Business Commons^™

Dual Diffusion: Analysis And Implications For Sales Force Management, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Ravipreet S. Sohi, Ronald D. Hampton

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Retail resistance to an innovation can hamper its supply to consumers, thereby influencing product adoption behavior. Given this, a dual diffusion process consisting of both retail and consumer adoption is more appropriate in today's dynamic marketplace. Sales emphasis by manufacturers can strongly influence retail and consumer adoption behaviors, which would be reflected in the shapes of their respective patterns. In this paper, the authors examine the nature of retail adoption and its impact, both positive and negative, on consumer adoption. Following this, they present a strategic framework that lays out the sales management implications of the dual diffusion process.