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The paper's aim is to assess the impact of product related features on the performances of assembly line manufacturing systems, also providing a specific Design for Manufacturing and Assembly rating index to assess the goodness of a product design solution with respect to assembly line performances.

A computer simulation‐based parametric analysis was carried out to assess the impact of four major product‐related parameters. 216 different assembly line balance problem instances were evaluated. Findings allowed to develop a DFMA rating index specific for assembly line manufacturing as well as design guidelines.

Assembly sequence degrees of freedom and the ratio of the average task duration to the maximum duration are the most influencing parameters. While the former should be maximized, only a moderate task duration variability was found beneficial. The influence of other factors resulted less marked and changing on a case‐specific basis.

Complex interactions between product design features and line performances prevent generalization. The performed numerical experimentation, although extensive, remains somewhat limited respect all possible practical situations. The proposed rating index should be utilized while maintaining an overall perspective about the mutual influence of all parameters. Some suggested guidelines imply a trade off with traditional DFMA guidelines.

Product designers are given useful insights, tools and guidelines to develop better producible products. With the proposed ranking index a designer can easily rate his choices when selecting assembly tasks and sequences, as well as rank alternative product designs solutions.

The paper presents an original discussion about the impact of product design choices on assembly line performances. The developed DFMA rating index and guidelines are new.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to examine the design requirements of Islamic fashion in the new product-development process; second, to explore the different practices of new product-development activities from successful and unsuccessful new product lines; and third, to investigate the sequence of the new product-development practice in the fashion industry, specifically the Islamic fashion industry in Indonesia.

Questionnaires were distributed and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect information regarding the practice of the new product-development activities. The Mann–Whitney U test was performed based on the quality of the new product-development activities of 100 Islamic fashion firms, including five innovative companies that had won several awards in Indonesia. An analysis of the extent to which fashion firms were engaging in new product-development activities provided a more detailed picture of the sequence of those activities.

Islamic norms were adapted during the early design and promotional phases of new product development in Islamic fashion. Various choices of design and colour in Islamic fashion were also perceived as a way of preaching to women to dress more accordingly to the Islamic norm. The new product-development activities that were conducted differently for successful vs unsuccessful new product lines were idea conceptualisation, market analysis, technical and engineering analysis, financial analysis and commercialisation. The commercialisation phase was given the least priority of all the activities. Nevertheless, it contributed to the very first communication to the customers about new product lines.

This study makes an important contribution to the deeper and more detailed research on how Islamic fashion companies perceive Islamic values during new product developments and how they perform new product-development activities between successful and unsuccessful products.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the problem of optimal product line design in marketing channels.

This paper develops a game theoretic model, in which a firm markets a line of a limited number of products at different quality levels to serve a market composed of multiple consumer segments. The consumer segments are modeled as clusters of somewhat heterogeneous consumers as typically observed in the real world. These model characteristics allow us to consider a broader set of targeting strategies such as sub-segmentation and partial cannibalization which have not been considered previously. By considering both a vertically integrated channel and a decentralized channel, we investigate how channel structure influences optimal product line design. We analyze the model mathematically with supplemental numerical analyses.

Our analysis shows that “quality distortion” in product line design is not limited to the low-end product, as previously reported, but can happen to the high-end product. The direction of these quality distortions may be downward or upward, leading to either increased or decreased differentiation between the two products. Furthermore, channel decentralization makes it more likely for the firm to strategically choose upward partial cannibalization or sub-segmentation. Consequently, contrary to previous studies, we demonstrate that there exist conditions under which channel decentralization leads to higher product quality.

Our model reflects a more realistic market environment and a firm’s practical constraints than previous studies, which typically assume perfect homogeneity within each segment and/or the feasibility of offering an infinite number of products. This extension produces interesting new results and insights that provide more practical implications for a firm’s optimal product line design strategy.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the problem of optimal product line design in marketing channels where consumers are heterogeneous in both horizontal and vertical dimensions.

This paper develops a model to evaluate when it is preferable for a firm to extend the product line in a vertical or horizontal direction. Consumers are modeled as being vertically heterogeneous with respect to their valuation of quality and horizontally heterogeneous with respect to their preference on the esthetic component of the product. These model characteristics allow us to consider a broader set of product line extension strategies. By considering both a vertically integrated channel and a decentralized channel, this study investigates how channel structure influences optimal product line design. The problem with supplemental numerical analyses is mathematically analyzed.

The analysis shows that a horizontal product line extension strategy that offers the customized product can be used as an alternative to a vertical product line extension strategy. If the fixed cost is not too high, offering the customized product with low quality may be preferred to the quality-based segmentation strategy. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the channel structure is influential as the preference for the horizontal product line extension strategy is more pronounced in the decentralized channel than in the centralized channel.

The analysis presented in this paper is limited by the consideration of full market coverage. Further research is needed to see how the results can be generalized to the case with partial market coverage.

The analysis suggests that a firm may consider product customization as part of its product line strategy. Information regarding market characteristics and channel structure is important when deciding on the optimal product line design.

The model reflects a more realistic marketing strategy and channel structure than previous studies that typically consider product line extension in only one direction and focus on the centralized distribution channel. Combining the standard product line extension and customization strategies also represents an important contribution to the literature. These extensions produce interesting new results and insights into a firm’s optimal product line design strategy.

The purpose of this article is to present Line Logic™ as a means of developing and building a company's portfolio of products.

The paper uses a sporting goods company in the USA as a case study to portray the implementation of Line Logic™.

An extensive analysis of the company and its implementation of the Line Logic™ methodology found that the company was operating in conjunction with a bow tie channel strategy.

A case study does an excellent job of capturing phenomena at a particular company. The Line Logic™ framework needs to be explored and reported in various companies, thus allowing multiple sources of data to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the Line Logic™ methodology.

There is no magic formula or prescription for managing a company's line of product offerings. Line Logic™ offers a disciplined approach to creating and presenting a full complement of product choices. As shown here, the implementation of Line Logic™ assists companies in understanding both strategic and tactical issues related to competitors and channel members.

While there are companies that execute some of the Line Logic™ system, this paper illustrates the importance of line logic in the sporting goods industry. Additionally, the paper introduces the concept of the bow tie in product line planning.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

Literature in brand extensions has relied greatly on categorization theory and on prototypical models of categorization to explain the affect transfer from a parent brand to its extensions. Drawing on the range theory exemplar models of categorization, this paper aims to show the effects of parent brand endpoint prices on consumer judgments of vertical line extensions.

Three experiments have been conducted. Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that consumers rely on the parent brand price range when making judgments of an upscale extension. Experiment 2 tests the hypothesis that the effect of price range on extension evaluation is mediated by perceived risks for upscale extensions but not downscale extensions. The final experiment shows a boundary condition to the product line range effect on upscale extensions.

This research shows that upscale extensions are judged more favorably in the context of a wide versus a narrow product line even when the highest endpoints in both product lines are equally close to the extension and that this effect is mediated by perceived consistency and perceived risk. The range effect disappears, however, when consumers have a broad focus in which attention shifts to category endpoint prices, making parent brand prices less diagnostic of upscale extension judgments.

Managers may display a wider range of products and/or reduce prices of low-end models to expand product line price width. In consequence, low-end products become more competitive in terms of price and at the same time improve favorability ratings of the new upscale product.

Vertical line extensions and product line pricing are important topics to both academics and practitioners. Nonetheless, this is the first research to demonstrate how product line price width can influence consumer perceptions of vertical line extensions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of optimal pricing strategies for two substitutable products from the same product platform and the effects of variations in product architecture.

The authors design a product line which consists of two substitutable products and use a traditional market segmentation research framework to analyze the pricing and product design strategies.

It is concluded that profit tends to rise in a centralized supply chain at the expense of market share of the integral product. In a decentralized supply chain, one product will reduce its market share so as to enhance the degree of modularity. Although enhancing the extent of integration of a product will bring in more flexibility during the design of the product line, this will do so at the expense of the market share of the other product.

The authors find that the two products form a product line and share a common module belonging to the platform, so any changes in the modules (changes in product architecture) not only affect the product in question but also the other one in the product line.

Compares two approaches for designing production line cellular manufacturing systems, or “focused factories”. Production line manufacturing cells are dedicated to producing a set of similar products with machines that are arranged in a serial production line within the cell. Approach A requires the processing of batches of products in only one manufacturing cell, while approach B allows batches of product to be split and made simultaneously in different cells. Both design approaches consist of three stages. The first stage determines the best part routings among alternate routings to minimize the operating cost. At the second stage, a specific number of cells is obtained by using an ART1 neural network‐based cell formation module in approach A and a fuzzy rank order clustering (fuzzy ROC) module in approach B. At the third stage, production sequence is considered to find the best layout with lowest material handling cost. An example demonstrates that both approaches are effective in designing production line cellular manufacturing systems. Approach B gives a lower operating cost but a higher material handling cost than approach A. Both approaches should be analysed and compared, since the best approach depends on the operating and material handling costs for the application.

Firms often use upward product line extensions to achieve gains in brand evaluations and in overall demand. Despite the prevalence of such extensions, previous research has provided little guidance about how upward line extensions influence overall revenue when they are launched as a core product as opposed to a peripheral product. The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap.

Using data from the quick service restaurant industry, this study looks at the effects of upwardly extended core and peripheral products on product line revenue. The empirical study uses a quasi-experiment to compare customer purchases across the pre- and post-launch of upward line extensions.

The results of this study reveal that launching core and peripheral products as upward line extensions can each increase total product line revenue. In addition, findings illustrate that as compared to a core launch, this total product line revenue increase is substantially higher in the case of a peripheral launch.

First, the estimated model does not include supply availability and competition. Second, the data span only six months and this restriction prohibits us from investigating alternative sources of the causal effect. Third, the empirical setting in this study is limited to financial data in the quick service restaurant industry as a proxy of actual behavior. Finally, given that customers are not randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, the author is unable to definitively rule out the effect of unobservable attributes.

The findings suggest that firms should prioritize peripheral upward line extensions but use both types considering resource constraints (cost and human resources) and strategic importance to the firm.

This study bolsters the extant literature related to upward product line extensions by providing an empirical framework that evaluates the causal effect of upward line extension on total revenue, using field data in a real-life setting (as opposed to survey or lab experiment data) and actual firm revenue (as opposed to a perceptual outcome measure such as behavioral intentions). In addition, findings contribute to the new product development literature.