Strategic partnering has become a common place when introducing innovations to systems markets. In standards battles, network affiliation has been used as a market signal to create confidence in a format's success. This paper's authors thus develop and test a model aimed at finding the right...

In this paper we discuss two propositions: the supply and demand of knowledge, and network externalities. We outline the characteristics that distinguish knowledge-intensive industries from the general run of manufacturing and service businesses. Knowledge intensity and knowledge specialisation...

This chapter is concerned with the ‘new’ world of information technology and knowledge intensity. This is a world marked by big investments in R&D, different cost structures and significantly changed demand conditions. You should read this chapter in conjunction with Chapter 19, which deals...

Marketing researchers often assume that innovation diffusion is affected by social contagion. However, there is increasing skepticism about the importance of contagion and, as has long been known, S-shaped diffusion curves can also result from heterogeneity in the propensity to adopt. To gain...

We analyze the effect of peer influence on the diffusion of an innovative network good. We argue that the adopters of a network good have an incentive to convince others to purchase the same product because their utility depends on the number of other users. This peer-effect influences...

Evaluating the environmental performance of a building is rapidly gaining importance as a metric in real estate investments. Since interpretation of the technical measurements is difficult and requires high expertise, investors tend to rely on markers as provided by environmental certification...

An obstacle to the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly energy technologies such as stationary and mobile fuel cells is their high upfront costs. While much lower prices seem to be attainable in the future due to learning curve cost reductions that increase rapidly with the scale of...

How can economic theory explain the reasons why consumers adopt innovations? Using the example of innovations in washing machines two approaches are compared. The first focuses in the manner of household production theory on changes in constraints without specifying preferences, leading to the...

In Germany, solar thermal systems (STS) have only diffused to a minor extent yet. This paper analyzes, which demand side factors are decisive for the further proliferation of this environmentally benign technology. Making use of a consumer survey in North-West Germany in 2007, we examine the...

The technological innovation, nowadays, is one of the most important determinant for increasing the wealth of the nations. Souder and Shrivastrava said “we can’t begin to make decisions about technology until we understand it. And we can’t begin to really understand it until we can measure...