Title: Measuring customer preferences in new product development: comparing compositional and decompositional methods

Authors: Roland Helm, Armin Scholl, Laura Manthey, Michael Steiner

Addresses: Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, D-07743 Jena, Germany. ' Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, D-07743 Jena, Germany. ' Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, D-07743 Jena, Germany. ' Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, D-07743 Jena, Germany

Abstract: Preference measurement is important in the early stages of new product development. Conjoint analysis (CA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are common methods for measuring preferences with CA dominating marketing research and practice. These methods mainly differ with respect to their basic conception: AHP is a compositional method whereas CA is designed in a decompositional manner. This study aims at comparing the methods as instruments of preference measurement. The results show a high degree of predictive and convergent validity of both methods. However, inspecting the results in detail reveals considerable differences, which indicate that AHP performs slightly better.

Keywords: customer preference measurement; conjoint analysis; CA; analytic hierarchy process; AHP; applicability; validity; paired-comparison; dominance test; new product development; NPD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2004.004888

International Journal of Product Development, 2004 Vol.1 No.1, pp.12 - 29

Published online: 14 Jul 2004 *

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