The findings of prior research suggest that a brand's extendibility is constrained by the degree of perceived fit between the brand and extension product categories. However, there are many examples of brands that have been extended successfully into "perceptually distant" domains. Drawing on theories of consumer information processing and product adoption, the authors identify three background traits of prior work that may help explain the discrepancy between prior research and marketplace observation: (1) limited extension information, (2) failure to account for consumers' new product adoption tendencies (i.e., earlier versus later), and (3) single exposure to proposed extensions. In this study, the authors find that the effects of fit disappear when attribute information is added to extension stimuli and are applicable only for later product adopters. The authors also find that perceived fit increases with greater exposure to an extension. Beyond implications for brand extension research, this study underscores the need to recognize that certain research design factors related to external validity, which are often assumed irrelevant, can alter what is held to be true.

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Despite the importance of branding to new product success, little research has been conducted on how individual adoption orientation might affect brand name preferences. This paper draws on the diffusion literature to investigate how consumer innovativeness affects consumer response to alternative branding strategies (i.e., new vs. extended brands, for new products). The results of an empirical study found that consumer innovativeness has a greater effect on new product evaluations for new brand names relative to extended brand names. Also, results indicate that highly innovative consumers evaluate new products with new brand names more favorably than brand extensions. Furthermore, consumer confidence in the new product was found to mediate the effects of consumer innovativeness and its interaction with brand name type on new product evaluation. Implications include not only giving greater managerial consideration to using new brands but also supporting the chosen branding strategy with appropriate promotional efforts for respective adopter groups.

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Brand equity, Marketing, Human resources,

Ineffective relationship management with potential buyers during new product development (NPD) can be an important contributor to new product failure in technology-based, industrial markets. However, empirical research on managing these relationships remains underdeveloped. This study addresses this deficiency by developing an empirically based taxonomy of relationship approaches used by sellers to develop technology-based, industrial innovations, identifying situational characteristics that correlate with the choice of a particular relationship approach, and evaluating sellers' satisfaction with their relationship approach. The study's conceptual model is rooted in transaction cost analysis (TCA) and draws from extant literature on seller-buyer relationships during NPD. It was tested with data from 334 small to mid-sized firms in a variety of technology-based industrial markets. The results indicate that sellers use three basic relationship approaches during NPD: a bilateral approach, a buyer-guided approach, and a seller-guided approach. While the bilateral approach relies on a mutual exchange of information, the buyer-guided and seller-guided approaches do not. Juxtaposed with the high levels of satisfaction experienced by sellers in the sample, the study suggests that no one relationship approach is universally desirable. Therefore, managers may need to engage in a portfolio of relationship approaches with buyers during NPD; further, these approaches should correlate with buyer-related (i.e., perceived buyer knowledge and prior relationship history) and innovation-related (i.e., product customization and technological uncertainty) characteristics. Collectively, these results can help sellers optimize their relationships with buyers during NPD.

Service learning-a pedagogical technique combining academic learning with community service-offers many benefits to students, faculty, educational institutions, and the community. Relative to social sciences and liberal arts faculty, however, business faculty have been slow to incorporate it into their coursework. Service learning may be particularly relevant to marketing courses, given marketing's interest in social causes. At the same time, implementing service learning into the Principles of Marketing course may be challenging because of students' limited marketing background. This article addresses the implementation of service learning in the Principles of Marketing course. Based on the authors' experience, the article recommends an approach to effectively implement a service-learning component into the introductory marketing course. The authors also provide an assessment of outcomes from their approach, critical success factors for instructors who wish to alter this approach, and key challenges as we move forward with service learning in the Principles of Marketing course.