This study builds on our previous work, which had questioned the validity of certain assumptions of the lead market theory in the face of changing ground realities in a globalized world. Sustained economic growth and proven technological capabilities in some "emerging economies" like China and...

The majority of service providers have recognized the need to develop innovative services that meet sophisticated customer needs on time. Because of structural changes in the market, rising costs and shorter lifecycles of services and technologies this has become a more demanding task than ever...

Our study focuses on the question, whether users should be intensively involved in the innovation process of radical product innovations or better not - from the manufacturer's perspective. Radical innovations incorporate new technologies, shift market structures, require intensive user learning...

In this paper, we are going to report on the results of an exploratory piece of research about the typical front-end-related activities in 28 innovation projects carried out by 14 German and 13 Japanese companies to reduce project uncertainty. In all cases we observed a range of activities to...

In this paper, we report the complete and unabridged results of an exploratory study of typical front-end activities in 28 innovation projects in German and Japanese companies. We further reveal differences in the practice of innovation management in both countries. Based on these, we develop...

In a study of New Product Development (NPD) projects, the fuzzy front end of innovation is explored. The New Product Development process is a multistage process. Therefore, the study examines two sorts of impact that the fuzzy front end has on the success of New Product Development: a direct...

India has emerged as a vibrant and versatile source for cost effective, "disruptive innovations" of various varieties. Price-sensitive consumers in a large and growing market keep inducing firms to apply "frugal engineering" for creating affordable products and services without compromising...

In a study of Japanese New Product Development (NPD) projects, the fuzzy front end of innovation is explored. Our conceptual model is based on the information-processing perspective. A structual equation model was fitted to data from 497 NPD projects from Japanese mechanical and electrical...

Aging populations challenge companies across different countries and industries to respond to the changing needs, demands and expectations of their growing shares of older customers. This opens room for improving or developing innovations – products as well as services – that correspond to...