http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/5/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21869/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z This paper investigates the antecedents and consequences of two product advantage components: product meaningfulness and product superiority. Product meaningfulness concerns the benefits that users receive from buying and using a new product, whereas product superiority concerns the extent to which a new product outperforms competing products. The present paper argues that scholars and managers should make a deliberate distinction between the two components because they are theoretically distinct and also have different antecedents and consequences. Data were collected through an online survey on 141 new products from high-tech companies located in The Netherlands. The results reveal that new products need to be meaningful as well as superior to competing products to be successful. This finding is consistent with the prevailing aggregate view on product advantage in the literature. However, the results also show that the effects of the two components on new product performance are moderated by market turbulence. Although each component is important in that it forms a necessary precondition for the other to affect new product performance under circumstances of moderate market turbulence, meaningfulness is most important for new product performance in turbulent markets where preferences have not yet taken shape. In contrast, when markets become more stable, the uniqueness of meaningful attributes decreases, and new products that provide advantage by fulfilling their functions in a way that is superior to competing products are more likely to perform well. In addition, the study shows that the firm's customer and competitor knowledge processes independently lead to product meaningfulness and superiority, respectively. The findings also reveal that under conditions of high technological turbulence the customer and competitor knowledge processes complement each other in creating product meaningfulness and superiority. This implies that the level of technological turbulence puts requirements on the breadth of firms' market knowledge processes to create a new product with sufficient advantage to become successful. The paper concludes that neglecting the distinction between product meaningfulness and superiority when assessing a new product's advantage may lead to an incomplete insight on how firms can improve the performance of their new products. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16223/ 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z Opposing theories and conflicting empirical results with regard to the effect of development time on new product sales suggest the need for a contingency analysis into factors affecting this relationship. This study uses a unique combination of accounting and perceptual data from 129 product development projects to test the combined contingency effect of product innovativeness and new product price on the relationship between development time and new product sales. The results show that for radically new products with short development times, price has no effect on new product sales. When the development time is long, price has a negative effect on the sales of radical new products. The findings additionally show that price has no effect on sales for incremental new products with short development times and a negative effect for incremental new products with long development times. Together, these findings shed new light on the relationship between development time and new product sales. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13833/ 2008-11-11T00:00:00Z This article investigates the antecedents and consequences of two product advantage components: product meaningfulness and product superiority. Product meaningfulness concerns the benefits that users receive from buying and using a new product, whereas product superiority concerns the extent to which a new product outperforms competing products. The authors argue that scholars and managers should make a deliberate distinction between the two components because they are theoretically distinct and also have different antecedents and consequences. The authors collected data through an online survey on 141 new products from high-tech companies located in the Netherlands. The results reveal that new products need to be meaningful as well as superior to competing products in order to be successful. This finding is consistent with the prevailing aggregate view on product advantage in the literature. However, the results also show that the effects of the two components on new product performance are moderated by market turbulence. Although each component is important in that it forms a necessary precondition for the other to affect new product performance under circumstances of moderate market turbulence, meaningfulness is most important for new product performance in turbulent markets where preferences have not yet taken shape. In contrast, when markets become more stable, the uniqueness of meaningful attributes decreases and new products that provide advantage by fulfilling their functions in a way that is superior to competing products are more likely to perform well. In addition, the study shows that the firm’s customer and competitor knowledge processes independently lead to product meaningfulness and superiority, respectively. The findings also reveal that under conditions of high technological turbulence, the customer and competitor knowledge processes complement each other in creating product meaningfulness and superiority. This implies that the level of technological turbulence puts requirements upon the breadth of firms’ market knowledge processes in order to create a new product with sufficient advantage to become successful. The authors conclude that neglecting the distinction between product meaningfulness and superiority when assessing a new product’s advantage may lead to an incomplete insight on how firms can improve the performance of their new products. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13604/ 2008-05-20T00:00:00Z Development cycle time is the elapsed time from the beginning of idea generation to the moment that the new product is ready for market introduction. Market-entry timing is contingent upon the new product's cycle time. Only when the product is completed can a firm decide whether and when to enter the market to exploit the new product's window of opportunity. To determine the right moment of entry a firm needs to correctly balance the risks of premature entry and the missed opportunity of late entry. Proficient market-entry timing is therefore defined as the firm's ability to get the market-entry timing right (i.e., neither too early nor too late). The literature has produced divergent evidence with regard to the effects of development cycle time and proficiency in market-entry timing on new product profitability. To explain these disparities this study (1) explores the mediating roles of development costs and sales volume in the relationships among development cycle time, proficiency in market-entry timing, and new product profitability, respectively; and it (2) explores the moderating influence of product newness on the relationship between development cycle time and development costs and that of new product advantage on the link between proficiency in market-entry timing and sales volume. The results from a survey-based study of 72 manufacturers of industrial products in the Netherlands suggest that development costs mediate the relationship between development cycle time and new product profitability and that sales volume mediates the link between proficiency in market-entry timing and new product profitability. In addition, the findings indicate that new product advantage strengthens the positive relationship between proficiency in market-entry timing and sales volume. The results provide no evidence for a moderating effect of product newness. These results have important implications because to maximize new product profitability managers need to distinguish between costs and demand side effects of development cycle time and market-entry timing on new product profitability. Keeping this distinction in mind should help them to better determine the relative profit impact of investments in cycle time reduction or improved entry timing. Moreover, the findings suggest that highly advantaged products that enter the market at the right time may have a highly attenuated sales volume. It also implies that new products with lower advantage may have very little leeway in hitting the "sweet spot" in market. The message is that "doing the right thing" (i.e., to develop a highly advantaged new product) may be at least as important as correctly balancing the risks of premature entry and the missed opportunity of late entry. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11486/ 2007-01-25T00:00:00Z Dealers may contribute to brand retention through their sales and service efforts. In this study we investigate the degree to which dealers contribute to brand retention and how this contribution is moderated by brand tier. To this end we distinguish between economy, volume and prestige brands. We also investigate how the effectiveness of dealer instruments to increase dealer retention differs across these brand tiers. We collected data on brand retention and dealer retention among consumers who recently purchased a new car. Our findings show that dealers selling volume brands are able to improve brand retention rates. In contrast, dealers of prestige and economy brands are unable to affect brand retention. In line with the notion of brand-dealer fit we also find that the effects of dealer extrinsic service quality and dealer payment equity on dealer retention differ between prestige, volume, and economy brands. Extrinsic dealer service quality has the smallest effect for dealers selling economy brands, while dealer payment equity is the most important determinant of dealer retention for these dealers. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/1613/ 2004-09-17T00:00:00Z Dealers are assumed to contribute positively to brand retention. We argue that the type of brand moderates the effect of dealer performance on brand retention. Moreover, dealer retention is determined by different drivers for dealers selling different types of brands. To analyze our claims empirically, we collected data on brand retention and dealer retention among consumers who recently purchased a new car. Our findings show that dealers of prestige and economy brands do not contribute to brand retention. Only dealers selling volume brands are in a position to improve brand retention rates. A simulation reveals however that the contribution of volume dealers to brand retention is rather small in comparison to the impact of brand-related variables on brand retention. In line with the notion of brand-dealer fit we also find that the impact of dealer extrinsic quality (e.g., dealer showrooms) and dealer payment equity on dealer retention differs between prestige, volume, and economy brands. Extrinsic dealer quality affects dealer retention most for dealers selling prestige brands and dealer payment equity is the most important determinant of retention for dealers selling economy brands. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/1494/ 2004-08-13T00:00:00Z Increasing returns means that self-reinforcing mechanisms are at work within firms and markets. These mechanisms come in four forms: scale effects, learning effects, network effects and social interaction effects. Some industries are more sensitive to increasing returns than others. It is important that managers are able to assess the increasing returns sensitivity of their industry. Therefore we have developed an analytical tool that allows managers to assess their industry’s sensitivity to increasing returns. Four case studies are used to illustrate this typology. The analytic tool shows that an industry has high increasing returns sensitivity if a combination of the following situations exists: 1) high fixed costs and low, or even zero, variable costs, indicating a high sensitivity to scale effects, 2) a high level of complexity of the business process and/or the products, indicating a high sensitivity to learning effects, 3) low product utility and high network utility, indicating a high sensitivity to network effects and finally, 4) a high degree of social involvement by customers and potential customers, indicating a high sensitivity to social interaction effects. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/269/ 2003-02-10T00:00:00Z The authors develop a four-dimensional scale to measure members' satisfaction with virtual communities. The dimensions consist of members' satisfaction with member-member interactions, organizer-member interactions, organizer-community interactions, and the community's site. Using a sample of 3605 members of a virtual community the authors investigate the effect of each satisfaction dimension on member participation and the moderating effect of membership length on the links between the satisfaction dimensions and member particip ation. The results reveal that satisfaction with member-member interactions, organizer-member interactions and the community's site have positive effects on member participation. Satisfaction with organizer-community interactions has no effect on member participation. The findings also show that the linkages between the satisfaction dimensions and member participation are moderated by membership length. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/235/ 2002-10-18T00:00:00Z The majority of studies on market orientation claim that compelling evidence exists that market orientation has a positive effect on business performance. This study takes a closer look at forty studies that have addressed the relationship between market orientation and business performance in the past thirteen years. The results show that there is no unequivocal evidence as to if and when market orientation has a positive impact on business performance. There is however some unequivocal proof, albeit limited, on how market orientation influences business performance. These findings are unsettling for academics and managers because market orientation is the foundation of marketing strategy. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/227/ 2002-09-17T00:00:00Z Skepticism and disappointment have replaced the initial enthusiasm about CRM. The disappointing results of CRM-projects are often related to difficulties that managers encounter in embedding CRM in their strategy and organization structure. In this article we present a classification scheme on how CRM can be strategically embedded in organizations using the value disciplines of Treacy and Wiersema. We use the findings from three case studies to illustrate our classification. Based on these case studies and interviews with managers we distinguish between strategic and tactical CRM, and derive important issues that managers should consider before successfully implementing CRM. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/200/ 2002-05-17T00:00:00Z This study empirically investigates the influence of the market-bound (i.e., interaction and network effects) on the firm-bound (i.e., scale and learning effects) self-reinforcing mechanisms, and their combined effect on product and organizational performance. The findings from a sample of 257 manufacturing firms reveal that interaction effects have a positive effect on network effects. Network effects have a positive impact on the potential for firms to realize scale and learning effects, which in turn, is positively related to their actual realization of these effects. The actual realization of scale and learning effects has a positive effect on product performance, which in turn positively influences organizational performance. These effects are robust across industries and provide ample opportunities for future research. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/58/ 2000-11-27T00:00:00Z Empirical research has demonstrated that a market orientation has in general a positive effect on organizational performance. The potential benefits of a market orientation have, however, not been realized because academics and practitioners do not yet understand the modus operandi that transform market orientation into superior organizational performance. Recent research has demonstrated that the proficiency in new product development (NPD) activities might be the key in the conversion of market orientation into superior NPD-performance, and hence, organizational performance. This study is designed to test a set of hypotheses related to the interrelationships among market orientation, the proficiency in NPD-activities, NPD-performance, and organizational performance. The results from a sample of 126 manufacturing firms in the Netherlands present evidence for the mediating role of the proficiency in several NPD-activities and NPD-performance in the relationship between market orientation and organizational performance. The fact that this mediating role has been found thus provides a better understanding of how market-oriented behaviors are transformed into superior value for customers. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/54/ 2000-11-13T00:00:00Z The focus of this study is on the challenges faced by managers in effectively dealing with the new management logic of increasing returns as the information and knowledge intensity of their transformation processes rises. Dealing with these challenges is especially relevant for companies currently making the transition from capital and physical labor intensive transformation processes (old economy) to information and knowledge intensive transformation processes (new economy). For these companies, this study provides a definition of increasing returns, explains the sources of increasing returns and develops tools for monitoring the realization of increasing returns. These tools are applied at the Randstad Group, a leading temporary employment agency based in the Netherlands, currently making the transition from the old to the new economy. The study concludes with a discussion of the management implications of the new logic of increasing returns and suggestions for further research.