approach, using case studies to undertake a design and improvement plans for brand guidance structures for the brand observation convenience of customers in a duty-free shop.

The findings of the study suggested environmental components and concept of 3D VR based test bed as an effective tool at the stage of service prototyping the core of new service development (NSD), and introduced practical methods for service prototyping in actual duty-free shop. The case study is significant due to the fact that it proved validity and practicality of the methods applied to service prototyping topic derivation and test process through target service analysis rather than optimal alternative selection.

This study emphasizes the importance of prototyping during NSD and the value of the service prototyping test bed for practical use. It also proposes guidelines for the establishment and management of the test bed.

In terms of service design research, this study also presented detailed operating procedures and methods through the new concept and in-depth case study of service prototyping using 3D VR technology.

Contributes to the growing body of information on the determinants of performance in new products. Examines a sample of “typical” new products (instead of the more usual comparison of successes and failures) and identifies the factors that are crucial for producing outstanding performance in the financial services sector. Shows that marketing factors (i.e. effective distribution and effective communications) are the keys to new service success. In addition demonstrates the importance of the quality of the service offered and the quality of the tangible evidence of the service as a basis of outstanding performance. These key determinants of performance need to be built on the skills of the frontline staff and the push they give to the new product. Reiterates the importance of synergy when developing new products. Product advantage is not the key success factor, contrary to previous findings in other sectors. Attributes this to the nature of the sector studied (financial services) where sustainable competitive product advantage is rarely achieved. Makes a comparison between success factors for consumer services and industrial products/services.

Specific research related to the study of innovation barriers in service SMEs in the Latin American region is limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects that external environmental, financial and human barriers have on innovation activities, particularly, within the context of Mexican service SMEs.

Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using structural equation modelling. Data were collected through an instrument that was developed based on relevant constructs adapted from the literature. The instrument was validated using confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α test and the composite reliability index to ensure reliability of the theoretical model. The instrument was distributed among service SMEs in the Aguascalientes state of Mexico, from were 308 valid responses were obtained.

In general, the results indicate that all the three barriers investigated (i.e. external environmental, financial and human) hinder innovation in service SMEs, with the external environmental barrier being the most significant of the three.

The findings of this research can inform managers of service SMEs and policy makers when formulating and implementing strategies to reduce innovation barriers.

Evidence suggests that specific research related to the study of innovation barriers in service SMEs in the Latin American region is limited. This paper fills this research gap by expanding the limited body of knowledge in this field and providing further evidence on this phenomenon. The study also enables the distinctive characteristics of innovation barriers to be understood within a particular context, expanding in this way the body of knowledge on this field.

Holistically reviews the literature, examines critically and summarises systematically the major pioneering works of contributors in this field. Its primary objective is to formulate a research agenda in the area of new service development (NSD) in the financial services sector.

A comprehensive in‐depth content analysis: theoretical discussion and conceptual frameworks of product innovation are carried out. This paper explores and evaluates extant frameworks of the tangible NPD process, which form the basis for NPD for the services literature. NSD has been central to the literature on services marketing, and a competitive weapon for firms, the important propensity has been related to the investigation of NSD issues.

This study identifies significant deficiencies and gaps (e.g. stakeholders involvement: roles of customers and supportive activities units) in the literature, with specific regard to new financial product development relating to the financial services sector.

This emerging approach to NPD suggests a new perspective on how to achieve NPD success in the financial services sector.

Managers and executives should strategically rethink the stakeholders’ roles, and the design and management of a NSD process. They should be aware of beneficial gains, which can be obtained from the process of stakeholder integration and involvement in NSD activities.

Provides a critical overview and analysis of theoretical perspectives on financial NSD /NPD with an annotated bibliographical reference covering the period between 1957 and 2005, which can help the advance of NSD research in the financial services sector. It also adds to the growing literature on the financial service innovation process.