Managing Reference‐Group Effects in Sequential Product Upgrades
研究企业在顺序推出升级产品时如何利用参照群体效应，发现该效应先提升后降低利润，并建议通过功能改进和外观设计两维度差异化来消除负面影响。
In this study, we examine how firms can leverage reference‐group effects (RGEs) in sequential introduction of upgraded products. RGEs arise when consumers engage in social comparisons: leaders desire to distinguish themselves from followers and followers desire to mimic leaders. We find that RGEs have a non‐monotonic impact on the profitability of product upgrades: a stronger RGE first increases and then decreases profits. This inverted‐U effect is fundamentally driven by two opposite effects of RGEs: a positive push effect on leaders’ upgrading to a new generation when followers adopt an existing product that leaders possess, and a negative pull effect on followers’ adoption of the existing product when leaders upgrade to the new product. We also offer insights on inter‐generational differentiation in the presence of RGEs. We find that by coordinating product differentiation in two dimensions, functional improvement and exterior form, the firm is able to eliminate the negative pull effect, which occurs when the strength of RGEs is intermediate. In such cases, both functional improvement and exterior differentiation increase with the strength of RGEs. When the strength of RGEs is sufficiently high, however, the firm will focus on exterior differentiation rather than functional improvement. Managerial implications are discussed.