Innovation, Marketing and Performance in European Consumer Markets

Abstract

Innovation is generally considered vital to the survival and growth of companies. A major issue facing companies is the appropriate innovative posture to adopt. The study identifies different innovative types from a sample of businesses in the PIMS database competing in European markets. Marketing strategies and performance levels associated are compared. Key findings from the study indicate that marketing strategy and performance effects depend on the type of innovative posture. In particular extremem product innovativeness leads to negative financial and marketing performance but high rates of market share growth. Pioneering a market leads to superior performance whereas late entry results in poor performance. Findings indicate that European marketing environments may not necessarily impact on innovation as a strategic orientation in a manner different from U.S. markets.