ABSTRACT
The problem of how to foster and manage technological innovation has long been of primary concern to both academics and executives. Since the late 1960s a large and still-growing body of research evidence has pointed consistently to the conclusion that, for relatively small innovations at least, there is a broad correlation between the success of new product innovations and the extent to which their development is marketing or user led (Marquis, 1976; Mansfield et al., 1971; Utterback, 1971; Litvakand Maule, 1972; Rothwell, 1974; Cooper, 1975; Mansfield and Wagner, 1975; von Hippel, 1976, 1978, 1982; Freeman, 1984; Quinn, 1985; Georghiou et al., 1986; Cooper and Kleinschmnidt, 1987). This is not to say that technology push has no part to play in successful innovation. On the contrary, it has been widely recognized that a purely market-led approach can be every bit as limiting as a purely technology-driven one (Dessauer, 1971; Tauber, 1974, 1975; Imae et al., 1984; Voss, 1984; Little and Sweeting, 1984). The art, as most commentators have agreed, is to combine the two; or, to use a phrase adopted in two of the key studies in the field, to ensure the ‘proper coupling of R&D with marketing’ (Mansfield, 1971; Freeman, 1984; see also Cooper, 1975; Aram and Javian, 1973; Souder, 1977, 1987; Rubinstein et al., 1976).
