The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management

2.4. Implications for Management of New Products

Existing research offers several implications for the development and marketing of new product innovations. We discuss these implications below.

New product diffusion models. Managers can use appropriate diffusion models of first purchase and repeat purchase at both the category and the brand level to explain the growth of a new product and forecast its future sales. They can forecast the timing and peak level of sales, using observations from the first few periods. Managers can better assess the impact of marketing mix variables on the diffusion of new products. In particular, the impact on sales growth of a new product subject to changes in marketing variables, such as product, price, advertising, promotion, sales force, and distribution channels, can be better analyzed and simulated through models developed in the literature.

Marketing mix decisions and new product entry strategies. As a result of the knowledge gained from research on new product entry strategies involving marketing mix variables, managers can better allocate their resources across different marketing variables such as advertising, sales promotion, sales force, and distribution. They can get a better understanding of the most effective marketing mix strategies for new products.

Managing innovations over the life cycle. Research on product life cycle suggests that it is important to allocate resources appropriately over the life cycle of a product. In particular, ...