IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/oropre/v67y2019i3p770-790.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal Dynamic Product Development and Launch for a Network of Customers

Author

Listed:
  • Nur Sunar

    (Kenan–Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599)

  • John R. Birge

    (Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637)

  • Sinit Vitavasiri

    (Ericsson, Inc., San Jose, California 95134)

Abstract

Network products such as mobile apps and computer games are of paramount importance, as these products constitute a large value in today’s economy. Motivated by this observation, the paper “Optimal Dynamic Product Development and Launch for a Network of Customers” considers a firm that dynamically chooses its effort to develop a product for a network of customers represented by a connected graph. The technology of the product evolves as a stochastic process that depends on the firm’s dynamic efforts over time. In addition to dynamically choosing its development effort, the firm chooses when to launch or abandon the product. If the firm launches the product, the firm also chooses a selling price, a promotional price, and a target customer to offer the promotion to. Once the target customer adopts the product, the product diffuses over the customer network based on the topology of the graph and the selling price. The paper provides the explicit solution of the firm’s jointly optimal development, launch, and post-launch strategies for any connected network, and introduces metrics that allow ordering customer networks with respect to the firm’s optimal expected discounted profit, launch technology, and consumer surplus.

Suggested Citation

  • Nur Sunar & John R. Birge & Sinit Vitavasiri, 2019. "Optimal Dynamic Product Development and Launch for a Network of Customers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 770-790, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:67:y:2019:i:3:p:770-790
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2018.1802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2018.1802
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/opre.2018.1802?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. V. Krishnan & Karl T. Ulrich, 2001. "Product Development Decisions: A Review of the Literature," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Liu, Heng & Özer, Özalp, 2009. "Managing a product family under stochastic technological changes," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 567-580, December.
    3. Farzin, Y. H. & Huisman, K. J. M. & Kort, P. M., 1998. "Optimal timing of technology adoption," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 779-799, May.
    4. Sreekumar R. Bhaskaran & V. Krishnan, 2009. "Effort, Revenue, and Cost Sharing Mechanisms for Collaborative New Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(7), pages 1152-1169, July.
    5. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 2008. "Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 1, pages 3-15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Kevin F. McCardle, 1985. "Information Acquisition and the Adoption of New Technology," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(11), pages 1372-1389, November.
    7. Scott A. Shane & Karl T. Ulrich, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: Technological Innovation, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 133-144, February.
    8. Dharma Kwon, H. & Lippman, Steven A. & Tang, Christopher S., 2010. "Optimal time-based and cost-based coordinated project contracts with unobservable work rates," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 247-254, August.
    9. Özer, Özalp & Uncu, Onur, 2015. "Integrating dynamic time-to-market, pricing, production and sales channel decisions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(2), pages 487-500.
    10. Dutta, Prajit K., 1997. "Optimal management of an R&D budget," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 575-602.
    11. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    12. Balcer, Yves & Lippman, Steven A., 1984. "Technological expectations and adoption of improved technology," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 292-318, December.
    13. Grenadier, Steven R. & Weiss, Allen M., 1997. "Investment in technological innovations: An option pricing approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 397-416, June.
    14. Sunil Kumar & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2003. "Diffusion of Innovations Under Supply Constraints," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(6), pages 866-879, December.
    15. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 2008. "Innovation, Market Structure, and Firm Size," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 2, pages 16-23, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Ozan Candogan & Kostas Bimpikis & Asuman Ozdaglar, 2012. "Optimal Pricing in Networks with Externalities," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(4), pages 883-905, August.
    17. G. Bethuyne, 2002. "The Timing of Technology Adoption by a Cost-minimizing Firm," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 76(2), pages 123-154, June.
    18. Morris A. Cohen & Jehoshua Eliasberg & Teck-Hua Ho, 1996. "New Product Development: The Performance and Time-to-Market Tradeoff," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 173-186, February.
    19. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1996. "A Reprise of Size and R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 925-951, July.
    20. Wenjing Shen & Izak Duenyas & Roman Kapuscinski, 2011. "New Product Diffusion Decisions Under Supply Constraints," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(10), pages 1802-1810, October.
    21. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1992. "The Anatomy of Industry R&D Intensity Distributions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 773-799, September.
    22. R. Mark Krankel & Izak Duenyas & Roman Kapuscinski, 2006. "Timing Successive Product Introductions with Demand Diffusion and Stochastic Technology Improvement," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 119-135, June.
    23. Sergei Savin & Christian Terwiesch, 2005. "Optimal Product Launch Times in a Duopoly: Balancing Life-Cycle Revenues with Product Cost," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 26-47, February.
    24. Arnd Huchzermeier & Christoph H. Loch, 2001. "Project Management Under Risk: Using the Real Options Approach to Evaluate Flexibility in R...D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 85-101, January.
    25. James E. Smith & Canan Ulu, 2012. "Technology Adoption with Uncertain Future Costs and Quality," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(2), pages 262-274, April.
    26. Ted Klastorin & Weiyu Tsai, 2004. "New Product Introduction: Timing, Design, and Pricing," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 6(4), pages 302-320, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shi, Zhenyang & Liu, Shaoxuan, 2020. "Optimal inventory control and design refresh selection in managing part obsolescence," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(1), pages 133-144.
    2. Demirci, Ece Zeliha & Erkip, Nesim, 2024. "Integrating efforts for product development and market penetration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 312(3), pages 927-937.
    3. Ketelaars, Martijn, 2024. "Clearing in financial networks and dynamic investment under uncertainty," Other publications TiSEM 94768fb9-fd72-405d-a330-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Victor F. Araman & René A. Caldentey, 2022. "Diffusion Approximations for a Class of Sequential Experimentation Problems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 5958-5979, August.
    5. Sareh Nabi & Houssam Nassif & Joseph Hong & Hamed Mamani & Guido Imbens, 2022. "Bayesian Meta-Prior Learning Using Empirical Bayes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(3), pages 1737-1755, March.
    6. Vahideh Manshadi & Sidhant Misra & Scott Rodilitz, 2020. "Diffusion in Random Networks: Impact of Degree Distribution," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 1722-1741, November.
    7. Nur Sunar & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2022. "Socially relevant and inclusive operations management," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4379-4392, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liao, Shuangqing & Seifert, Ralf W., 2015. "On the optimal frequency of multiple generation product introductions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 245(3), pages 805-814.
    2. Ilan Lobel & Jigar Patel & Gustavo Vulcano & Jiawei Zhang, 2016. "Optimizing Product Launches in the Presence of Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1778-1799, June.
    3. Hagspiel, Verena & Huisman, Kuno J.M. & Kort, Peter M. & Lavrutich, Maria N. & Nunes, Cláudia & Pimentel, Rita, 2020. "Technology adoption in a declining market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(1), pages 380-392.
    4. Stylianos Kavadias & Karl T. Ulrich, 2020. "Innovation and New Product Development: Reflections and Insights from the Research Published in the First 20 Years of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 84-92, January.
    5. R. Mark Krankel & Izak Duenyas & Roman Kapuscinski, 2006. "Timing Successive Product Introductions with Demand Diffusion and Stochastic Technology Improvement," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 119-135, June.
    6. Ufuk Akcigit & William R. Kerr, 2018. "Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1374-1443.
    7. Laksana, Kamonkan & Hartman, Joseph C., 2010. "Planning product design refreshes with service contract and competition considerations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 189-203, August.
    8. Chronopoulos, Michail & Lumbreras, Sara, 2017. "Optimal regime switching under risk aversion and uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(2), pages 543-555.
    9. Fei Gao & Shiliang Cui & Morris Cohen, 2021. "Performance, Reliability, or Time‐to‐Market? Innovative Product Development and the Impact of Government Regulation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(1), pages 253-275, January.
    10. Mariotti, Thomas & Décamps, Jean-Paul & Gensbittel, Fabien, 2021. "Investment Timing and Technological Breakthrough," CEPR Discussion Papers 16246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Scott A. Shane & Karl T. Ulrich, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: Technological Innovation, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 133-144, February.
    12. Bayrak, Busra & Guray, Busra & Uzunlar, Nilsu & Nadar, Emre, 2024. "Diffusion control in closed-loop supply chains: Successive product generations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    13. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2013_028 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bester, Helmut & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2004. "Wages and productivity growth in a dynamic monopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 83-100, January.
    15. Brozynski, Max T. & Leibowicz, Benjamin D., 2020. "Markov models of policy support for technology transitions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(3), pages 1052-1069.
    16. Ufuk Akcigit & William R. Kerr, 2018. "Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1374-1443.
    17. Vahideh Manshadi & Sidhant Misra & Scott Rodilitz, 2020. "Diffusion in Random Networks: Impact of Degree Distribution," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 1722-1741, November.
    18. Kettunen, Janne & Grushka-Cockayne, Yael & Degraeve, Zeger & De Reyck, Bert, 2015. "New product development flexibility in a competitive environment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(3), pages 892-904.
    19. Raquel Ortega-Argilés & Marco Vivarelli & Peter Voigt, 2009. "R&D in SMEs: a paradox?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 3-11, June.
    20. Souza, Gilvan C., 2004. "Product introduction decisions in a duopoly," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(3), pages 745-757, February.
    21. Druehl, Cheryl T. & Schmidt, Glen M. & Souza, Gilvan C., 2009. "The optimal pace of product updates," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(2), pages 621-633, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:67:y:2019:i:3:p:770-790. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.