Abstract
The market launch of new products and services is a basic pillar for large and medium-sized companies in the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) sector. Choosing the right moment for it is usually a differentiating factor in terms of competition, since it is a source of competitive advantage. There are several mechanisms and strategies to address this problem from the market perspective. However, the criteria of the different actors involved – managers, sales representatives, experts, etc. – coexist in the corporate sphere and they often differ, causing difficulties in priority setting processes in the launch of a product or service. The assessment of the prioritization of these criteria is usually expressed in natural language, thus adding a great deal of uncertainty. Fuzzy linguistic models have proved to be an efficient tool for managing the intrinsic uncertainty of this type of information. This paper presents a linguistic multi-criteria decision-making model, able to reconcile the different requirements and viewpoints existing in the corporate sector when planning the launch of new products and services. The proposed model is based on the fuzzy 2-tuple linguistic model, aimed at managing linguistic data expressing different corporate criteria, without compromising accuracy in the calculation of said data. In order to illustrate this, a practical case study is presented, in which the model is applied for scheduling the launch prioritization of several new products and services by a telecommunications company, within the deadlines set in its strategic planning.
Highlights
As is well-known, products and services have a mainly strategic nature for enterprises
The 2-tuple linguistic representation could result in the problem of having two different alternatives assessed with the same label, though with a much lower probability, because for two labels to match, the linguistic term and the numerical value and the sign corresponding to the second term of the 2-tuple must be equal
This paper presents a linguistic multi-criteria decision-making (LMCDM) model designed to be applied to corporate strategic planning concerning products and services in the ICT sector, it can be applied to any other economic sector
Summary
As is well-known, products and services have a mainly strategic nature for enterprises. The participation of different actors belonging to different departments (marketing, finance, production, etc.) of the company in this process, with different views about prioritization in the launch of new products and services, makes planning very complex and causes organizational tensions (Benedetto, 1999; Debruyne et al, 2002; Kapferer, 2012). This process can become even more complex due to the fact that all the different criteria are normally expressed in natural language, which entails a significant inaccuracy and uncertainty
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