The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms manage the front end of new product development projects where packaging forms a core part of the product itself. Within the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms manage the front end of new product development projects where packaging forms a core part of the product itself. Within the fast-moving consumer goods industry, innovation provides opportunities to create packaging that forms an integrated part of the product offering. The authors refer to these as packaging-integrated-products. This study conceptualises three levels of integration and investigates how they impact upon the management of the front end.
Design/methodology/approach
The study consisted of a two-phase design. This involved a preliminary study with key informants, followed by a multiple case study design, which examines product development projects with differing extents of packaging integration.
Findings
The results identify nine different new product opportunities. The authors also present 11 propositions that reveal the key characteristics of the front end of packaging-integrated development projects, as well as the project management requirements to capture the opportunities they present.
Research limitations/implications
Initial insights into a number of unique front-end project management characteristics required to deliver different project types form an area for further research to better understand product packaging integration. The propositions presented guide the way forward for future studies.
Practical implications
The findings provide marketers with new understanding of three types of new product opportunities presented by packaging integration and demonstrate what is required to capture the opportunities they present in the front end of product development.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to extant studies of packaging development in the marketing literature, which have previously failed to capture the high levels of integration between packaging and the product. The authors present a new conceptual approach to understanding integration and subsequently uncover how the opportunities it presents can be captured.
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Mennatallah Morsy, Paul Trott and Daniel Sunghwan Cho
The new concept of corporate social innovation (CSI) has witnessed a steady growth in the business and management academic world over the past 20 years. Yet its adoption by…
Abstract
Purpose
The new concept of corporate social innovation (CSI) has witnessed a steady growth in the business and management academic world over the past 20 years. Yet its adoption by corporations has been notably slow. This paper aims to operationalize the concept and develop a research agenda for CSI.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of the current literature in the recent past (1999–2020) has been embraced in this research. The review is based on 40 articles and offers a descriptive and a thematic analysis of the literature.
Findings
The authors demonstrate the development of the concept over time and identify 12 themes to assist in the institutionalization of CSI.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide an enhanced overview of the current state of CSI. The paper shows how a variety of different definitions of corporate social innovation have been used in the business and management literature. The findings provide a unique conceptual framework and a detailed research agenda for scholars seeking to examine CSI.
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Jafar Rezaei, Roland Ortt and Paul Trott
The purpose of this paper is to examine high-tech small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supply chain partnerships. Partnerships are considered at the level of business function…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine high-tech small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supply chain partnerships. Partnerships are considered at the level of business function rather than the entire organisation. Second, the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships are assessed to see whether functions engage in partnerships for different reasons. Third, performance per function is assessed to see the differential effect of partnerships on the function’s performance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the relationship between the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships, four types of partnerships (marketing and sales, research and development (R&D), purchasing and logistics, and production) and four types of functional performances of firms (marketing and sales, R&D, purchasing and logistics, and production) are examined. The data have been collected from 279 SMEs. The proposed hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results indicate that there are considerable differences between business functions in terms of the degree of involvement in partnerships and the effect of partnerships on the performance of these functions. This paper contributes to research by explaining the contradictory results of partnerships on SMEs performance.
Practical implications
This study helps firms understand which type of partnership should be established based on the firm’s drivers to engage in supply chain partnership; and which partnership has a significant effect on which type of business performance of the firm.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is to investigate the relationship between different drivers to engage in supply chain partnership and different types of partnerships and different functional performance of firm in a single model.
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Nicholas Ford, Paul Trott and Christopher Simms
The purpose of this paper is to explore older people’s food consumption experiences. Specifically, the paper seeks to provide understanding on the influence of food intake on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore older people’s food consumption experiences. Specifically, the paper seeks to provide understanding on the influence of food intake on consumer vulnerability and how this manifests within people’s lives.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an interpretive, exploratory approach, using in-depth interviews with 20 older consumers in the UK. Thematic analysis is conducted, establishing patterns and contradictions with the data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate how biological, psychological and social age-related changes can contribute to reduced food intake in later life. The loss of control over one’s consumption experiences as a result of inappropriate portion sizes acts as a source of both immediate and future vulnerability. Resultant food wastage can serve as an immediate reminder of negative associates with ageing, while the accumulative effect of sustained under-consumption contributes to increased frailty. As a result, consumer vulnerability can pervade other contexts of an individual’s life.
Practical implications
The research reveals opportunities for firms to use packaging development to reduce experiences of consumer vulnerability through reduced apportionment of packaged food products. However, this needs to be considered within a multi-demographic marketplace.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to literature by providing a unique lens with which to understand consumer vulnerability. The findings offer a developmental perspective on the experience of consumer vulnerability, revealing the stages of proximate, immediate, intermediate and ultimate vulnerability. This perspective has the potential to offer more detailed, nuanced insights into vulnerability in other contexts beyond food consumption.
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Shradha Kabra, Sumanjit Dass and Sapna Popli
Reality television is a dynamic, profit-making platform that occupies prime-time slots on the television almost all over the world. Despite its immense popularity and influence…
Abstract
Purpose
Reality television is a dynamic, profit-making platform that occupies prime-time slots on the television almost all over the world. Despite its immense popularity and influence, it has received little attention in the extant literature and almost none in terms of its impact on celebrity repositioning. This study aims at examining the relationship between the film stars as brands and the impact of the platform of reality television in repositioning these celebrities in the Indian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Through extensive literature review and qualitative interviews, the paper expounds that reality television provides an opportunity to celebrities to successfully reposition themselves at crucial junctures in their career. The framework to study this repositioning has been adopted from the work of Chris Simms and Paul Trott (2007) who created it to study the brand repositioning of various consumer goods.
Findings
The literature establishes celebrities as brands. This study provides evidence that brand repositioning through reality television is possible for these celebrity brands. The symbolic and functional repositioning of these celebrities is presented through thematic content analysis.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides a useful framework to understand celebrity brand repositioning through reality TV. It can also be replicated to understand the repositioning of a wide variety of celebrities other than film-stars such as sportspersons, social media influencers and politicians.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the need of expanding the corpus of Indian reality television and explains how Indian celebrities reposition themselves through reality television.
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Andy W. Hao, Justin Paul, Sangeeta Trott, Chiquan Guo and Heng-Hui Wu
Despite the growing interest by scholars, practitioners and public policymakers, there are still divergent and fragmented conceptualizations of nation branding as the field is…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the growing interest by scholars, practitioners and public policymakers, there are still divergent and fragmented conceptualizations of nation branding as the field is still developing. In response, the purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize nation branding research and to provide directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review peer-reviewed theoretical and empirical journal articles published during the last two decades – from 1998 to 2018. Selected journal articles on nation branding were subsequently synthesized for further insights.
Findings
The field of nation branding is fragmented and has developed in the course of the last two decades in different directions. This paper identifies key publication outlets and articles, major theoretical and methodological approaches and primary variables of interest that exist in the nation branding literature. The findings also highlight several research themes for future research.
Originality/value
This research fills a need to summaries the current state of the nation branding literature and identifies research issues that need to be addressed in the future.
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Aard Groen and Peter van der Sijde
The chapters in this volume have been derived from the best papers presented at the annual International High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) Conference held at Enschede, The…
Abstract
The chapters in this volume have been derived from the best papers presented at the annual International High Technology Small Firms (HTSFs) Conference held at Enschede, The Netherlands, and organized by Nikos, the Dutch Institute for Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship in May 2008, with the collaboration of Manchester Business School. The present volume is the ninth in the present series of “new millennium” volumes from this conference and book series that began in 1993. As Oakey and Cook wrote in the introduction to Volume 8, government policies in developed Western economies remain focused on emphasizing innovation driven by entrepreneurship as a major vehicle for future economic success. In particular, many European governments support such entrepreneurship by emphasizing the key role of new firm “gazelles” in producing the disruptive innovations and inventions that will create future new industries. This approach in the Netherlands has led to the creation of special Chairs of International entrepreneurship at three technical universities, namely, The University of Twente, the Technical University of Delft, and the Technical University of Eindhoven. These chairs have now been filled and are held at the University of Twente by Shaker Zahra, the Technical University of Delft by Paul Trott, and the Technical University of Eindhoven by Anthony di Bennedetto. The objective of these appointments is the stimulation of technology-based entrepreneurship in the student populations of the Netherlands university sector, and to increase our detailed knowledge of technology-based enterprises, involving a strong focus on the research problems of internationalization, particularly among, university-derived HTSFs.
Christopher Simms and Paul Trott
The purpose of this study is to: contribute to existing models of new product development (NPD) and provide new understanding of how a new product’s packaging is managed and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to: contribute to existing models of new product development (NPD) and provide new understanding of how a new product’s packaging is managed and integrated into the NPD process of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms and build on prior research, suggesting that firms lack a pipeline of new packaging innovations by uncovering the factors that influence this pipeline issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory methodology was adopted. Research was conducted through a total of 37 interviews with key informants in the UK FMCG industry, packaging industry and associated firms.
Findings
Three distinct levels of packaging development were revealed: skin deep, body modification and format change. The emphasis within many firms is primarily on changes to packaging at the level of the label (skin deep) or aesthetic design (body modification), whilst technological and format changes are overlooked. The factors that contribute to the level at which development is undertaken are identified.
Research limitations/implications
Existing literature has largely examined packaging at the level of skin-deep and body modification. The development of new packaging technology has been overlooked. This study’s propositions guide the way forward for further research.
Practical implications
For firms, the development of new formats and genuine packaging innovation may be being overlooked. There is a need for them to re-examine their activities to ensure that they are addressing all three levels.
Originality/value
This theory-building study has generated a new typology which, alongside the unique framework, reveals the factors influencing the level of emphasis within firms.
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The production and sale of counterfeit products is big business in the international economy. Nowhere is this more evident than in China. This paper aims to review the…
Abstract
Purpose
The production and sale of counterfeit products is big business in the international economy. Nowhere is this more evident than in China. This paper aims to review the anti-counterfeiting strategies that have been identified in the literature on counterfeiting.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a literature review.
Findings
This paper reviews 11 anti-counterfeiting strategies that have been suggested by relevant literature and has identified some of the success conditions. It also finds that firms should seek to take a longer-term view and to protect their technology-based competitive advantage. This is already happening: Japanese blue chip companies have begun to relocate sensitive R&D and high-tech manufacturing away from risky locations and back to Japan.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows that the dominant legal enforcement (perspective) approach has been of limited success and explains the reasons for its failure.
Practical implications
The paper concludes that anti-counterfeiting strategies should be seen as complementary rather than as mutually exclusive and that in the long run, as countries get more technologically advanced, governments will develop a strong self-interest in tackling the counterfeit problem themselves.
Originality/value
The paper provides a systematic discussion of alternative anti-counterfeiting strategies that have been suggested by the literature and explores their success conditions in some detail.
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Market research results frequently produce negative reactions to discontinuous new products (innovative products) that later become profitable for the innovating company. Famous…
Abstract
Market research results frequently produce negative reactions to discontinuous new products (innovative products) that later become profitable for the innovating company. Famous examples such as the fax machine, the VCR and James Dyson’s bagless vacuum cleaner are often cited to support this view. Despite this, companies continue to seek the views of consumers on their new product ideas. The debate about the use of market research in the development of new products is long‐standing and controversial. This paper reviews the literature in this area and examines the extent to which market research is justified and whether companies should sometimes ignore their customers. The paper offers a conceptual framework that may help companies to decide when market research findings may be helpful and when they may hinder the development of discontinuous new products.