Successful new‐to‐the‐market versus “me‐too” retail financial services

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of marketing, sales, EDP/systems and operations in the ultimate success of new‐to‐the‐market vs “me‐too” retail financial services.Design/methodology/approachTo collect the data, the “dropping off” method was followed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Respondents were new service development project leaders. The unit of analysis was the service innovation project. After two follow‐up contacts, 114 usable questionnaires were returned from 64 companies, yielding a company response rate of 76 per cent and a project response rate of 68 per cent.FindingsThere are significant differences in the involvement of marketing in the stages of business analysis and marketing strategy, technical development, testing and launching, and the involvement of EDP/systems during technical development between “me‐too” and new‐to‐the‐market retail financial services. Further, in the case of new‐to‐the‐market projects, the involvement of marketing and sales positively influences performance. By contrast, the performance of “me‐too” retail financial services is positively affected by the involvement of the technical‐related functions, namely EDP/systems and operations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study offers only indirect evidence of a strong link between market orientation adoption and performance of innovative retail financial services. Future research attempts should incorporate a measurement of market orientation and examine directly its relation with the performance of major innovations. Also, the development process is only one of the many factors, which may explain variations in the performance of different new services. Future research is again needed in order incorporate in the analysis measures of such factors and refine the links that this study has revealed.Originality/valueOn the basis of the study's findings, middle and top management may reconsider their new service development process and possibly reassess their practices regarding the different roles that various functions hold during the development process.