An International Analysis of New Product Diffusion Speed

• Activity Number: 118
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and Marketing
• Author(s): Brian Hartman*+ and Bani K. Mallick and Debabrata (Debu) Talukdar
• Companies: Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University and State University of New York at Buffalo
• Keywords: New Product Diffusion ; Hierarchical Bayes ; Bayesian Semiparametrics

Abstract

Measuring the speed of international new product diffusions, analyzing its change over time and determining the factors that induce such changes represent interesting and important issues. These insights allow firms to understand the expected rate of return on their new product developments and plan marketing strategies consistent with the expected speed of diffusion and the factors affecting it. The most recent major study on this topic was by Bulte in 2000 which investigated new product diffusions in the United States. As Bulte himself notes, a similar study is needed in the international context, especially in developing countries. Our study covers 4 new product diffusions across 31 countries from 1980--2004. Our sample accounts for about 80% of the global economic output and 60% of the global population.