Capturing the cross-national learning effect: An analysis of an industrial technology diffusion

Recent studies on cross-national diffusion have observed that when a new product innovation is introduced early in one country (the lead country) and with a time lag in subsequent countries (the lag countries), the consumers in the lag countries learn about the product from the lead country adopters, resulting in a faster diffusion rate in the lag countries. This study attempts to examine the relationship between lead and lag countries and to systematically capture thelearning effect that takes place between the two social systems. In particular, this research examines the diffusion of retail point-of-sale scanners in countries that belong to the European Union, the United States, and Japan. It offers interesting insights for formulating efficient international marketing strategies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1995. His research interests include global competition, international marketing strategy, cross-national diffusion of products and services, brand equity and brand extension, and issues in product development and introduction. He has been recognized with numerous teaching and research excellence awards and has published numerous articles in various scholarly journals in marketing and forecasting. He has coauthored a text titledMarketing Research and currently is working on other textbooks. He is on the editorial review board of many journals. He has lectured on marketing-related topics in various universities worldwide. His research interests include developing forecasting models, international marketing strategy and international marketing research issues, models for sales promotions, and new methodologies for product positioning and market segmentation. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.