Implementing a Prelaunch Diffusion Model: Measurement and Management Challenges of the Telstra Switching Study

摘要

This paper describes the challenge of applying a marketing science model in practice and the benefits from doing so. There have been many tools developed in marketing science, but their use and impact have often been disappointing (e.g., see Steenkamp 2000). One major reason for this is the difficulty of adapting our models to the managerial context at which they are targeted (including ensuring completeness, providing timeliness, and calibrating total effects). Another is achieving organizational adoption of the model findings and translating analytical insights into marketing actions. In this paper the context in which actions need to be focused is the preparation of a defensive strategy prior to the launch of a new entrant. While the two major problems of managers are growth and defense, use of marketing science models for the latter is less prevalent than for growth (with, for example, choice-based conjoint analysis and diffusion modeling. (See Dick R. Wittink and Trond Bergestuen. 2001. Forecasting with conjoint analysis. J. S. Armstrong, ed. Principles of Forecasting: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA and V. Mahajan, E. Muller, and Y. Wind, eds. 2000. New Product Diffusion Models. Kluwer Academic Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.)