BSA 5101 Business Research Methods

Exercise for using Endnote 4.0

Prepared by Charlie Huang
In-class Endnote Exercise: You are required to enter the references in your Endnote
library and then to format the sample paper in the APA style. Please email the
formatted sample paper to x.huang@ecu.edu.au after you have completed it.

The New Product Development Process and the Internet: An

Exploratory Examination
The role of the Internet in business activities has recently attracted increasing attention
from various sources, including government, industry and academia, as evidenced by the
large number of publications on this subject. McEachern and OKeefe (1998) regarded
the Internet as a business enabler. The Internet has also been suggested as something that
will affect business operations, marketing, customer relations, inter-firm relationships,
and exporting (Ainscough, 1996; Alba et al., 1997; Angelides, 1997; Hoffman & Novak,
1996a; Samiee, 1998). Yet little research effort has been devoted to the potential role of
the Internet in the new product development (NPD) process. The Internet has been
regarded as a virtual marketplace, or marketspace (Rayport & Sviokla, 1994). This,
coupled with its communication capability as the information superhighway and its
ability to store vast amounts of information, has made the Internet a potential means of
resolving some long-standing problems in the NPD process. Commercialization,
communication and information acquisition have been identified as critical factors
influencing new product performance (Calantone & Cooper, 1981; Cooper, 1979;
Rothwell, Freeman, Horsey, & Jervis, 1974).
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the use of the Internet in the NPD
process. Specifically, it is to address the following research questions:
1. How is the Internet being used by Australian manufacturing industries, particularly
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?
2. How useful is the Internet for the various activities prescribed in the NPD process?
3. What perceived advantages do business managers see in using the Internet for the
NPD process?
4. What problems do managers have in using the Internet in the NPD process.

This paper is organized as follows: literature on the role of the Internet and the NPD
process is first reviewed. The research method used in this study is then described,
followed by the presentation and discussion of the findings. Finally, some managerial
implications are outlined.

Literature Review
The Characteristics of the Internet
Much has been written from various perspectives about why the Internet has potential
impacts on business. Although numerous features of the Internet have been identified as
contributing to this potential, several of them have so far stood out, including the Internet
as a virtual market, an information sea and a vehicle for communication.
The Internet as a virtual market. The overall size of the Internet users is the first
characteristics that makes the Internet valuable to business. Despite that the Internet has
been publicly available since 1992 (Comer, 1995), the number of the Internet users had
reached 60 million in 1998 and projected to reach 143 million by the year 2002
(eMarketer, 1998). A substantial proportion of businesses have also connected to the
Internet. For example, 82 per cent of medium-sized businesses and 48 per cent of small
businesses in Australia have reported using the Internet by February 1999 (Yellow Pages
Australia, 1999).
The demographics of the Internet users point to the value of the Internet as a marketspace
to business. According to a recent survey of over 5,000 Internet users (Georgia Institute
of Technology, 1998), 53.6 per cent of the users aged between 21 to 40 and a majority
(56.4%) of the users had an annual household income of more than 40,000 US dollars.
Because of the overall size and the rapid increase of consumers and businesses connected
to the Internet, the Internet commerce has generated more than 100 billion dollars in USA
according to a recent study conducted by the University of Texas (The Internat Economy
Indicators, 1999). Therefore, this virtual market has become increasingly attractive and
lucrative to businesses.
The ubiquity, convenience and low cost of access and conducting business in the virtual
market make it more enticing to consumers and businesses. The Internet can be virtually
accessed from anywhere in the world and is available anytime and the cost of getting into
the Internet is relatively low. The US Congress has long predicted that the Internet will
serve as the market (1994). Some scholars (Berthon, Pitt, & Watson, 1996) have vividly
drawn an analogy between the Internet market and electronic trade shows and flea
markets.
The Internet as an information sea. Although the Internet is still in its infancy and
evolving, the World Wide Web (WWW), an important entity of the Internet, can store
boundless amounts of information (Peterson, Balasubramanian, & Bronnenberg, 1997).
It is estimated that hundreds of million pages of information have already been placed on
the WWW. One unique feature of the WWW is that business, consumers and
government organizations can post commercially-oriented information on it. In addition,
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the information is current, easily accessed and mostly free of charge. Therefore, the
Internet is an excellent source of information (Ainscough, 1996 p. 39)

References
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Marketing on the World Wide Web. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 13(2), 3647.
Alba, J., Lynch, J., Weitz, B., Janiszewski, C., Lutz, R., Sawyer, A., & Wood, S. (1997).
Interactive Home Shopping: Consumer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Incentives to
Participate in Electronic Marketplaces. Journal of Marketing, 61(July), 38-53.
Angelides, M. C. (1997). Implementing the Internet for Business: A Global Marketing
Opportunity. International Journal of Information Management, 17(6), 405-419.
Berthon, P., Pitt, L., & Watson, R. T. (1996). Re-surfing W3: Research Perspectives on
Marketing Communication and Buyer Behaviour on the Worldwide Web.
International Journal of Advertising, 15(4), 287-301.
Calantone, R., & Cooper, R. (1981). New Product Scenarios: Prospects for Success.
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Comer, D. E. (1995). The Internet Book. Englewood Cliffs: Pretice Hall.
Cooper, R. G. (1979). The Dimensions of Industrial New Product Success and Failure.
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eMarketer. (1998). 60 Million Net Users Worldwide. (on-line). Available: (Date of
access: 7/6/99).
Georgia Institute of Technology. (1998). GVU's WWW Users Survey. (on-line).
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Hoffman, D., & Novak, T. (1996a). Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated
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Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (1996b). A New Marketing Paradigm for Eletronic
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McEachern, T., & O'Keefe, B. (1998). Re-Wiring Business: Uniting Management and the
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Peterson, R. A., Balasubramanian, S., & Bronnenberg, B. J. (1997). Exploring the
Implications of the Internet for Consumer Marketing. Journal of the Academy of
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Rayport, J. F., & Sviokla, J. J. (1994). Managing in the Marketspace. Harvard Business
Review, 72(6), 141-150.
Rothwell, R., Freeman, C., Horsey, A., & Jervis, V. T. P. (1974). SAPPHO Updated -Project SAPPHO Phases II. Research Policy, 3(3), 258-291.
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Samiee, S. (1998). Exporting and the Internet: A Conceptual Perspective. International

Marketing Review, 15(5), 413-426.
The Internat Economy Indicators. (1999). The Internet Economy Indicators. (on-line).
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13/5/99).