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companies and should be well suited for this purpose is the
sales force.It is the sales force that is uniquely equipped to
understand how to best serve customers’needs and wants
(Avlontis and Gounaris,1997;Pelham and Lieb,2004).
Despite the apparent opportunity to utilize the sales force as a
resource in soliciting customer input in the new product/
service development process,there has been little formalized
research conducted on the specific role that salespeople play
or could play in this process.www.51lunwen.orgThis research seeks to fill this void by empirically examining
the role of the salesperson in the new product/service development process.The study explored the extent to which salespeople are involved in the product development process,the outcomes of suchinvolvement,barriers to successful use ofsalespeople to gather information,and identification of variablesaffecting the role of salespeople in the product/servicedevelopment process.The research may provide strategicguidance to organizations with respect to the role of salespeoplein the critical new product/service development process.
Background
If the traditional management directive“successfully innovate
or perish”holds any truth,then a multitude of US companies
may be in trouble.Results from a recent study conducted by a
Product Development Management Association Foundation
indicate that new product sales fell from 32 percent of total
company sales in 1990 to 28 percent in 2004(Cooper,2005).
Further,the same study reported that business profits derived
from new products are down from 33.2 percent to 28.3
percent during the same period.Business Week(2005)has
called for US companies to renew their commitment to
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product&Brand Management
15/3(2006)194–202
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited[ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610420610668630]
194innovation or risk falling behind more nimble competitors
from Asia.
More than ever,companies are faced with the challenge to
reduce new product/service failure rates while simultaneously
guiding their products to market faster(Strategic Direction,
2003).On the one hand,new products provide increased
sales,profits,and competitive strength to companies(Sivades
and Dwyer,2000).Indeed,numerous authors claim that new
product development(NPD)holds the key to competitive
success and is the lifeblood of companies(Song and Parry,
1997;Lynn et al.,1999).Conversely,NPD remains a risky
and uncertain endeavor(Bstieler and Gross,2003;Ozer,2004).Regardless of whether one considers new productdevelopment a blessing or a bane for organizations,one thingis for certain:NPD is increasingly viewed by organizations,both large and small,as a strategic priority(Nijssen et al.,2002;Ozer,2004).In a recently completed study ofexecutives,“bringing new products to market”was namedas the second most critical activity to be undertaken by theirorganization(Maddox,2005).
New product development success
In recent years,studies have focused on identifying variables
that influence new product success and failure.A common
theme found throughout the studies is that companies who
are successful in identifying customer needs and wants,and
who could subsequently develop and bring to market
products to address customer needs a