How Many and What Kind? The Role of Strategic Orientation in New Product Ideation^*

Abstract

Existing studies on the role that strategic orientation plays in companies' innovation efforts primarily focus on identifying the relationship between strategic orientation and innovation performance for launched new products. In contrast, this article investigates how the different types of strategic orientation (i.e., customer, competitor, and technology orientations) influence the front end of innovation. Specifically, this research examines how strategic orientation relates to new product ideation outcomes such as ideation volume (i.e., how many new product ideas are generated) and ideation novelty (i.e., how innovative ideas are). The model developed in this study includes both direct effects of strategic orientation on new product ideation and indirect effects on ideation, mediated by an organization's market search behavior targeted at uncovering new product ideas. A survey of 182 marketing and technical managers, whose responses are analyzed with partial least squares (PLS), reveals that firms characterized by a competitor orientation search their markets significantly more for new product ideas than firms marked by a technology or customer orientation. An emphasis on market search behavior, in turn, leads to significantly greater quantities of new product ideas generated by the firm. Neither a competitor nor a customer orientation significantly enhances the novelty of new product ideas, which is augmented only by technology orientation. The data also reveal that product ideation novelty is significantly enhanced by a technology orientation regardless of the level of market turbulence faced by the innovating firm. Together, these findings suggest that market orientation may have a greater influence on the implementation and commercialization stages of new product development than on new product ideation.

Organisational life cycle, business orientation and performances of architectural firms in Nigeria

“…It may therefore be deduced that business orientation adopted by firms in deploying resources may be a source of competitive advantage. This point was corroborated by Spanjol, Qualls and Rosa (2011), who described strategic orientation, which is a function of business orientation, as the direction adopted by a firm to create required behaviours to achieve targeted superior business performance. In fact, Zhou and Li (2009) described business orientation as a driver of superior performance Several business orientation dimensions have been identified in literature.…”

“…What this suggests is that performance of organisations will depend on how business orientation fits organisational resources, as also corroborated by Spanjol et al (2011). The relationship between business orientation, life cycle and firm performance has been investigated in small and medium enterprises (Lester et al, 2008;Aragon-Sanchez and Sanchez-Marin, 2005), e-businesses (Koellinger, 2008), and in a cross industry-survey of consumer and business markets (Lester et al 2008;Morgan, Vorhies and Mason, 2009).…”

“…These strategies are determined by the business orientation of the firm, which Lynch et al (2012) described as the determinant of all decisions in any organisation at the strategic and tactical levels. In fact, Spanjol, Qualls and Rosa (2011) noted that strategic orientation, which is often an offshoot of a firm's business orientation, are important to guide an organisation's behaviour in order to use resources to gain competitive advantage. In other words, business orientation will guide the use of a firm's resources.…”

Strategic Planning and Reality of External Environment of Organizations in Contemporary Business Environments

“…Cohen and Kaimenakis (2007) reported that there are only a few studies that have been carried out on small and medium-sized enterprises in order to assess the existence of market orientation relationship to business performance. Spanjol, Qualls and Rosa (2009) mentioned that competitor and customer orientations are sometimes encompassed in the composite construct of market orientation. Narver and Slater (1990) concluded a positive relationship between market orientation and business profitability in a sample of product and service businesses operating in a variety of industries.…”

Extending the ideation process to the entire organization

“…Among 100 new ideas, usually one becomes a successful product that reaches the market (COOPER; EDGETT, 2007). As a result, outcomes are negatively affected and resources are invested without delivering value (CHRISTENSEN;RAYNOR, 2003;KRISTENSSON;MAGNUSSON, 2010;MCCLELLAND, 2002a;SPANJOL;QUALLS;ROSA, 2011).…”