Some contemporary new product introductions feature attribute auto-dynamics — the property that enables a product to adapt its attributes automatically in response to changing customer, product-system, or environmental (CSE) conditions. In addition to explicating auto-dynamics, the authors propose a typology of attribute auto-dynamics, based on close examinations of 273 U.S. utility patents published between 2001 and 2017. Attribute auto-dynamics offers an efficient mapping design, applicable to changing conditions and product attribute states, that indicates a four-part (contingent, distinctive, associative, and generative) typology. Building on this typology, the authors specify a procedural framework for new product ideation by harnessing market-pull–relevant knowledge about CSE conditions, along with technology-push–relevant knowledge about product attributes. Finally, the application of a proposed framework for consumer decision making to pricing strategies for products with auto-dynamics reveals some key implications for research and practice.
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