Slow to adopt but many innovations that eventually succeed, like the dishwasher or microwave, linger in the gap between early adopters and the mainstream market for years. Other examples of slow-diffusion innovations include automated teller machines (first introduced in the United States and the United Kingdom in the late 1990s), online banking, and alternative-fuel cars. Slow take-off times mean delayed return on investment, or in the worst case, negative returns if the product is withdrawn from the market before sales have a chance to take off. Reasons for a slow start include: high entry prices, uncompetitive products, low quality or lack of innovation or failure to develop niche markets.
Which may be because the innovation conflicts with consumers' deep-seated belief structures, requires the acceptance of unfamiliar routines or requires the abandonment of deep-rooted traditions. Slow-diffusion innovations that require consumers to change established behaviors are called resistant innovations. How can managers develop marketing plans to reduce the initiation time of resistance to innovation? This article proposes marketing strategies suitable for such Job Function Email List innovations. Our conclusions stem from a multi-phase research project that investigated why a particular innovative screw-top wine bottle cap achieved higher market acceptance in Australia and New Zealand than in the United States. (See About the research.) Based on the results of this international case study, we elaborate on the role of vertical and horizontal collaboration as marketing strategies for resistant innovation and identify.
The reasons and conditions under which each strategy works successfully. About the Study This study of the promotion of screw-top wine bottle caps, a Resistant Innovation, began with a survey of more than 100 wine consumers from Australia, New Zealand and the United States; the survey was conducted by Columbia University's School of Marketing Conducted by Assistant Professor; John Houser, Kirin Professor of Marketing and Marketing Group Leader, MIT Sloan School of Management; Rosanna Garcia, McCarthy Family Fellow, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Northeastern University.