Title: Technology and trend management at the interface of technology push and market pull

Authors: Maximilian A. Maier; Maximilian Hofmann; Alexander Brem

Addresses: Department of Marketing and Sales Management, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Licher Straße 66, D-35394 Giessen, Germany ' School of Business and Economics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lange Gasse 20, D-90403 Nuremberg, Germany ' Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Alsion 2, DK-6400 Sønderborg, Denmark

Abstract: Technology push and market pull innovation strategies are playing an important role for the effective management of ideas, technologies, and trends. The coexistence of these two approaches led to many debates and the focus switched several times from putting more effort into technology push aspects to fostering market pull approaches in the last decades. Still, there is no in-depth exploration of the interface of technology push and market pull and only few conceptual models are dealing with the connection between technology push and market pull in particular. Therefore, this study puts an exploratory focus on the innovation management processes of a global outdoor manufacturer with a special emphasis on the interface between technology push and market pull. From the case findings and our literature we conceptualise a non-linear innovation model that systematically integrates market pull and technology push activities. The model was tested for its practical applicability by reflecting it against the case company's organisational capabilities. Further research implications are discussed as well as implications for the management of the innovation process in practice, which highlights especially the importance of an innovation competence team.

Keywords: technology management; trend management; front end; innovation management; market pull; technology push; organisational capabilities; outdoor industry; case study; innovation strategies; nonlinear models; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2016.081575

International Journal of Technology Management, 2016 Vol.72 No.4, pp.310 - 332

Received: 12 Jun 2015
Accepted: 24 Dec 2015
Published online: 15 Jan 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article