Strategic Product Design for Retail Channel Acceptance Under Uncertainty and Competition

该研究的目的是开发一种战略产品设计方法，从而产生在市场上具有高成功概率的新产品。该方法将模拟零售商对可能的工程设计的接受程度，并通过对最终消费者的联合调查估计需求来解释不确定性对零售商盈利能力的重要影响。拟议的研究将侧重于将工程设计决策与现代零售市场中存在的观察到的多层渠道结构联系起来，在现代零售市场中，越来越大和占主导地位的零售商可以对到达消费者的产品类型产生重大影响。具体来说，零售商偏好的问题，消费者对特定零售商和产品的偏好，以及零售商在不同渠道结构下的战略反应（例如，市场上一个占主导地位的零售商与两个占主导地位的零售商）将在不确定条件下竞争制造商的设计中得到考虑。最终，所提出的方法将有助于整合战略、营销和工程设计，以最大限度地提高焦点制造商的利润，同时考虑到竞争的动态性质。这项研究的结果将对美国制造商创造成功的设计创新和保持/维持产品和服务的竞争优势具有重要意义，通过考虑全球市场的零售结构特征。这项研究将为本科生和研究生开发课程内容，在新产品设计的背景下结合工程和市场营销。将对工程设计方法论、工程决策、多学科产品开发、服务设计和市场营销等领域的教育作出具体贡献。

The objective of the research is to develop a strategic product design approach that results in new products that have high probability of success in the market. The approach will model retailer acceptance of possible engineering designs and account for the important effect of uncertainty on the profitability of retailers by estimating demand from conjoint surveys from ultimate consumers. The proposed research will focus on linking engineering design decisions with the observed multi-tier channel structure that exists in modern retail markets, where increasingly large and dominant retailers can have a significant impact on the types of products that reach the consumer. Specifically, the issues of retailer preference, customer preference for particular retailers and products, and the strategic responses of retailers under different channel structures (e.g., one dominant retailer versus two dominant retailers in the market) will be accounted for in the designs of competing manufacturers under conditions of uncertainty. Ultimately, the proposed approach will serve to integrate strategy, marketing and engineering design to maximize the profit of a focal manufacturer while taking into consideration the dynamic nature of competition.Results from this research will have important implications for US manufacturers in creating successful design innovations and maintaining/sustaining competitive advantage in products as well as in services by accounting for the retail structures that characterize global markets. The research will lead to development of curricular content for undergraduate and graduate students that combines engineering and marketing in the context of new product design. Specific contributions will be made to education in the areas of engineering design methodology, engineering decision making, multidisciplinary product development, service design and marketing.