Exam 14: Consumers and the Diffusion of Innovations

Awareness,interest,evaluation,trial,and adoption/rejection are the five stages of ________.

A ________ approach to defining innovation treats newness from the perspective of the company producing or marketing it.

What are the differences between continuous,dynamically continuous,and discontinuous innovation?

The ________ is concerned with how long it takes a new product or service to be adopted by members of a social system.

When a product is first introduced,the ________ consider purchasing it to be risky because it is new.After a relatively small but not insignificant number of consumers purchased the product (and probably after the price has gone down),they conclude that purchasing the product is wise.

CAR MINI CASE: Marksman Motors is a manufacturer of SUVs.In order to encourage consumers to consider a Marksman vehicle, Marksman dealerships offer an overnight test-drive, where consumers are able to drive the car for 24 hours to see if they like it.They have found the overnight test-drive to be especially popular with people who tend to adopt new ideas just after the average time and who approach innovations cautiously.Recently, in response to the popularity of other manufacturers' gas-electric hybrid SUVs, Marksman Motors has come out with a new model, the Evergreen, that has been sold in Germany for a year, but is the first gas-electric hybrid SUV to hit the U.S.market.In order to promote the Evergreen, the manufacturer sent a voucher to Car and Driver Magazine subscribers for a free 3-day test-drive of the Evergreen, to be used at local Marksman dealerships. -In the CAR MINI CASE,by sending a voucher specifically to Car and Driver subscribers,Marksman Motors is trying to get ________ to try the Evergreen.

Which of the following characteristics typify a modern social system?

The overlap of innovativeness across product categories seems to be limited to product categories that are closely related to the same basic interest area.

The process of ________ is concerned with how innovations spread.

While Q-tips are advertised for cleaning ears or removing eye make-up,Bill has found that they are also perfect for cleaning dust out of the crevices of his model cars.Bill's use of Q-tips constitutes ________.

A(n)________ involves first making a new product available at a very high price to consumers who are willing to pay top dollar,and then gradually lowering the price in a stepwise fashion to attract additional market segments at each price reduction plateau.

The ________ category tends to perceive little risk in adopting new products.These consumers are even willing to pay high prices for newly-introduced products because they enjoy being the first to own them.

COPY MINI CASE: Speedy Copy just opened a new store in South Hills Shopping Center.The store offers copy, fax, and binding services, and sells related office supplies.To encourage people to visit the store, Speedy Copy sends a flier to local homes and businesses with a coupon for using their services.In an attempt to discourage similar stores from opening in the surrounding shopping centers, Speedy Copy has priced its services to be very inexpensive, in the hopes that increased consumer purchase volumes will balance out the store's decreased profit margin. Ken works just down the street from South Hills Shopping Center and makes a point of visiting Speedy Copy on its opening day.He finds the store to be understaffed and under equipped to meet his needs and sends an e-mail to his friends at work, telling them that the store isn't worth visiting. -In the COPY MINI CASE,Ken makes a point of trying the new store on its opening day.This makes Ken a(n)________.

CAR MINI CASE: Marksman Motors is a manufacturer of SUVs.In order to encourage consumers to consider a Marksman vehicle, Marksman dealerships offer an overnight test-drive, where consumers are able to drive the car for 24 hours to see if they like it.They have found the overnight test-drive to be especially popular with people who tend to adopt new ideas just after the average time and who approach innovations cautiously.Recently, in response to the popularity of other manufacturers' gas-electric hybrid SUVs, Marksman Motors has come out with a new model, the Evergreen, that has been sold in Germany for a year, but is the first gas-electric hybrid SUV to hit the U.S.market.In order to promote the Evergreen, the manufacturer sent a voucher to Car and Driver Magazine subscribers for a free 3-day test-drive of the Evergreen, to be used at local Marksman dealerships. -In the CAR MINI CASE,the overnight test-drive is designed to encourage consumers to reach the ________ stage of the adoption process.

A ________ approach to defining innovation considers a "new" product to be any product that potential consumers judge to be new.

A ________ is somewhat disruptive to consumers but does not alter established behavior patterns.

Noninnovators seem to find new products threatening to the point where they prefer to delay purchase until the product's success has been clearly established.

TABLE MINI CASE: Cynthia recently saw a new coffee table being offered by a popular furniture designer. She thinks the table would go nicely in her living room.Her friend, Steve, has very tasteful furniture in his home and seems to know quite a bit about furniture, so Cynthia asks Steve for advice about whether the coffee table would match the other design elements in her living room.Cynthia spends about three weeks thinking about it before she makes the decision to buy the table. -In the TABLE MINI CASE,when Cynthia first sees the new coffee table,she is at the ________ stage of the adoption process.

Fizzy Cola just came out with a cherry-flavored cola.Fizzy Cherry is not the first cherry-flavored cola on the market,but it is still considered to be new,based on a ________ approach to defining innovation.

Longer purchase times typically lead to faster diffusion of innovations.