bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Management tools survey 2003: usage up as companies strive to make headway in tough times
Authors: Rigby Darrell
Published: October 2003

The annual Bain 2003 global survey of companies finds that managers are using more tools than ever to make headway in tough times. On average, the companies surveyed used 16 tools in 2002 with the heaviest reliance on tried and true “compass‐setting” tolls such as strategic planning, benchmarking, and mission and vision statements. Surprisingly, given the pressure to control expenses, executive’s choice of tools shows a clear bias toward growth over cost cutting. The message: moving ahead, not retrenching, is critical to control your destiny. The resolve to turn the economic slump into advantage showed up in the types of tools companies adopted in 2002. Overwhelmingly, senior executives favored tools that help sharpen strategies and prepare managers for an increasingly hard road to growth. Proven disciplines like strategic planning and core competencies drew raves once again for helping companies stay on course. This year, these tools were joined in the satisfaction ratings by tools focused on defining markets and improving customers relationships – key activities as companies tried to eke out as much revenue from existing customers as possible. A total of 78 percent said they used CRM systems compared with 35 percent in 2000. At the same time executives discarded tools that might divert management attention or require big cash outlays, such as stock buybacks, corporate venturing, and merger integration teams. A clear sign of the times in this year’s survey was the soaring popularity of the corporate code of ethics. Given the rash of corporate scandals, it is not surprising that top executives at 78 percent of the surveyed companies said they have enacted a code of ethics to be their common standard for acceptable behavior.
Interview: Noel M. Tichy explains why the “virtuous teaching cycle” is integral to effective leadership
Authors: Allio Robert J.
Published: October 2003

Noel Tichy, who ran GE’s Leadership Development Center, is currently director of the Global Leadership Program at the University of Michigan’s Business School. His teaching model posits that CEO’s must be intimately involved in teaching their teams’ leaders. The basic premise is that companies are successful to the extent that they have leaders at all levels of the organization. Any institution that invests in the development of leaders at all levels is going to get ahead of its competition. It is a principal job of the leader to help develop the next generation of leaders. Unfortunately, many leading companies do not build good leadership pipelines because their leaders do not do the teaching of their own managers. An essential element for a leader to develop the next generation is to present a teachable point of view about how he/she believes they should run the organization. Also needed is a clear idea of what your want to teach them: ideas, product services, distribution channels, customer segments, and values. Leadership is about focusing on human capital as the organization’s most important asset. Unfortunately, many companies make only 10 percent of the investment they should make on development of their people and most of it is spent in the wrong ways. A better approach is to make 80 percent of the development investment be on‐the‐job life experiences. The other 20 percent can be potentially leveraged with very high impact development experiences. If you sit around and read business school cases for three weeks, you’re getting about 20 percent of what you could if you engaged people in action learning real projects. Developing leaders requires a rethinking of the leadership pipeline. You look for those career points where you can leverage the 80% with high impact development, and then you have to build teaching into every single management process.
Make alliances, not war, with crusading external stakeholders
Authors: Deri Chris
Published: October 2003

Increasingly, the attitudes of consumers are being shaped by an array of advocacy organizations that research and campaign on various social and political causes collectively categorized as non‐government organizations (NGOs). They are the key driver in the public’s increasing demand that corporations act in a socially responsible way. This means not only offering products and services that do not pose new environmental or social risks but also doing business in a way that supports the livelihood of people in the producing nations and sustainability of our planet’s eco‐systems. NGOs are powerful with consumers because they are significantly more trusted overall than business. CEOs and corporate managers may approve or disapprove of the growing role of activist NGOs, but it is perilous to ignore their growing influence and ability to shape public perceptions of a company. There are seven guiding principles for successfully engaging the NGOs: (1) act and respond as one global brand, making certain that, for example, the environmental practices by a unit in Spain are consistent with the corporate position in the USA; (2) prepare for greater transparency, reporting social and environmental impacts as well as financial information is a starting point for building greater trust and dialogue with the NGOs; (3) do not be forced into a “yes‐or‐no” public confrontation on any issue; (4) enlist and engage multiple partners and perspectives on business practices and strategies; (5) do not rely solely on industry‐wide action, or hide behind it; (6) distinguish between an NGO’s rhetoric and its actual objectives; and (7) know when to stand your ground.
Pride: a strategic asset
Authors: Katzenbach Jon
Published: October 2003

Every great company is distinguished by special attitudes of its employees. For example, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Marriott and other leaders elicit superior commitment from their people, and use it to sustain innovation and overall excellence. Such companies have found that pride is more powerful than money. It is what motivates people to form emotional attachments. Intrinsic pride – the kind that comes from the emotional high of having done a job well – is the most lasting and powerful motivating force, especially at the front‐line of an organization. There are management approaches and disciplines that can create this kind of pride, and can be used to drive organizations to higher levels of performance. This article, by management thought leader Jon Katzenbach, formerly of McKinsey & Co. and now founder and senior partner of Katzenbach Partners LLC, provides a blueprint for how to make pride a strategic asset.
Natural Pragmatics and Natural Codes
Authors: Wharton Tim
Published: October 2003

Abstract:  Grice (1957) drew a distinction between natural(N) and non–natural(NN) meaning, and showed how the latter might be characterised in terms of intentions and the recognition of intentions. Focussing on the role of natural signs and natural behaviours in communication, this paper makes two main points. First, verbal communication often involves a mixture of natural and non–natural meaning and there is a continuum of cases between showing and meaningNN. This suggests that pragmatics is best seen as a theory of intentional verbal communication rather than a theory of meaningNN. Second, some natural behaviours have a signalling function: they are, in effect, natural codes. Such behaviours do not fit easily into Grice's distinction between natural and non–natural meaning, which suggests it is not exhaustive.
What's the matter with the British? Ideology and government support for the European Monetary System
Authors: Aspinwall Mark
Published: October 2003

Abstract. This article compares the preferences of France, Italy and Britain on the creation of the European Monetary System in 1978–1979, especially the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which stabilised nominal exchange rates. My claim is that the different conclusions reached by the governments (France and Italy in, Britain out) cannot be explained by economic circumstances or by organised interests, and I elaborate an intervening ideological variable which helps explain preferences. Deducing from spatial theory that where decision‐makers ‘sit’ on the left‐right spectrum matters to their position on the European Monetary System, I argue that the ideology of decision‐makers is a good predictor of membership. Where centrists were in power, the government's decision was to join. Where left or right extremists participated in decision making, the government's decision was negative. The article reviews the positions taken by the national political parties in and out of government. It is intended to contribute to the growing comparativist literature on the European Union (EU), and to the burgeoning literature on EU‐Member State relations.
The Marketing Concept and New High‐Tech Products: Is There a Fit?
Authors: Cahill Dennis J. , Thach Sharon V. , Warshawsky Robert M.
Published: October 2003

This article defines the marketing concept in a traditional way, but extends its application to high‐technology products. Dennis Cahill, Sharon Thach, and Robert Warshawsky present two case studies of high‐technology products. Both products were ultimately market failures; however, the analysis presents one as a successful application of the marketing concept, contrasting sharply with the other.
Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation
Authors: Souder Wm. E. , Thomas Robert J.
Published: October 2003

In this issue, William Souder and Robert Thomas present their thoughts on two issues they feel will shape aspects of our approach to effective new product development in coming years. Souder, stimulated by a recent trip to New Zealand, reflects on the different approaches to the management of new products he found in a variety of smaller, family‐controlled businesses he visited. Both the need for documented processes and the emphasis on time‐to‐market were diminished in these organizations, characterized by family involvement and continuity in operations. In these companies, expectations for growth were set by those running and owning the business. There was time to work on projects and fund progress from cashflows. Does this reflect persistence, or flexibility? Souder simply points out that it seems to provide an effective platform for business growth in certain international arenas, asks us to ponder the consequences for ourselves, and states that we should not be too quick to label these practices as limited in scope or only suitable for low‐tech products.

Robert Thomas reminds us that new product forecasting no longer is limited to projections of future sales. He writes about evolution in the field, with a particular emphasis on our growing need to forecast based on analogies. As we increasingly have access to information about products in other companies and in other lands, we have an increasing opportunity to discover ways to incorporate this knowledge into our business plans. These essays continue a year‐long series of contributions that the editor‐in‐chief solicited from members of the editorial board. Members were asked to reflect upon changes and opportunities that they see influencing our profession during the coming decade. Both of these short essays are designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the issues they discuss.
Toward a Model of New Product Preannouncement Timing
Authors: Lilly Bryan , Walters Rockney
Published: October 2003

For products and services ranging from software to the latest motion picture, the use of new product preannouncements (NPPAs) has become commonplace. In the weeks and months (and perhaps years) before the release of a new product, a company may share information with various groups, including customers, competitors, and producers of complementary products. These prelaunch communications serve various purposes—for example, building interest for the new product, obtaining feedback from customers, or encouraging consumers to delay purchases until the new product becomes available. Despite the key role that NPPAs play in the successful release of new products, however, almost no research has been conducted to explore the proper timing for such communications.

Bryan Lilly and Rockney Walters provide a starting point for these investigations, by describing the elements of an NPPA and presenting a model of the factors that influence NPPA timing. Drawing on existing research and interviews with managers from firms in a wide range of industries, they offer insights into the nature and the timing of NPPAs, and they provide recommendations for improving the effectiveness of NPPAs.

Their conceptual model lists four sets of factors that affect NPPA timing: expected reactions of competitors; product‐related factors, such as the product's complexity and innovativeness; buyer‐related factors, such as the length of the buying process; and firm‐related factors, including final determination of the product's feature set. The relative strength of these effects depends on the objectives and the audience for the NPPA. For example, a late NPPA—that is, one close to the product's release date—effectively shields a new product from rapid competitive responses. On the other hand, an early NPPA allows channel members and customers to gain familiarity with complex or innovative products.

Their findings suggest that early NPPAs are most appropriate for complex or highly innovative products as well as those that carry high, but avoidable switching costs for buyers. Late NPPAs are recommended if the firm expects sales of the new product to cannibalize those of existing products. Late NPPAs are also appropriate if a product's feature set is not yet frozen. To improve the effectiveness of NPPAs, managers must clearly define their objectives and carefully match the timing and the content of the NPPA to the target audience.
Antecedents and Consequences of Cross‐Functional Cooperation: A Comparison of R&D, Manufacturing, and Marketing Perspectives
Authors: Song X. Michael , Montoya‐Weiss Mitzi M. , Schmidt Jeffrey B.
Published: October 2003

By breaking down the walls among the R&D, manufacturing, and marketing functions, techniques such as concurrent engineering and quality function deployment can pave the way to more effective new product development (NPD). Recognizing the benefits of such cross‐functional efforts, practitioners and researchers have examined the interrelationships among various groups in the NPD process, paying particularly close attention to the R&D–marketing interface. However, manufacturing also plays an important role in NPD. Consequently, any thorough exploration of the relationship between cross‐functional cooperation and NPD success must consider manufacturing's perspective.

X. Michael Song, Mitzi M. Montoya‐Weiss, and Jeffrey B. Schmidt provide such a balanced perspective in a study of cross‐functional cooperation during NPD in Mexican high‐tech firms. Notwithstanding the differing functional goals, objectives, and reward systems present in R&D, manufacturing and marketing, they hypothesize that all three functions recognize that successful NPD requires crossfunctional cooperation. In particular, they expect that representatives of these three functional groups will share similar perceptions, regarding both the drivers and the consequences of cross‐functional cooperation.

The survey results support the hypothesis that R&D, manufacturing, and marketing professionals share the same perceptions, regarding the drivers and the consequences of cross‐functional cooperation. Respondents from all three groups view internal facilitators as the drivers of cross‐functional cooperation. In other words, regardless of their functional area, the survey respondents believe that the strongest, most direct effects on cross‐functional cooperation and NPD performance come from a firm's evaluation criteria, reward structures, and management expectations.

Respondents perceive these internal facilitators as having a greater effect on cross‐functional cooperation than that of external forces such as market competitiveness and technological change. In fact, contrary to expectations, the respondents do not view these external forces as having a significant effect on cross‐functional cooperation or NPD performance. And contrary to persistent reports about friction between technical and nontechnical personnel, all three groups perceive a strong, positive relationship between cross‐functional communication and NPD performance.
Facilitating Global Organizational Learning in Product Development at Whirlpool Corporation
Authors: Duarte Deborah , Snyder Nancy
Published: October 2003

The challenges of leveraging learning about product development in a global company are complex. Whirlpool Corporation is addressing these challenges, using a multidimensional strategy that couples work in advanced products and product development with organization development and training. Deborah Durate and Nancy Snyder describe how Whirlpool has implemented training, best practices conferences, and programs focused on enhancing the performance of product development teams to facilitate learning after product development efforts and to leverage that learning on a global basis. Programs and processes are described, and lessons learned as well as guidelines for development are offered.
The Role of Market Information in New Product Success/Failure
Authors: Ottum Brian D. , Moore William L.
Published: October 2003

Although no single variable holds the key to new product performance, many of the widely recognized success factors share a common thread: the processing of market information. Understanding customer wants and needs ultimately comes down to a company's capabilities for gathering and using market information. And another well‐acknowledged success factor the integration of marketing, R&D, and manufacturing focuses on the sharing of information. In other words, a firm's effectiveness in market information processing—the gathering, sharing, and use of market information—plays a pivotal role in determining the success or failure of its new products.

Brian D. Ottum and William L. Moore describe the results of a study that examines the relationship between market information processing and new product success. They also explore the organizational factors that facilitate successful processing of market information, and thus offer ideas for better managing the development of new products. The respondents—marketing, R&D, and manufacturing managers from Utah‐based computer and medical device manufacturers—provided information about 58 new products, including equal numbers of successes and failures.

The survey responses reveal strong relationships between product success and market information processing, with success most closely linked to information use. In other words, the gathering and sharing of information are important, but only if the information is used effectively. In 80 percent of the product successes studied, the respondents ultimately possessed and used a greater than average amount of market information. And in 75 percent of the failures, the respondents knew less than average about the market at project inception, and gathered or used less than the average amount of market information during the project.

For the projects in this study, the integration of marketing, R&D, and manufacturing contributed not only to the sharing and use of information, but also to overall project success. However, the results of the study suggest that the way in which a project is organized plays only an indirect role in determining new product success—most likely by improving the processing of market information. From a managerial perspective, the most important variables identified in the study are market information shared, market information used, and financial success.
R&D, Firm Size and Innovation Outputs: Are Japanese Firms Efficient in Product Development?
Authors: Wakasugi Ryuhei , Koyata Fumihiko
Published: October 2003

Although Japanese firms in various industries enjoyed outstanding success during the 1980s, the recent economic news has been less favorable. Like their American counterparts, Japanese managers have faced difficult decisions regarding plant closures, layoffs, and moving production facilities overseas. Many Japanese business leaders attribute the innovation successes of the 1980s, at least in part, to economies of scale resulting from increases infirm size. If this assertion holds true, the current economic climate in Japan seems certain to result in diminished economies of scale for innovative activities.

Ryuhei Wakasugi and Fumihiko Koyata test this assertion in a statistical study of the innovation efficiency of Japanese electrical machinery firms. In other words, their study explores whether the hypothesized economies of scale apply to the innovation inputs and outputs of these firms. They examine the manner in which R&D expenditures, patent applications, and product developments relate to the size of Japanese electrical machinery firms during the late 1980s and early 1990s—a period marked by high levels of innovative activity among these firms.

For the Japanese electrical firms in this study, innovation inputs that is, R&D expenditures—increase in greater proportion than firm size. In other words, the larger firms in this study pursued their innovation efforts more aggressively than did the smaller firms in the study.

In terms of R&D expenditures, however, the study does not reveal any resulting economies of scale for either patent applications or product developments. Similarly, analysis of the data in this study does not identify any economics of scale for product developments as a result of increases in firm size. In fact, the only economies of scale identified in the study involve firm size and the number of patent applications. In general terms, the statistical evidence in this study does not support the hypothesis that an increase in firm size improves the efficiency of innovation activity. To put this another way, the study does not provide evidence to support the hypothesis of economies of scale in product development.
Rolling Out New Products Across Country Markets: An Empirical Study of Causes of Delays
Authors: Chryssochoidis George M. , Wong Veronica
Published: October 2003

Faced with the challenge of launching a new product into numerous countries, managers may view a sequential rollout as the prudent course of action. Rather than launching the product simultaneously in diverse countries, they may believe they can reduce risk by launching first in one or two countries, and then in others. However, this strategy overlooks the interplay between timeliness in international new product rollouts (INPR) and product success.

George M. Chryssochoidis and Veronica Wong explore these issues in a study of 30 high‐tech products launched into multiple European markets. Their study has three objectives: examining the incidence of timeliness and delays in simultaneous and sequential INPR; exploring the causes of delays in INPR; and assessing the effects that INPR timeliness and delays have on new product outcomes. They define timeliness in INPR as the availability of the new product to the firm's multiple target markets within the time frame planned by the company's managers. In other words, timeliness in this study reflects a company's capability for adhering to the schedule that management has established.

Contrary to expectations, the results of this study do not reveal direct effects on timeliness in INPR from such sources as diversity of target markets or the firm's external environment. These results suggest that firms can achieve on‐time, multicountry rollout of new products notwithstanding the legal, technological, and competitive environment. For the firms in this study, timeliness in INPR depends on such factors as sufficiency of marketing and technological resources (for example, to train sales staff, provide after‐sales service, and adapt the product for multiple markets), proficiency in executing new product development activities, and effective communication between a company's headquarters and its business units and customers in different countries.

Among the 22 product launches categorized as sequential rollouts in this study, 15 experienced delays. All eight of the simultaneous launches were timely. The results of this study indicate a positive relationship between timeliness in INPR and new‐product success. Conversely, for the firms in this study, delays in INPR resulted in lower‐than‐expected product sales and profitability. In other words, the seemingly less risky sequential launch strategy may actually increase the risk of new product failure by delaying product rollout in multiple markets.
From Experience: Securing Sponsors and Funding for New Product Development Projects—The Human Side of Enterprise
Authors: Tighe Gary
Published: October 2003

Gaining approval for a project requires playing a role that may be unfamiliar for many new‐product development (NPD) professionals—that of salesperson. The NPD professional must sell management on the market potential of the product concept, and persuade management to commit the resources needed for transforming the concept into a marketable product. Finding a well‐placed sponsor within the company's management ranks can improve the chances of obtaining approval for a project, but securing sponsorship is, in many respects, yet another sales job.

Gary Tighe offers guidance for NPD professionals who must sell their projects to potential sponsors. He describes the key steps in the process of securing a sponsor, he gives guidelines for choosing the right sponsor based on the nature of the project, and he provides practical advice for developing a presentation that will gain the support of a prospective sponsor and company management. He then presents a vignette that illustrates the principles he discusses.

He identifies three elements that are necessary for securing a sponsor and obtaining funding for a proposed project: clearly defining the project, its scope, and its objective; specifying how the proposed project affects the prospective sponsor and that person's organization; and detailing the project's effects on revenue, profits, cost, or output. These elements forge a strong link between project outcomes and the interests of the sponsor, the sponsor's organization, and the company as a whole.

Choosing the right sponsor requires careful consideration of the project's expected effects on specific functional areas and the entire organization, the resources required, the project objectives, and time constraints. For example, senior management sponsorship is essential for projects that cut across existing organizational boundaries. After helping to ensure that projects receive adequate funding, sponsors may serve as advisers to project teams, and they may provide additional resources if a team encounters unexpected problems. Through regular progress reports and sponsor participation in team meetings, the project team can ensure the active, ongoing support of the sponsor.
Key Factors Affecting Customer Evaluation of Discontinuous New Products
Authors: Veryzer Robert W.
Published: October 2003

Common sense, as well as plenty of research, tells us that customer feedback can play an important role in successful product development efforts. By understanding the key factors that affect customers' evaluations of a new product, a project team improves its chances of making the right decisions throughout the design and development effort. However, customers typically lack a useful frame of reference for evaluating discontinuous, or really new products. In all likelihood, the key factors that affect customers' evaluations of radically new products differ from those for incremental innovations.

Robert Veryzer describes the results of a study that examines the customer research efforts and findings of seven firms involved in the development of discontinuous new products. This study has the following objectives: gaining insight into the customer research inputs such companies use during the development of discontinuous new products, and exploring the critical factors that influence customers' evaluations of these really new products.

The subjects in this study conducted relatively little formal customer research during the early stages of the NPD projects. The methods used for obtaining customer input during the concept generation and exploration stages were primarily qualitative. Although the companies in the study still did not focus consistently on customer issues during the technical development and design stage, the less discontinuous projects did use such traditional quantitative techniques as concept tests, clinics, and experiments during this phase of NPD. Throughout the projects in this study, the real opportunities for obtaining customer input came during the prototype testing and commercialization phases of the NPD projects.

Several key factors appeared to influence customer evaluations of the products that were being developed by the NPD teams in this study. Lack of familiarity was manifested in customers' resistance to the new products in the study. Similarly, unfamiliarity with these new products often seemed to lead customers to focus on product attributes that development team members viewed as relatively unimportant. Other factors that affected customer evaluation of the products in this study included customer uncertainty about the benefits and risks associated with the product, customers' ability to understand how the product operates, perceptions of the product's safety, and product aesthetics.
Commercializing Nascent Technology: The Case of Laser Diodes at Sony
Authors: Wood Samuel C. , Brown Gary S.
Published: October 2003

To develop really new products, a company often needs to get a handle on really new technologies. Although some breakthrough products simply combine existing technologies in novel ways, other innovations require the successful commercialization of nascent technologies. In other words, such innovations depend on entirely new structures and methods that have been demonstrated in a research environment but have not yet been refined to the point where they are ready for production. The path from nascent technology to full‐scale production presents numerous managerial challenges that must be overcome if a company is to develop really new products that involve really new technologies.

Samuel Wood and Gary Brown discuss these challenges, and they describe methods for managing the successful commercialization of nascent technologies. They illustrate these methods by examining Sony's commercialization of laser diodes—semiconductor devices that play an important role in the operation of CD players and other optical disk readers.

They divide the process of commercializing nascent technology into three stages: appropriation, implementation, and manufacture. The first stage—appropriation—involves monitoring, assessing, and capturing new technologies. Sony handles this stage with a small, loosely structured research organization, separate from the development organization. In this stage, management must ensure that the objectives pursued by the research organization support the development organization's long‐term goals. To foster coordination between research and development, Sony employs such network‐building techniques as internal research symposia and technology expositions, orientation periods for researchers, transferring managers between research and development, and transferring researchers to development and other functions.

The implementation stage involves transferring knowledge to development, as well as refining the technology to the point where it is reproducible, testable, and documented. Sony facilitates technology commercialization by transferring project team members from research to development and making those people responsible for implementation. To reach the final stage, manufacture, the firm must find the means for developing and refining mass production tools and procedures. Meeting this challenge requires close interaction and integration between process and production engineers.
From Experience: Linking Available Resources and Technologies to Create a Solution for Document Sharing—The Early Years of the WWW
Authors: Hameri Ari‐Pekka , Nordberg Markus
Published: October 2003

We live and work in an era when seemingly every waking minute brings an invitation to visit yet another site on the World Wide Web. Inundated with calls to check out www.whatever.com, we can easily lose sight of the fact that the birth of the Web is part of our very recent history. And notwithstanding the proliferation of personal and corporate vanity pages on the Web, this world of hyperlinks and hot spots has brought about dramatic changes in the means by which many individuals and organizations communicate, work, and trade. For new‐products professionals interested in the processes that give rise to radical innovations, what lessons can be learned from the development of the World Wide Web?

To gain insight into the process that resulted in the development of the first Web browser and Web server software, Ari‐Pekka Hameri and Markus Nordberg examined project proposals, e‐mail exchanges, and other documentation, and they interviewed key personnel who were involved in the process. From this research, they were able to document the process and the environmental constraints that shaped the development and diffusion of the tools and technologies that form the foundation of the World Wide Web.

Although a staggeringly diverse range of Web‐related services and applications have surfaced during the past few years, the original Web tools and technologies were targeted for a relatively small, focused community of researchers. Specifically, the origins of the World Wide Web are found in efforts aimed at meeting the information‐sharing needs of researchers in the realm of high‐energy physics. This far‐flung group required a global network that could facilitate the interchange of documents stored in diverse formats on a wide variety of computing platforms.

Meeting those needs required neither excessive R&D investments nor radically new core technologies. Instead, the solution involved the integration of existing technologies—networking tools and protocols, document formats, and desktop applications and development tools—by an innovator who had both the necessary vision and firsthand knowledge of the practical benefits that were needed. From a management perspective, perhaps the key lesson learned involves giving R&D personnel both the freedom and the support to initiate new projects and studies.
From Experience: Linking Product Innovation to Business Growth
Authors: Patterson Marvin L.
Published: October 2003

Industry pundits often take managers to task for their supposedly myopic approach to planning and decision making. These sweeping generalizations gloss over the complex challenges confronting the managers who must ensure that their firms enjoy ongoing revenue growth opportunities. In place of pat answers, those managers require analysis and planning tools that offer clearer insights into the effects their decisions have on their firms' continued business success.

As Marv Patterson points out, however, determining the effects of product innovation decisions poses a particular challenge for management, because the consequences of those decisions typically do not become evident until long after the decisions have been made. Presenting a conceptual model that links product innovation activities to revenue growth, he identifies three drivers of revenue growth, and explains how these growth drivers are linked by a set of mathematical relationships that can be presented in the form of an enterprise‐specific growth table. He applies the model to three types of enterprises, and he discusses the key implications that the model holds for the business leaders who must keep shareholders satisfied.

He depicts the relationship between a company and its customers as a closed‐loop system in which the company converts labor, parts, and material into products, which it delivers to customers. The company invests a portion of the resulting revenue stream in the resources that generate new products. By effectively and continually applying a sufficiently large investment in this innovation engine, the company creates an ongoing stream of new products. The revenues from these new products more than offset the drop in revenues from products that are approaching obsolescence.

He identifies three factors that drive revenue growth from these investments in the innovation engine: the fraction of revenues invested in product innovation, new product revenue gain, and the behavior of revenue over time for a particular business. Using a graph called a product vintage chart, he demonstrates that for a large company, the revenue contributions of a particular new‐product year (or vintage) fall into a regular pattern over time, which enables a company to determine mathematical relationships for revenue growth as a function of R&D investment and new product revenue growth. In this way, senior managers can gain clearer understanding of the interplay between product innovation, R&D investment, revenue growth, and profitability over time.
Managing Conflict in Software Development Teams: A Multilevel Analysis
Authors: Gobeli David H. , Koenig Harold F. , Bechinger Iris
Published: October 2003

For a new product development (NPD) organization, a little conflict can be a good thing. Healthy disagreements can push project team members or different functional groups in an organization to pursue more in‐depth, insightful analysis. This type of creative tension can help to engender an environment that encourages innovation and thus keeps NPD efforts free from the business‐as‐usual doldrums. However, management must ensure that conflict remains on a healthy level.

David H. Gobeli, Harold F. Koenig, and Iris Bechinger note that conflict must be managed not only to increase the satisfaction of project team members, but also to achieve strategic project success. To provide better understanding of the important issues in conflict management, they examine the effects of three conflict factors on software development project success: context, conflict intensity, and conflict management style. Using survey responses from 117 software professionals and managers, they develop a multi‐level framework of success versus conflict for team‐based, software development projects. Within this framework, they examine context, conflict intensity, and conflict management approaches at the team and organization levels.

For the participants in this study, unresolved conflict has a strong, negative effect on overall software product success and customer satisfaction. Project team member satisfaction decreases substantially with higher intensity conflict at the organization level, and even more strongly at the project level. For the respondents to this study, the combined effects of conflict intensity and conflict management style on project success are significant, but they are not as great as the combined effects of such context variables as company goals, group dynamics, and management support.

Two conflict management styles—confronting and give and take—have beneficial effects on success at the organization level for the firms in this study. Smoothing, withdrawal, and forcing all have negative effects, although only forcing has a statistically significant negative effect. In general terms, the results suggest that management should guard against frequent use of the dysfunctional management styles—withdrawal, smoothing, and forcing. The results suggest that emphasis on confrontation—that is, true problem solving—is essential at the project level, even if a give‐and‐take style is better tolerated at the organization level.
A Survey of New Product Evaluation Models
Authors: Ozer Muammer
Published: October 2003

New product development is a dynamic and lengthy process ranging from idea generation through product launch. It is quite important that product managers evaluate the viability of a new product at every stage of its development. Previous literature provides a large number of models that can be used to evaluate new products at different stages of the new product development process. These models vary with respect to their objectives, applicability to different products, data requirements, suitable environments and time frames, and diagnostics. This article presents a critical review of the models with an emphasis on these factors. The article also outlines other emerging methods that companies are using today. It concludes with managerial and research implications. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.
Extent and Impact of Incubation Time in New Product Diffusion
Authors: Kohli Rajeev , Lehmann Donald R. , Pae Jae
Published: October 2003

This article examines the time between product development and market launch, and its relation to the subsequent diffusion of consumer durables. We find that this “incubation time” is long. Further, it is a useful predictor of the shape of the subsequent sales diffusion curve. Using the Bass model as a base, we find that the longer the incubation time, the lower the coefficient of innovation (p) and the longer the time to peak sales. Further, using the incubation time in a Bayesian forecasting model significantly improves forecasts early in the life cycle. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.
Management Practices Influencing New Product Success and Failure in the United States and Scandinavia: A Cross‐Cultural Comparative Study
Authors: Souder Wm. E. , Jenssen Svenn Are
Published: October 2003

This comparative cross‐cultural study of United States (U.S.) and Scandinavian telecommunications products found both similarities and differences in the successful new product development (NPD) management practices within the U.S. and Scandinavia. Proficiencies in conducting development, marketing, and customer service activities were identified as important to NPD success in both Scandinavia and the U.S. However, differences between the U.S. and Scandinavia were found with regard to the importance of research and development/marketing integration and project manager competency, with these aspects being more important to NPD success in the U.S. Additional differences between Scandinavia and the U.S. were found in the successful NPD strategies for entering familiar versus unfamiliar markets, with the Scandinavian systems being more oriented toward product design strategies. The overall results characterized U.S. NPD management systems as product‐market oriented, task focused, and project management driven. By comparison, the Scandinavian NPD management systems were characterized as product‐service oriented, driven by enduring interpersonal relationships and socially oriented to helping others. These characterizations were found to be consistent with dissimilarities in the national cultures of the U.S. and Scandinavia, suggesting that some core NPD management principles may be generally important to success, whereas others may be culturally dependent. The importance of recognizing these differences is pointed out in a discussion of their implications for NPD theory and practice in today's global economy. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.
Speeding Up the Pace of New Product Development
Authors: Kessler Eric H. , Chakrabarti Alok K.
Published: October 2003

This study empirically investigates a wide array of factors that have been argued to differentiate fast from slow innovation processes from the perspective of the research and development organization. We test the effects of strategic orientation (criteria‐ and scope‐related variables) and organizational capability (staffing‐ and structuring‐related variables) on the speed of 75 new product development projects from ten large firms in several industries. Backward‐elimination regression analysis revealed that (a) clear time‐goals, longer tenure among team members, and parallel development increased speed, whereas (b) design for manufacturability, frequent product testing, and computer‐aided design systems decreased speed. However, when projects were sorted by magnitude of change, different factors were found to influence the speed of radical and incremental projects. Moreover, some factors that sped up radical innovation (e.g., concept clarity, champion presence, co‐location) were found to slow down incremental innovation. Together, the radical and incremental models explain differences in speed better than the general model. This suggests a contingency approach to speeding up innovation. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed.
Implementation of Industrial Process Innovations: Factors, Effects, and Marketing Implications
Authors: Meyers Patricia W. , Sivakumar K. , Nakata Cheryl
Published: October 2003

Recent research concerning industrial process innovations, such as robotics, expert systems, computer‐aided design and manufacturing, and decision support systems, calls for greater focus on the early usage activities that often follow the adoption decision. These activities are called implementation. Implementation determines whether buyers realize the full benefits of industrial process innovations. Providers of industrial innovations may be interested in understanding the key factors influencing implementation and the nature of effects. Such knowledge would be useful not only in enhancing implementation but also in devising strategies to build market advantages. To address the knowledge need, we reviewed the large, fragmented body of work on implementation, which is dispersed across many disciplines, including process engineering, information technology, human resources management, and marketing. We then synthesized relevant findings, developing a conceptual framework and deriving propositions describing the effects of key factors on implementation. Finally, to demonstrate the usefulness of the integrated knowledge, we draw some marketing implications, specifically for new product development, market development, and relationship management.
Time on the Market and Selling Price
Authors: Miller Norman G.
Published: October 2003

This study is primarily an analysis of tradeoff between selling time and price, both on a nominal and real basis. Sellers are seen as desiring to maximize their discounted real selling price and trading off the nominal selling price with expected selling time. The time a property remains on the market is important, not only because of its reflection on price, but also because of its possible reflection on the issue of submarket equilibrium—an assumption in most urban price studies. The empirical results of this study shed light on how similar studies can easily misinterpret the implications of time on the market on price and how further work may be improved.
Taxes, Inflation, Speculation and the Cost of Homeownership*
Authors: Diamond Douglas B.
Published: October 2003

This article formulates a measure of the cost of homeownership which accounts for (1) the tax subsidy to homeowning, (2) the element of expected inflation in mortgage interest rates and (3) speculation about appreciation in real house prices. Each component of the total cost of homeowning is estimated annually across the decade of the 1970s. Total real costs are found to have trended down during the period, primarily because of a decline in the real interest rate and increases both in the real tax subsidy and in expectations of real appreciation.