Marketing strategy and customer involvement in product development

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of a firm's marketing strategy on involving customers in new product development. Special attention is to be paid to three facets of a marketing strategy: product differentiation, competitor orientation and brand profiling emphasis.Design/methodology/approachA survey with quantitative questionnaires was used in the context of relationships between Norwegian suppliers and international buyers.FindingsTwo facets of marketing strategy, product differentiation and competitor orientation, positively impact customer involvement. Furthermore, specific investments dedicated to the relationship are also positively related to customer involvement, and customer involvement increases customer profitability.Research limitations/implicationsThe study relies on data from the suppliers, and future studies should also include customer data to explore possible effects of the customer's marketing strategy on joint involvement in new product development.Practical implicationsThe study shows that managers seeking to involve customers in product development should carefully develop their marketing strategy and build commitment through specific investments.Originality/valuePrevious studies show that firms can benefit from involving customers in new product development. This paper extends knowledge in the field by exploring how different facets of the firm's marketing strategy can increase or decrease the possibilities for involving customers.

Stimuli of Collaboration in Product Development: A Case Study in a Project Manufacturing Company

“…Required costs can be substantial, particularly with greater involvement [17]. Many factors such as mutual commitment, mutual trust, mutual adaptations and mutual relationship management [11,14] have been found to have a positive effect on the involvement of customers in product development. Customers are motivated to be involved in product development specifically when price reductions, exclusive rights to the products, extra service and war- In turn, strong brand of a supplier company may hamper the motivation of customers to involve in product development since customers may feel that they voluntarily participate in activities aiming at increasing the value of the supplier's brand.…”

“…Customers are motivated to be involved in product development specifically when price reductions, exclusive rights to the products, extra service and war- In turn, strong brand of a supplier company may hamper the motivation of customers to involve in product development since customers may feel that they voluntarily participate in activities aiming at increasing the value of the supplier's brand. Also an intense competitor focus may demotivate customers to involve in product development due to perceived larger emphasis on competitors than on customers [11].…”

“…14, 15]. However, there is less research on factors explaining whether customer and supplier involvement in product development will take place or not [1,11]. This is essential especially in the opening stages of product development often regarded as essential for the product development success, due to decisions regarding design teams and impacts on overall time and costs [16].…”

“…The benefits of involving suppliers to product development include leveraging supplier knowledge to reduce costs and lead times of product development [7], getting better access to supplier technology [8], and increased innovation outcomes due to resource pooling and complementary capabilities [9]. In addition, customer involvement may have a positive impact on product success [10], understanding of customer needs [5] and competitor moves [11]; and generation of new ideas [12].The level and degree of supplier innovation in terms of product development is one of the main competitive priorities in supplier selection [13]. Earlier research has often considered how external part-13 Unauthenticated Download Date | 5/11/18 7:59 PM…”

“…Companies learn from their customers and new technologies push forward open forms of innovation and cooperation with customers [42]. Product development can benefit from in-depth understanding of customers, their situation and needs [5] supporting the achievement of ideal costs and time in production and reducing uncertainties related to environment and customer demand [16].Customer involvement in product development requires active interaction with customers [11]. This interaction may take forms such as small group exercises and prototype testing [12], customer involvement in product development teams [5] as well as more traditional forms such as opinion boxes or customer interviews [16].…”