This study discusses the advantages and dangers of pioneering FMCG brands in new geographical markets, a subject so far neglected in the existing literature. Pioneering advantages have mostly been researched with product innovations in industrialised markets. This paper argues that pioneering new geographical markets bears different implications which justifies this study. The authors interviewed 23 top FMCG manufacturers across 12 industries in matched pairs in the markets of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The data was collected in in-depth interviews and analysed using a grounded theory approach. The main findings are that despite the belief of respondents, and much of the existing work, pioneering does not per se create any advantages over late entrants. The findings of this study furthermore indicate that the lead time between the entry of the pioneer and the follower plays a pivotal role in the value a pioneering advantage has for the company. Related to this is the fact that different lead time situations are conducive to different pioneering advantages. The paper also argues that pioneering advantages, if they can be achieved, need to be well managed and defended against followers to remain beneficial to the pioneer. To succeed in this, continued commitment and appropriate management skills are necessary.
The main purpose of this paper is to review the current status of qualitative research in the Arab world. The survey first considers the meaning and significance of qualitative research as well as its specific importance to the Arab world. Thereafter, it proceeds to highlight the major challenges that could be counted as impeding the full use of research generally and qualitative research in particular in this area. The paper ends by offering suggestions about what could be done to overcome such challenges, relying mainly on the findings of a survey among research organisations and consumers in Egypt, as well as the experience of developed countries in conducting qualitative research among consumers.
While there is an extensive literature which deals with the subject of new product development, very little reference is made to the launch or commercialisation phase. Similarly, most texts on marketing management appear to assume that products are already established in a market, and so focus upon the manipulation of the marketing mix. It is the thesis of this paper that the market launch or development phase is critical to the overall success of a new product, as delays in penetrating a market may become such a drain on corporate resources that the product will be withdrawn as a failure. Based upon an extensive programme of empirical research over the last ten years, a number of case histories are presented which demonstrate that in the case of technology push innovations an ability to pre-identify the most receptive market segment is critical to success. The cases also show that innovators are often notably inept at identifying the most likely customers for a new product and provide insights into why this is so and, thereby, guidelines for overcoming this deficiency.
It is paradoxical that while the introduction of Marketing into formal educational courses in the U.K. was at the sub-degree level, the present emphasis is now upon postgraduate and post experience courses. Indeed, many Marketing educators consider that Marketing is not a suitable subject for inclusion in the undergraduate curriculum. However, since the foundation of the Chair of Marketing at Strathclyde in 1971 a major emphasis has been upon the development of a full undergraduate programme, leading ultimately to a single Honours specialisation. In this paper, the thinking underlying this countervailing trend is outlined and a description is provided of the course structure and content. Finally, conclusions on the experience to date are drawn which lead to the view that the experiment has been justified and merits replication.
In that the aim of our research was to help practitioners identify 'early adopters' in the expectation that concentration of marketing effort on them would accelerate market penetration, a factor analysis was undertaken to try and define a set of broad , composite variables which might be used to this end.