Achieving generational product innovativeness: The role of intentional cannibalization, technological capability, and agility
(A2024-119513)

AUTHORS

Nikolaos Kyriakopoulos, Delft University of Technology; Paraskevas Argouslidis, Athens University of Economics & Business, School of Business, Department of Marketing & Communication; ERIK JAN HULTINK, DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY; EUIYOUNG KIM, TU Delft

ABSTRACT

When transitioning from the old to the new generation of a product, innovation is often challenging and requires specific abilities. Despite its managerial relevance, little is known about achieving generational product innovativeness. To enrich our understanding, the present study reports on evidence from 201 UK firms conducting generational product innovations. The results offer novel insights about the beneficial role of intentional cannibalization and technological capability in driving agility in generational product decision-making. Furthermore, they show that agility is critical to generational product innovativeness, especially under technological turbulence. Generally, the findings make a useful contribution to product innovation research (specifically in generational transitions) and add to the emerging research on the role of agility in organizations. Moreover, they suggest managerial propositions regarding how firms can achieve superior generational innovativeness. Finally, they point at future research propositions.