Customer Interaction as a Key to New Product Success

Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of academic and practitioner interest in new product development and in the way companies interact with their customers. While there has been considerable scientific progress in both research areas, very limited attention has been given to customer interaction in the new product development process as a means to increase new product success. This paper reports on research assessing the performance impact of (1) the intensity of customer interaction in different stages of the new product development process and (2) the characteristics of the involved customers. The research is based on field interviews as well as statistical analyses of a sample in the machinery industry. Results indicate that customer interaction during certain stages (but not others) of the new product development process has a positive impact on new product success. The characteristics of the involved customers have a significant effect on new product success as well. As an example, collaborating with financially attractive customers or customers exhibiting lead user characteristics increases new product success. It is also demonstrated that there is a gap between the performance impact of customer interaction during new product development and the current business practice in this field

Entwicklungslinien der Marketingorganisation : eine empirische Untersuchung im produzierenden Gewerbe

• Die Marketingorganisation regelt die Beziehungen eines Unternehmens zu seinen Abnehmern und leistet so einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Wettbewerbsfähigkeit. • Der Beitrag befaßt sich mit der Frage nach dem derzeitigen Stand der Marketingorganisation hinsichtlich zentraler Parameter und mit den für die nächsten Jahre geplanten Veränderungen. • Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragestellungen wird eine empirische Analyse im produzierenden Gewerbe durchgeführt. • Aufgrund der empirischen Analyse können klare Entwicklungstendenzen identifiziert werden, die insbesondere im Bereich der Prozeßorientierung in Marketing und Vertrieb liegen

Neue Wege in Marketing und Vertrieb : Prozeßoptimierung, Organisationsgestaltung, Kundenorientierung

Die Forderung nach neuen Organisationsformen in Marketing und Vertrieb gehört zu den Allgemeinplätzen der heutigen Managementliteratur. Vor dem Hintergrund zunehmender Marktdynamik und steigender Wettbewerbsintensität werden Forderungen nach effizienteren Prozessen, Kundenorientierung sowie allgemein nach neuen Organisationsformen immer lauter. Solche Dinge sind leicht gesagt. In der Umsetzung erweisen sie sich zumeist allerdings als ausgesprochen problematisch. Die ernüchternden Erfahrungen, die mittlerweile zahlreiche Unternehmen bei dem Versuch, das Konzept des Business Process Reengineering anzuwenden, machen mußten, verdeutlichen die Umsetzungsproblematik. Vor diesem Hintergrund befaßt sich dievorliegende Studie mit der Frage, wo die Praxis tatsächlich bei der Reorganisation der Marketing- und Vertriebsbereiche ansetzt

Customer Interaction and Innovation in Hybrid Offerings:Investigating Moderation and Mediation Effects for Goods and Services Innovation

Hybrid offerings are bundles of goods and services offerings provided by the same firm. Bundling value offerings affects how firms innovate, interact with customers, and customize their goods and services. However, it remains unclear how customer interaction might drive the innovation performance of various bundled components. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of customer interactions and service customization on both goods and services innovations in a hybrid offering context, using a unique data set of 146 information technology and manufacturing firms. Customer interaction appears beneficial to both goods and services innovation in a hybrid offerings context, but service customization has different direct effects on goods versus services innovation. As a potential mediator, customer knowledge mobilization resources exert different effects on the goods and services elements of hybrid offerings. Furthermore, for high-interaction customers, medium levels of technical modularity lead to most favorable innovation outcomes for services innovation. The results thus suggest that providers of hybrid offerings should foster customer interactions, to drive the innovation performance of the good and service components, while still making sure to implement service customization strategies. These findings have notable implications for service innovation research

Absorbing customer knowledge: how customer involvement enables service design success

Customers are a knowledge resource outside of the firm that can be utilized for new service success by involving them in the design process. However, existing research on the impact of customer involvement (CI) is inconclusive. Knowledge about customers’ needs and on how best to serve these needs (articulated in the service concept) is best obtained from customers themselves. However, codesign runs the risk of losing control of the service concept. This research argues that of the processes of external knowledge, acquisition (via CI), customer knowledge assimilation, and concept transformation form a capability that enables the firm to exploit customer knowledge in the form of a successful new service. Data from a survey of 126 new service projects show that the impact of CI on new service success is fully mediated by customer knowledge assimilation (the deep understanding of customers’ latent needs) and concept transformation (the modification of the service concept due to customer insights). However, its impact is more nuanced. CI exhibits an “∩”-shaped relationship with transformation, indicating there is a limit to the beneficial effect of CI. Its relationship with assimilation is “U” shaped, suggesting a problem with cognitive inertia where initial learnings are ignored. Customer knowledge assimilation directly impacts success, while concept transformation only helps success in the presence of resource slack. An evolving new service design is only beneficial if the firm has the flexibility to adapt to change