Sven Molner, Jaideep C. Prabhu, and Manjit S. Yadav have been selected as the recipients of the annual Shelby D. Hunt/Harold H. Maynard Award for their article “Lost in a Universe of Markets: Toward a Theory of Market Scoping for Early-Stage Technologies,” which appeared in the March 2019 issue of Journal of Marketing.
Established in 1974 under the leadership of Journal of Marketing editor in chief Edward W. Cundiff, the Harold H. Maynard Award was established to honor the best Journal of Marketing article on marketing theory. The award was renamed the Shelby D. Hunt/Harold H. Maynard Award in 2015 to honor three-time award recipient Shelby D. Hunt, who led the establishment of an endowment to secure the award in perpetuity. This year’s committee included: Robert W. Palmatier (chair), Inge Geyskens, and Deborah J. MacInnis.
The committee members shared the following, “The Shelby D. Hunt/Harold H. Maynard Award recognizes the 2019 Journal of Marketing article that has made the most significant contribution to marketing theory. This year’s winner, written by Sven Molner (University of London), Jaideep Prabhu (Cambridge University), and Manjit Yadav (Texas A&M University) provides an innovative investigation of market scoping for early-stage technologies, a fundamental, yet underexplored, marketing activity. Market scoping refers to managerial activities directed at the identification of market spaces for early-stage technologies.
The paper identifies managers’ market-scoping mindset—which manifests as market ambiguity avoidance or acceptance—as a key explanatory construct shaping market space decisions and outcomes. Market ambiguity avoidance results in managers’ downstream orientation toward end users; this mindset, counterintuitively, may lead to technology commercialization failure. In contrast, market ambiguity acceptance results in managers’ upstream orientation; this mindset directs attention away from end users, but helps uncover indirect paths to viable market spaces. The article provides a platform for advancing marketing research in the context of early-stage technology commercialization.”
In addition to the winning paper, the other excellent finalists for the award were as follows:
- “Brand Coolness,” Caleb Warren, Rajeev Batra, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, and Richard P. Bagozzi
- “How to SHIFT Consumer Behaviors to be More Sustainable: A Literature Review and Guiding Framework,” Katherine White, Rishad Habib, and David J. Hardisty
- “The Temporary Marketing Organization,” Allègre L. Hadida, Jan B. Heide, and Simon J. Bell
The award is presented at the Summer Academic Conference to be held August 21-23, 2020 in San Francisco, CA.