Market Structure, Uncertainty, and Intrafirm Diffusion: The Case of Optical Scanners in Grocery Stores

This study uses monthly data on the adoption of optical scanners by 63 grocery chains in 32 large U.S. cities to identify the determinants of the rate of intrafirm diffusion. The methodology involves a two-stage approach which relates market environment characteristics to the estimated rate of intra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe review of economics and statistics Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 345 - 350
Main Authors Levin, Sharon G., Levin, Stanford L., Meisel, John B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, Mass Elsevier Science Publishers 01.05.1992
Harvard University Press, etc
MIT Press Journals, The
Subjects
Diffusion coefficient
Economic models
Economic structure
Effects
Emerging technology
Grocery stores
Industrial markets
Innovation diffusion
Market share
Market shares
Optical scanners
Regression coefficients
Scanners
Statistical analysis
Studies
Technological innovation
Technology
Uncertainty
Variable coefficients
United States > US
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Summary:This study uses monthly data on the adoption of optical scanners by 63 grocery chains in 32 large U.S. cities to identify the determinants of the rate of intrafirm diffusion. The methodology involves a two-stage approach which relates market environment characteristics to the estimated rate of intrafirm diffusion. The results indicate that firms with larger market shares adopt a new innovation (scanners) more quickly initially but diffuse the innovation throughout their stores more slowly than firms with smaller market shares. In addition, firms that lag competitors in the initial adoption of scanners tend to diffuse the innovation more quickly.
ISSN:0034-6535
1530-9142
DOI:10.2307/2109669