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Perspective: The Emergence of Product Design as a Field of Marketing Inquiry*
Abstract
The authors present findings from an analysis of articles related to product design published in eight leading journals important to marketing thought. Based on this analysis, which covers the fourteen-year period 1995–2008, the authors propose a conceptual model of product design and offer definitions for (a) product design and (b) the product design process. In addition, the authors provide insights into the nature of product design research during this time period, including analyses of publication trends and the relationship of product design research to related marketing topics. The essay concludes with suggestions for future research on product design.
... As Walsh et al. (1988) indicated, with developments over time, the design creates a "strategy" for market success by increasing the quality of a product. Also, product design has been generally conceptualized as industrial design focusing on the shape and as technical design focusing the function of the product (Luchs and Swan, 2011;Unger and Eppinger, 2011). Although there is no consensus or common definition in the literature about the concept of product design, there are various approaches to this subject (Luchs and Swan, 2011). ...
... Also, product design has been generally conceptualized as industrial design focusing on the shape and as technical design focusing the function of the product (Luchs and Swan, 2011;Unger and Eppinger, 2011). Although there is no consensus or common definition in the literature about the concept of product design, there are various approaches to this subject (Luchs and Swan, 2011). Er (1997), describes the product design as a strategic process that includes the information on how to embody and position the product in the market and imply essential "why" and "how" questions related to the particular product. ...
... The literature on product design includes such studies which focus solely on the shape (Bloch, 1995) or functionality (Kohli and Krishnamurti, 1987) of products. In the meantime, Luchs and Swan (2011) suggest that an integrated application is required for firm strategy and product success in the market. Verganti (2008) claims the design is related to the meanings that consumers place on products, and that these meanings express the symbolic and emotional value of products. ...
This study aims firstly to determine the differences in effects between perceived usefulness and ease of use, attitude, and behavioral intention towards a product. The focus will be on the use of a technological attribute in product design in the frame of the technology acceptance model. Secondly, this study aims to examine whether or not these effects differ according to product type. Four different questionnaire forms were designed using the scenario technique and experimental design. The research data were collected from 504 people by a face-to-face survey method. The data were subjected to MANOVA and Multiple Group Structural Equation Modeling. As a result of this research, it was found that the effects among the variables within the technology acceptance model were significant. When the obtained model is evaluated according to the product design and product type, it is concluded that the model differs in the case of using a technological attribute in product design, but does not differ according to product type, and the model was valid for all product types.
... Ces éléments pourraient limiter les inconvénients causés par les services d'entretien et de réparation. Les relations entre les avantages à long terme de la maintenance et de la réparation, les stratégies de conception des produits et l'obsolescence soulèvent des questions de recherche spécifiques (questions 17 à 20, Tableau 4) qui pourraient améliorer les connaissances sur le rôle du design des produits et les propriétés holistiques qui découlent de la forme (l'esthétique du bien tangible) et des fonctions (les attributs du produit qui satisfont les besoins utilitaires), dont notamment la question de savoir si la forme suit la fonction ou vice versa (Luchs et Swan, 2011, [A]) dans un cycle de choix complet : de l'utilisation à la mise au rebut des produits (Chitturi, 2009, [H]). ...
... Le troisième axe de recherche porte sur la manière dont les consommateurs jugent l'attractivité du design des produits, et plus particulièrement comment l'interaction entre la forme et les fonctions du design détermine la valeur perçue du produit et les réponses des consommateurs (Luchs et Swan, 2011). Les SPS orientés produit nécessitent de nouveaux designs (comme la conception pour la réparabilité, la conception pour les mises à niveau) qui réduisent potentiellement les formes objectives d'obsolescence. ...
... Pour le quatrième axe de recherche, nous nous tournons vers l'intégration des services dans la stratégie des fabricants et leurs processus de conception de produits. Les SPS orientés produit nécessitent des ajustements spécifiques dans le design des produits, tels que les designs pour le démontage, la modularité et la compatibilité, qui sont des concepts importants dans la conception de produits (Luchs et Swan, 2011). Ces ajustements sont de nature à ralentir l'obsolescence physique et à réduire la probabilité d'obsolescence de types après-vente, technique et économique. ...
Cet article conceptuel développe un agenda de recherche sur le rôle que les Systèmes Produit–Service (SPS) orientés produit – pratiques de servicisation similaires au bundling – peuvent jouer dans la réduction de l’obsolescence des produits durables (c’est-à-dire la réduction délibérée de la durée de vie des produits et la dévaluation symbolique de ceux-ci). Cette possibilité est étudiée du point de vue des consommateurs et des entreprises. Il en ressort des pistes de recherche sur la façon dont le marketing peut faire progresser les connaissances, en particulier dans les domaines du design des produits et du marketing durable. Cet article contribue à la littérature sur le bundling en suggérant que différentes stratégies de bundling peuvent être déployées afin d’améliorer les performances environnementales et réduire l’obsolescence. Les effets des SPS orientés produit sur l’obsolescence dépendent du type de services supplémentaires que les entreprises associent à leurs produits. Cette réflexion a des implications pour les managers qui souhaitent adopter une stratégie de bundling de produits et de services ainsi que pour les régulateurs et les décideurs politiques qui veulent lutter contre l’obsolescence.
... aesthetics of tangible good) and function (i.e. product attributes that satisfy utilitarian needs), including the question of whether form follows function or vice versa (Luchs and Swan, 2011, [A]) in a complete choice-use-disposal product cycle (Chitturi, 2009, [H]). ...
... The third research axis refers to how consumers judge the attractiveness of product design, and more particularly how the interplay between form and function determines the product's perceived value and consumers' responses (Luchs and Swan, 2011). Product-oriented PSS require new product designs (e.g. ...
... For the fourth research axis, we turn to manufacturers' integration of serviceability in their product design strategy and processes. Product-oriented PSS require specific product design adjustments, such as design for dismantling, modularity, and compatibility, which are important product design concepts (Luchs and Swan, 2011) but that also decrease the probability of after-sales, technical, and economic obsolescence, as well as increase the time to physical obsolescence. Additional questions about the strategic management of the launch and commercialization of PSS sub-practices arise, because the operationalization of product-oriented PSS sometimes produces conflicting results in financial and environmental terms. ...
This conceptual article reviews current knowledge across relevant disciplines and proposes a research agenda related to the capacity of product-oriented product–service systems (PSS) – which are servitization practices, similar to product–service bundling – to mitigate the obsolescence problem of durable products (in the form of deliberate curtailment of product lifespans or symbolic devaluation of devices). Taking both consumer and company perspectives on this possibility, this study outlines paths for research into how marketing can advance knowledge, particularly in relation to product design and sustainable marketing fields. As a contribution to product–service bundling literature, this article also proposes that different types of bundling strategies can be deployed strategically to enhance environmental performance and reduce obsolescence. The effects of product-oriented PSS on obsolescence depend on the type of added services that companies bundle with their products. This insight offers some implications for managers who might seek to adopt product–service bundling and for regulators and policy makers who want to combat obsolescence.
... Brand design elements. A growing body of literature recognizes the importance of a product's design and appearance (i.e., its "look and feel") as drivers of its success (Bloch 1995;Luchs and Swan 2011;Noble and Kumar 2010). Design encompasses a range of engineering, ergonomic, and sensual elements that differentiate a product and make it appealing to customers (Luchs and Swan 2011). ...
... A growing body of literature recognizes the importance of a product's design and appearance (i.e., its "look and feel") as drivers of its success (Bloch 1995;Luchs and Swan 2011;Noble and Kumar 2010). Design encompasses a range of engineering, ergonomic, and sensual elements that differentiate a product and make it appealing to customers (Luchs and Swan 2011). Legal scholars recognize the importance of protecting design elements; however, this protection is splintered among various doctrines in copyright, trademark, and patent law (Lee and Sunder 2016). ...
Trademarks play an important role in protecting intangible brand assets. However, the impact of trademark rights on brand assets has received little attention in the literature. Hence, the authors examine the impact of trademark rights on brand assets from the perspective of appropriability, the ability of a firm to benefit from innovation and creativity. To ensure causal identification, they use a natural experimental context where U.S. Supreme Court decisions on trademark rights provide the exogenous variation in strength of trademark rights. Using a database of trademarks registered in the United States and a difference-in-difference estimation approach, the authors show that overall trademark applications and applications to register in other categories increase when trademark rights are strengthened and decrease when trademark rights are weakened. However, trademarking responses of brands to a change in property rights are muted for design trademarks and amplified when a firm has multiple brands. The authors discuss the theoretical, substantive, and managerial implications of the findings and provide guidance for future research.
... User-centered design (UCD) was developed in the 1980s at Donald Norman's Research Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego [2,4]. However, the potential for UCD was recognized more than two decades ago by Nickerson, who suggested that "people-centered computers" were a necessity and trend in the future. ...
... Apart from making a to-do list and setting goals, a task reminder is another commonly used function of these TMTs. They are useful for reminding appointments and to-dos and various time-based information such as colleagues' birthdays [4]. Inevitably, there are some limitations with these tools, such as prioritizing and expensiveness [5]. ...
... Second, the esthetic properties of the product design may provide sensory pleasure and psychological freedom to the customers (Bloch, 2011). Third, the product's appearance strengthens the connection among the customers and brand, and also satisfies the customers' desire to make social contacts (Luchs & Swan, 2011). When customers get the esthetic sense of the products, they are more likely to be involved in affection processing which may further induce feelings of relatedness (Vilches-Montero et al., 2018). ...
... Similarly, design literature demonstrates that a product that allows customers to achieve functional and prevention goals may augment customers' confidence (Luchs et al., 2016). Previously, authors determined that there are two main motives behind customer shopping that is utilitarian motives and esthetic gratification (Batra & Ahtola, 1991;Luchs & Swan, 2011). According to Higgins (1998), when a product helps customers achieve utilitarian goals, it may reduce their painful emotions and doubts about the quality of a product, hence, improving customers' attachment with product (Kivetz & Simonson, 2002). ...
This study aims at exploring the influence of product design on customer engagement through self-determined needs satisfaction. This study used the survey method in three ways: (1) mall intercept approach, (2) email survey, and (3) survey through Wechat. The sample was collected from 500 customers of electronic products living in Xi’an, China. The data analysis is done through structural equation modeling. Findings show that perceived product design in terms of functional, esthetic, and symbolic design is positively related to self-determined needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence) satisfaction. Furthermore, results reveal that self-determined needs satisfaction has a positive influence on customer engagement. The moderation results show that prevention focused customers moderate the relationship between functional design and self-determined needs satisfaction. Whereas, promotion focused customers moderate the relationship between esthetic design and self-determined needs satisfaction. This study adds value to the self-determination theory by examining the link between product design dimensions and customer engagement through self-determined needs satisfaction. Furthermore, this study adds value to the existing literature on regulatory focus theory.
... Design attributes that are in line with consumers' needs and expectations, indeed, can lead to highly satisfying experiences, thus improving the positive relationship between the companies' offering and the consumers' demand [6]. Nevertheless, individuals' daily interactions with products can result in subjective perceptions of design attributes, thus producing diverse responses [7]. Moreover, several dimensions of design, concerning functional, aesthetic, and symbolic features of a product, can affect the consumers' attention and behaviors in different ways [8][9][10]. ...
... Several scholars [2,46,47] proved that investments in design have a positive impact on companies' ability to innovate and, consequently, on their competitive performances. However, a common and accepted definition of design has not been identified yet [7,48]. Some authors [49,50] considered it as a human activity, which includes both the dimensions of creativity and technique. ...
Consumer environmental responsibility has been commonly considered as an antecedent to green consumption intention and eco-design purchases. However, little research has investigated how environmental concern affects the relationship between design attributes and purchasing intention, especially in the furniture setting, where companies are often involved in design-intensive processes and environmental problems. This study investigates (i) how consumers perceive the different dimensions of design and which attributes most affect their purchasing intention of furniture items; and (ii) the role of consumers’ environmental responsibility on the relationship between design attributes and purchasing intention. An online questionnaire survey was employed to collect data from 350 Italian consumers. The findings reveal that design can be intended as a three-dimensional construct, based on functional, aesthetic, and symbolic attributes. While functional and aesthetic features can be considered as relevant factors affecting the consumers’ perception of design, the purchasing intention is mainly influenced by the symbolic dimension of design. Moreover, environmental concern moderates the relationship between the symbolic dimension of design and purchasing intention, that is, when consumers are highly concerned about environmental issues, they tend to be more influenced by the symbolic dimension of design. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Each one of them will have been designed for us and each one of them will have been marketed to us. That is interesting but what is quite remarkable is that often there may have been no direct communication between the designer and the marketer (Bloch 1995;Luchs and Swan 2011). As a remedial step, this study will propose an integrative theory that bridges from Design to Marketing. ...
... The most exported creative products in the world in 2015 accounted for 62% of design products (UNCTAD, 2018). Product design is an object of research examined by both design and marketing researchers (Garbage, 2005;Tutlytė, 2007;Strazdas, 2011;Luchs and Swan, 2011;Best, 2015;Heufler et al., 2020). The search for a broader product perception applicable to the creative industries sector can be based on Kotler and Keller's (2016, p. 389) product definition: "product -all that can be offered to the market to meet the wishes or needs of consumers, including physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, property, organizations, information and ideas. ...
Today, contemporary design solutions require creative thinking because the original design is based on innovation and creative solutions to solve certain problems such as preservation of old traditions, cultural heritage for future generations. Design as an area of science and practical activities functions by defining specific design peculiarities. Design products in scientific literature are described as closely directly related to the process, distributed in the context of the process, ones that impact the context and alter the process further. A creative product is created when acting together with other artists and is planned for the consumer, where the globalisation of the 21st century is one of the threats to national cultures. In the meantime, the person first understands the image and terms created by the culture around him, so artists, creators of creative products, play an important role here. Cooperation is a new and inspiring means of this activity that provides power to initiate, implement and evaluate solutions that is based on not only shared responsibilities, but also partnership that strengthens communication, increases trust, empathy between organisations and satisfaction in a generally received result. Sientific problem may be raised: What are the specificities of design product development and commercialization? In realizing this problem the theoretical concept and peculiarities of design product were discussed; the stages and principles of design product development and its introduction to the market were analysed; a theoretical model of design product development was created and introduction to the market; the theoretical model was analyzed by the implementation of the project “Baltic Patterns in Ceramics: From the Past to the Future”. The methods of scientific literature systematic analysis, comparison and abstraction were employed in the research.
... Each one of them will have been designed for us and each one of them will have been marketed to us. That is interesting but what is quite remarkable is that often there may have been no direct communication between the designer and the marketer (Bloch 1995;Luchs and Swan 2011). As a remedial step, this study will propose an integrative theory that bridges from Design to Marketing. ...
... Each one of them will have been designed for us and each one of them will have been marketed to us. That is interesting but what is quite remarkable is that often there may have been no direct communication between the designer and the marketer (Bloch 1995;Luchs and Swan 2011). As a remedial step, this study will propose an integrative theory that bridges from Design to Marketing. ...
... On the other hand, it is important to note that past literature suggests product design influences human behaviour (Luchs & Swan, 2011;Noble & Kumar, 2010). Few studies beyond the realm of tourism have confirmed the positive impact of various design dimensions on performance-based variables such as customer purchase intentions and market share (Homburg et al., 2015;Jindal et al., 2016). ...
This study investigates the effects of perceived ecotourism design affordance and destination social responsibility on tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour and destination loyalty. It aims to shed light on the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape sustainable tourist behaviour. Three hundred and fourteen responses were collected quantitatively through an online survey. The research hypotheses were analysed using the Partial-least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The path analysis revealed that perceived ecotourism design affordance significantly enhances tourist pro-environmental behaviour and destination loyalty. A similar dynamic also can be reported in the context of affordance and destination social responsibility. Surprisingly, tourist pro-environmental behaviour does not affect tourist destination loyalty. Results highlighted the need for tourism policymakers and industry players to develop ecotourism products and services that allow tourists to adapt their behaviour towards a sustainable direction.
... In recent years, there has been a growing awareness among innovation scholars about the role and importance of design in connecting company resources (Lau et al., 2010;Luchs andSwan, 2011, Micheli et al., 2017). There is growing evidence for design activities' central contribution to innovation (Walsh, 1996;von Stamm, 2004;Verganti, 2008). ...
More companies are using design to gain an advantage in today’s highly competitive business market. However, there are few empirical studies on its innovation impact on organizational performance. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between the knowledge resources of companies, moderated by the degree of design activities, and innovation types. Based on the sensemaking organizational model, this study examines how companies’ knowledge resources mediate design activities and influence innovation. This study introduces design activities as a moderator to link the corporate knowledge resources’ (human, social, and organizational knowledge) impact to incremental and radical innovation. The sensemaking organizational model is extended through a human-centered lens. Analysis of 151 companies showed that human, social, and organizational knowledge had a selective impact on incremental and radical innovation. Interestingly, the findings supported the hypothesis that organizational knowledge enhances radical innovation through design activities. This paper bridges the gap between corporate knowledge resources and innovation moderated by design activities enhancing the sensemaking organizational model. It points to the need for design activities for creative problem-setting and enabling the discovery of problems found during the research phase through innovation. Long-term corporate activities increase knowledge resources and reduce the potential for radical innovation. Mechanisms that promote new connections between organizations and leverage corporate knowledge resources benefit radical innovation. This explains the managemental impact on the various knowledge resources in innovation and the role of design activities.
... Although IT artefact design is mainly studied in the IS field, marketing also includes the concept of artefact design (Luchs & Swan, 2011). One element of artefact design common in marketing is the precise presentation or configuration of products to consumers. ...
NeuroIS—the methods and knowledge of neuroscience applied to the information systems (IS) domain—has become an established research field within the IS discipline. A key advantage of NeuroIS is its ability to provide insights into human cognition beyond those obtained using behavioural techniques alone. Nevertheless, in neuroscience, there is renewed interest in examining behaviour together with neurophysiological methods to better inform our understanding of neural processes. In this research opinion article, we argue that in the field of NeuroIS, there is an opportunity for hybrid programs of study that combine neurophysiological and behavioural methods in a complementary manner. We outline four strategies for designing complementary neurophysiological and behavioural experiments in a research program: (1) observe the relationship between neural processes and behavioural change; (2) combine neurophysiological and behavioural methods to enhance internal, external, and ecological validity; (3) extend, rather than replicate, experiments based on theory; and (4) use neurophysiological and behavioural experiments together to evaluate IT artefact design. By applying these strategies, researchers can more effectively design programs using complementary neurophysiological and behavioural methods, which, in turn, can help to provide richer insights into the phenomena under study as well as accelerate the advancement of IS knowledge.
... Some companies have been investing in design, especially in intensely competitive industries (Luchs et al., 2015), as a point of differentiation and a potential source of value (Luchs and Swan, 2011). Nevertheless, significant spending to create appealing systems cannot lead to success if consumers do not value those systems. ...
... Some companies have been investing in design, especially in intensely competitive industries (Luchs et al., 2015), as a point of differentiation and a potential source of value (Luchs and Swan, 2011). Nevertheless, significant spending to create appealing systems cannot lead to success if consumers do not value those systems. ...
To improve consumers’ online shopping experiences, companies invest in the visual design of their websites. Although some studies show that visual design positively influences consumer reactions, other studies do not confirm that influence. This research is aimed at exploring those contrasting findings by investigating two boundary variables (website use and user expertise) that delimit the scope of the positive influence of visual design on consumer intentions towards using and recommending e-commerce websites. Two preliminary studies (Study A and Study B) investigate the level at which visual design is mentally construed. The two main studies (Study 1 and Study 2) test our research hypotheses. Study 1 results reveal that visual design exerts different effects on individuals’ intentions depending on when the site is evaluated (before vs after use). Study 2 provides greater insight into the role of visual design after the actual use of the website by considering the moderating role of user expertise. Those findings lead to concrete recommendations about how e-retailers can create more engaging experiences.
... Based on the aforementioned, it is a natural learning guideline with customer requirements to solve the problems of thinking and the responding actions (Luchs, M. & Swan, K. S., 2011;Wang, J. et al., 2021). It is similar to the market plan for the young teak products by creating good strength in the future, including by promoting gains in manufacturing procedure development. ...
The objective of this research was to develop a guideline for teak utilization over 13-15 years. In this case, the population comprised one thousand, one hundred, and twenty-nine participants at the academic conference and Thai natural resource exhibition, while the group sampling included a visitor group comprising ninety-four people at the exhibition and young teak product sales at the level of deviation of 10 percent. In this case, a 5-point rating scale was used as a research tool employing structured questionnaires, with a reliability value at the level of 0.7842. The results found that the participants had satisfaction in the produced model from young teak at the excellent level, (Mean=4.202; S.D.=0.649) according to the eight fields of satisfaction assessment consisting of 1) Function, 2) Durability, 3) Economics, 4)Material, 5)Ease of Use, 6)Construction, 7)Aesthetics, and 8)Production. Therefore, there were the means of each satisfaction field at the same level with a significance of .05, and the research results in the community group could be applied to use with the utilization pattern of young teak for 13-15 years by increasing economic value for teak garden cultivation in various communities. Received: 30 November 2021 / Accepted: 11 February 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022
... Innovation scholars have long underlined the importance of looking beyond the traditional understanding of technological change and product innovation to fully comprehend the characteristics and dynamics of innovative firms (Barge-Gil et al., 2011;Filippetti, 2011;Stoneman, 2010). In particular, a significant strand of research has placed emphasis on how firms' design activities encompass not only the functional dimension of the innovation underpinning new products, but also the relevant aesthetic and symbolic components (D'Ippolito, 2014;Luchs and Swan, 2011;Luchs et al., 2016;Ravasi and Stigliani, 2012). There is established evidence in support of design as constituting an important contributor to both innovation and company performance (Perks et al., 2005;Roper et al., 2016;Rubera and Droge, 2013) as well as organisational strategies (Gemser and Leenders, 2011;Micheli et al., 2018). ...
This paper explores persistence and learning effects in the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of design innovation. By combining insights from innovation economics and design studies, we discuss design innovation as the result of firm-specific cumulative learning. We then conceptualise design and product innovation as complementary processes whose interplay may lead to learning effects across different dimensions of knowledge creation. We provide quantitative evidence for these insights applying dynamic probit and bivariate probit models to a longitudinal dataset of manufacturing firms based in Spain for the period 2007-2016. Our findings confirm the presence of persistence effects in design innovation, offering novel evidence in support of the view whereby design is an iterative process shaped by the knowledge generated through firms’ previous engagement with design. In addition, the results contribute to our understanding of the role of design beyond its functional dimension, pointing to mutually reinforcing effects between aesthetic and symbolic design and product innovation.
... While process innovation is as important as product innovation in enhancing a firm's competitive position, it has been mostly ignored in the DT field. The design studies have mainly explored the effectiveness of design and DT in the field of new product development and product innovation (Luchs and Swan, 2011;Luchs et al., 2015Luchs et al., , 2016Micheli et al., 2012). One may argue that DT is a user-centered approach that aims to respond to user needs, so it only should focus on product innovation and new product development (Luchs et al., 2015). ...
How can the design thinking approach assist firms in developing response strategies to momentum-gaining disruptive innovations, along the lines of effectively exploiting established technologies and corresponding products/services? Such exploitative response strategies, implying successfully strengthening and leveraging the disrupted firm's existing technology without embracing the disruptive elements, have been, to a large extent, overlooked in the disruptive innovations literature. Using an inductive analysis of a critical case (a major cork stopper producer), the current study aims at developing a systematic understanding of exploitative strategic options and the role of design thinking in enabling them. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of the design thinking mindset to respond to disruptive innovations. In addition, we present evidence that a design thinking method can be successfully applied to process innovation. Finally, we demonstrate that to achieve a radical innovation based on design thinking principles, the establishment of design discourse is required.
... Functional design refers to the performance of a product or the ability to meet its utility performance (Bloch, 1995). Its essence is to design the function of a product from the perspective of consumer demand, so that its function or service can meet the demand of consumers for aesthetic satisfaction or practical purpose (Batra and Ahtola, 1991), which is also supported by Luchs and Swan (2011). Based on this, for social software, continuous improvement of function design can be used to stimulate individuals to create value together. ...
Qualitative research method was used to explore the formation and development of the attachment relationship between users and social media in the process of using social media. Based on the attachment theory, this study selected three representative social media platforms, namely, TikTok, WeChat, and MicroBlog, as theoretical samples, and this study adopted NVivo12.0 to root, theorize, and construct the original data. Research shows that users are stimulated by co-creation value to stimulate changes in their psychological needs and self-expression, leading to the formation of social attachment. Among them, user participation is a prerequisite for driving the occurrence of co-creation value, creating a continuous-use scenario for the attachment relationship between individuals and social media. Further, psychological needs and self-expression play mediating roles between co-creation of value and social attachment and promote the occurrence of personal belonging to software platforms. The findings of this research better our understandings about the mechanism of developing social attachment from continuous use of social media and offer practical implications for commercial uses of social media platforms.
... The core co-creation team is extended with end-users and key partners who collaborate on idea formation and evaluation of the gathered information and ideas [39,54]. The 'define' stage (stage three) analyses the input obtained from the 'discovery' stage [55]. These insights are then used to shape an initial concept (stage four) of the innovation aimed for [47]. ...
Sustainable innovations try to resolve complex challenges related to climate change. Co-creation with diverse stakeholders in innovation networks opens opportunities to successfully develop and implement sustainable innovations. However, collaboration between heterogeneous partners poses challenges at the level of stakeholder relationship management that affect the progress of innovation development. This study’s purpose is to investigate how co-creation processes that develop sustainable and climate-neutral high-tech innovations in the greenhouse horticultural industry should be structured and how stakeholder relationship management affects the progress of innovation development. Design methodology is linked with innovation management literature. A case study observed seven innovation trajectories that developed energy saving and climate-neutral growing techniques in the greenhouse horticultural industry in Flanders (Belgium) and The Netherlands over a period of three years. In-depth interviews (n = 13) were conducted to have the partners reflect on the co-creation process. Results show that co-creation management should focus on team composition, partner alignment and transparent communication about intentions, expectations and role division throughout the process. The initial stages of a co-creation process are crucial for context mapping and creation of team cohesion and do affect the subsequent stages in the process. Besides, in sustainable high-tech contexts, co-creation facilitators are faced with the need for technical knowledge and skills.
... Certaines entreprises ont investi dans le design, en particulier dans des secteurs fortement concurrentiels (Luchs et al., 2015), comme point de différenciation et source potentielle de valeur (Luchs et Swan, 2011). Néanmoins, des dépenses importantes pour créer des systèmes attrayants ne peuvent pas conduire au succès si les consommateurs ne valorisent pas ces systèmes. ...
Afin d’améliorer l’expérience d’achat en ligne des consommateurs, les entreprises investissent de plus en plus dans le design visuel de leurs sites Internet. Bien que certaines études montrent que le design visuel exerce une influence positive sur les réactions des consommateurs, d’autres études ne confirment pas cette influence. Cette recherche vise à apporter un nouvel éclairage sur cette littérature contrastée en analysant deux variables modératrices (utilisation du site et expertise de l’utilisateur) délimitant le périmètre d’influence du design visuel sur les intentions d’utilisation et de recommandation de sites de commerce électronique. Deux études préliminaires (étude A et étude B) analysent le niveau selon lequel le design visuel est représenté mentalement, et deux études principales (étude 1 et étude 2) testent les hypothèses de recherche. Les résultats de l’étude 1 révèlent que le design visuel exerce différents effets sur les intentions des individus selon le moment où le site est évalué (avant vs après utilisation). L’étude 2 approfondit la compréhension du rôle du design visuel après l’usage réel du site, et ce, en considérant le rôle modérateur de l’expertise des utilisateurs. Ces résultats conduisent à formuler des recommandations concrètes sur la manière dont les sites d’e-commerce peuvent créer des expériences en ligne plus engageantes.
... Consequently, research and development managers and product designers should already consider packaging design in the early phases of the new product development (NPD) process. Existing literature points out that packaging is particularly relevant at the end of the NPD process, especially in the phase of manufacturing and communication (Luchs and Swan, 2011). In contrast, our empirical findings suggest that the packaging of a product should be considered from the beginning of the product design process to ensure a high level of congruence between the product and its packaging. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide the first empirical evidence on how consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Consumption-supportive packaging functionality implies that the packaging itself serves a function that actively helps users achieve their consumption goals and that supports the objectives consumers have in mind when using it.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the research goal, this study presents four between-participant experimental studies. In the studies, this paper tests for the direct effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on consumers’ purchase intentions across different product categories. Moreover, this study tests for the mediating effect of perceived product meaningfulness to explain the underlying mechanism (Studies 2 and 3) and for the moderating effect of product complexity (Study 4).
Findings
This paper shows that consumption-supportive packaging functionality leads to higher purchase intentions. The findings also reveal that perceived product meaningfulness is one underlying mechanism that helps us to explain the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on purchase intention. Moreover, findings reveal that the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality only works for low-complex products, but not for high-complex ones.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers a new perspective on package design, and thus advances the understanding of how to package functionality can influence consumer responses. Moreover, this study contributes to the Gestalt theory because it applies a holistic design view on the packaging that influences product perception.
Practical implications
For low complex products, marketing managers should consider integrating packaging functionality into their communication strategy to focus on the overall Gestalt of the product. Product designers should integrate consumption-supportive packaging functionality in the product design to evoke positive consumer responses.
Originality/value
The research gives first empirical evidence on how and when consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ product evaluations.
... Most of the models in this type belong to the linear phasebased model type, which have been dominant in industry (Castilho et al. 2015;Kurkkio 2011) as well as being the subject of study in academia (Cooper and Edgett 2008;Simms 2012). The most recent models for this phasedtype were M141 (Fairlie-Clarke and Muller 2003), M159 (Osteras et al. 2006), M205 (Luchs and Swan 2011), and M036 (Cooper 2018). ...
266 fuzzy front-end (FFE) studies in the new product development (NPD) sector were examined. The studies were selected using a bibliometrics method, and chronologically and statistically examined with ten criteria divided into two dimensions. The first dimension is associated with overall attributes of the FFE, consisting of six criteria: the study taxonomy, model type, NPD speed, NPD attributes, model characteristic, and model structure. The second dimension is relevant to the FFE performance structure related to process parameters, comprised of four criteria: the FFE task, activity, performance method, and toolkit. In terms of those two dimensions, the paper looks at previous FFE studies to gain an understanding of features of each FFE study along with related knowledge and theories, as well as identification of evolution trends of FFE studies. Based on the identification, an FFE model development strategy for each criterion is formulated, and this paper proposes possible options for executing those strategies which exert influence on the form of the cluster network. The intention is for the database to be utilised as an overview of all existing FFE studies and allow specific FFE studies to be selected to examine FFE approaches.This paper provides FFE model development guidance on how to deal with the overall attributes and outcomes of the FFE which affect the entirety of the innovation process, and how to manage the performance structure related to process parameters.
... This is defined as the strategic activities that are used in creating a product design, from the inception of an idea to commercialization(Luchs & Swan, 2011). ...
Interdepartmental collaboration is considered to be critical to innovation and efficiency. This paper differentiated industrial design (ID) and engineering design (ED), which differ in their nature and are handled by different departments, and reviews in the literature on the impact that interdepartmental collaboration among industrial designers and other areas involved in product development has on innovation and efficiency. We found that: (1) regarding innovation, interdepartmental collaboration has a positive effect on design innovation, and CE type interdepartmental collaboration has a positive effect on technology innovation. (2) Regarding efficiency, we found that the effect on the efficiency of the product development process was not consistent, and production efficiency was not looked into in prior research.
... From the perspective of sustainability, as described by the previous study of Luchs and Swan (2011) that focus on the design of the product to understand the consumer buying cycle and its use for the consumers. Some authors consider the consumer behavior over and over closely that follows the linear process of consumer decision making that encapsulates five steps as (1) Recognizing the need; (2) Searching the information; (3) Evaluating alternatives; (4) Decision of purchase and (5) Post-purchase behavior (Hund et al., 2017). ...
... Sin embargo, el diseño de nuevos productos ha salido de su posición histórica como una referencia de dominios de diseño, y se le reconoce cada vez más como una importante fuente de ventaja competitiva sostenible. recientemente, el dominio del diseño ha sido categorizado en términos generales como "forma y función" (Luchs y Swan, 2011;noble y Kumar, 2010). ...
... Despite the above evidences, the effects of such dimensions on consumers' behaviours have been scarcely investigated to date (Homburg et al., 2015), while they could be worthy of attention by scholars and managers to improve the overall effectiveness of the design management. Moreover, consumers' daily interactions with various objects can result in subjective perceptions of the design attributes (Luchs and Swan, 2011). This, in turn, can produce different impacts on consumers' attitudes and behaviours. ...
The present study investigates the ways through which design attributes are perceived by consumers and to what extent they impact on their purchasing intention within the specific context of the furniture sector. Moreover, by considering the increasing attention of both companies and consumers towards environmental issues, the study also examines the role of consumers' environmental concern on the relationship between design and purchasing intention. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 350 consumers during the period from June 2019 to March 2020. Results suggest that the perception of design is mainly related to functional and aesthetic attributes of an object, while purchasing intention is particularly influenced by the symbolic dimension of design, thus revealing the existence of an attitude-behaviour gap among consumers. As soon as environmental issues are concerned, the findings highlight that consumers' attention towards environmental problems does not affect the purchasing intention of design furniture products. However, it acts as a moderator on the relationship between the functional dimension of design and purchasing intention, that is, when consumers are not very careful about environmental problems, they are less attracted by the symbolic and aesthetic elements of design (of which environmental sustainability can be considered as a part of them). This study contributes to the literature on design management and environmental sustainability by focusing on the specific context of the furniture industry on which the literature is still rather sparse. Interesting implications are derived for both scholars and practitioners.
Most literature on aesthetic innovation has focused on single producers who use radical aesthetic innovation to differentiate their products. However, a few scholars, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that when gazed at from the category level, aesthetic innovation usually occurs as incremental variations of a dominant aesthetic. Extant theory fails to account for why we see cycles of shift and stability in the dominant aesthetic of a category. In this study, we identify the mechanisms that drove such shifts and stability in the dominant aesthetic of the hearing aid category from 1945 to 2015. Leveraging this study, we develop theory showing that alignment or misalignment between category meanings and recent cultural trends spurs producers to generate new categorical aspirations to associate their category with new sets of meanings. However, producers introduce radical new aesthetic innovations only when a change in product form allows them to experiment. Examining aesthetic evolution at the category level helps to shed light on category-level patterns of aesthetic shifts and stability, why attempts to differentiate outside the dominant aesthetic are rare, and why product aesthetics across a category shift synchronously between dominant aesthetics. Furthermore, we enhance understanding of the roles of culture in category evolution and of aesthetics in the construction of category meaning, and we show how such meanings are periodically and collectively renegotiated in mature categories.
Purpose
The success rate of new products is stubbornly low. This paper aims to explore the differences in how product designers and product managers approach the new product development task by comparing their perspectives on the process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a worldwide survey of professional product designers and managers and compared their perspectives.
Findings
Managers struggle to understand the problem to be solved until they see the solution in the form of an outstanding product design. Designers struggle to develop new products until they have a specific and insightful understanding of the problem that needs to be solved.
Practical implications
Designers’ and managers’ ways of thinking are different, and effective collaboration depends on them being cognizant of each other’s ways of thinking; the success of their work is highly interdependent.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study that simultaneously investigates both product designers and managers to reveal the paradoxical dynamics between their perspectives.
This research integrates marketing literature, design theory, interviews with world-renowned designers, and well-established scale development procedures to develop a reliable and valid instrument that measures the effectiveness of design communication (i.e., the information about product designs conveyed through the product, packaging, or advertisements) via consumer evaluations. The theoretical underpinnings and face validity engaged in the development of the Design Communication Assessment Scale (DCAS) progresses the field’s understanding as to what constitutes the seven evaluative dimensions of design (form, function, solidity, usefulness, style, eco-consciousness, and uniqueness). Practically, DCAS’s versatility provides managers with the ability to gauge consumer evaluations of design communications, while enabling better communications with designers. In addition to scale development efforts and the provision of a shortened form, support for DCAS’ generalizability is provided across laboratory and field studies in which ecological validity is established. Together, these studies demonstrate that using DCAS leads to improved performance across a wide array of metrics, including click-through rates, e-mail signups, and retail sales for a diverse set of products.
More and more marketing academic research is currently mobilizing conceptually innovative theories that rethink the distinctions commonly made between objects and subjects. In this perspective, this article proposes to introduce in marketing the post-phenomenological theory, recently developed in philosophy. It presents its main conceptual frameworks and translates them into an investigation guide. To illustrate the interest and scope of post-phenomenology, an empirical study is carried out on self-tracking technologies. The results allow us to appreciate the contributions of post-phenomenology. It invites to another way of thinking and questioning the consumption of technical objects, recognizing them as carrying an intentionality. It draws an alternative to the current theorizations on the agentivity of objects. It proposes a powerful analytical framework, which structures and systematizes the examination of the ways in which technical objects modulate consumers’ relations to the world: not only their experience of the world but also their experience of that experience of the world.
Drawing on masstige theory, theory of consumption values, and generational cohort theory, we examine whether product design influences masstige brand passion (MBP). We also hypothesize product design cues, mass prestige values, and generational cohort as key boundary conditions. Four studies were conducted and the proposed hypotheses were tested using regression, process macro, and structural equation modeling. Across three studies, we find that product design increases MBP, but this effect is contingent on two theoretically derived, managerially controllable moderators, namely high-level product design cues and high mass prestige values. The findings from Study 4 show that the reflective design had the greatest impact on MBP, followed by affective, cognitive, and ergonomic design characteristics. Study 4 also reveals that reflective design is more capable of capturing the MBP of Generation Z-ers, while the cognitive design is more promising for increasing MBP among Generation Y-ers. Finally, cognitive and ergonomic designs appear to be more salient for Generation Y-ers. Theoretically, this study adds significantly to the literature on product and brand management by demonstrating how design dimensions can strengthen customers' passion for masstige brands. From a managerial standpoint, this study is relevant for B2C luxury brand managers who: (i) are unsure about the importance of product designs, (ii) want to capitalize on product design to enhance brand passion but are unsure which product design dimensions to focus on, and/or (iii) have decided to launch new brands but need guidance on the specific design analytics relevant for generations Z, Y, and X.
Empirical studies that investigate the effect of design thinking within complex contexts involving multiple stakeholders are rare. The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on design thinking, by investigating the perceived usefulness of including design thinking activities into a complex research project for food safety. A survey was distributed to all participants in SafeConsume, a Horizon 2020 research project, to measure perceived usefulness of design thinking activities such as collaborative workshops, visualization tools and empathic observation studies. Bivariate correlations and one-way ANOVAs were conducted in JMP Pro 14. The results indicate that design thinking activities may be useful also for large food safety projects. Multidisciplinary collaborative workshops can generate optimism and a sense of belonging among the participants, visualization tools can contribute to simplify complex information, and empathic observation studies makes it easier to think user centric. This study is one of few that quantitatively investigate the perceived usefulness of implementing design thinking into a multidisciplinary research project, and the findings contribute to a better understanding of the perceived effects of implementing design thinking into a large complex food safety research projects.
De plus en plus de travaux en marketing mobilisent actuellement des théories, conceptuellement novatrices, qui repensent les distinctions communément établies entre les objets et les sujets. S’inscrivant dans cette perspective, cet article propose d’introduire en marketing la théorie post-phénoménologique, récemment développée en philosophie. Un exposé synthétique en est fait, qui présente ses principaux cadres conceptuels et les traduit en guide d’investigation. Pour illustrer l’intérêt et la portée de la post-phénoménologie, une étude empirique est effectuée, portant sur les technologies de métrologie personnelle ou self-tracking. Les résultats rapportés permettent d’apprécier les apports de la post-phénoménologie. Celle-ci invite à une autre façon de penser et questionner la consommation des objets techniques, en les reconnaissant porteurs d’une intentionnalité. Elle dessine une alternative aux théorisations actuelles sur l’agentivité de l’objet. Elle propose un cadre analytique performant, qui structure et systématise l’examen des manières dont les objets techniques modulent les relations au monde des consommateurs : non seulement leur expérience du monde, mais encore leur expérience de cette expérience du monde.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose a framework depicting the dynamic links between a firm’s external environment, competitive strategy, manufacturing strategy, competitive advantage and firm performance. This is followed by articulating expected differences among the the content and process dimensions dimensions of a manufacturing strategy for different competitive strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Today, manufacturing is widely recognized as one of the most important means of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage. This paper studies the emerging broader view of the strategic role of manufacturing by offering a manufacturing strategy model, showing its impact on competitive advantage and, ultimately, firm performance. This is accomplished by identifying and defining major content and process dimensions of manufacturing strategy and relating them to a firm’s strategic type. The paper uses an integrative competitive strategy typology (Segev, 1989) to clarify differences in manufacturing strategy dimensions and different competitive strategies. The concept of “fit as gestalt” among the dimensions of manufacturing strategy is also introduced. This study presents the implications of fit between manufacturing and competitive strategy and the contribution of content and process dimensions of manufacturing strategy to firm performance and concludes by providing implications for executives and future research issues.
Findings
Differences in content and process dimensions of manufacturing strategy for different competitive strategies are clarified.
Research limitations/implications
Other researchers may propose different frameworks for linking manufacturing and competitive strategies.
Originality/value
This paper presents an integrative view of competitive and manufacturing strategies. It highlights the numerous choices companies must make to ensure fit among the competitive strategic types and their corresponding manufacturing strategies. This integration adds coherence and parsimony to the literature. It provides a basis for conceptualizing manufacturing strategy, thus reconciling different strategic perspectives and reducing a potential source of conflicting research results.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore professional product designers’ views on creative design and to compare their viewpoints with the related academic literature on product marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
To find the designers’ views on creative design, face-to-face in-depth interviews based on repertory grid analysis and semi-structured questions were conducted with 32 professional and award-wining product designers who mostly design for international producers.
Findings
Although marketing scholars often approach design as a noun – something that can be viewed and analysed as a bundle of attributes, dimensions or characteristics – professional designers view design differently. To them, design is a verb, a problem-solving process through which they meet the challenges consumers have with products. Comparing professional product designers’ views on design creativity with the main topics in the product marketing literature places scholars’ dispositionalism against designers’ situationalism; it also enables marketing scholars to improve their viewpoints on product design and to bring practical problem-solving and design thinking into their research. This also increases mutual understanding between marketers and designers.
Research limitations/implications
This research enhances the knowledge of marketing scholars, marketers and designers about each other’s perspectives on product design creativity, which will improve their mutual understanding and the business-to-business relationship between marketers and designers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first study that has attempted to discover product designers’ opinions on the main topics in the related academic literature.
Purpose – The literature on product design/development (PD) has attempted to understand the consumer but has not provided a comprehensive framework for product marketers and designers. Thus, this paper aims to compile and link the main topics in the literature on PD to create a foundation for strategic development in this field.
Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted a “fit-for-purpose” methodology, a cross-referencing method and a meta-narrative approach that are appropriate for reviewing studies in a field involving complex topics and areas in which the literature is still developing.
Findings – To enhance the quality of product development, there is a need for PD strategy based on a clear understanding of many factors: the consumer; the complex interrelations among a product’s values, dimensions and personalities; PD theories; and other related variables.
Practical implications – This study found that PD studies should concentrate more on codifying strategies to enhance product development success. This is particularly important in view of consumers’ varied and changeable tastes in the global market and the differing insights of product marketers and designers.
Originality/value – This comprehensive systematic review is a unique study that contributes to future business-to-consumer and business-tobusiness research by compiling scattered and hidden strategies, theories and variables in the PD/development literature.
As an approach to creative problem solving, design thinking (DT) has received much attention in the practitioner and academic literature. It appears to be especially well-suited to the challenges facing the nonprofit sector. Despite the increasing interest in this method, scholarly literature about the actual effectiveness of DT is minimal. Most common output-oriented measures of innovativeness (e.g., number of new product introductions or number of patents) used to show the impact of DT do not capture the perceived benefits of using DT. The review of existing literature points to the need for a more nuanced exploration of the mechanisms behind DT's effectiveness for innovation and performance by identifying the intermediate outcomes. The research discussed in this paper contributes to DT literature by identifying and assessing DT practices and intermediate outcomes and assessing the relationship between them in a diverse sample of practitioners from business, government, and nonprofit sectors. Our findings demonstrate that DT practices are associated with a rich and varied array of positive intermediate outcomes—not only for those being designed for but also for the innovators using it, their teams and organizations, and even the larger systems in which they operate. Team formation and functioning, Discovery and Ideation, and Prototyping and Experimentation practices were associated with the following intermediate outcomes: improved implementation and adaptation, individual psychological benefits, network capability and resource enhancement, increased solution quality, and trust-building.
Scholars and practitioners acknowledge the role of design, and specifically design thinking, as a driver of innovation and change. Design thinking is gaining attention in the business community beyond the traditional product innovation realm and is increasingly promoted as an engine for the creation of novel user experiences, new businesses, strategic transformation, organizational and cultural change. Is it reasonable to assume that the same set of practices fits such a broad range of applications equally well? This study addresses how design thinking applications are differently framed when addressing diverse innovation purposes. Specifically, we compare two purposes: innovation of solutions, encompassing traditional product and service development projects, and innovation of direction, encompassing strategic and organizational renewal projects. Based on data collected from 146 design thinking projects conducted by European consulting firms we investigate the relationships between the design thinking practices adopted and the value generated by the projects. We then analyze how these relationships vary depending on the purpose of the innovation project, namely whether focused on innovating solutions or direction. The results show that different purposes indeed call for different practices. In projects aimed at innovating solutions, market value is positively related to capturing current user needs and envisioning future society. Conversely, in projects aimed at innovating direction, market value is positively related to challenging current assumptions.
The discipline of supply chain management has deep roots in analytical mastery. Companies that have excelled in this area have a decades-long history of using quantitative analysis to optimize logistics. Analytics took a great leap forward when companies began using them to improve their external processes-those related to managing and responding to customer demand and supplier relationships. The widespread use of digital technologies has led to the emergence of big data business analytics as a critical business capability. Many companies in a variety of industries are enhancing their customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) capabilities with advanced analytics and they are enjoying market-leading growth and performance as a result. The aim of this study is to make a literature review based on Science Direct and to highlight the evolving nature of the SCM environment using a taxonomy that is based on the keywords related to the use of descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive models at strategic, tactical and operational decisions in each stage of Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model process performance areas (Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Return. In this way, the areas that require further research to embrace the trends and to make recommendations to supply chain managers are highlighted. Our research reveals that the majority of investigated papers fall in the area corresponding to the use of business analytics in “Sourcing” decisions, especially at the strategic level. Additionally, the major types of these strategic sourcing decision papers are prescriptive. In fact, prescriptive analytics-related papers are also dominant in all decision levels of the “Make” and “Delivery & Return” stages of SCOR.
While the environmental benefits of car sharing have been highlighted, the motivations for people deciding whether or not to use a car-sharing service remain unclear. This study aims to fill the research gap by proposing and testing a comprehensive model that includes utilitarian (economic benefits and individual reputation) and altruistic (environmental concerns and community belonging) motivations. In addition, this research considers the direct and moderating effects of perceived power, which refers to a perceived psychological ownership leading to a “can-do” state, which has not been examined by previous research. A survey was conducted among 372 individuals who had or had not used car sharing, and data were analyzed using logistic regression. The suggested model had high predictive power for respondents’ reported use or non-use of car-sharing services. Economic benefits, environmental concerns and the interaction between perceived power and economic benefits emerged as significant predictors of the use of car-sharing services. The implications for managers of car-sharing platforms, managers of traditional automobile businesses and public policymakers are discussed.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the phases of new product development within the design-driven innovation (DDI) process, the role of designers and collaborators in the process and how this process relates to some quality principles.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a qualitative approach using Gioia methodology. In particular, four Italian manufacturing companies in the home appliances and furniture industry were selected, and data mainly collected through direct interviews were analysed through content analysis.
Findings
The new product development related to DDI includes the following phases: the company brief, the designer research, the concept of the designer, the design, legal protection, prototyping, production and the market launch. Designers play a strategic role in the above phases of DDI, but other actors also cooperate and some quality principles affect positively on the process. This study proposes a model for a DDI process in the home appliances and furniture sector.
Research limitations/implications
Although this exploratory study was conducted on only four companies, it advances the DDI research in relation to new product development.
Practical implications
This study makes recommendations to entrepreneurs and managers on how to innovate successfully and to effectively manage designers and collaborators to ensure competition.
Social implications
This analysis highlights that design-based innovation contributes to improving the quality of life of consumers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the phases of new product development in DDI process, the actors involved and relationship to quality principles for the Italian home appliances and furniture sector.
A product form design and evaluation model are proposed. In this method, the forms can be evaluated by three sub-evaluation models which can help designers to grasp consumers’ preferences. In the process, the overall shape is first disassembled into several shape elements, and a morphological chart is constructed. Then, the priority of shape elements is analyzed through the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process, and several required combinations are selected from a morphological chart. Moreover, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (I), preference questionnaire (II), and quadratic curvature entropy (III) of the selected combinations are analyzed. Finally, the results of I, II, and III are compared. In conclusion, the three sub-evaluation systems are consistent, which confirms the applicability of the proposed model.
Innovation in the design of products has become an important competitive tool of success in the market for many firms (see the virtual issue on Design Innovation in the Journal of Product Innovation Management (2020)). A few firms have had success in the market by adopting innovative designs. But not all innovative designs give success to firms. This research focuses on package design as an important marketing tool of innovation, influencing consumer responses to products. When designing packaging, firms typically follow category‐based visual codes, but they can adopt an innovative design that deviates from the codes, producing atypical package designs. This research shows that the effectiveness of atypical package design depends on product category prestige. Consumers respond to signals about product quality, such as package design, when they believe the signals are credible. When a product category is prestigious, consumers perceive package design as a diagnostic signal. Consumers are more likely to infer high product performance from an atypical package design and choose that product. We compare three dimensions of product design (aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism) to reveal that functionality is the reason why consumers prefer an atypical package design in a prestigious category. A series of studies show that the preference for atypical package design becomes stronger when consumers are choosing products in a prestigious category than in a standard category. The preference for atypical package design is attenuated when other information related to performance is provided, even when the aesthetics and symbolism of atypical package design do not change.
The main goal of this research is to determine whether there is an impact of country-of-origin image on consumer loyalty to products originating from countries with positive and recognizable image and whether this impact is achieved through characteristics such as product quality and design, and attractiveness related to using the same. To examine this impact, an empirical study was conducted on a sample of 150 respondents and analysis of collected data was performed in SPSS 20. The results show that information about country-of-origin image is important to consumers and has an impact on their behavior related to buying foreign product. More precisely, results show that country-of-origin image affects consumers when they choose products based on their quality and design and attractiveness that consumers feel when using these products, and also that through these characteristics country-of-origin image has effects on consumer loyalty. In accordance with the obtained results, conclusion is that it is extremely desirable for companies and governments to take into account the image that their country enjoys on the world market.
Theories on destination management, destination leadership and destination governance have made noteworthy contributions to the advancement of tourism research. However, current global dynamics in regards to political, social, technological and economic developments demand a revision of traditional methods and instruments of destination development. This paper suggests perspectives rooted in design and design thinking as a source for gaining fresh understandings of challenges in tourism destinations and for offering innovative solutions. This paper reflects on the possibility of integrating design approaches into the theorising on and practice of destination development. It explores how a transdisciplinary fusion of notions can ultimately result in a new vision for destination development.
Increasingly, core activities—including research and development (R&D), innovation and design—are being outsourced in practice. However, the research on this trend has focused primarily on R&D and innovation outsourcing. This study considers the relatively less investigated area of design outsourcing and key aspects of its management. Interviews with design experts point to distinct objectives for domestic outsourcing and offshore outsourcing. Generally, efficiency coupled with high quality is pursued by domestic outsourcing, whereas creativity that is tailored to firm particularities is expected from offshore outsourcing. The objectives are intrinsically challenging, especially for the unmeasurable criteria including quality and creativity. This study finds that there are key aspects to be considered to accomplish the objectives: supplier selection and risk mitigation. While further exploring these factors, the study sheds light on the role of in‐house designers overseeing the selection and managing the risks. The findings of this study are an important addition to the body of literature on design management, where there has been an increasing emphasis on the critical role played by design management in corporate performance, but a paucity of understandings on the effective management of design outsourcing.
This article proposes and tests a contingency model of system integration of product design and manufacturing among producers of goods involving tooling development. The model predicts which combinations of organizational and technical practices will be most effective under conditions of high and low design newness. The results, based on data from 74 firms, largely support the model, Differentiating mechanisms such as a tall hierarchy and job specialization, are negatively associated with design-manufacturing integration, particularly for new designs. Socio-integrative mechanisms, including such flexible practices as cross-functional teaming and collocation, are positively related to design-manufacturing integration for new designs only. However, the use of in-process design controls is positively related to design-manufacturing integration regardless of design newness, which suggests that some modes of standardization may be beneficial even for new designs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.
The article presents methods for defining product platforms and measuring business performance in process intensive industries. We first show how process intensive product platforms can be defined using the products and processes of a film manufacturer. We then present an empirical method for understanding the dynamics of process intensive platform innovation, allocating engineering and sales data to specific platform and product development efforts within a product family. We applied this method to a major product line of a materials manufacturer. We gathered ten years of engineering and manufacturing cost data and allocated these to successive platforms and products, and then generated R & D performance measures. These data show the dynamic of heavy capital spending relative to product engineering as one might expect in a process intensive industries. The data also show how derivative products can be leveraged from underlying product platforms and processes for nonassembled products. Embedded within these data are strategies for creating reusable subsystems (comprising components, materials, etc.) and common production processes. Hard data on the degree to which subsystems and processes are shared across different products frequently are typically not maintained by corporations for the duration needed to understand the dynamics of evolving product families. For this reason, we developed and applied a second method to assess the degree of reuse of subsystems and processes. This method asks engineering managers to provide subjective ratings on an ordinal scale regarding the use of technology and processes from one product to the next in a cumulative manner. We find that high levels of reuse generally indicate that a product family was developed with a platform discipline. We applied this measure of platform intensity to two product lines of integrated circuits from another large manufacturer. We used this method to gather approximately ten years of information for each product family. Upon analysis, one product family showed substantial platform discipline, emphasizing a common architecture and processes across specific products within the product line. The other product family was developed with significantly less sharing and reuse of architecture, components, and processes. We then found that the platform centric product family outperformed the latter along a number of performance dimensions over the course of the decade under examination.
In this research, the authors seek to advance the understanding of how marketing can facilitate the new product design process. They focus on how designers' use of a specific cognitive process, visual mental imagery, can influence the customer appeal of a design. The authors present a conceptual framework for examining how visual imagery might influence the customer appeal of a design output. This is followed by two experiments that test the hypotheses that flow from the proposed model. The experiments manipulate the type of visual imagery used and the incorporation of the customer in the imagery invoked and then examine its effects on the usefulness, originality, and customer appeal of the resulting design. Consistent with the framework and the proposed hypotheses, the findings show that including the customer in imagination visual imagery during the design process has a greater effect on the usefulness of the design produced than including the customer in memory visual imagery. The results also show that imagery based on imagination results in more original designs than imagery based on memory. Most important, the use of bounded imagination, which results from the incorporation of the visual images of the customer in imagination imagery, leads to the creation of designs that are more appealing to the customer. The findings are integrated into a discussion that clarifies the role of visual imagery in design and underscores the potential of this cognitive tool in the new product design process.
What is the relationship between product design benefits (hedonic versus utilitarian) and the postconsumption feelings of customer delight and satisfaction? The primary insights this research provides are as follows: (1) Products that meet or exceed customers' utilitarian needs and fulfill prevention goals enhance customer satisfaction (e.g., a car with antilock brakes and vehicle stability assist), and (2) products that meet or exceed customers' hedonic wants and fulfill promotion goals enhance customer delight (e.g., a car with panoramic sunroof and sixspeaker audio system). Furthermore, the research finds that the primary antecedent feelings of satisfaction are the prevention emotions of confidence and security provided by utilitarian benefits, whereas the primary antecedent feelings of delight are the promotion emotions of cheerfulness and excitement provided by hedonic benefits. Finally, the results show that delighting customers improves customer loyalty, as measured by word of mouth and repurchase intentions, more than merely satisfying them. The authors discuss the theoretical contribution and strategic insights the research provides for product designers and marketers.
As spirited debate continues on the appropriate philosophical and methodological foundations for consumer research, participants claim the literature has been full of misconceptions, misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and mischaracterizations. Through historical methodology, this article shows that these "misses" stem, at least in part, from the debate's having been historically ill informed about the origins and fundamental beliefs of a group of philosophers called logical positivists. After addressing a fundamental premise of the entire debate (i.e., that contemporary social science and consumer research are dominated by positivism), this article advocates critical pluralism and documents a favorable prognosis for rapprochement. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.
As traditional sources of competitive advantage shrink, firms seek new ones. One such source of competitive advantage is product design because of its effects on customer experience. To understand the role and impact of product design on customer experience, we propose an integrated, customer-based framework for product design that we call the total product design concept (TPDC). We define a product's TPDC as consisting of three elements, namely functionality, aesthetics, and meaning, each of which arises from more elemental product characteristics. We elaborate on the structure of a product's TPDC, its three elements, and the links between those elements and customers' experience with a product. We provide an illustrative application of the TPDC using data from the U.S. auto market. The findings from that application support the proposed three-dimensional view of the TPDC, and demonstrate heterogeneity both in the TPDC's structure and its effects on customer satisfaction. For all three segments, functionality enhances customer satisfaction. For the largest segment of customers, functionality is the most important factor, followed by aesthetics. For the other two segments, customer satisfaction is most influenced by the meaning element of TPDC. We discuss the implications of these findings for the auto industry in particular, and the potential use of the TPDC more generally.
This paper investigates the trade-off decision that consumers face when choosing between a product that is perceived to be more sustainable (i.e., more socially and environmentally responsible) and another product that instead is perceived to offer superior functional performance. Prior research has demonstrated that consumers often believe that there is a trade-off between sustainability and performance, and in some cases, this trade-off may be real and not just perceived. The objectives of the current research are to understand the mediators and moderators of this trade-off choice and to illustrate one specific way in which to use this understanding to promote the consumption of relatively more sustainable products despite a perceived performance trade-off.
This paper explores the performance of coupled development tasks subject to a deadline constraint
by proposing a performance generation model (PGM). The goal of the PGM is to develop insights
about optimal strategies (i.e. sequential, concurrent, or overlapped) to manage coupled design tasks
that share fixed amount of engineering resources subject to performance and deadline constraints.
Model analysis characterizes the solution space for the coupled development problem. The solution
space is used to explore the generation of product performance and the associated dynamic forces
affecting concurrent development practices. We use these forces to explain conditions under which
concurrency is a desirable strategy.
This paper focuses on dynamic capabilities and, more generally, the resource‐based view of the firm. We argue that dynamic capabilities are a set of specific and identifiable processes such as product development, strategic decision making, and alliancing. They are neither vague nor tautological. Although dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic in their details and path dependent in their emergence, they have significant commonalities across firms (popularly termed ‘best practice’). This suggests that they are more homogeneous, fungible, equifinal, and substitutable than is usually assumed. In moderately dynamic markets, dynamic capabilities resemble the traditional conception of routines. They are detailed, analytic, stable processes with predictable outcomes. In contrast, in high‐velocity markets, they are simple, highly experiential and fragile processes with unpredictable outcomes. Finally, well‐known learning mechanisms guide the evolution of dynamic capabilities. In moderately dynamic markets, the evolutionary emphasis is on variation. In high‐velocity markets, it is on selection. At the level of RBV, we conclude that traditional RBV misidentifies the locus of long‐term competitive advantage in dynamic markets, overemphasizes the strategic logic of leverage, and reaches a boundary condition in high‐velocity markets. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Current interdisciplinary research suggests that organizational capabilities have a direct, unconditional impact on firm performance. The authors extend this literature by developing a framework that proposes a contingency approach to the value of organizational capabilities. This framework highlights the effect of information in the external environment in stimulating firms to deploy their technology and marketing capabilities to influence the level and speed of relevant product development activities. Using a longitudinal quasiexperiment to isolate the effects of external information on the relationship between firm capabilities and product development outcomes, the authors obtain results that are consistent with this framework. The authors therefore conclude that the most valuable characteristic of firm capabilities may be their ability to serve as flexible strategic options. In this role, firms can deploy them in ways consistent with environmental forces.
Using as a point of departure previous work in marketing on optimal concept selection that utilizes product attribute-based customer preference and product cost models, the authors consider the concept selection stage of a new product development process. They offer empirical support for the need to push beyond these models to more complete “customer-ready” prototypes before choosing a concept to commercialize. Although the correlations between attribute-based predictions, on the one hand, and customer acceptance and product costs, on the other hand, are significant and substantial, too much variance is left unexplained to rely on these models in isolation. This implies that more detailed design work should be performed on several concepts in parallel. The authors also provide an integrated approach for concept generation and selection that leverages the unique strengths of marketing, design, and manufacturing in developing successful products.
Modular product architectures are being adopted as the basis for new product designs in a growing number of markets. In this article, the author explains how adoption of modular product architectures makes possible new kinds of processes for creating and realizing products, as well as new approaches to identifying and managing organizational knowledge used in product creation and realization. When managed strategically, modular product, process, and knowledge architectures enable firms to create greater product variety, introduce technologically improved products more rapidly, bring new products to market more quickly, and lower costs of product creation and realization. This article investigates the ways in which the strategic use of modular architectures can affect the marketing process. It explains ways in which modular architectures change the technologically determined possibilities for product creation and realization in the marketing process, create new market dynamics, and lead to new objectives and methods for the marketing process.
Prior research on product design has focused predominantly on the importance of product aesthetics in generating favorable consumer response. Interestingly, little attention has been given to the importance of aesthetics relative to product function (a fundamental component of product design) or to brand strength-two factors that are also considered to have a significant influence on consumers' product evaluations and on product success. This study investigates how product design (conceptualized as product aesthetics and function) interacts with brand strength to influence consumers' product liking and quality evaluations. Results suggest that design and brand strength differentially impact liking and quality judgments. In addition, judgments of liking and quality are found to be different in the way they are formed. Specifically, product liking appears to be readily formed through a process that integrates design information only; brand strength exhibits no significant influence. Quality judgments appear to take longer to process, and involve the integration of design and brand information.
This paper focuses on dynamic capabilities and, more generally, the resource-based view of the firm. We argue that dynamic capabilities are a set of specific and identifiable processes such as product development, strategic decision making, and alliancing. They are neither vague nor tautological. Although dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic in their details and path dependent in their emergence, they have significant commonalities across firms (popularly termed ‘best practice’). This suggests that they are more homogeneous, fungible, equifinal, and substitutable than is usually assumed. In moderately dynamic markets, dynamic capabilities resemble the traditional conception of routines. They are detailed, analytic, stable processes with predictable outcomes. In contrast, in high-velocity markets, they are simple, highly experiential and fragile processes with unpredictable outcomes. Finally, well-known learning mechanisms guide the evolution of dynamic capabilities. In moderately dynamic markets, the evolutionary emphasis is on variation. In high-velocity markets, it is on selection. At the level of RBV, we conclude that traditional RBV misidentifies the locus of long-term competitive advantage in dynamic markets, overemphasizes the strategic logic of leverage, and reaches a boundary condition in high-velocity markets. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Nevertheless, the topic of product design is rarely, if ever, encountered in marketing journals. To bring needed attention to the subject of product design and enable researchers to better investigate design issues, the author introduces a conceptual model and several propositions that describe how the form of a product relates to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. After presenting this model, the author describes numerous strategic implications and research directions.
This paper focuses on dynamic capabilities and, more generally, the resource-based view of the firm. We argue that dynamic capabilities are a set of specific and identifiable processes such as product development, strategic decision making, and alliancing. They are neither vague nor tautological. Although dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic in their details and path dependent in their emergence, they have significant commonalities across firms (popularly termed 'best practice'). This suggests that they are more homogeneous, fungible, equifinal and substitutable than is usually assumed. In moderately dynamic markets, dynamic capabilities resemble the traditional conception of routines. They are detailed, analytic stable processes with predictable outcomes. In contrast, in high-velocity markets, they are simple, highly experiential and fragile processes with unpredictable outcomes. Finally, well-known learning mechanisms guide the evolution of dynamic capabilities. In moderately dynamic markets, the evolutionary emphasis is on variation. In high-velocity markets, it is on selection. At the level of REV, we conclude that traditional REV misidentifies the locus of long-term competitive advantage in dynamic markers, overemphasizes the strategic logic of leverage, and reaches a boundary condition in high-velocity markets. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
As manufacturing and high-tech, high-end service jobs move abroad, U.S. companies are reinventing themselves. The new focus is on innovation as a means to growth.
Experimentation, a form of problem-solving, is a fundamental innovation activity and accounts for a significant part of total innovation cost and time. In many fields, the economics of experimentation are being radically affected by the use of new and greatly improved versions of methods such as computer simulation, mass screening, and rapid prototyping. This paper shows that a given experiment (and the related trial and error learning) can be conducted in different "modes" (e.g., computer simulation and rapid prototyping) and that users will find it economical to optimize the switching between these modes as to reduce total product development cost and time. The findings are confirmed by a large-scale empirical study of the experimentation process in the design of integrated circuits containing either (1) electrically programmable logic devices (EPLDs); or (2) application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In comparing their different experimentation strategies for analogous design projects, I found that the former (EPLD) - an approach that utilizes many prototype iterations - outperformed the latter (ASIC) by factor of 2.2 (in person-months) and over 43 percent of that difference can be attributed to differences in experimentation strategies. The implications for managerial practice and theory are discussed and suggestions for further research undertakings are provided.
Technology strategy variables tend to predominate as predictors of survival in the fast-changing rigid disk drive industry. Building on these previous studies, we here test the hypothesis that the technological and market strategies of a new entrant are highly interrelated and that their joint effect plays an important role in a firm's probability of survival. In particular, we propose that firms that target new market segments with an architectural innovation will tend to be more successful than those that target existing markets or innovate in component technology, even after controlling for all the competing predictors of survival. This paper advances the existing literature on innovation by tracing the main technical elements of a dominant design in the rigid disk drive industry over time, and provides a much more rigorous definition of the concept of a dominant design than we have had in the past. We find the notion of first-mover advantage is not applicable in the rigid disk drive industry. Instead, we propose the idea of an entry-window tightly linked to the emergence of the dominant product design as defined.
Customers are now active collaborators in creating value. Companies are increasingly engaging in mass customization and offering consumers a "choiceboard" (or a menu of choices) of various features and options for configuring their own products and services. The authors discuss the use of experimental choice menus for assessing customers' preferences and price sensitivities for the variety of features and options that might be offered by a firm in its choiceboard. The proposed approach directly analyzes customers' portfolio of choices from each of several experimental menus by estimating the utility for each menu item as a function of its characteristics, its price, and other specific attributes such as multifeature discounts. The authors accommodate customer heterogeneity in the utilities, allow for correlation of the utilities across items, and incorporate constraints in menu choices. Various technical issues and methodological contributions are discussed. The authors illustrate the approach in a commercial application of a customized Web-based information service, which is typical of offerings in the information economy. To assess predictive performance, the authors compare the proposed approach with alternative traditional approaches. The authors conclude with a discussion of the types of insights that can be obtained from this approach to menu choices and the managerial implications of these findings.
Uncertainty is widely recognized to be a key contingency influencing optimal new product development processes. However, extant new product research treats uncertainty in a largely unidimensional manner. Even in studies where multiple dimensions of uncertainty are measured, they are hypothesized to behave in a similar manner. This paper advances a theory describing how ambiguity and volatility place different and conflicting demands on new product development processes. Drawing on ideas from the organization theory and learning literatures, the theory suggests that more ambiguous environments favor slower development processes based on larger samples of data and interpretations whereas more volatile environments favor faster and more flexible development processes. Five hypotheses are advanced suggesting that as the level of ambiguity increases (decreases) relative to the level of volatility, firms should respond by decreasing (increasing) the role of top management in new product development, increasing (decreasing) front-end and back-end participation, allocating more (less) time and effort to ideation, and using more (less) aggressive screening processes. Some of these hypotheses are highly intuitive (participation and screening) while others are counterintuitive (top management involvement and screening aggressiveness). The theory is tested using primary data on the development of 120 new products and their subsequent performance collected from firms in U.S. manufacturing industries. The data largely confirm the hypotheses and provide strong evidence of a trade-off between ambiguity and volatility that can be managed to improve new product performance. The exception is back-end participation, which should be lower in relatively more ambiguous environments, in contrast to the hypothesis. A comparison with three alternative models shows that ambiguity generally has a larger impact on appropriate new product development processes and success than either the level of volatility or the overall level of environmental uncertainty. A detailed examination of the estimated relationships shows that for ideation and screening, the relative level of ambiguity and volatility determines optimal new product development processes, whereas for top management involvement and participation, processes can be designed based primarily on the level of ambiguity alone, with less concern over the degree of volatility. The study highlights the importance of considering the composition of uncertainty in addition to its overall level in contingent approaches to new product development. Real-world examples of highly ambiguous and highly volatile new product development contexts are discussed.
Despite all best efforts, the design process often leads to the introduction of products that do not meet customer expectations. Although the design team typically applies customer-related information from several sources, the product design somehow fails to satisfy customer requirements. Clearly, we need to develop a better understanding of the process by which designers in large development organizations transform information about customer requirements into the final design specification. To improve our understanding of this process, Antonio J. Bailetti and Paul F. Litva examine design managers' perspectives on the sources of customer requirement information. During the evolution of a product design, the design team applies information that is endorsed by marketing and product management. Common sources of such information include commercial specifications, inferences from existing products and services, deployment studies, and external standards. When this management-endorsed information is deemed inadequate, designers supplement it by creating and sharing their own customer-related information. This local information includes the results of benchmarking function and performance, the designers' perceptions of a service provider's installed base of equipment, and validations of intermediate designs. Marketing and product mangement cannot easily review the local information that designers create and share in evolving a final design. This article highlights the importance of creating mechanisms for ensuring that customer requirement information from various sources is internally consistent. To meet this goal of consistency, organizations must ensure that customer requirements information produced by marketing satisfies the information processing requirements of the design community. In addition, the knowledge that designers actually apply to produce a design must incorporate customer requirement information endorsed by marketing and product management at all stages of product development.
Marketing universals are defined as consumer behaviors within a segment and toward a particular product category that are invariant across cultures. Using several definitions of culture and three different criteria for universality, the authors evaluate whether the use of brand, price, retailer reputation, and physical product appearance as signals of quality are marketing universals for consumer electronics products. Using a sample representing 38 nationalities, they find that there are few differences in the use of quality signals across cultures for a high priority segment of consumers. They draw conclusions for the adaptation versus standardization debate and argue that certain behaviors are likely to be universal, whereas others are not. Understanding such differences is essential to designing international marketing strategies.
In recent years, high rates of failure of technology-based products have spurred interest in understanding the psychological and sociological barriers to consumer learning of technological innovations. The main focus of this research was to examine the learning process and consumers’ coping mechanisms when they encounter technological innovations. A study was designed to understand the learning process in real time as consumers engaged in a set of activities associated with the novel interface. The goal was to investigate how consumers cope with high levels of complexity during their initial interactions with a technology-based product and how their coping strategies may hinder the learning process.
The authors develop a framework for understanding the integration of marketing with business processes and shareholder value. The framework redefines marketing phenomena as embedded in three core business processes that generate value for customers-product development management, supply chain management, and customer relationship management-which in turn creates shareholder value. Such a conceptualization of marketing has the potential to introduce dramatic shifts in the scope, content, and influence of marketing in the organization. The authors highlight the implications of an organizationally embedded view of marketing for the future of marketing theory and practice.
Current interdisciplinary research suggests that organizational capabilities have a direct, unconditional impact on firm performance. The authors extend this literature by developing a framework that proposes a contingency approach to the value of organizational capabilities. This framework highlights the effect of information in the external environment in stimulating firms to deploy their technology and marketing capabilities to influence the level and speed of relevant product development activities. Using a longitudinal quasiexperiment to isolate the effects of external information on the relationship between firm capabilities and product development outcomes, the authors obtain results that are consistent with this framework. The authors therefore conclude that the most valuable characteristic of firm capabilities may be their ability to serve as flexible strategic options. In this role, firms can deploy them in ways consistent with environmental forces.
Modular product architectures am being adopted as the basis for new product designs in a growing number of markets. In this article, the author explains how adoption of modular product architectures makes possible new kinds of processes for creating and realizing products, as well as new approaches to identifying and managing organizational knowledge used in product creation and realization. When managed strategically, modular product, process, and knowledge architectures enable firms to create greater product variety, introduce technologically improved products more rapidly, bring new products to market more quickly, and lower costs of product creation and realization. This article investigates the ways in which the strategic use of modular architectures can affect the marketing process. It explains ways in which modular architectures change the technologically determined possibilities for product creation and realization in the marketing process, create new market dynamics, and lead to new objectives and methods for the marketing process.
Web 2.0 technologies and the rapid emergence of virtual user communities have created new challenges and opportunities for producer firms. The challenges concern the problem of idea overload when a large number of users are empowered to develop their own design creations. At the same time, opportunities arise because firm-hosted user communities offer a promising source of creativity outside the firms' boundaries. In this paper, we study which data present in firm-hosted online communities on user-generated designs and user-designers can be used to help a focal producer firm to reduce its workload in the selection phase by predicting which user-generated designs it would most likely perceive as commercially attractive. Prior research emphasizes that among the vast amount of ideas generated in online user communities, it is the lead users' ideas that tend to stick out in terms of commercial attractiveness. Our paper aims to provide the next step by developing a heuristic for filtering commercially attractive ideas that are generated in online user communities. Therefore, prior lead user research is used as a point of reference for our study. This research stream has produced rich insights into the characteristics of users who are capable of developing new products that are commercially attractive from the perspective of a focal producer firm, as well as the characteristics of artifacts that such users tend to develop. Based on prior lead user research, we use theories on problem solving, creativity, and new product adoption to develop hypotheses on the factors that might influence the attractiveness of user-generated designs from the focal producer firm's perspective in such a setting. Applying multilevel generalized linear modeling, 1799 designs from 116 user-designers in the LEGO user community are analyzed. Our findings show that three prominent variables, the complexity of a given design, positive feedback from the community on specific designs, and the intensity of design activity by a user-designer, can be used by a focal producer firm as filtering heuristics for the selection of promising user-generated designs. We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between the complexity of a user-generated design and its perceived commercial attractiveness. Furthermore, we find a positive relationship between the positive feedback received by a given user-generated design within the peer community and its perceived commercial attractiveness, as well as a U-shaped relationship between the intensity of a certain user-designer's activities and the likelihood that a given design by that user will be perceived as commercially attractive. The study is a first step toward a new Web-based marketing research approach that can enable firms to filter vast numbers of user-generated designs more effectively and efficiently.
The prior research on product platforms has added to our knowledge from a strategic, technological, and organizational point of view. However, the existing literature, while exploring the platform concept, considers the actual development of platforms from a rather general perspective although companies develop platforms for different aims, purposes, and product scopes. Following on from this, the requirements for platform development resources, the ways of organizing platform development, and the implications for management styles have not been explored and are presumably varying. To start elaborating on this, the research behind this article uses a clinical research approach in seven platform development cases from eight years' longitudinal research in three global manufacturing automotive original equipment manufacturers. Platform development is here defined and treated as development with the aim of creating a foundation, the platform, for the subsequent development of derivative products. The analysis of the development of platform in different strategic situations and with different purposes demonstrates how combinations of changes in components and/or architecture represent a key differentiator. An important result is the advancement of the platform perspective from an architecture with a set of components to a classification of four platform development variants based on alternative changes in architecture and/or components. Each type has different complexities and characteristics influencing the project length, requirements for platform development resources, principles for organizing, and implications for management styles.
To develop successful new products, new product development managers need to have a thorough understanding of the consumer adoption process, specifically in how consumers evaluate new products. This research examines the value of product design for consumers' evaluation of radical and incremental innovations. The primary goal was to empirically test how design newness affects consumer response to product innovations. Design newness (also referred to as novelty or atypicality) is defined as the deviation in a product design from the current design state of a certain product category. Although prior research has suggested that higher levels of design newness may have a positive effect on consumers' evaluations of new products, higher levels of design newness may also have negative consequences for consumer response to radical innovations.
Innovation is one of the key drivers of success that a firm must utilize to develop a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate is especially important for a firm's survival in dynamic, changing environments. Customer demands are constantly changing, and more purchases are made when a firm's product design incorporates what customers perceive as cutting-edge innovations. Satisfying customer demands is a distinct challenge for product designers because firms must develop a clear understanding of what aspects of design the customer wants. Although the importance of design has increased, very little research has been done to explain the relationship between product innovation and product design. Studies indicate that design innovation may create greater customer value through improvements in design value. Previous research has been limited and has not provided a clear concept of design innovation or defined the relationship between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual definition of design innovation, and to define the link between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper utilizes cross-cultural research to discover how these concepts differ due to cultural differences between the United States and Korea. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of the relationship between design innovation and customer value.
It is widely accepted that industrial design can play an important role in the development of innovative products, but integrating design-thinking into new product development (NPD) is a challenge. This is because industrial designers have very different perspectives and goals than the other members of the NPD team, and this can lead to tensions. It has been postulated that the communications between NPD managers and industrial designers are made more difficult because each group uses very different language. This research made the first empirical investigation of the language used by designers and managers in describing “good” and “poor” industrial design. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 19 managers and industrial designers at five leading companies. Multiple sources of data were utilized, including the repertory grid technique to elicit the key attributes of design, from the perspective of managers and designers. Using a robust, systematic coding approach to maximize the validity and reliability of qualitative data analysis, it was established that managers and industrial designers do not use a completely different vocabulary as previously supposed. Rather, it was found that managers and industrial designers use some common terms augmented by additional terms that are specific to each group: managers are commercially orientated in the “ends” they want to achieve and designers perceive more antecedents (“means”) necessary to achieve their “ends”—iconic design. This research led to a grounded conceptual model of the role of design, as perceived by managers and industrial designers. The implications of the results achieved are wide: they indicate how managers and designers can interact more productively during NPD; they highlight the need for more research on the language of designers and managers; and they point to issues that need to be covered in the education of industrial designers. Finally, this work suggests how managers and designers can engage in a more fruitful dialogue that will help to make NPD more productive.
The new product development (NPD) process is a sequence of stages and gates. Each stage consists of NPD activities that provide NPD managers with information input about the new product project progression. Information input is used for review decisions at gates. Over the course of an NPD process, managers learn about a new product project as to ensure successful launch. The view is that a new product project is shaped by the path of NPD activities it has traveled. Because learning is assumed to take place over the course of the NPD process, stage-to-stage information dependency is an assumption of NPD research. A concern raised is that development activities for each NPD stage are rigorously followed by NPD managers. In other words, stage-to-stage information dependency may potentially trap NPD managers rather than create effective learning from end to end of the development process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the assumption of stage-to-stage information dependency in NPD. The investigated research questions are whether the selection of NPD activities is linked between stages and whether these information dependencies strengthen NPD gate decisions. For the information dependencies identified in the study, the innovation experience characteristics of NPD managers pursuing them and the influence of information dependencies on NPD gate decisions are analyzed so as to provide insights for a discussion of information dependency versus information independency in the NPD process. The applied research method is an experiential simulation of NPD gate decision-making—NPDGATES. One hundred thirty-one NPD managers from international product development strategic business units (SBUs) situated in Denmark participated in the study. Logistic regressions were conducted as the basis for the calculation of stage-to-stage information dependency probabilities. Based on the study findings, the assumption about information dependency in the NPD process held by NPD research is found to be flawed. End-to-end information paths in the NPD process are rare. Further, market condition changes are found to significantly influence the stage-to-stage information dependencies demonstrated by NPD managers. It seems that competition becomes a reassurance of NPD efforts. Also, the results show that NPD experience creates inflexibility in relation to the selection of NPD activities. The need for strict process management is strong among experienced NPD managers. In relation to NPD gates, the results show that information dependencies increase priority given to financial decision criteria at gates and lower priority given to customer and market decision criteria. Overall, stage-to-stage information dependency seems to create inflexibility that hinders successful NPD process implementation.
Complex products such as manufacturing equipment have always needed maintenance and repair services. Increasingly, leading manufacturers are integrating products and services to generate increased revenues and achieve customer satisfaction. Designing integrated products and services requires a different approach to new product development and a clear understanding of how customers perceive the value they obtain from actual usage of products and services—so-called value-in-use. However, there is a lack of research on integrated products and services and how they impact customer satisfaction.
An exploratory study was undertaken to understand customers' views on integrated products and services and the value-in-use derived from such offerings. As value-in-use and its impacts are complicated concepts, a technique from psychology—Repertory Grid Technique—was used to gather data in 33 interviews. The interviews allowed a deep understanding of customer views on integrated products and services to be obtained, and a systematic analysis identified the key attributes of value-in-use. In order to probe further, the data were then analyzed using Honey's procedure, which identified the impact of the attributes of value-in-use on customer satisfaction. Two key attributes—relational dynamic and access—were found to have the most influence on customer satisfaction. This paper contributes to the innovation field by identifying customer needs for integrated products and services and how these impact customer satisfaction. These are key points and need to be fully considered by managers during new product and service development. Similarly, the paper identifies a number of important areas for further research.
Experimentation, a form of problem-solving, is a fundamental innovation activity and accounts for a significant part of total innovation cost and time. In many fields, the economics of experimentation are being radically affected by the use of new and greatly improved versions of methods such as computer simulation, mass screening, and rapid prototyping. This paper shows that a given experiment (and the related trial and error learning) can be conducted in different "modes" (e.g., computer simulation and rapid prototyping) and that users will find it economical to optimize the switching between these modes as to reduce total product development cost and time. The findings are confirmed by a large-scale empirical study of the experimentation process in the design of integrated circuits containing either (1) electrically programmable logic devices (EPLDs); or (2) application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In comparing their different experimentation strategies for analogous design projects, I found that the former (EPLD)-an approach that utilizes many prototype iterations-outperformed the latter (ASIC) by factor of 2.2 (in person-months) and over 43 percent of that difference can be attributed to differences in experimentation strategies. The implications for managerial practice and theory are discussed and suggestions for further research undertakings are provided.
User design offers tantalizing potential benefits to manufacturers and consumers, including a closer match of products to user preferences, which should result in a higher willingness to pay for goods and services. There are two fundamental approaches that can be taken to user