Abstract
The persistent commercial failure of technological innovations remains a major challenge for innovation ecosystems. Although marketing-related activities are recognized in innovation research, their systematic articulation as a strategic and operational framework for analyzing commercial risk throughout technology commercialization and transfer remains fragmented. This study examines the functional correspondence between selected concepts from Strategic Marketing, technological innovation management, and technology commercialization, and explores the explanatory contribution of Lambin’s Market-Driven Management model to factors associated with the commercial failure of technological innovations. A sequential mixed-method design combines comparative conceptual analysis of the Innovation–Marketing and Technology Transfer–Commercial Exchange pairs with multiple linear regression analysis based on secondary international evidence and technological audit records. The findings indicate a consistent functional correspondence between the selected constructs. The quantitative analysis shows that the joint consideration of Strategic and Operational Marketing dimensions is associated with a substantial share of the historical variation in commercial technological failure (adjusted R² = 0.77). The study does not claim causal exclusivity: institutional, regulatory, technological, financial, and national innovation-system conditions also affect commercialization outcomes. The article positions Strategic Marketing as a complementary analytical framework that can strengthen market-oriented decision-making and help reduce commercialization risk.
The abstract has been reformulated to avoid the claim that Strategic Marketing is an unqualified “underlying theory” of innovation management. It now clarifies the scope of the analysis to technology commercialization and transfer, uses language association rather than causality, and acknowledges other determinants of commercial failure.