The Role of Market Information Sources on New Product Innovativeness in a Myanmar Manufacturing Company

Market information sources are fundamental pillars of marketing and related activities. Market orientation has become a cornerstone of marketing concepts and is regarded as the operationalisation of marketing. New product innovativeness (NPI) is the measurement of success of new product development (NPD) and is affected by market orientation. Four Diamond Company Limited is a three-generation local plastic manufacturing and distribution business specialising in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The study aims to examine the effects of market information sources on the new product innovativeness of Four Diamond Company Limited. The objectives of the study are to identify the sources and types of market information available for Four Diamond Company Limited, to define the new product innovativeness (NPI) as a competitive advantage, and to determine the effect of different information sources on the new product innovativeness of the company. An appropriate literature review was conducted to develop a conceptual model of the study. Regarding the research methodology, the constructivism-interpretivism philosophy was adopted, and inductive synthesis and a qualitative cross-sectional research methodology were applied. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used, and 17 participants were selected based on the researcher’s knowledge and understanding. Standard ethical guidelines were followed, and the researcher was fully aware of and mitigated the issues of being an insider researcher. Qualitative content analysis was carried out to analyse qualitative data and content thematic analysis was applied to generate themes and construct thematic framework from the findings. It was found that customers, suppliers, networking events and internal information sources are important information sources for the Four Diamond Company Limited (FDCL). Two thematic frameworks were generated. The first theme is market orientation which includes information processing, intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, coordination and cooperation and response to market changes. The second theme is NPI which includes new-to-market innovativeness, new-to-firm innovativeness, uniqueness and competitiveness and is influenced by the nature of product and market systems. The market orientation is the key phenomenon adopting the information from different sources and applying such information into the existing organisational systems ultimately affecting the product and organisational outcomes. Customer orientation, supplier orientation, competitor orientation inter-functional coordination are determinants of NPI, and customer information sources and internal information sources can directly positively affect NPI.