Donald R. Lehmann

Revenue Premium as an Outcome Measure of Brand Equity

The authors propose that the revenue premium a brand generates compared with that of a private label product is a simple, objective, and managerially useful product-market measure of brand equity. The authors provide the conceptual basis for the measure, compute it for brands in several packaged goods categories, and test its validity. The empirical analysis shows that the measure is reliable and reflects real changes in brand health over time. It correlates well with other equity measures, and the measures association with a brands advertising and promotion activity, price sensitivity, and perceived category risk is consistent with theory.

The Role of Hubs in the Adoption Process

The authors explore the role of hubs (people with an exceptionally large number of social ties) in diffusion and adoption. Using data on a large network with multiple adoptions, they identify two types of hubs—innovative and follower hubs. Contrary to recent arguments, hubs tend to adopt earlier in the diffusion process, even though they are not necessarily innovative. Although innovative hubs have a greater impact on the speed of the adoption process, follower hubs have a greater impact on market size (total number of adoptions). Importantly, a small sample of hubs offers accurate success versus failure predictions early in the diffusion process.

Difference in Attribute Importance for Different Industrial Products

used by purchasing agents to select suppliers varies with the type of problem likely to arise in adopting the particular product, and whether such differences in choice criteria are consistent between purchasing agents in the United States and the United Kingdom. The buyers choice criteria are the factors he uses to evaluate competitive offerings. Choice criteria are inferred to exist because industrial buyers can and do articulate their reasons for choosing one supplier rather than another.

The Idea Itself and the Circumstances of Its Emergence as Predictors of New Product Success

In view of the distressingly low rate of success in new product introduction, it is important to identify predictive guidelines early in the new product development process so that better choices can be made and unnecessary costs avoided. In this paper, we propose a framework for early analysis based on the success potential embodied in the product-idea itself and the circumstances of its emergence. Based on two studies reporting actual introductions, we identified several determinants such as how the ideas originated, their specific configurations, and the level of technology required for their implementation that significantly distinguish successful from unsuccessful new products in the marketplace. We suggest that these factors, together with already known factors of success/failure, may aid in the estimation of the potential of a concept early in its development.

Individual Differences in Search Behavior For a Nondurable

Subjects acquired information on, chose, and consumed one of five health breads once a week for six weeks. The effects of individual differences on information acquisition and recall of package information were studied. Experience during the experiment was highly related to the amount of external search and recall of package information. Information-processing style was also related to external search.

What is it?: Categorization flexibility and consumers' responses to really new products.

To understand really new products, consumers face the challenge of constructing new knowledge structures rather simply changing existing ones. Recent research in categorization suggests that one strategy for creating representations for these new products is to use information already contained in familiar product categories. While knowledge from multiple existing categories may be relevant, little research has examined how (and if) consumers process information drawn from more than one domain. We use two experiments to demonstrate how consumers use cues from multiple categories to develop expectations about and preferences for new products. Our findings suggest that the first plausible category label provided to the consumer significantly influences their categorizations, expectations, and preferences. Only when advertisers place limits on the type of information to transfer from each existing category can consumers use information from multiple categories effectively.

Reasons for Substantial Delay in Consumer Decision Making

This study proposes a typology of reasons why people substantially delay important consumer decisions. The delay reasons we study are drawn from delay typologies identified in other contexts as well as from the product diffusion literature. Two studies reported here examine why subjects delay consumer decisions. These support most of the reasons in the proposed typology, while some unanticipated delay reasons also emerge. We find that the delay reasons are related to the reasons consumers stop delaying, a process that we call delay closure, and are also related to the amount of time that consumers spend in different stages of the decision-making process. A final study supports a conceptual framework to classify these delay reasons based on the two dimensions of internal versus external locus of causation, and whether the purpose of delay is related to the decision or to unrelated activities. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.

Consumer price sensitivity and price thresholds

Abstract We examine consumers’ price sensitivity using a new approach that incorporates probabilistic thresholds for price gains and price losses in the reference price models. We model the threshold as a function of company, competitor and consumer specific factors. Model application to scanner panel data for coffee shows that our model is superior in fit compared to ordinary logit and two existing reference price models. Our results indicate that higher own-price volatility makes consumers more sensitive to gains and less sensitive to losses, while intense price promotion by competing brands makes consumers more sensitive to losses but does not influence consumers’ sensitivity to gains. Two clear segments that differ in the size of their thresholds emerge. Managerial implications of these results for segmentation and understanding brand power are discussed.

Models of Cooperative Group Decision- Making and Relative Influence: An Experimental Investigation of Family Purchase Decisions*

A conceptual framework is developed that provides a description of group decisionmaking processes in conflict situations. Selected implications of this framework as it applies to family purchase tasks are tested using experimental data provided by couples making sequences of product choice decisions. Models tested include power-related resources and power use-related goals as determinants of relative influence. Results indicate that relative preference intensity and the outcomes of preceding joint decisions consistently made the strongest contributions to relative influence.

Designing Effective Health Communications: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis of health communications examines the influence of 22 tactics and six individual characteristics on intentions to comply with health recommendations. The analysis indicates that message tactics have a significant influence on intentions toward health-related recommendations even after the authors account for individual differences. In addition, the authors examine when message tactics interact with individual characteristics to determine intentions. The results, which are based on 60 studies involving nearly 22,500 participants, show that there is significant opportunity to tailor health communications more efficiently to different market segments.