Launch Strategy Research Articles

Intermediary MaaS Integrators: A case study on hopes and fears

At present, many policymakers and practitioners are searching for actions that could facilitate Mobility as a Service (MaaS) developments. A potential action, which has received a lot of attention, is to introduce Intermediary MaaS Integrators; that is intermediate actors that assemble the offerings from Transport Service Providers (TSPs) and distribute these to MaaS Operators. However, little is known about if and how TSPs and MaaS Operators would appreciate the introduction of Intermediary MaaS Integrators. To address this knowledge gap, this paper explores an attempt to establish a national Intermediary MaaS Integrator in Sweden. The contribution to transportation research is twofold. Firstly, the paper advances the conceptual understanding of Intermediary MaaS Integrators by identifying four defining dimensions: Activities, Management, Processes and Context. Secondly, it deepens the knowledge of Intermediary MaaS Integrators’ value propositions by detailing TSPs’ and prospective MaaS Operators’ hopes and fears vis-à-vis them. Lastly, practical implications for how to facilitate acceptance and adoption are proposed. Intermediary MaaS Integrators should only be introduced if basic incentives for using their services are in place, and if introduced, they should preferably: go beyond offering technical services; have clear, declared objectives; be impartial and capable actors; and carefully consider their launch strategies.

From clicks to bricks: The impact of product launches in offline stores for digital retailers

More digital retailers are expanding into offline channels by launching products in partners' stores, despite the mature offline shopping. Despite this extensive phenomenon, little attention is focused on the impact of offline product launches on sales. This paper examines how offline product launches via third-party offline stores affects online and mobile purchases, and extends understanding by investigating the moderating effect of offline store intensity. We analyze data obtained from a digital-first beauty retailer through a difference-in-differences analysis using a bivariate negative binomial distribution model. Empirical results show offline product launches are synergistic with online and mobile purchases, especially with respect to the latter. In addition, offline store intensity weakens the positive effect of offline product launches on online purchases, whereas it does not moderate the effect on mobile purchases. Moreover, we provide insights into developing geo-targeting launch strategies through what-if analyses. Our findings provide critical managerial implications for digital retailing.

Analysis of launch strategy in cross-border e-Commerce market via topic modeling of consumer reviews

Spurred by the policy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese e-Commerce companies have found great opportunities in selling goods overseas. The cross-border e-Commerce shares similarities of launch and marketing strategies with domestic e-Commerce, but also has substantial differences. How to make strategic adjustments to better adapt to the overseas market is of great concern to cross-border e-Commerce companies. Analyzing behaviors of overseas consumers could offer an effective way to address this issue and has attracted great interest of researchers. Consumer comments, cheap and abundant by its nature, provides an easy access for analysis of consumer behaviors. In this paper, we focus on consumer reviews of a specific product, the cellphones, and apply topic modeling techniques to investigate the differences between behaviors of domestic and overseas consumers. We find that consumers from domestic and overseas focus on different aspects of product. In addition, the foreign consumers care more about product quality and tend to make description of technique details. On the contrary, domestic buyers pay more attention on consumer services and intend to comment in generalities. All these findings could help e-Commerce companies design better launch strategies in cross-border e-Commerce market.

Pharmaceutical Prices: The Impact of the Launch Strategy - An Analysis of German Data

This paper reports the results from a statistical analysis of pharmaceutical price negotiations in Germany, where the pricing system was changed in 2011 in order to tie prices more to the benefits of the pharmaceuticals. A multiple linear regression of 187 pharmaceuticals which were assessed from 2011 to 2017 suggests that, despite the change, the manufacturers' launch strategy (freely chosen first year price) still has a major impact on pricing while the impact of the additional benefit remains comparably small. Moreover, the data suggest that the assessment of the Federal Joint Committee - while not yet existing at the point - best explains the manufacturer's launch strategy, indicating that manufacturers know more than they reveal.

Effects of the lift-to-drag ratio on climbing characteristics of reusable launch vehicles

This study aims at climbing characteristics investigation of the first-stage reusable launch vehicle in small Two-Stage-To-Orbit (TSTO) systems adopting ground boosting, horizontal take-off strategy. On the basis of the two-dimensional, three degree of freedom ballistic equations, the impact of the lift-to-drag ratio of the vehicle on some key performance parameters, which include the velocity gain, the height gain, the trajectory inclination angle, the dynamic pressure, and the maximal overload, etc are systematically analyzed under different thrust-weight ratios. In addition, a comparison study by taking a vertical launch trajectory as a reference is carried out. The results clearly show that the velocity gain in the lift-assistance climbing trajectory is larger than that in vertical trajectory. Moreover, a high lift-to-drag ratio is not only propitious to elevate the height of separation, but also conducive to reduce the dynamic pressure as well as the maximal overload, especially in small thrust-weight ratio conditions. The adjustment range of the trajectory inclination angle is significantly extended due to a high lift-to-drag value simultaneously. Finally, both the advantage of the ground boosting launch strategy for vehicles using rocket engines and a rational ballistic are discussed based on the results. Furthermore, some critical requirements of aerodynamic configuration design are proposed.

PHP74 - A REVIEW OF THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNATIONAL REFERENCE PRICING (IRP) ON LAUNCH SEQUENCING IN EUROPE

Many countries set prices of pharmaceuticals by referencing the average, or some other metric, of a number of other countries in Europe. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of International Reference Pricing (IRP) across major markets in Europe in terms of the level of price preservation, and to provide insight into the optimal launch strategies within these markets. We developed a 10-year Excel-based model accounting for recurring international price referencing across Europe. The frequency of referencing, the basket of countries referenced and the distribution mark-up on pharmacy purchasing prices were based on published data, supplemented by recent experiences of product launches. The optimal strategy for launch sequencing was determined by price maintenance and revenue maximisation. With the varying duration of reimbursement processes across countries, strategies to delay product launch post marketing authorisation can directly affect the reimbursement price. Launches should commence in countries that utilise free pricing systems, which subsequently improves price setting in other reference countries downstream. Free pricing countries include Germany, the UK and Sweden. Countries employing a minimum or 90% of the lowest 3 prices within their basket, such as Spain, Bulgaria and Croatia, would need to be sequenced later to delay price erosion. Even when launching with exactly the same price across Europe, IRP was found to typically cause price erosion of up to 12% in some markets. Pharmaceutical pricing models fit prices by optimising the order in which a product is launched across markets. IRP policies alongside regulatory policies form key factors to the planning and timing of launch sequences. Exploring IRP simulations is critical to maintaining optimal price and identifying launch sequence strategies, although price erosion is unavoidable and should not be prioritised over patient access.

How information and communication technology affects decision‐making on innovation diffusion: An agent‐based modelling approach

SummaryWe introduce a computational agent‐based model of innovation diffusion that allows us to analyse the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) development on decision‐making. Model dynamics are based on local emulation between pairs of individuals that generate an evolving social network on which an innovation is virally spread (by word of mouth). Results suggest that ICT development affects the data usefulness for decision‐making by changing the topology of the social network (the means whereby the innovation is propagated). Paradoxically, a higher level of ICT development (providing a larger volume of data) narrows the differences between better and worse launch strategies, thus reducing data‐driven decision‐making usefulness, which then shows diminishing returns on the ICT level.

The Effect of Customers Loyal to National Brand on Brand Launch Strategy

The Effect of Customers Loyal to National Brand on Brand Launch Strategy

Model For Marketing Strategy Decision Based On Multicriteria Decicion Making: A Case Study In Batik Madura Industry

Selection of marketing strategy is a prominent competitive advantage for small and medium enterprises business development. The selection process is is a multiple criteria decision-making problem, which includes evaluation of various attributes or criteria in a process of strategy formulation. The objective of this paper is to develop a model for the selection of a marketing strategy in Batik Madura industry. The current study proposes an integrated approach based on analytic network process (ANP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to determine the best strategy for Batik Madura marketing problems. Based on the results of group decision-making technique, this study selected fourteen criteria, including consistency, cost, trend following, customer loyalty, business volume, uniqueness manpower, customer numbers, promotion, branding, bussiness network, outlet location, credibility and the inovation as Batik Madura marketing strategy evaluation criteria. A survey questionnaire developed from literature review was distributed to a sample frame of Batik Madura SMEs in Pamekasan. In the decision procedure step, expert evaluators were asked to establish the decision matrix by comparing the marketing strategy alternatives under each of the individual criteria. Then, considerations obtained from ANP and TOPSIS methods were applied to build the specific criteria constraints and range of the launch strategy in the model. The model in this study demonstrates that, under current business situation, Straight-focus marketing strategy is the best marketing strategy for Batik Madura SMEs in Pamekasan.

How Will Payers Manage the Cost of New, Advanced Biologic and Oncologic Agents as Therapy Areas Become Crowded with Drugs with Similar Mechanisms of Action?

Advances in science are yielding valuable and expensive biologic and oncologic therapies. Reimbursement and coverage decisions that achieve optimal clinical, financial and humanistic outcomes become more complex as drugs with similar profiles crowd therapy areas. This research studies current and future payer initiatives to manage the cost of these new therapies. This study used primary and secondary research. Subjects included 50 payers from US, EU-5 and Canada. Payers were defined as individuals with influence on coverage and reimbursement decisions made by a health authority or insurer. A literature search on payer utilization management (UM) in each market was conducted to gain insight and inform primary research, which consisted of an online survey and ten telephone interviews with payers. All data and information were tabulated and analyzed. The research identified 30 specific, current and future, UM initiatives. These initiatives fell into six categories including medical management, financial negotiations, provider risk transfer, patient risk transfer, provider restrictions, and patient support. In the US, the most common UM initiatives included, “Pharmacist review of care versus guidelines,” “Use of specific diagnostic requirements,” and “Prior authorization to label.” Future US initiatives include “Provider payments based on episodes of care,” “Blocked access to selected drugs,” and “Requirement of cost- or comparative-effectiveness evidence.” European and Canadian payers supported their current management policies which can be segmented into three broad archetypes, HTAs that require demonstration of “Cost-effectiveness,” “Comparative-effectiveness,” and “Cost-minimization.” As new, valuable biologic and oncologic agents crowd therapy areas, payers will use innovative UM initiatives to optimize clinical, financial and humanistic outcomes. It is critical for biopharmaceutical manufacturers to identify the potential impact of these initiatives on the goals set for their new agents, and develop launch strategies that position them to prevail in crowded therapy areas.

Supply constraints and waitlists in new product diffusion

AbstractConstraints on production capacity adjustment present a strategic and operational problem for managers launching products when demand is uncertain. Stock‐outs can be costly if demand exceeds available product supply, as sales are deferred or lost when prospective customers are waitlisted. Recent research on diffusion under supply constraints has analyzed launch strategies to minimize the chance of stock‐outs. Others suggest that waitlisted buyers generate social exposure that can boost customer demand and shape the diffusion process. We develop a generalized model of new product diffusion under supply constraints that explicitly accounts for endogenous customer waitlisting and waitlist‐generated word‐of‐mouth. We estimate the model for a prominent example of waitlisting, the launch of the Toyota Prius hybrid‐electric vehicle in the U.S.A., finding evidence of positive word‐of‐mouth from waitlisted buyers. Inclusion of endogenous supply constraints and waitlisting also alters the estimated contribution of marketing and adopter word‐of‐mouth.Copyright © 2018 System Dynamics Society

The New .Africa Top Level Domain: An African Initiative in Ensuring Africa's Rightful Place on the Global Network

The new gTLD programme of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the single most important development since the privatisation of the DNS in 1998. The management of the Domain Name System (DNS) has developed from a modest undertaking to its current explosive expansion through the new gTLD programme. Africa has boldly entered the arena through the delegation of the .Africa gTLD.
 This new development heralds an innovative era in the management of the DNS, especially for Africa. The dotAfrica gTLD launch strategy offers several advantages to African governments and traders alike. One of the innovative features of the management of dotAfrica is the fact that a broader set of rights including commercial, cultural, linguistic, religious and personal rights will be protected. Furthermore, African trade mark proprietors and other rights holders are protected, initially at least, by various innovative rights-protection mechanisms. This development is important for African governments and it should form an integral part of right holders' intellectual property management strategy.

Reason Maintenance in Product Modelling via Open Source CAD System

The present and future challenges of a new product design, forecasting and risk management launch strategy for a new product modelling decision process. This paper intends to propose and to look towards the development of a low-cost integrated CAD-CAPP-CAD/CAM product modelling system for the design and manufacture of a proposed product. It is a mapping between several design phases like functional design, technical design and physical design. The modelling data generation process begins with the drafting of a product to be maintained using the drafting software package. From the CAD drawing, the data are transferred to be used as the product models and a CAPP software package will then prepare the operational parameters for the manufacturing of the product. These process data are relayed to a CAM software package, which will then generate the automating information-processing functions. The final stage of the function is to support design and manufacturing operations that may have reaped many benefits in terms of its initial equipment and software costs.

Optimal Dynamic Product Development and Launch for a Network of Customers

We consider a firm that dynamically chooses its effort to develop a product for a network of customers represented by a connected graph. The product’s technological development is governed by a stochastic process dependent on the firm’s efforts. In addition to dynamically choosing its development effort, the firm chooses when to launch or abandon the product. If the firm launches the product, the firm also chooses a selling price, a promotional price and a target customer to offer promotion. Once the target customer adopts the product, the product diffuses over the customer network based on the topology of the graph and the selling price. The product provides local network benefits to its adopters. The expected local network benefit of adoption is proportional to the number of neighbor customers that have already adopted the product. In a continuous-time setting, we explicitly solve the firm’s jointly-optimal development, launch and post-launch strategies for any connected network. We prove that among all connected networks, a complete (respectively, linear) customer network maximizes (respectively, minimizes) the firm’s expected discounted profit and minimizes (respectively, maximizes) the technology at the product launch. We extend our analysis to consider demand heterogeneity in the customer network and multiple target customers.

The launch strategy choices in China’s pharmaceutical market

Purpose This paper aims to study the drug launch strategies and their effects on new drug performance in an intensely competitive emerging pharmaceutical market such as the one in China. Design/methodology/approach Data on market share, sales, related firm size and annual profit were obtained for the period, 2004-2008. Profile deviation and cluster analysis approaches were applied in this study. Findings There is a significant effect of an optimal launch strategy on new drug performance given the respective resource availability and the market environment situations. Practical implications The study suggests that multi-national corporations may prove resilient in the emerging economies through both innovative and cost-driven offerings in different therapeutic categories. Originality/value This research is unique in studying the drug launch strategies across both foreign firms and local firms in a competitive emerging pharmaceutical market.

The Multifaceted Nature of Competitive Response: Repositioning and New Product Launch as Joint Response to Competition

The literature abounds with theories on firms’ response to competition, highlighting various response strategies. Although firms likely use combinations of these response strategies in practice, there is little attention to this in the literature. We investigate how firms coordinate two closely related strategies—product repositioning and new product launch. Our approach is to empirically document how firms use these strategies in response to moves by a dominant competitor, in order to provide insight and ground future theoretical development. Using data from the Chinese TV industry, we: (a) document that in most cases, firms respond to competitive approaches by simultaneously changing their position and product launch strategies; (b) interpret the nuanced response strategies that reflect the different combinations of repositioning and changes in product launch; and (c) assess which types of firms are more likely to choose these nuanced response strategies. We discuss how our findings can advance theory development of firms’ responses to competition.

Gradual or rapid global product rollouts?: A review of concepts, propositions, and future directions

Numerous studies in mainstream product commercialization research have focused on the three main aspects; order of entry, relative product advantages, and firm competitiveness. However, the emphasis of the extant research base has not completely found it’s way to investigating the concerns of speed of new product rollouts from a global launch perspective. Specifically, little attention has been given to study the details of the nature of sequential launch and simultaneous launch strategies. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the concepts of sequential and simultaneous international product rollouts through a review of the literature and theory-building endeavours. Although there is evidence of interest pertaining to the launch concepts and their consequences on product success, little research has employed a strong theoretical foundation that integrates both launch strategies in a single framework. Consequently, academics and practitioners are left with limited guidelines for determining the appropriate launch approach when introducing a new product to the global marketplace. To fill the knowledge gap, the authors develop a contextualized model that compares and contrasts the effectiveness of the respective launch strategies along varying degrees of environmental hostility, dynamism, and complexity. The authors highlight conceptual and methodological issues that are imperative for future empirical investigation. We draw on contingency theory and adopt a strategic alignment perspective to develop our conceptual model. Contingency theory has been established as a tool to identify a viable match between organizational strategies and environmental conditions to exploit opportunities and threats. .” There are a number of empirical studies that have used contingency theory and shown that environmental-strategy fit relates positively to performance. Firms, therefore, need to implement different launch strategies according to specific environmental setting (e.g., global customer preference, general competitive reactions, foreign regulation standards, economic conditions) when launching new products beyond national borders. Research propositions are introduced to describe potential contingency effects on the launch strategy–performance link. It is crucial, however, that the decision for employing a specific approach should not be determined solely on the basis of direct advantages (or disadvantages) of launch strategies. This study views that neither sequential nor simultaneous launch strategy, in isolation, is sufficient in explaining the overall outcome of launch strategies. Export managers should therefore take into account the contingency perspective for optimizing launch performance. The selection of a particular launch strategy will be a key determinant of the success of a new product’s introduction into the market.

Surface-to-surface biofilm transfer: a quick and reliable startup strategy for mixed culture microbial fuel cells.

The startup of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is known to be prone to failure or result in erratic performance impeding the research. The aim of this study was to advise a quick launch strategy for laboratory-scale MFCs that ensures steady operation performance in a short period of time. Different startup strategies were investigated and compared with membraneless single chamber MFCs. A direct surface-to-surface biofilm transfer (BFT) in an operating MFC proved to be the most efficient method. It provided steady power densities of 163 ± 13 mWm(-2) 4 days after inoculation compared to 58 ± 15 mWm(-2) after 30 days following a conventional inoculation approach. The in situ BFT eliminates the need for microbial acclimation during startup and reduces performance fluctuations caused by shifts in microbial biodiversity. Anaerobic pretreatment of the substrate and addition of suspended enzymes from an operating MFC into the new MFC proved to have a beneficial effect on startup and subsequent operation. Polarization methods were applied to characterize the startup phase and the steady state operation in terms of power densities, internal resistance and power overshoot during biofilm maturation. Applying this method a well-working MFC can be multiplied into an array of identically performing MFCs.

ARGOS: A fractioned geosynchronous SAR

A swarm of N Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors in a geostationary orbit would provide all-day-all-weather imaging within a continental region, using direct downloading for real time data exploitation. The coherent combinations of the echoes would improve the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of N2, leading to metric resolution, 20–40min minimum observation time, multi-polarimetric and interferometric imaging. Fast evolving events like landslides, floods, soil moisture changes, volcanic activity, co-seismic motions, infrastructure deformations and columnar water-vapor maps would be monitored continuously from space for the first time. The observed area would have a footprint up to a thousand kilometers wide, set using electronic steering, anytime, and anywhere within a continent. In this paper, we take advantage of the preliminary concept definition of the “Advanced Radar Geosynchronous Observation System” ARGOS, to provide applications, scalable extension from a single monostatic SAR to a constellation of active and passive sensors, discussion of launch strategies and Radar payload and comparison with concepts proposed in the literature.

INTEGRATIVE MODEL FOR THE SELECTION OF A NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH STRATEGY, BASED ON ANP, TOPSIS AND MCGP: A CASE STUDY

New product launch strategy is a key competitive advantage for a new product development. A new product launch is a multiple criteria decision-making problem, which involves evaluating different criteria or attributes in a strategy selection process. The purpose of this paper is to develop a qualitative and quantitative approach for the selection of a new product launch strategy. The current study proposes an integrated approach, integrating analytic network process, the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution and multi-choice goal programming, which can be used to determine the best launch strategy for marketing problems. The advantage of this integrated method is that it enables the consideration of both tangible (qualitative) and intangible (quantitative) criteria as well as both “more/higher is better” (e.g., benefit criteria) and “less/lower is better” (e.g., cost criteria) in the launch strategy of a new product selection problem. To show the practicality and usefulness of this method, an empirical example of a watch company is demonstrated.