Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Figure 11.2 
The 
diffusion of 
innovation
Pragmatists
Pioneers
Innovators
2.5%
Early
adopters
13.5%
Early
majority
34%
Late
majority
34%
Laggards
13.5%
Sloths
2.5%
Sceptics
Sales
Time

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CHAPTER 11 COMPETING THROUGH THE EVOLVING MARKETING MIX
are often confused about how the technology can be beneficial to them and will wait 
until the technology has been tried and tested before adopting it. But they are sure that 
they need to embrace it or be overtaken by competitors.
● 
The laggards have been described as ‘sceptics’ who do not really see the potential for 
the new technology, will resist its adoption as long as possible, but may eventually be 
forced into adoption because all around them, including their suppliers, distributors and 
customers, have adopted.
● 
Finally, the sloths are the very last adopters of new technologies, often going to great 
lengths to avoid adoption. In some instances they change the way they operate to isolate 
themselves from the innovations taking place around them, and may even make a virtue 
of non-adoption. Some accountants still use the quill pen in preference to the spread-
sheet! Some firms will never adopt e-business technologies, and may actually carve viable 
niches for themselves in serving similarly minded customers.
Moore (2014) argued that in the adoption of new high-technology products, a gulf 
existed between the early adopters and the early majority that he referred to as the new 
product chasm, into which many fall (see Figure 11.3). This is essentially the transition 
from a technology for enthusiasts and visionaries to a technology for the pragmatists. While 
the enthusiasm of the innovators and early adopters is often sufficient to carry an innova-
tion forward, its ultimate success depends on its ability to convince the pragmatists of the 
productivity and process enhancements it can deliver. Apple seems to have pulled off the 
enviable trick of both attracting innovators and early adopters to its new products, but also 
providing value beyond novelty that bridges the chasm and delivers adoption beyond the 
technology geeks.
11.1.5 Managing the product over its life cycle
The concept of the product life cycle was introduced in Chapter 3 (see Figure 11.4). With 
changing market conditions over the life cycle, it is important that product and service strate-
gies are designed to match. It will also be apparent that different adopter groups are likely 
to form key target markets at different stages of the product life cycle.