Assume you are in a company who has created a new device that you put in your ea

Question

Assume you are in a company who has created a new device that you put in your ear and it automatically translates what is spoken in a foreign language into the language of the listener. Discuss how this product will diffuse through the US and the World. Why does the diffusion curve tell us how to market this product and how might the diffusion curve result in this product not succeeding. (1page) Assume you are in a company who has created a new device that you put in your ear and it automatically translates what is spoken in a foreign language into the language of the listener. Discuss how this product will diffuse through the US and the World. Why does the diffusion curve tell us how to market this product and how might the diffusion curve result in this product not succeeding. (1page) (1page)

Explanation / Answer

When we talk about diffusion in marketing it implies the process of how a certain product spreads among different groups of individuals. Whenever any innovation is done, it is not accepted and adopted by the society immediately. The products are adopted by the consumers in such a manner that depending upon these adoptions, the customers can be divided into different categories on the basis of time taken by them to accept the innovations. The change agents mainly look to organize these consumers as per the adoption of these innovations and then they promote the adoption of new ideas. With the help of interpersonal networks, the adoption of innovation takes place.

The development of a device which translates the foreign language into the native language seems like to be an innovative idea. Diffusion model can be used to explain the process through which this product diffuses throughout the United States, the country of origin, and to the rest of the world. The application of adopter categorization by defining the degree to which a consumer will be relatively earlier to adopt an innovation as compared to other members of the society can be used to explain the diffusion of a certain product. The innovativeness of an individual is considered relative because a person is either more or less innovative than the other members of the community. The distribution of adopters in the diffusion curve closely approaches normality. There are five categories of adopters namely innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

Innovators represent the first 2.5 percent of people to adopt an innovation. They are adventurous and eager to try innovations (Rogers, 2003). They also possess adequate resources to enable them to try every new idea that comes their way and have an excellent ability to grasp complex technical knowledge about the usage of a product. For the translation device, these will be the first people to purchase the product and put it to use. They are the elite of the society and also tend to be individuals who regularly travel overseas and also hold meetings with people of other languages.

The early adopters represent the next 13.5 percent to adopt the device. These individuals are more integrated into the local social system than the innovators. They possess a high level of opinion leadership and are the ones that the society and majority of other consumers look upon for information and advice concerning an idea. They will be the people that will publicize and give opinions about the translation device and are likely to drive its sales.

The early majority category represents the next 34 percent of adopters. These are the individuals that will adopt the translation device just before the average consumer. They have a high degree of interaction with peers but do not act as opinion leaders. They will willingly follow the early adopters in accepting the new idea.

The late majority are the skeptical members of the society who represent the next 34 percent. They will only take the innovation due to the increasing social pressure or as a necessity. They will be reluctant and cautious until most of the members of the society have adopted the translation device.

The laggards represent the final 16 percent who are conservative or traditionalists and are the last to adopt an innovation. They will insist on sticking to the status quo of using traditional methods of translating until it is inevitable to use the new technology. They may be so late to adopt that the technology is already obsolete.

The diffusion curve is important to marketers because they can use it to categorize consumers according to their degrees of innovativeness and using such information to influence the adoption of a new product, hence driving sales. They may use the diffusion curve to influence the knowledge of consumers about a product, attitude towards the product, the choice to adopt or reject, how consumers implement or use the product, and the post-adoption confirmation or evaluation of the results of the product. If these influences are not properly utilized by the marketers of the translation device, it may lead to a failure of the product in the market where the innovation fades prematurely without achieving its market potential

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