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Product design is an important marketing variable. Most literature about consumer preference for product design focuses on aesthetic product value. However, the appearance of a product also influences consumer perception of functionalities, quality, and ease of use. This paper therefore, seeks to assess how preference for visual complexity and symmetry depends on the type of product value that is important to people.

In a conjoint study the utility of visual complexity and symmetry in determining preference for eight VCR pictures are assessed (n=422). These utilities are used as dependent variables in regression analyses with the different product values (aesthetic, functionalities, quality, and ease of use) as independent variables.

The effects of visual complexity and symmetry on consumers' preferences depend on the product value to which consumers paid attention.

To increase insight into the relationship between design and consumer product preference, the impact of a design on consumer perception of all types of product value – not only aesthetic value – should be taken into account.

This research has direct implications for managers overseeing aspects of product development relating to aligning the design effort with target customers and determining specific product design executions.

Develops and refines a new way to generate and identify opportunities for really new product functions. Considers that the role played by marketing research in really new products is limited. Traditional marketing research methods here are largely confined to asking people about problems with current products, watching them use these products and asking them to use new prototypes in extended use tests. Describes a new method for identifying new consumer or industrial product functions. Target consumers for a given category are exposed to 300 mini‐concepts. Concepts consist of verb‐object combinations describing possible new functions in that category. Concludes that once key needs or opportunities are identified for a given category, the next step is to determine which current or new technologies are required to address these needs.

The paper seeks to improve the understanding of knowledge identification and management in product design by studying designers' cognition and behavior.

Knowledge management becomes an essential process in product design. However, most organizations and designers do not understand what knowledge should and can be managed. Little research is focused on studying the cognitive and social psychological factors within knowledge activities. This paper is mainly focused on knowledge issues in product design. This study focuses on the internal human activities and explores knowledge management research utilizing a human factors perspective.

In this paper knowledge in product design is defined; knowledge in product design is identified and classified based on design decision‐making processes. Furthermore, how to improve the knowledge management process in collaborative decision making is presented.

This study uses an experimental approach and hopefully the research can therefore be generalized to other situations.

This study provides guidelines for information technology support for knowledge management in product design.

Knowledge used in product design is identified and classified. The paper explores knowledge management research by analyzing human activity, in combination with the study of management and engineering technologies.

This paper aims to investigate the role of showcasing a product with its cast shadow (formed in the ad’s background by the advertised product) on consumer product perceptions.

Three experimentally designed studies, incorporating two product categories, demonstrate the impact of visual presentation of a product with its shadow on consumer evaluations. A total of 203 participants (MTurkers, and student respondents at a southern university) provided data for these studies through questionnaires (online as well as paper-pencil formats).

Findings reveal that the presence of a product’s cast shadow in the ad frame increases its visual acuity, which in turn enhances its luxury perceptions. Downstream, a product shadow’s presence positively impacts its overall evaluations, through enhanced product luxury perceptions. Also, consumers with high Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics (CVPA) demonstrate a stronger liking for such product presentations.

The current findings not only demonstrate the positive impact of product shadows on consumer perceptions, but also enrich the luxury and aesthetics literature streams.

Advertisers often subjectively use product shadows as stylistic tools in marketing communications. This research offers some practical guidelines to use shadows in fostering product luxury perceptions and better target aesthetically-sensitive consumers.

Advertising research suggests that visual styling and presentation of products significantly impacts consumer perceptions. However, the role of product shadows has not yet been empirically examined. This paper makes an attempt to test whether and how product shadows impact consumer perceptions.

This paper seeks to endorse the management control system taxonomy by Robert Simons to explore whether, how and why different approaches to management control are more intensely employed: in different phases of the radical innovation process; and in innovation projects showing different degrees of radicalness. Moreover, it aims to discuss the influence exerted by some contextual variables.

Case studies concerning four innovation projects (two radical in nature and two incremental) implemented by two companies operating in the home automation industry in Italy were conducted.

It is found that radical innovation projects, especially in the early stages of development, are characterized by a stronger reliance on flexible and social control management systems, while diagnostic control mainly emerges in late development and commercialization. Moreover, the moderating effect of the hypothesized contingent variables is widely discussed.

The work shows that Simons' taxonomy of the management control systems is a useful framework for exploring management control in radical projects at a strategic level, but also that it should be refined, as evidence shows a systematic hybridization of the systems adopted. An important implication is the great reliance on interactive systems, especially in the early stages. In this perspective, a deeper analysis on the nature and the proper management of interactivity could represent an interesting development of this study.

The recurrent features in the two cases provide practitioners with a useful benchmark about management control of radical innovation projects in two successful companies. Case histories suggest the great importance of information sharing among the functions, and the need to properly develop interface structures between the involved functions to favor it in radical innovation processes.

The paper is one of the first works on management control in radical innovation projects, and it contributes to the literature debate in two main ways: it tests Simons' taxonomy of management control systems for innovation projects, and it highlights the areas of improvement for analyzing “radicalness” in innovation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers’ willingness to buy is influenced by two essential design elements: form and functional design. Form design refers to appearance and can be categorized as typical or non-typical. Function design relates to product features and can be the basis of whether a new product is perceived as a radically new product (RNP) vs an incrementally new product (INP). An interaction between form (typical vs non-typical) and function (RNP vs INP) was hypothesized and examined based on consumers’ knowledge of a product category and level of technological innovativeness.

Two between subject experiments were conducted in which two factors were manipulated (2×2 ANOVA): the degree of technological innovation (RNP vs INP) and form (more typical vs less typical).

Findings reveal that form design has a minimal impact on consumers’ evaluations of INPs, but less typical form design is preferred over typical form design for RNPs. Moreover, form design matters more to consumers who are technologically more innovative (vs less innovative) and more knowledgeable (vs less knowledgeable).

The managerial implications are multiple. Depending on the degree of the technological innovation, new design form can be strategically aligned to the function of a new product to increase perceived value – an effect observed among South Korean consumers that we anticipate will extend upon other cultures high in uncertainty avoidance.

This research will shed some light on an area of marketing that has been previously under-researched: form-based design in global innovation diffusion focusing on Asian countries and provide a more systematic approach to the empirical studies of form design issues in global marketing. This research extends the current design and innovation literature by examining the two dimensional types of design (visceral form and functionality) and potential moderators: degree of product innovation (RNP vs INP), consumer innovativeness, and consumer knowledge.

This chapter explores the role of individual cognitive abilities in the radical innovation of business models and their value proposition. The focus on a specific cognitive construct – metacognition – contributes to understanding the specificities of “criticism,” an approach relevant to addressing the challenges of the radical innovation of value drivers. Based on empirical data, this exploratory research identifies the characteristic elements of criticism from a metacognition perspective, pinpointing the key moments and attitudes of innovators, i.e., cognition of own cognition. The analysis of the findings shows that successful innovators are able to leverage the perception and control of own cognition to more effectively develop and negotiate the radical innovation of the business model in their organization, going beyond the dichotomy between rational and affective mental states. This chapter concludes with a discussion and future research outlook.

This chapter synthesizes works contained within the volume and paints a picture of where entrepreneurial orientation (EO) research stands today and where it is likely heading in the future. From the necessity for better theorizing and measurement to new directions and context, today’s research into EO is setting the foundation for future research that brings greater understanding to what it means for firms and organizations of all types to be entrepreneurial.

The purpose of this study is to propose a model of a value cocreation strategy (VCS) for analyzing how enterprises adopt innovative, marketing, and design strategies to achieve their performance goals through cocreation.

In the present study, a case study was conducted to establish a preliminary model. Subsequently, 1,000 NPD project managers in information and communications technology industries were approached to complete a two-stage questionnaire survey. The first survey investigated the VCSs they adopted for their marketing, innovation and design activities (valid questionnaires recovered=283). The valid respondents completed a second survey measuring their NPD performance 18 months after launching a new product (valid questionnaires recovered=247).

A conceptual was constructed to explain the effects of innovation marketing and design cocreation strategies on NPD performance. A partial least squares method was used to test the model showing a good fit between the model and the survey data, indicating the applicability of the proposed model. The innovation marketing and design cocreation strategies of the enterprises affected their NPD performance. Enterprises adopting diverse cocreation strategies improved their NPD performance. The cocreation strategies in the model were independent and mediating variables to NPD performance. A qualitative comparative analysis was performed to examine which strategy configurations affected NPD performance and to explore any regular patterns in them. Finally, a cluster analysis was conducted to investigate four cocreation strategies: market development, technology improvement, cost direction and customer service.

Whether different industry categories involve different characteristics and whether different corporate cultures cause inconsistent result in value cocreation warrants further in-depth investigation. In addition, the two surveys conducted in this study were separated by 18 months, and thus, only the short-term NPD performance could be presented. Future studies are recommended to conduct an extensive exploration of different industries, administer long-term surveys, investigate the different levels of influence of various types of enterprise on the proposed research model or examine the degree of difference in the mechanisms and methods adopted for elevating innovation performance.

Enterprises can reference the proposed approach to optimize their product development and services according to their organizational resources and market advantages to increase their market coverage.

This study was the first empirical study to examine critical factors, such as product innovation, marketing, design and value cocreation strategies, and NPD performance by administering two-stage surveys. Enterprises can reference the proposed method according to their organizational resources and market advantages to develop products and services efficiently and face the ever-changing market.