The nature of NPD is conducive to SMEs improvising at all stages of the process. This has the potential to create new knowledge, which, if retained and harnessed, can then be applied at higher strategic levels within the firm. This paper examines this phenomenon, through a preliminary qualitative study.

The concept of co-creation with consumers has been extensively studied in the literature documented in innovation management and marketing literatures. In this study, we contribute to the literature threefold. First, we develop a model to investigate how co-creation with fans enhance purchase intent and engagement of other customers. Second, we test the model using the data collected from consumers on four different product categories including beer, car, cosmetics and travel. By doing so, we examine the differences between product vs. service as well as different product categories. Third, we will compare the results with that of ordinary consumers to check if there are any differences in the case of co-creating with fans. Most of the extant studies have found a positive effect of co-creation on the outcome evaluation. However, engaging other consumers by co-creation with fans has not been studied. For bridging this research gap, we developed a conceptual model to investigate the antecedents and consequences of co-creation with fans. The hypotheses are as follows. H1: Product class involvement and domain specific knowledge affect perception on co-creation positively. H2: Perception on co-creation affects purchase intent and word-of-mouth positively. H3: The relationships of H1 and H2 differs depending on product categories. H4: The relationships of H1 and H2 differs if companies work with ordinary customers or fans. We tested the hypotheses with the data collected from consumers an online questionnaire survey. Data collection was conducted through a market research agency in 2016 for beer and cars, and in 2019 for cosmetics and travel. The data was collected from 240 consumers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s in Japan. Each segment has same number of males and females, 40 people each for six segments. The findings shed a new light on the co-creation literature and help companies to design better co-creation with fans in different product and service categories.

The goal of this study was to develop a haptic communication system that can convey the tactile sensation of fashion materials in a virtual environment. In addition, the effectiveness and how realistically the virtual fabric image of this system delivers the tactile sensation of actual fabric was verified. First, a literature review was conducted through which the tactile attributes of fashion materials were defined that would be implemented in the haptic communication system. Then, a questionnaire for evaluating the tactile attributes of fashion materials was developed. Next, a haptic communication system was designed to convey fashion image experiences in a virtual environment, from which a haptic rendering model was suggested. The effectiveness of the haptic communication system was evaluated by verifying user experiences with questions developed through a user evaluation experiment. The validity of the evaluation questions pertaining to the tactile attributes and the effects of the haptic communication system were verified. Factor analysis was conducted to verify the evaluation of the tactile sense attributes of the fashion material, which identified density, thickness, and elasticity of the material as key factors. As a result of comparisons between the tactile sense through haptic characteristics and through touching, it was observed that regarding density and thickness, tactile sense experience led to greater perceived reality, while this was not the case for elasticity.