Learning effect in multinational diffusion of consumer durables: An exploratory investigation

Literature reflects that a product/technological innovation introduced later in a country results in faster diffusion as the consumers in the lag market have an opportunity to learn about the new product from the consumers in the lead market. A systematic understanding of the learning that takes place between consumers in two countries—a pair of lead and lag countries—can provide insights for a firm’s international market entry decisions. To provide a richer understanding of the underlying structure and patterns that govern this process, propositions linking factors (country characteristics, product/innovation characteristics, and time lag) to the learning process are drawn. Subsequently, these propositions are tested through an empirical investigation of the diffusion patterns of four consumer innovations in multiple European countries. The findings help provide some preliminary guidelines for manufacturers regarding selection of foreign markets and the timing and order-of-entry decisions. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1995. His research interests include global competition and marketing strategy, brand equity and brand extensions, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, and issues pertaining to product development and introduction. He has been recognized with numerous teaching and research excellence awards and has published numerous articles in many scholarly journals in marketing and forecasting. He has coauthored the textbookMarketing Research and is currently working on a book titledInternational Marketing Research, which is based on his marketing research experience across the globe. He is on the editorial review board of many journals and has lectured on marketing-related topics in various universities worldwide. His research interests include developing forecasting models, international marketing strategy and research issues, models for sales promotions, and new methodologies for product positioning and market segmentation. His research interests focus on marketing strategy and international marketing. He has published articles and presented at conferences on research in his area of interest.