Does Market Concentration Promote or Reduce New Product Introductions? Evidence from US Food Industry

This study analyzes the relationship between market concentration and new product introductions using an extensive annual panel data set covering the period 1983 to 2004 from the US processed food industry. We test the new theory, which argues that new product introductions are influenced by the anticipation of future mergers. The evidence suggests that market concentration increases new product introductions and product introductions spur subsequent mergers in the US processed food industry. Hence it provides evidence in support of the anticipatory mergers theory.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

The Impact of Patenting on New Product Introductions in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Since Comanor and Scherer (1969), researchers have been using patents as a proxy for new product development. In this paper, we reevaluate this relationship by using novel new data. We demonstrate that the relationship between patenting and new FDA-approved product introductions has diminished considerably since the 1950s, and in fact no longer holds. Moreover, we also find that the relationship between R&D expenditures and new product introductions is considerably smaller than previously reported. While measures of patenting remain important in predicting the arrival of product introductions, the most important predictor is the loss of exclusivity protection on a current product. Our evidence suggests that pharmaceutical firms are acting strategically with respect to new product introductions. Finally, we find no relationship between firm size and new product introductions.Patenting; Pharmaceutical industry; New product management; Research productivity

ARE THERE TOO MANY NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS IN U.S. FOOD MARKETING?

New food product introductions have risen sharply in recent years, but the net number of products on retail shelves has remained about the same. Most new product introductions are extensions of existing products, and innovation has fallen sharply in recent years.Marketing,

NUTRITIONALLY-IMPROVED FOODS IN SUPERMARKETS: 1989-93

Nutrition, food products, new product introductions, scanner data, Agribusiness,

The innovator's media dilemma: how journalists cover incumbents' adoption of discontinuous technologies

We offer a new vantage to the literature on the role of infomediaries in incumbent firms' struggles to adopt discontinuous technologies: the perspective of news media. Specifically, we combine the discontinuous technology literature with studies on news media journalism to theorize that journalists cover an incumbent's new product introductions differently, depending on whether a given new product builds on a discontinuous technology or on the respective established, continuous technology. First, discontinuous-technology-based product introductions receive a greater volume of coverage than continuous-technology-based product introductions because journalists prefer covering issues that are novel, deviate from the conventional, and potentially strongly impact society. Second, the coverage of discontinuous-technology-based product introductions is more divergent in tenor than the coverage of continuous-technology-based product introductions, as journalists seek to present opposing and thus more engaging opinions. Our analyses of unique archival data from two samples of product introductions in the automotive and photography industries, respectively, support our hypotheses. We also find intriguing indications that news media coverage of new products introductions using hybrid technologies is significantly context-dependent. Overall, our study points to so-far undescribed, media-related dilemmas for incumbent firms that aim to adopt discontinuous technologies

LEARNING FROM INTERORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCT FAILURE EXPERIENCE IN THE MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY

Much research examines the causes of product failures such as the Ford Pinto gas tank design. Research also examines the consequences of product failures such as new product introductions resulting from the need to improve failed products. However, little is known about how the causes and consequences of product failures interact across different firms, and generate inter-organizational learning, within the same industry. Specifically, limited research has examined if a firm learns to reduce its own annual rate of product failures (e.g., experiences fewer product-related adverse events) by attending to the product failures and new product introductions of its competitors. In addition, we also do not know (1) how delayed reporting of product failure influences interorganizational learning, and (2) how the introduction of new products by one company impacts another firm’s effort to learn from this competitor’s product failures. To address these gaps, this dissertation develops and tests relationships between (1) inter-organizational learning from product failures, (2) product failure reporting delays, and (3) new product introductions. Regression analysis of 98,576 manufacturing firm-year observations from the medical device industry over a ten-year period (1998 to 2008) supports the proposed model. Specifically, the analysis supported two insights: (1) As expected, a competitor’s reporting delays can inhibit learning from others’ failures by increasing the chance of making poor inferences about the failure. Unexpectedly, however, delays can also improve inter-organizational learning because in reports that have taken longer to file, a clearer understanding of the failure’s cause-effect relationships is developed. iii (2) As expected, a competitor\u27s new product introductions positively impact interorganizational learning by transferring knowledge of product design between firms. Unexpectedly, a competitor’s new product introductions can also negatively impact inter-organizational learning from product failure by distracting the observing firm’s attention away from the competitor’s failures. The thesis contributes to the inter-organizational learning literature by: (1) modelling learning from others’ product failures, (2) highlighting the effects of reporting delays, and (3) showing how others’ new product introductions can distract. This thesis shows that learning from others’ product failures and new product introductions has significant benefits because it prevents serious injury and death among device users

A PROFILE OF THE SPECIALTY FOOD RETAILING INDUSTRY IN THE EASTERN U.S.

This study investigated product introductions, marketing and distribution patterns among specialty food retailers in the eastern U. S. Based on 547 responses to a mailed survey, the results portray specialty food retailers as an extremely diverse group ranging from those who carry small specialty food sections within standard grocery or department stores to those who exclusively sell specialty foods. Respondents reported that new introductions account for about 22% of their total specialty food sales and that on average, they introduce about 23 products in a typical year. When evaluating new products, their most important considerations are quality followed by uniqueness.Agribusiness,

Exploration & Exploitation: Reconciling Product Innovation and Supply Chain Performance in Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturing

Product innovation often introduces complexity within supply chains, hurting operational efficiency –yet companies must be innovative to survive. That is the central issue of this thesis. We analyze the innovation vs. efficiency trade-off from the supply chain perspective using multiple research methods and the lenses of the exploration & exploitation literature, aiming at developing a framework for dealing with product portfolio exploration & exploitation issues in consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturing operations.We conducted a thorough, systematic review of the relevant literature related exploration & exploitation and identified that operations management, being the discipline that deals with getting things done, may be the next frontier of this multidisciplinary research stream. We then empirically analyzed the impact of new product introductions on supply chain performance, using qualitative and quantitative methods: we identified the nuances of how this impact flows and also tested and measured the impact using cross-sectional-longitudinal operational data. We finally conducted an action research project in order to analyze how to build exploration-and-exploitation-enabling supply chain strategies.We found evidence that new product introductions imply an impact on supply chain performance; yet it mostly goes through the increased variability of production assortment and is associated with category-based long-term impacts. We claim that, for small businesses and single business units aiming to be both innovative and efficient, supply chain strategies should incorporate certain conflicting goals; however, certain actions can be taken to mitigate the negative impact of concurrent goals interfering into one another.This study contributes to the exploration & exploitation literature by: (1) analyzing and summarizing the evolution of the literature stream, being among the first to do it from the operations management perspective; (2) evaluating how new product introductions impact supply chain performance in a CPG manufacturing firm, providing a set of testable hypotheses; (3) testing and measuring the short-term and long-term impact of new product introductions on the supply chain performance in CPG manufacturing operations using robust panel data econometrics; (4) testing the moderation effects of product-level degree of innovativeness on the relationship between new product introductions and supply chain performance; (5) adding a different level of analysis –i.e. product category– to dealing with new product introductions; (6) employing the Conceptual System Assessment and Reformulation (CSAR) as a research method for the first time; and (7) unveiling a set of supply chain trade-offs that can be faced by CPG manufacturing companies willing to be both innovative and efficient, also challengingthe notion that a good supply chain strategy must be free of conflicting goals.This research is also carries managerial implications, as it: (1) provides a summary of the relevant literature on exploration & exploitation, which can be a helpful source for practitioners willing to overcome this dilemma; (2) improves the understanding about the how new product introductions impact supply chain performance; (3) quantifies the impact of new product introductions on supply chain performance, which can be a helpful decision-making tool when balancing exploration & exploitation; (4) improves managerial intuition for the conditional supply chain implications of product-level degree of innovativeness when introducing new products; and (5) provides guidance for building supply chain strategies to balance exploration & exploitation in CPG manufacturing firms.<br /