How to improve new product performance through customer relationship management and product development management: evidence from China

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhui Yan ◽  
Yu Zheng ◽  
Jiaxin Bao ◽  
Chongyu Lu ◽  
Yanhui Jiang ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how to improve new product performance in turbulent circumstances of emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach This paper used regression analysis to examine the performance impact of customer relationship management (CRM) and product development management (PDM) concentration strategy in new product development (NPD). A detailed contingent analysis of the market and institutional environments in emerging economies is also conducted based on a survey of 114 Chinese high-tech manufacturers. Findings The research findings show that PDM has a stronger positive effect on new product performance than CRM in emerging economies and that the contingent effects of the market and institutional environment vary. More specifically, technological turbulence and enforcement inefficiency can positively moderate the relationship between CRM and new product performance, whereas the moderating effect of market turbulence on CRM is negative. Meanwhile, enforcement inefficiency negatively moderates the effect of PDM on new product performance, while the moderating effect of market turbulence on PDM is positive. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to a survey of high-tech manufacturing enterprises in China. Further research should continues to explore and document the strategic issue about NPD in emerging economies by longitudinal study. Originality/value This paper contributed to theoretical and practical initiatives on the strategic issue of NPD and provided firms a further understanding of how to select the right NPD strategy in emerging economies to improve new product performance.

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1207-1223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tun-Chih Kou ◽  
Bruce C. Y. Lee ◽  
Chiou-Fong Wei

Purpose – Most new product research for the past two decades has focussed on new product development and product innovation. Only a few product launches have been discussed in specific fields. The purpose of this paper is to fill the literature gap regarding enhanced product launch performance by using the customer relationship. Design/methodology/approach – From the contract manufacturer’s perspective, the authors propose that the customer relationship and senior management involvement affects lean launch execution. The customer relationship includes both cooperativeness and behavior monitoring. Studies have suggested that a lean launch exerts a direct influence on new product performance and marketing performance. We used a questionnaire to collect data to test the postulated research model and hypotheses from project, account, and purchasing managers in the high-tech manufacturing industry. Findings – The results provided compelling evidence that the customer relationship exerts a positive effect on lean launch, which in turn exerts a positive effect on new product performance. Although lean launch execution affected marketing performance through new product performance, the direct effect on marketing performance was non-significant. Senior management involvement exerted an indirect influence on lean launch performance through cooperativeness. Originality/value – This paper suggests and empirically tests a model to explain how contract manufacturers manage brand-customer relationship through cooperativeness and behavior monitoring, leading to higher levels of lean launch execution toward new product performance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aron O'Cass ◽  
Nima Heirati

Purpose – This study aims to address the extent that the deployment of and complementarity between marketing mix and customer-focused (brand management, and customer relationship management) capabilities provide firms the capacity to transform their market knowledge into effective responsive actions that help to achieve new product success. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used as the primary means of data collection. Data from 160 large business-to-business firms across a variety of industries in Iran were analyzed using partial least squares regression to test the hypothesized paths. Findings – The results show that market-oriented firms are better at deploying marketing mix, brand management and customer relationship management capabilities, and these capabilities help to drive new product performance, and the complementarity between these marketing capabilities enhances the firm’s capacity to achieve new product success more than deploying each capability in isolation. Originality/value – In contrast to many existing studies, this study is the first to examine the role of marketing mix, brand management and customer relationship management capabilities and their complementarity as intervening mechanisms in the relationship between market orientation (MO) and new product performance. Further, this study extends the marketing literature by investigating the role of different forms of marketing capabilities in a complementary fashion in the context of a Middle Eastern economy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1038-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Heirati ◽  
Aron O’Cass ◽  
Phyra Sok

Purpose Organizational ambidexterity is argued to be a prerequisite for successful new product development, especially for firms operating in highly competitive emerging markets. Despite growing attention to the importance of ambidexterity, the conditions under which specific forms of ambidexterity are more or less beneficial to new product performance (NPP) remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the contingent value of two specific resource conditions that favor the pursuit of the balanced dimension versus combined dimension of ambidexterity to achieve superior NPP. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were drawn from a sample of 156 high-tech large firms operating in the Middle East and tested through a hierarchical regression analysis. Findings This study highlights the important role of slack resources and social networking capability in enhancing the benefits of the combined dimension of ambidexterity over the balanced dimension of ambidexterity to drive NPP. Originality/value This study extends prior research which has mainly examined organizational characteristics that facilitates organizational ambidexterity and sheds light on the specific resource conditions under which high-technology firms operating in an emerging economy should pursue balanced dimension of ambidexterity or combined dimension of ambidexterity to achieve superior NPP.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 1750010 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLAS A. ZACHARIAS ◽  
RUTH MARIA STOCK ◽  
SUBIN IM

Although top managers’ direct influence on new product development (NPD) projects may not be evident, managers frame the conditions surrounding such projects by determining the strategic directions and managing the context for a firm’s innovation activities. Drawing on strategic leadership theory and effectuation logic, this study proposes nonlinear effects of three important strategic givens determined by top managers that represent key levers to frame firms’ NPD: customer orientation, encouragement to take risks, and autonomy. Multi-informant data from top-level marketing managers and project managers in multiple U.S. high-tech industries indicate optimal levels for each strategic given. A moderate level of customer orientation is optimal for new product performance (inverted U-shaped relationship); new products also perform best when managers support very low or high levels of autonomy (U-shaped relationship). In contrast with a predicted curvilinear effect, managers’ encouragement of risk taking actually exerts a positive linear effect on new product performance.


Author(s):  
Shuangfa Huang ◽  
David Pickernell ◽  
Martina Battisti ◽  
Danny Soetanto ◽  
Qihai Huang

PurposeEntrepreneurial orientation (EO) is an exploratory orientation because its dimensions such as innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking are the essence of exploration that entails uncertain returns. While literature suggests firms might need to counterbalance and complement EO with another orientation for organisational success, research on this area remains limited. Drawing on organisational learning theory, the purpose of this article is to explore whether and how the EO dimensions and organisational ambidexterity complement each other to enhance new product performance. More specifically, the authors explore the configurations of innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking and ambidexterity for superior new product performance under different levels of market turbulence.Design/methodology/approachBased on a configurational perspective, the authors applied fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 88 small and medium-sized firms from the UK. Using fsQCA allows the authors to uncover the potential complementary role between the EO dimensions and ambidexterity for superior new product performance.FindingsThe results of this paper reveal three configurations that are sufficient to produce superior new product performance. The results suggest that the EO dimensions and ambidexterity can complement each other to enhance new product performance. Further, under the turbulent market environment, the EO dimensions are also sufficient to produce superior new product performance.Originality/valueBy adopting a configurational perspective using fsQCA, the study provides a more holistic understanding of how the EO dimensions work together to influence new product performance. It also contributes to the literature by uncovering the complementary role of the EO dimensions and ambidexterity in shaping new product performance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C.Y. Lee ◽  
F. T.C. Kou

Studies have suggested the positive effect of customer orientation on superior performance. However, these studies have not shown how to covert customer orientation into superior performance through new product development (NPD)activities. The purpose of this study was to fill the gap between customer orientation and new product performance and elucidate the mediating influence of product launch, product development capability, and innovativeness on therelationship between customer orientation and new product performance. From the contract manufacturer’s perspective, it was proposed that customer orientation toward new product performance affects NPD activities. Focus was placed on product launch because the launch stage is the most expensive and riskiest aspect of NPD activities. Focus was also given to product development capability, which facilitates superior product performance. Product innovativeness also plays a crucial role in building competitive advantage. NPD activities include product launch, product development capability, and product innovativeness. We used a questionnaire to collect data to test the postulated research model and hypotheses from project, account and product managers in the high-tech industry. The results demonstrated the strong positive effectof customer orientation on NPD activities, and NPD activities play crucial roles as mediators between customer orientation and new product performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan Yeniaras ◽  
Ilker Kaya ◽  
Nick Ashill

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical and empirical understanding of how social ties affect innovation behavior and new product performance in Turkey, which is an emerging economy where high levels of economic and political uncertainties exist.The authors examine whether innovation behavior binds the political and business ties of the firm to new product performance. They also examine if these effects are contingent on variations in the institutional environment and market environment. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling and mediation analyses were used on a sample of 344 small- and medium-sized enterprises in Istanbul. Findings Business ties are positively related to exploratory innovation behavior and political ties hamper such behavior. The authors also show that government support hinders firms’ disruptive innovation while encouraging incremental innovation behavior. The authors further demonstrate that the positive and indirect relation of business ties to new product performance through exploratory and exploitative innovation is largely insensitive to changes in market and institutional environments. Political ties are negatively (positively) and indirectly related to new product performance through exploratory (exploitative) innovation. Practical implications Managers should choose the form of their personal interactions (political and/or business) based on the type of innovation that is being pursued. Additionally, managers should consider both the institutional environment and the market environment as important contingencies in their decision of whether to invest resources in developing social ties to build innovation behavior. Originality/value The authors offer a deeper perspective of how social ties in emerging economies affect new product performance by considering exploratory and exploitative innovation behavior as mediating mechanisms. These mediating effects are conditional on institutional and market environments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 869-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tun-Chih Kou ◽  
Chang-Tang Chiang ◽  
Ai-Hsuan Chiang

PurposeSome studies have suggested that a supply chain augmented with information technology (IT) has a positive effect on performance in the marketplace. However, these studies have not explained how the IT-based supply chain achieves this superior performance. This study aims to reveal some of the mediating influences at play: the new product development (NPD) activities of product launch, product innovativeness and product development capability.Design/methodology/approachTaking the electronics manufacturer’s perspective, this study took a resource-based view to propose that NPD activities are affected by IT advancement and that IT-based supply chain architecture is a critical resource that ultimately affects new product performance. Thus study focuses on product launch, because this is the most expensive and risky stage of NPD; product innovativeness, because it plays a substantial role in achieving a competitive advantage; and product development capability, because it leads to superior product performance. A questionnaire was used to collect data from managers of projects, products and supply chains of computer and communication electronics manufacturers; 235 valid questionnaires were returned. These data were subsequently analyzed using a variety of statistical methods.FindingsThe results support that manufacturers’ IT resources enable them to enhance NPD activities effectively with their suppliers, and that NPD activities play a key role in moderating the relationship between IT-based supply chains and new product performance.Originality/valueThis paper provides an empirically tested model of how IT-based supply chain architecture can lead to superior new product performance through product lean launch, product innovativeness and product development capability.


2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Owee Kowang ◽  
Amran Rasli ◽  
Choi Sang Long

New Product Development (NPD) is vital in assisting Research and Development (R&D) based organizations to adapt to the changes in markets and technology for competitive advantage. Ensuring the success of new products and optimization of new product performance is critical and essential for Research and Development based organizations.  Hence, this study is carried out to explore does organizational background in term of company’s ownership (i.e. local or multinational companies) and operational scales (i.e. number of Research and Development staffs) affect NPD performance of Research and Development companies in Malaysia. In line with this, 8 New Product Development performance attributes were identified from literature review. These attributes were subsequently formulated into a survey questionnaire and responded by 186 respondents. Thereafter, the effect of organizational ownership and operational scale toward NPD performance are examined separately via Independent Sample t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Finding from the study revealed that the level of NPD performance in multinational R&D companies is higher than local R&D companies. Findings from this research also implied that NPD performance can be further improved by increasing number of R&D staffs.  


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