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PurposeThe question of R&D and marketing cooperation (RMC) in new product development (NPD) is of increasing relevance. However, it is unclear whether RMC really leads to new product success (NPS) and whether and to what extent other elements of market orientation (MO) impact on NPS and the RMC‐NPS relationship. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on this important question and to verify the existence and degree of direct and indirect causalities between the core elements of MO and NPS.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study has been carried out to test the conceptual framework and the five hypotheses developed based on seminal literature. The conceptual framework and hypotheses are tested using both SEM and regression methods with survey data from 217 respondents from the electronics industry in China.FindingsThe results demonstrate that RMC has a significant and positive influence on NPS. The results on customer orientation support previous findings and the research offers interesting insights with respect to the role of customer orientation in NPD. While results from SEM analysis reject the hypothesized direct effect of competitor orientation on NPS and the predicted mediating effect of competitor orientation on the RMC‐NPS link, results from regression analysis, however, suggest otherwise.Practical implicationsThe results of the research help to assure practitioners of the primacy role of RMC in NPD and the positive effects of customer orientation on NPS. Such findings should enable NPD team leaders to make best possible decisions in allocating resources among competing priorities. Divergent results on the effects of competitor orientation on NPS and the RMC‐NPS link remind practitioners that knowing the assumptions behind an analysis is actually a precondition for correctly assessing and implementing the results of any research.Originality/valueResults of the study will fill a research gap in marketing studies which have largely neglected the interplay among the three core elements of MO and the mediating effects, individual and combined, of customer and competitor orientations on the RMC‐NPS link. Divergent findings derived from the use of two different analysis tools yield new insights to both academics and practitioners and may warrant further investigation.

IntroductionMost chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in Canada are diagnosed among immigrants from endemic countries and lack traditional risk factors while most acute infections are usually diagnosed in Caucasian population with co-occurring risk factors. Thus, understanding geographical distribution of HBV infection by ethnicity could inform screening and care strategies.
Objectives and ApproachWe identified geographic clusters of HBV infection in British Columbia by ethnicity during the years 1990-2015 using the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort (BC-HTC). The BC-HTC includes ~1.7 million individuals tested for HCV or HIV at the BC Public Health Laboratory or reported as a case of HCV, HIV, or HBV linked to healthcare administrative databases. We plotted maps of HBV diagnoses (acute and chronic) rate at the Dissemination Area level between 1990-2015 stratified by ethnicity and compared this distribution with injection drug use (IDU) distribution in BC.
ResultsThe distribution of HBV varied considerably by ethnicity. From 1990 to 2015, a higher rate of HBV infection was found among East Asians and Caucasians followed by South Asians and other ethnicities. East Asians with highest rates were mainly concentrated in Vancouver city, Burnaby and Richmond (Metro Vancouver) while South Asians with highest rates were mostly concentrated in urban areas in Surrey and Abbotsford. Caucasians with higher rates were clustered in Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford (Metro Vancouver) and urban areas in Greater Victoria (Vancouver Island), Prince George (Northern BC) and Kamloops (Interior BC). The distribution of IDU closely followed the distribution of HBV among Caucasians but did not align with other ethnic groups.
Conclusion/ImplicationsResults highlight distinct areas of HBV infection clustering by ethnicity, which differ from areas with high IDU distribution except in Caucasians. Findings support ethnicity-based HBV screening/prevention and care services to areas with immigrants from HBV-endemic countries and integrated HBV and harm reduction services for early diagnosis and treatment in Caucasians.