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Popularity and Debut

Author

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  • Christian Dahl Winther

    () (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark)

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of brand popularity on two firms’ optimal entry strategies into an emerging industry. Brand popularity shows the proportion of consumers holding an affinity towards one firm’s product or the other. Word of mouth effects influence the distribution of preferences between periods, in turn expected profits. I show that differences in popularity give firms dissimilar incentives to lead or to follow, which affects their strategic choices of timing of entry when fast introduction is costly. I study the subgame perfect equilibria of the game to observe how they connect to popularity, strength of word of mouth communication, and consumer heterogeneity. The paper shows for which markets the asymmetry in the duopoly should be expected to increase or decrease. The model is extended to study how pre-ordering influences the efficiency of the industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Dahl Winther, 2008. "Popularity and Debut," Economics Working Papers 2008-02, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2008-02
    as

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    File URL: ftp://ftp.econ.au.dk/afn/wp/08/wp08_02.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Farrell & Garth Saloner, 1988. "Coordination through Committees and Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(2), pages 235-252, Summer.
    2. Choi, Jay Pil & Thum, Marcel, 1998. "Market structure and the timing of technology adoption with network externalities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 225-244, February.
    3. Glenn Ellison & Drew Fudenberg, 1995. "Word-of-Mouth Communication and Social Learning," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 110(1), pages 93-125.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product differentiation; product introduction; technological change; word of mouth communication;

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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