Managing Product Launches in Dynamic Markets: Insights from the New Jeep Compass

This master’s thesis explores the strategic and operational dynamics of product launches in rapidly evolving markets, with a particular focus on the automotive industry. Grounded in a comprehensive theoretical framework, it addresses how product characteristics, market orientation, communication strategies, pricing, timing, and resource integration affect launch outcomes. In particular, the research emphasizes the interplay between innovation’s characteristics—such as relative advantage and compatibility with major trends in the market—and the communication and branding tactics necessary to enable adoption, especially in product categories characterized by high involvement. Through an in-depth case study of the New Jeep Compass (2025), the work examines how Jeep has redefined its launch strategy to address current challenges in the automotive sector, including electrification trends, market fragmentation, and evolving consumer behavior. The case study integrates product-level decisions with broader industry trends, highlighting how modular platform architectures, digital communication, and brand positioning were leveraged to ensure a successful launch in the market. This experience provided direct access to internal data and strategic documents, with the potential to perform original analysis and to create practice-driven findings. Integrating academic literature with business practice in the sector, the thesis provides actionable recommendations on how to manage launches in complex environments. It underscores the importance of cross-functional coordination, international adaptation, and strategic timing, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Ultimately, the study contributes conceptually and empirically to the literature on launch performance in dynamic, innovation-oriented markets.