Judging by the volume of marketplace failures, it seems that consumer innovators make biased assessments about the value of the innovativeness of new products (Gourville, 2006; Mugge & Dahl, 2013). Research suggests that consumer evaluate offerings based on form (i.e. visual appeal) and function (i.e. utilitarian appeal) (Gourville, 2006; Talke, Salomo, Weiringa & Lutz, 2009; Mugge & Dahl, 2013). In relation to innovative new products, the consumer decision-making path is unclear and the optimal mix of continuity and discontinuity across form and function is unknown. The lack of information regarding how marketers should appropriate resources to maximise returns thus, is an issue that requires resolution. To help resolve this gap, we seek to address two important practical marketing questions in the context of innovative new product introductions: (Q1) What is the impact that discontinuity and continuity across form and function have on new product adoption, and (Q2) What if any, are the underlying mediating mechanisms for different markets? To address these, we collected data from participants based in the United States of America through an online experiment. The participants were presented with four products, comprising variations of a digital camera based of continuity and discontinuity across form and function. The findings revealed that the same product could lead to differing perception of value based on the participant being an innovator or an adapter. The differing perceptions were explained by differences in assessments of potential costs and benefits from the product. Based on the findings of the study managerial recommendations on targeting the right segment for the right product were offered.

Despite a growing interest of value capture in the phenomenon of open innovation (OI), empirical evidence documenting the link between new product development (NPD), OI practices, and market performance is scarce. Drawing on organizational learning, NPD, and OI literature stream, this paper conceptualizes a framework in which open product innovation (OPI) practices are disentangled into two types: pre-launch OPI (which occurs before a new product is launched) and post-launch OPI (which occurs after a new product is launched). Specific types of OPI practices – technology in-licensing (i.e., pre-launch OPI) and product upgrades (i.e., post-launch OPI) – during the NPD process are expected to influence market performance of new products independently and interactively. This paper empirically analyzes the secondary data related to product innovation and market performance of 536 mobile games that were developed and launched by 265 local and global firms in South Korea. The results support hypotheses and indicate that NPD projects that engage in technology in-licensing by both local and global firms lead to better market performance than NPD projects that do not engage in. Furthermore, the more product upgrades that NPD projects employ during product life cycle, the better market performance. Finally, the involvement of active product upgrades strengthens market performance of global NPD projects that develop new products internally. The results regarding the role of pre-launch and post-launch OPI mechanisms contribute to research on OI and NPD, and also inform managers as to what product innovation practices are recommended to improve market performance of NPD projects.

While the relationship between market orientation and new product performance has been extensively investigated, the mechanism by which market orientation contributes to new product performance was further studied in a business-to-business context. We developed a set of alternative research models to examine the roles of timing of entry and positional advantage in the market orientation—new product performance relationship. The results showed that industrial firms’ positional advantage is a key step in the process. Market orientation does not directly influence new product performance. Instead, market orientation helps to establish a firms’ positional advantage, which, in turn, positively influences new product performance in the marketplace. Timing of entry, shown to be an outcome of positional advantage, is not a determinant of new product performance in the business-to-business context. The findings revealed that market-oriented firms achieve superior new product performance through thoughtfulness indicated by a well-defined positioning strategy, not rapidity of action.