Is ‘Cutting-Edge’ Good? Assessing Product Newness Factors in Technologically Turbulent Environments

Abstract

Overview: Firms are constantly faced with the dilemma of developing products that are both cutting edge and also easily understood by customers. Customers may reject products that diverge too much from prior generations of products, but products that are too similar to prior products may not stand out. We analyzed 423 firms to better understand how both product newness to the firm and product newness to the customer impact NPD performance in varying environments. Our findings highlight that firms are generally effective at innovating on their own, but customers need some turbulence to adopt new innovations that are dissimilar to their prior usage experiences. Firms should continue to innovate and be ready when a turbulent environment provides innovative opportunities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Obal

Michael Obal is an associate professor of marketing, entrepreneurship, and innovation at the Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He holds a PhD from Temple University and a MBA from University of Massachusetts Boston, both in marketing. His research interests include the diffusion of new technologies, innovation/product development processes, customer cocreation in NPD, business-to-business relationship management, marketing strategy, and digital marketing. His work has been published in various journals, including Research Policy, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and Journal of International Marketing. [email protected]

Todd Morgan,

Todd Morgan was an assistant professor of management at Cleveland State University. He completed his PhD in business administration focusing on marketing strategy and entrepreneurship at Kent State University. His general research focused on new product development, innovation, and strategic orientations of the firm and how they impact competitive advantage. He examined how firms leverage resources and capabilities to integrate external knowledge into the firm and maximize its effectiveness for NPD. His primary focus was on small- and medium-sized enterprises, and he published many articles in journals such as Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Research Policy, and Journal of Business Research.

Wesley Friske

Wesley Friske is an associate professor of marketing at Missouri State University. He completed his PhD in business administration with an emphasis in marketing at Texas Tech University. His broad research area remains marketing strategy, but he is particularly interested in the marketing-entrepreneurship interface and macromarketing. More recently, his research has focused on firm-level and environmental factors that influence the effectiveness of new product and service development strategies. His research appears in various peer-reviewed journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Macromarketing. [email protected]