Marketing and Innovation Management: An Integrated Perspective

The relevance and importance of marketing in innovation management has been questioned in recent years. Marketing has been blamed directly or indirectly for poor returns on investment in innovation, and marketing models of the diffusion of innovations have not been widely adopted. In this monograph we argue that marketing is currently in a unique position to reaffirm its critical role in innovation management. We review some recent research that has already started this "reinstatement" process and propose some future directions that may help complete it. We argue that the focus of marketing input into the innovation process should be shifted from quantifying consumer input through surveys toward uncovering qualitative insights by observing and engaging consumers. We also argue that marketing has a unique role to play in unifying and bridging various paradigms proposed in diffusion research. Finally, given the dramatic shifts in consumption patterns and social interactivity over the past few years, we explore how marketing has and should contribute to non-traditional and novel approaches to the launch of innovations.