Relational resources and competences for radical product innovation

Peter Drucker in 1954 said that there are two distinguishing features of the business: marketing and innovation. In the very first edition of the Journal of Marketing Management, Keith Blois examined the influence of customers and competitors in the new product development process, concluding that the widely referenced process models were insufficient for capturing external inputs central to the progress from the generation of ideas to eventual market launch and growth. In the intervening period numerous authors have published research on "product innovation" with the alternative conceptualisations process centre stage. Much of this research, however, is rooted in theories intrinsically concerned with incremental product development and most of that relating to physical consumer goods. More recently, some product innovation research has turned to the specific issue of radical innovation, concluding again that the traditional "stage" models are a necessary but insufficient conceptual framework for analysis. At the same time, the conceptual foundations of marketing have been strengthened by the discussion of the role of interaction, markets and networks. This paper is located where these trends in marketing and innovation research intersect by examining the marketing competences required for radical product innovation.