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The Role of the Customer in the New Product Development Of THE ROLE OF THE CUSTOMER IN THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF RADICAL INNOVATIONS By Joshua H. Johnson Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Interdisciplinary Studies: Management of Technology May, 2007 Approved Professor Ruth N. Bolton Professor David M. Dilts Professor Robert L. Galloway, Jr. Professor David A. Owens Copyright © 2007 by Joshua H. Johnson All Rights Reserved ii To my incredibly inquisitive daughters, Maya and Gwendolyn, may your quest for knowledge take you to great places, To my wonderful wife, Bethany, thank you for sharing your support and experience, and To my father, Herschel, you gave me the tools, support, stubbornness, and love to see me through. You would be proud. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to recognize the members of my Dissertation Committee. I have enjoyed working with you and learning everything that I can from you. You have each brought a unique perspective to this research and to me personally. I would especially like to thank Ruth Bolton for her continued support and mentoring throughout this process. She greatly exceeded my expectations and has set a high standard for research as well as mentoring that I will strive to achieve. David Dilts has provided an enormous amount of support and guidance as the chairman of my committee. His expectation that good research speaks for itself was fundamental, and I hope to carry that forward. Finally, my family has been the foundation which allowed me to pursue this goal. Thank you all. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi Chapter I. DISSERTATION OVERVIEW..................................................................................1 References...................................................................................................................5 II. THE ROLE OF THE CUSTOMER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADICAL INNOVATIONS.........................................................................................................6 Abstract.......................................................................................................................6 2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................7 2.1.1 Outline of Paper .....................................................................................12 2.2 Conceptual Framework....................................................................................12 2.2.1 The Role of the Customer......................................................................13 2.2.2 Radical Innovations ...............................................................................25 2.2.3 New Product Development Process.......................................................27 2.2.4 Organizational Learning ........................................................................33 2.2.5 Synthesis................................................................................................36 2.3 Hypothesis Development...................................................................................37 2.3.1 Information obtained from the customer and the level of business performance of a radical innovation ....................................................37 2.3.2 The stages of the new product development process, information obtained from the customer, and the level of business performance of the radical innovation...........................................................................38 2.3.3 The organizational learning of the firm, information obtained from the customer, and the level of business performance of a radical innovation ............................................................................................39 2.3.4 Interaction of Organizational Learning and Information Levels ...........40 2.4 Study Context, Measurement, Design and Sampling Method...........................41 2.4.1 Study Context.........................................................................................41 2.4.2 Measurement..........................................................................................43 2.4.3 Design....................................................................................................48 2.4.4 Interviews and Pretest............................................................................49 2.4.5 Sample....................................................................................................50 v 2.5 Analysis and Results..........................................................................................53 2.5.1 Analysis..................................................................................................53 2.5.2 Results....................................................................................................55 2.6 Discussion and Implications ..............................................................................62 2.6.1 Customer Informer Characteristics........................................................63 2.6.2 Technology and Market information .....................................................63 2.6.3 Organizational Learning ........................................................................65 2.6.4 The Interaction of Organizational Memory and Market Information....65 2.6.5 Information Utilization Moderates the Effect of Technology Information in Idea Generation............................................................67 2.6.6 Information Dissemination Moderates the Effect of Market Information at Development Stage ......................................................68 2.6.7 “Newness” of the Radical Innovation and Internal Performance ..........69 2.7 Conclusion, Limitations and suggestions for future research............................70 2.7.1 Conclusion.............................................................................................70 2.7.2 Theoretical Implications ........................................................................72 2.7.3 Managerial Implications ........................................................................73 2.7.4 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research .................................74 2.8 Tables.................................................................................................................77 2.9 Figures................................................................................................................87 2.10 References........................................................................................................94 III. ACQUIRE AND FORGET: THE CONFLICT OF INFORMATION ACQUISITION AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADICAL INNOVATIONS..............................................103 Abstract...................................................................................................................103 3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................103 3.2 Literature Review.............................................................................................105 3.2.1 Uncertainty...........................................................................................105 3.2.2 New Product Development Process.....................................................106 3.2.3 Radical Innovations .............................................................................107 3.2.4 Organizational Learning ......................................................................110 3.3 Method .............................................................................................................113 3.3.1 Study Context.......................................................................................113 3.3.2 Sampling: .............................................................................................114 3.3.3 Instrument: ...........................................................................................115 3.3.4 Validity and Reliability:.......................................................................115 3.3.5 Design:.................................................................................................116 3.3.6 Procedure:............................................................................................116 3.4 Results..............................................................................................................116 3.4.1 AlphaCorp – Information Acquisition:................................................117 3.4.2 BetaCorp – Information Acquisition Deficit: ......................................118 3.4.3 Gamma Medical – Organizational Memory ........................................119 vi 3.4.4 Delta – The Conflict of Information Acquisition and Organizational Memory:.............................................................................................121 3.5 Discussion........................................................................................................122
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