Markets undergoing fast-paced product evolution impose a significant informational demand on consumers. They may have to decide among relatively heterogeneous offers while lacking the knowledge required for a fully assessed choice of suppliers. In this case, one important information source is...

The paper is based on the acknowledgement that properties of markets stemming from features of demand are too frequently overlooked in the economic literature, and a re-balancing is necessary to properly account for theoretical and empirical phenomena. We sustain that one of the most relevant...

In this paper we provide a generalization of the standard models of the diffusion of a new product. Consumers are heterogeneous and risk averse, and the firm is uncertain about the demand curve: both learn from past observations. The attitude towards risk has important effects with regard to the...

We analyze firms' investment in product innovation when there are heterogeneous consumer switching costs in markets with an industry leader. We show that higher switching costs require a successful entrant to charge a higher price and increase investment in product innovation to remain...

In this paper we provide a generalization of the standard models of the diffusion of a new product. Consumers are heterogeneous and risk averse, and the firm is uncertain about the demand curve: both learn from past observations. The attitude towards risk has important effects with regard to the...

When offered a new product whose attributes are unknown, customers can determine whether they like the product by trying it themselves or can wait to observe the experience of other customers who try the product. We specify a rational decision process and investigate the implications of learning...

We consider how public firms influence their stock market valuations by timing the introduction of innovative new products. Our focus is on innovation ratchet strategy — firms timing the introduction of innovations in order to demonstrate an improvement in the number of introductions over...