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According to most textbooks, the widely accepted Booz, Allen and Hamilton (BAH) conceptual framework is supposedly the best way to go through the new product development process. That is, the textbooks imply that companies will achieve the best results if they follow the BAH conceptual framework. The authors studied ten new products to identify how marketing research was utilized during their development and introduction. The actual “practice” of marketing research usage was then compared with the BAH framework. The comparison showed that marketing research usage in practice was noticeably different from the usage implied by the BAH conceptual framework, thus suggesting that the latter does not hold up perfectly. The authors offer some suggestions as to when the conceptual framework for marketing research usage should be modified, and what the nature of those modifications might be.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media can provide important platforms to facilitate organisational learning and innovation in new product development (NPD) process.

Using a multiple case-study approach, this study assesses qualitative data collected via 56 interviews from 13 world-leading Chinese companies in the high-technology industry.

The study identified three distinct types of organisational learning mechanisms for firms to extract potential innovation inherent in social media. It further determined various organisational enablers that facilitate the connections between these mechanisms and NPD performance.

This research contributes to the emerging literature on digital product development and organisational learning. The cases were conducted in the Chinese context, hence, the results may not be fully generalisable to other organisations, industries and countries without appropriate re-contextualisation.

The empirical evidence showcases the various mechanisms adopted by managers in different NPD phases. It identifies several technological and organisational adaptations that managers can apply to smartly scale their social presence and facilitate NPD.

Despite the exponential growth of social media use in identifying and interacting with external stakeholders, managerial practice and academic research have paid little attention to how social media can be leveraged for NPD. The value of this research comes from applying a qualitative method to gain in-depth insights into the mechanisms for leveraging social media to facilitate innovation in NPD.

The purpose of this paper is to provide managers, researchers, and consultants with insights into the ways communities of practice (CoPs) simultaneously support organizations' product refinements (their knowledge exploitation and alignment thereof to today's business demands) and the search for and discovery of new products (knowledge exploration and adapting it to changes in the business environment).

The research design is based on a four‐year longitudinal case study of five CoPs within a specialty chemicals division of a multinational company. Primary (interviews, direct observation) and secondary (internal documents) data were collected and analyzed, resulting in several findings on the role of CoPs in supporting organizational ambidexterity by simultaneously exploiting existing knowledge (aligned to the current business) while exploring new knowledge (adaptive/reactive to business environment changes).

The main conclusion drawn from the study is that supporting organizational ambidexterity involves switching between different degrees of managerial involvement in CoPs, namely “aligned” and “adaptive” modes. Alignment results in knowledge exploitation that supports “product refinements”, while the adaptive mode leads to knowledge exploration that supports the “search & discovery of new products”.

The findings are based on a single case study of a firm that used CoPs successfully to support product refinements and search for new products across its R&D teams. Hence, generalizing these results would require analyzing additional cases.

The paper provides managers with practical recommendations on how to align CoP dynamics with an organization's specific needs to simultaneously exploit and explore new knowledge. On the one hand, CoPs require a great deal of autonomy to generate a search for and discovery of new ideas or knowledge. On the other hand, managers can and should steer CoP activities when their alignment to business and product refinement is required.

The data, approach, and analysis are all original. This paper enriches existing theory as it fulfills an unexplored gap between CoPs and organizational ambidexterity. In this respect, CoP and organizational ambidexterity theories are all enriched.

Change, Adaption and Development are central to modern marketing. This paper provides an overview of the subject area of innovation and new product development. The critical role of change in modern industrial and industrialising societies is explored in depth. Emphasis is given to the managerial implications of research to date. Key issues such as the interplay between creativity, the motivating force behind invention, and control, the basis for successful innovation, are reviewed Changing attitudes and approaches to new product development play a major part in this study, particularly the growing awareness that innovation is no longer an end in itself, but a part of a carefully controlled marketing system.

This paper addresses the issue of initiating new service development (NSD) projects. The aim of the article is to investigate whether firms use systematic procedures to generate and screen ideas for new services. Utilising a survey of marketing managers in UK service companies, data were collected in the areas of NSD strategy, idea generation and screening. It was found that only half the sample have a formal NSD strategy, idea generation is undertaken on an ad hoc basis and idea screening, although more prevalent, is failing to support the NSD strategy. Management implications and areas for further research are discussed.

Presents a simulation‐oriented product development method using expert ratings and factor analysis to arrive at a reliable description of the market situation. Reveals possible market gaps within a system of weighted factor combinations. Concludes that this method provides a better understanding of the relationship of available facts in the development of a product.

Describes a study reviewing recent histories of new product ideas in order to devise a framework of their sources. Proposes a classification of sources for new product ideas through laboratory, management, company situation, distribution, supplier, consumer, marketplace, foreign products, and government regulations. Surmises that successful innovation requires an understanding of the sources of new ideas, and that the proposed framework is more effective than other paradigms.

Many firms are once again enjoying favourable business conditions after a number of very difficult years. The economies of the world have begun to grow, interest rates and inflation are down, and even though unemployment levels are still high, consumer spending patterns display a measure of optimism about the future. However, complacency is not advised; having made it through a deep recession, numerous companies now have to face a series of fresh challenges.

Product innovation is central to the success of most companies. The rewards of a successful innovation programme are highly visible in terms of sales, profits and growth. But not so apparent are the strategies that underlie these product innovation efforts. This monograph is about the ingredients of a winning new product strategy — about strategic decisions on markets, technologies, products — that result in a successful innovation programme.

Suggests that the key to success for most European countries in maintaining their position in the world market place is a continuous process of innovation in industry. Looks at the situation in The Netherlands, providing a framework of phases for the product development process. Investigates the innovation process in nine Dutch companies, revealing that product development is poorly structured.