The role of marketing activities in the fuzzy fron

Authors: M Schoonmaker E Carayannis P Rau

Publish Date: 2012/12/22

Volume: 38, Issue: 6, Pages: 850-872

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Abstract

In this paper we explore the importance of marketing activities during the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation FFEI which in product life cycle management is described as the phase between RD and the beginning of formal new product development The FFEI is characterized by informal processes and many industry specific conditions The particular context in which the study was conducted involved research emerging from a US government sponsored institution Firms obtain licenses for technology from the government sponsored institution with the purpose of advancing them towards commercialization But the process of development often gets stalled especially during the initial stages due to the lack of a number of resources financial key personnel etc The specific interest in this study was therefore to understand the extent to which various marketing efforts by the licensees enabled the survival of early stage biotech innovations Licensees would be expected to seek resources by undertaking a number of marketing activities designed to communicate a value proposition to potential resource providers The study involved qualitative data collection among licensees to uncover marketing activities in which they engaged during the FFEI phase The data was coded to develop the specific types of marketing activities that had been employed so as to provide insight into which activities were important in enabling early stage innovation survival Future research can build upon this study’s findings in industries other than biotech and involving different sources of technology transfer universities etcI am Mary Schoonmaker a PhD candidate from The George Washington University The purpose of this interview is to discuss how your firm obtains project resources in order to develop its license from the NIH The interview should take 15–20 min of your time All information is recorded in an anonymous manner I am happy to share the aggregated results of the interviews with you if you would like to see them These results will be used to help develop a survey for firms to complete about how they market themselves to secure innovation project resources such as partners or investments Do I have your permission to proceed

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