Exploring the conditions for marketing an innovative and uniquecustomized solution: Mexus case study

This paper explores the conditions for embedding a new fully customized technology in the usage context in terms of the necessary adaptations (e.g., to other customers’ needs) as well as the trade-offs necessary to spread the solution on the market. To achieve this purpose the paper employs a single case study design and analyzes the embedding of a bespoke innovative solution (called Mexus) in the market through the interactions between the developing firm (Loccioni), the major customer that was first to order it (Continental) and a major supplier (National Instruments), as well as other players such as a competitor (Innov8) and other customers. Our theoretical tools are the ARA (activities, resources, and actors) model and the 4R (four-resources) model, which we apply to identify both the specific adaptations between resources and the trade-offs faced by the involved actors. Our findings suggest firstly that embedding technology in networks requires not only that the involved actors gain something from an innovation, but also that they accept sacrifices and face trade-offs in relation to it; and secondly that both gains and trade-offs emerge from the resource interfaces that must be created in order to adapt resources to each other as a way to sustain the development and further marketing of new technical solutions.