Abstract:
With the global trend towards health and fitness and an aging population that is looking for ways to maintain fitness, there is an opportunity for sports supplements to break away from the ‘hardcore’ athletes to the everyday recreational athlete. This global interest is maturing, particularly in the Australasia market. Many small sports supplement firms are offering innovative products but struggle to diffuse and attract adoption in the marketplace, especially when put up against large international sports supplement brands. Being a new technology-based firm, small sports supplement firms are faced with unique challenges, particularly the need to harmonise the science and business agendas while having limited resources. This research provides insights on how new sports supplement firms can accelerate the rate that its product innovation diffuses into the marketplace. Based on the diffusion of innovation theory, strategies to manage diffusion rates (network embeddedness, design thinking, absorptive capacity) and business model design, this study adapts the literature for the digital age, takes into account multiple stakeholder perspectives and subsequently devises a plan for sports supplement firms to accelerate diffusion of its product innovation into the marketplace. Through semi-structured interviews with multiple stakeholder groups in the sports supplement industry, insights and perspectives are gained. In addition, a process-traced mini case study illustrates a failed case of diffusion of innovations, highlighting the challenges faced by a new sports supplement firm. The main findings that can be drawn from this research suggest that firms need to improve their ability to recognise the opportunities and challenges and to improve their competency in harnessing external knowledge. Currently, the opportunities and challenges that have arisen as a result of the digital age are paramount. Firms could improve their ability to recognise and respond to the opportunities and challenges through being more embedded in networks, understanding customer desires, diversifying a firm’s personnel and increasing exposure to external knowledge.