Product seeding, defined as the act by which firms send products to selected customers and encourage them to spread word of mouth, is a critical decision support strategy for the success of new products. Using multiple agent-based simulation techniques, we investigated the relative importance of three widely adopted seeding strategies (seeding influentials, early adopters, and random targets) in a competitive market in which products are vertically differentiated in terms of quality and brand strength. We found robust evidence that the finding of an optimal seeding strategy depends on consumers' propensity to spread negative WOM. When negative WOM propensity is low, seeding influentials outperform seeding early adopters or random targets. When negative WOM propensity is high, decision-making about an optimal seeding strategy relies on the relative quality and brand strength of the product and the focal firm's objective. In particular, if a product's relative quality is low, seeding early adopters is the optimal seeding strategy in terms of both market share (MS) and net present value (NPV); if the product's relative quality is equal, seeding early adopters is most effective for increasing MS, while seeding influentials is the best for increasing NPV; and if the product's relative quality is high, seeding influentials is the optimal strategy, except that for products with strong brand strength and firm aims at maximizing the MS growth. We conclude the paper by discussing its theoretical contributions and managerial relevance for decision support.

中文翻译：

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有影响力的人、早期采用者还是随机目标？垂直差异化下的最优播种策略


产品播种被定义为公司向选定的客户发送产品并鼓励他们传播口碑的行为，是新产品成功的关键决策支持策略。使用多种基于代理的模拟技术，我们研究了三种广泛采用的播种策略（播种影响者、早期采用者和随机目标）在竞争市场中的相对重要性，在该市场中，产品在质量和品牌强度方面存在垂直差异化。我们发现强有力的证据表明，最佳播种策略的发现取决于消费者传播负面口碑的倾向。当负口碑倾向较低时，播种影响者的表现优于播种早期采用者或随机目标。当负面口碑倾向较高时，最佳播种策略的决策取决于产品的相对质量和品牌实力以及焦点公司的目标。特别是，如果产品的相对质量较低，那么就市场份额（MS）和净现值（NPV）而言，培育早期采用者是最佳的培育策略；如果产品的相对质量相同，播种早期采用者对于提高MS最有效，而播种影响者对于提高NPV最有效；如果产品的相对质量较高，那么除了品牌实力较强且以MS增长最大化为目标的产品外，培育有影响力的产品是最佳策略。我们通过讨论其理论贡献和决策支持的管理相关性来结束本文。