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Marketing education today is rather isolationist — marketing students are taught too many specialities, and they are given to sharp a profile in marketing particulars. The interaction of the marketing function with other key functions of a corporation is forgotten. In this article we outline the functional requirements on marketing professionals, link these requirements to marketing theory and propose and new technology of computer‐based expert systems to be instrumental for making marketing theory operational and educating marketing professionals.

Although the significance of international markets is recognised in innovation management, there seems to be a lack of studies on how the international context is actually present in the process of disruptive‐innovation development. This paper aims at filling this gap and at analysing the manifestation of the international context in market proactiveness during this process. It begins with a brief discussion of the concepts of market proactiveness and disruptive innovations. The international scope of market proactiveness at the idea‐generation, development, and launch stages is then analysed in the light of the ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric, geocentric (EPRG) model, and described in the context of the development of three disruptive drugs. The results of this study indicate that both the degree and international scope of market proactiveness differ considerably in demand‐related and competition‐related comparisons.

Discusses a new methodology for launching or expanding the commercialization of new under‐utilized technologies. The approach discussed involves the active participation of international industrial opinion leaders in the commercial development process, and the role they can play in: assessing the value and uniqueness of a technology, on a regional or global basis; determining those applications and end uses that address significant market needs and possess the greatest business potential for initial or expanded commercialization; and providing access to industry leading, prospective end‐users and joint development partners to accelerate commercialization of the technology in domestic and/or international markets. Includes several case histories for Accelerated Commercialization – the methodology practised by SICO International Technologies, Inc. – involving highly diverse industries and technologies. Also includes a brief history of the evolution of the process of idea generation into the described methodology for technology commercialization.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the degree of customer‐related proactiveness in the process of developing radical innovations.

The initial framework for this study is first created on the basis of the theory and then modified in the light of multiple retrospective case studies.

The results show that the stage of the innovation development process seems to influence the degree of proactiveness. Contrary to many earlier studies, this research indicates that anticipation plays an important role already at the idea generation stage.

The study introduces a way of describing a firm's proactiveness as a dynamic pattern. Thus, the process approach adopted in this research may encourage further longitudinal studies on the phenomenon. Given the explorative nature of the study, the propositions arising from the modified framework should be evaluated according to additional data.

The results of this study indicate that a systematic search for new market opportunities, and the firm's previous experience of customers, may generate not only incremental but also radical innovations. Proactiveness is not always needed, however, as the cases indicate. Firms ought therefore to consider carefully when it is appropriate to invest in customer‐related proactiveness, and when it is not.

The main contribution of the study stems from the combination of customer‐related proactiveness and the process of radical‐innovation development. It is among the first to combine these streams of research.