The interaction between product concept and institutional inducement: a new driver of product innovation

Abstract

The findings of our study clearly suggest that “product concept” drives product innovation. The very term “product concept” itself is often used in a vague, almost philosophical way: though it appears frequently in economic literature, the authors of this report feel that its true significance is not widely recognized. However, based on the enterprises we examined in the course of this study, not only is the notion of “product concept” frequently invoked by managers as an operational objective, but it does actually play an important role in product development. Technological innovation can take place at various stages of the process of product innovation, but this does not mean that it is absolutely the “driving” force behind product innovation. Rather, our study found that technological innovation occurred in order to give a product concept actual “material substance”. Moreover, we observed that technological innovation plays a vital role as a strategy in creating competitive barriers between companies and their competitors. But following Kuhn, who first demonstrated that innovation is the creation of new paradigms, we found that product innovation occurred in the wake of new concepts. In other words, technological innovation is pulled along by the advance of product concepts.