Media Release
July 21 2008
Unlocking the secrets of product evolution in the marketplace
Modern
western societies are changing at a rapid rate and today many major
corporations like Google, Microsoft and Nokia are based on products that
did not exist 20 years ago.
Head of UniSA’s
School of
Marketing,
Professor Malcolm Wright has been applying marketing science
principles to help businesses confront the challenge of technological
transformation that threatens the lifecycle of products in the market.
Prof Wright will present the seminar
The birth of ideas and the death of technology tomorrow evening,
July 22, as part of the University’s free
Working
Links lecture series,
Gift of knowledge 2008. Prof Wright will share his experiences and
insights on how new ideas and products enter the market and how they
grow and displace those of their competitors.
Marketers have spent the last 40 years developing and applying models
that predict how new products will fair in the marketplace and Prof
Wright outlines what they have learnt. He discusses much of his research
on forecasting using practical examples ranging from steam locomotives
to the growth of broadband, and presents the facts and folklore about
the product lifecycle and how applying marketing science can help
businesses rise to the challenge.
“Marketing practitioners have a lot of knowledge about how new products
are adopted but they can be open to taking on folklore,” Prof Wright
said.
“By studying many markets, we can discover many instances where popular
ideas are overstated, or just flatly wrong. It’s far better to base
decisions on hard-won facts rather than on popular theories that have
only weak support,” he said.
Recently Prof Wright developed an interest in the decay and decline of
technologies and shows how this can be predicted and, in the case of
unsustainable technologies, encouraged.
Members of the public are invited to register online to attend the
seminar tomorrow, Tuesday July 22, in the Bradley Forum, Level 5, Hawke
Building at UniSA’s City West campus, North Terrace Adelaide from 5:45pm
– 8pm.
The Working Links lecture series reflects the University’s links with
business leaders that ensure UniSA is teaching the knowledge they seek
in our students and undertakes marketing science research that adds to
the pool of knowledge.
Contacts for interview
- Prof Malcolm Wright office (08) 8302 7640 mobile 0411 162 751 email malcolm.wright@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Geraldine Hinter office (08) 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861832 email geraldine.hinter@unisa.edu.au