An empirical study of commercialization performance on nanoproducts

Along with the trend toward the convergence between nanotechnology and other disciplines, the commercial application and the diffusion of Nan products have drawn much attention. The successful commercialization of nanoproducts is based not only on R&D breakthroughs but also on the products attributes and the consumers needs. However, no research has yet been carried out to investigate the effect of performance and importance on nanoproducts. The aim of this study is to discuss and evaluate the commercialization performance of nanoproducts from consumer perspectives. The importance-performance analysis (IPA) approach was used to construct a series of nanoproducts importance attribute and performance evaluation maps to identify areas for improvement. The empirical data were compiled in a structural consumer questionnaire-based survey from consumer perspectives across different nanoproducts. Respondents were required to identify nanoproducts innovative characteristics and the performance differences of their attributes. Both innovation characteristics and product attribute dimensions as representing nanoproduct innovations were further weighted in terms of their perceived importance and their performance. As a consequence, the proposed approach in this study is to understand how to integrate consumers perceived importance into performance, with particular concern on the identification of market opportunities into the commercialization of nanoproducts. In addition, this study enables nanotechnology firms to develop nanoproduct technologies and to strategically market them based on their attributes and performance, thus leading to the achievement of their commercialization and the creation of a successful long-term, performance-based competitive strategy.