Market information approaches, product innovativeness, and firm performance: An empirical study in the fashion industry

In this study the authors propose a distinction between two approaches to market information, rooted in the marked-based learning theory. The two approaches are conceptualized and operationalized on the basis of their differences along three processes: generation, dissemination and use of market information. In the retrospective approach, the generation process is based on expressed customer needs and extant market relations; the dissemination is based on formal mechanisms; the use process is more instrumental. In the forward-looking approach, the generation process is based on latent customer needs and on the evolutionary patterns of the future market relations; the dissemination process is more informal; the use of information is more conceptual. A series of hypotheses concerning the relationships between these approaches, product innovativeness and firm performance are tested on a sample of Italian fashion firms. Results suggest that the two approaches are complementary for firm performance, but have opposite effects on product innovativeness: while a forward-looking approach is positively related to product innovativeness, a retrospective approach seems to be negatively related. The results also shed light on how market information approaches and product innovativeness jointly affect firm performance. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.