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Managers can improve the likelihood of new product success with simulated test market (STM) research and software programs. It's a way of getting the had news in the laboratory, without spending millions of dollars only to be hammered in test market cities.

Data collected from 202 large and 92 small consumer goods manufacturing firms were analysed to examine the perceptions and experiences of these companies with test marketing as part of their new product development strategy. Seventy six per cent of the large companies and twenty four per cent of the small firms in the study test marketed their new products before full‐scale introduction. Chi‐square analysis indicated a relationship between firm size, type of business/industry, the scope of marketing operations, and whether the firm conducted test marketing or not. Cost, time constraints, and the generic nature of the product were the most prominent reasons cited by all firms for not conducting test marketing. In addition, small firms cited their size as amajor reason they did not engage in test marketing.

The world's leading manufacturers of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) generate up to 50 per cent of their revenues in emerging markets. Simulated test marketing (STM) is a common practice deployed by these companies to forecast new product sales. Emerging markets represent only a small portion of the global STM business. The purpose of this paper is to incorporate and further explore some key trends anticipated in the development of the future generation of STM models by drawing specific attention to the issues currently experienced in one of the emerging markets, Russia.

A quantitative survey of Russian client-side marketing experts provides strong evidence for the need to further improve and modify STM methods, addressing new challenges in rapidly developing markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Marketers in Russia believe many STM approaches poorly reflect the nuances and characteristics of their markets. This has implications for global players targeting emerging markets based on assumptions formed for STM in their home markets.

This is a preliminary study which warrants following up. Its basis in Russia arguably has implications for other emerging markets, but whether these findings are evident in other markets needs to be tested.

FMCG companies in Russia would appreciate a flexible, proactive, “client-oriented” approach as opposed to conservative, “model-centered” services based on “global” execution standards. This would lead to the co-creation of STM models that could achieve more accurate forecasts in emerging markets and achieve a greater level of confidence in the use of STM among multinational FMCG companies.

The research undertaken leads to a general conclusion that although traditional STM models have attained relatively high awareness among FMCGs in Russia, their use is still limited as there is a perception of this being a research instrument that would need adaptation to the Russian market. Instead, simpler, cheaper and less time consuming alternatives are often employed, such as expert assessments, basic quantitative or qualitative tests. Although the most commonly acknowledged advantages of STM are well understood in Russia, there are some key barriers to its widespread adoption: poor quality or insufficient market data, lack of local market experience and validations, lower forecast accuracy as compared to “western” markets, low flexibility in terms of design and cost.

Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) was the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company had conducted market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that it could launch. After it had completed the confirmatory research, some questions remained unanswered. It went in for another round of validation through primary research, including simulated test marketing. This case is useful for participants in the Business Research Methods, Market Research and Qualitative Research courses.

Explains that while vast socioeconomic change in today′s competitive climate mean that there is a greater need for a more unified approach to new‐product development, relationships among marketing product management, market research and research and development have deteriorated significantly in the modern corporate structure. Describes the various factors related to this problem which make developing successful new brands even more difficult, continuing with a summary of an ideal New‐Product Development Programme. Concludes with a summary of the main points to be gleaned from the suggested programme.

Market research experience in new household, hair care, and food products have shown that in recent years the odds of bringing a successful new product to market have decreased significantly. This decrease is due to:

Examines an attempt to specify an approach more consumer‐ than product‐based and, by doing so, aims to discuss models' roles and buyers' needs. Includes research methodology including brand testing and gives results and interpretations using tables to further simplify these. Concludes by summarizing the experimental work involved and goes on to state that the earlier specified criteria is worthy of further investigation with a view to develop a fully operational STM model.

This article seeks to present an overall framework within which the various major modelling techniques may be judged, in a non‐technical way, in contrast with the more usual isolated descriptions and discussions of individual techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of product management as a set of organizational capabilities. It aims to investigate product management as a set of boundary spanning capabilities, by empirically relating these to firm performance.

A measurement instrument is developed and validated based on the extant product management literature. Using a heterogeneous sample of 63 Atlantic Canadian SMEs in the manufacturing and professional/technical services sectors, data are collected to test the survey instrument and establish preliminary construct validity.

Both firm performance and product management measures demonstrate internal consistency. Several product management sub‐constructs demonstrated reliability and in some cases validity, substantiating the product management literature. These included product pricing, sales support and forecasting.

This research builds upon the literature and indicates that a relationship exists between product management capability and firm performance. This leads to the conclusion that product management, as a set of boundary spanning firm capabilities, warrants future research with a larger more homogeneous population. Limitations include geographic bias, treating the population as homogeneous and lack of relationship to established firm orientations.

This research may have practical significance and managerial implications, based on the relationship between product management capabilities and firm performance. This could lead to an increased understanding of how to allocate scarce resources in order to improve performance.

The paper introduces the concept of boundary spanning, product management capabilities and their relationship to firm performance, by providing preliminarily validation of a measurement scale for product management capabilities of small to medium‐sized enterprises.