Anshu Gupta

Innovation Diffusion Model for a Product Incorporating Segment-specific Strategy and the Spectrum Effect of Promotion

Abstract Promotion is an important component of a firms marketing mix. It assists in dispersing the product information into minds of the customers and takes them to the final stage of purchase. Various promotional strategies are used by firms to capture maximum potential adopters in the market. Firms adopt segment driven marketing to best utilize its finite marketing resources. Mass market promotion and differentiated market promotion are amongst the two widely used techniques of promotion used in a heterogeneous market, segmented into homogeneous segments. Through mass market promotion, a product is promoted in the entire market, using a common promotional strategy, thereby creating a spectrum effect in all the segments of the market. Whereas, differentiated market promotion targets each segment of the market with distinct promotional strategies. In a segmented market, both types of promotional strategies play different and important roles for product adoption in the market. Innovation diffusion models are used to describe the adoption growth of durable technology products over their product life cycle. There is vast literature of innovation diffusion modeling. The existing literature mostly assumes a homogeneous market while formulating the model and effect of mass and differentiated promotion techniques on adoption growth in a segmented market is not yet analyzed. In this paper, we develop an innovation diffusion model for a durable technology consumer product considering the combined effect of mass and differentiated promotion along with the internal influence factors on adoption growth in segmented market. Model validity is tested on a real time data in four segments. Fairly good results have been obtained.

Effect of repeat purchase and dynamic market size on diffusion of an innovative technological consumer product in a segmented market

AbstractThis study develops diffusion models for technological consumer products under the marketing environment when a product is marketed in a segmented market and observes two distinctive promotional strategies of mass and differentiated promotion; an under explored study area. Mass promotion strategy creates a spectrum effect in market with an aim to create wider product awareness and influence the market size. Whereas the differentiated promotion strategy plays major role in external influence component in the respective segment and target for adoption by the current potential segment. Previous studies on segmented diffusion models assumed only first time purchase and constant market size which may yield underestimated results and fail to give appropriate insight of the diffusion process. The study develops and validates generalized diffusion models for segmented market incorporating the repurchase behaviour of the adopter population and dynamic potential market size considerations. Performance of th...

Optimal Placement of Advertisements on a Pixelated Web Banner

Abstract The widespread usage of web applications has made it a popular medium of advertising, at the same time creating competition for advertising space. Web publishers seek to get maximum revenues utilising the advertisement space optimally. In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed to schedule the competing advertisements on multiple web banners with varying cost bids per pixel with a revenue maximization objective. A case study has been discussed to illustrate the application of the model and is solved using optimization software LINGO.

Dynamic promotional allocation for multi-products in segmented market under first and repeat purchase behaviour

Promotion plays a vital role in influencing consumer behaviour in favour of the firms offerings culminating into product trial/adoption/repurchase. Sparse promotional effort resources and shortened product life cycles require that decisions related to promotional effort allocation must be taken judiciously and objectively. In this paper, we formulate and solve an optimisation problem of promotional resource allocation for the multi products of a product line sold across distinctive market segments. The problem is formulated using a diffusion model allowing repeat purchase under budgetary and minimum sales aspiration level constraint on each product under consideration and solved using differential evolution approach. In order to allocate resources dynamically the total planning horizon is divided into multi periods. Resources are re-allocated in each period to each product under consideration in each market segment after analysing the current adoption pattern and market potential. Model applicability is shown with the help of a numerical illustration.

Optimal advertising on a two-dimensional web banner

The rapid growth and proliferation of internet based services has opened up new avenues of interactions and corresponding business models. Advertisements shown within websites form a major source of revenue for web publishers. Naturally, the proper planning and allocation of advertisement space in the webpages becomes a major factor in the profitability of the business model. This paper addresses the problem of determining efficient placement of advertisements on a two-dimensional web banner with the objective of maximizing revenue. An integer programming mathematical model is developed here to optimally place advertisements on a two-dimensional banner. The performance of the new formulation is compared with models existing in the recent literature. The proposed model is also validated with computational analysis to prove its efficacy.

A Goal Programming Model for Advertisement Selection on Online News Media

Promotion plays an important role in determining success of a product/service. Out of the many mediums available, promotion through means of advertisements is most effective and is most commonly used. Due to increasing popularity of the Internet, advertisers yearn for placing their ads on web. Consequently, web advertising has become one of the major sources of income for many websites. Several websites provide free services to the users and generate revenue by placing ads on its webpages. Advertisement for any product/service is placed on the site considering various aspects such as webpage selection, customer demography, product category, page, slot, time, etc. Further, different advertisers bid different costs to place their ads on a particular rectangular slot of a webpage, that is, many ads compete with each other for their placement on a specific position. Hence, in order to maximize the revenue generated through the ads, optimal placement of ads becomes imperative. In this paper, we formulate an advertisement planning problem for web news media maximizing their revenue. Mathematical programming approach is used to solve the problem. A case study is presented in the paper to show the application of the problem.

Multi Period Advertising Media Selection in a Segmented Market

A product passes through different life cycle phases once it comes in the market. During the launch phase it is promoted on mass level, second phase stresses on capturing maximum potential, and in later phases company emphasizes on retention of the product in the minds of the customers until its continuation in the market. The advertising budget and media mix used to advertise the product must be planned according to the current phase of the product. Thus it becomes imperative for a company to look at media planning problems in a dynamic manner over a planning period as the market conditions change and the product moves through its cycle with time. In this paper we have formulated a multi-period mathematical programming problem that dynamically computes the optimal number of insertions and allocates advertising budget in various media channels of a segmented market. The aim is to maximize the reach obtained through each media from all the segments in each time period under budgetary constraints and bounds on the decision variables. The reach in any period for a media is taken as a sum of current period reach and retention of the previous periods reach. Goal programming technique is used to solve the problem. A case study is presented to show the real life application of the model.

A DMAIC Six Sigma approach to quality improvement in the anodising stage of the amplifier production process

The purpose of this paper is to study the anodising process of a portable amplifier production process to identify and eliminate the sources of variations, in order to improve the process productivity.,The study employs the define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC) Six Sigma methodology. Within the DMAIC framework various tools of quality management such as SIPOC analysis, cause and effect diagram, current reality tree, etc., are used in different stages.,High rejection rate was found to be the main problem leading to lower productivity of the process. Four types of defects were identified as main cause of rejections in the baseline process. Pareto analysis resulted in detection of the top defects, which were then analysed in details to find the root cause of the problem. Further study resulted in finding improvement measures that were discussed with the management before implementation. The process is sampled again to check the improvements, and control measures were established.,The study provides a framework for implementation of DMAIC Six Sigma methodology for a manufacturing firm. The results presented are based on the data collected from the shop floor. Results and findings of the study were implemented for quality improvement of the process.,The study is based on an original research conducted with the objective of quality improvement in the anodising process of the production process. Besides presenting an approach to DMAIC Six Sigma methodology, an application of the current reality tree tool for root cause analysis is presented, a tool used limitedly in the Six Sigma studies. The tool finds its uniqueness in its ability to address problems relating multiple factors than isolated factors.

Differential Evolution Approach to Determine the Promotion Duration for Durable Technology Product Under the Effect of Mass and Segment-Driven Strategies

Promotion plays an important role for the success of a product in the market and accounts for a large portion of the firm’s expenditure. This calls for judicious planning so that the promotion resources can be used efficiently at the same time creating maximum effectiveness. Firms use both mass and segment-driven promotion strategies to promote their product in a segmented market. Mass promotion spreads wider awareness of a product in the whole market with a spectrum effect while the segment-driven promotion is targeted to the distinct potential customers of the segments. This study proposes a mathematical model to determine the optimal length of a promotion campaign for a durable technology product, marketed in a segmented market under the joint effect of mass and segment-driven promotions. An application of the proposed model is demonstrated using real-life data. Differential evolution algorithm is used to solve the model.

Optimal Duration of Promotion for Durable Technology Product in a Segmented Market

ABSTRACT Firms develop segment driven promotional mix to target its potential customers selectively. As the marginal revenues from promotion decreases with time, it is important to determine the optimal stopping time of a promotional activity. In the literature, the studies carried in this domain do not consider market segmentation and assume a uniform promotional mix. In this study, alternative decision models are developed to determine the duration of promotion for a durable technology product applicable to a segmented market. A case study is discussed to validate the proposed models and to illustrate the solution methodology based on a differential evolution algorithm.