The International Takeoff of New Products: The Role of Economics, Culture, and Country Innovativeness

Sales takeoff is vitally important for the management of new products. Limited prior research on this phenomenon covers only the United States. This study addresses the following questions about takeoff in Europe: 1) Does takeoff occur as distinctly in other countries, as it does in the United States? 2) Do different categories and countries have consistently different times-to-takeoff? 3) What economic and cultural factors explain the intercountry differences? 4) Should managers use a sprinkler or waterfall strategy for the introduction of new products across countries? We gathered data on 137 new products across 10 categories and 16 European countries. We adapted the threshold rule for identifying takeoff (Golder and Tellis 1997) to this multinational context. We specify a parametric hazard model to answer the questions above. The major results are as follows: 1) Sales of most new products display a distinct takeoff in various European countries, at an average of six years after introduction. 2) The time-to-takeoff varies substantially across countries and categories. It is four times shorter for entertainment products than for kitchen and laundry appliances. It is almost half as long in Scandinavian countries as in Mediterranean countries. 3) While culture partially explains intercountry differences in time-to-takeoff, economic factors are neither strong nor robust explanatory factors. 4) These results suggest distinct advantages to a waterfall strategy for introducing products in international markets.