Two essays on product positioning and social media

Liu, Xuefeng

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73054 Copy

Description

Title

Two essays on product positioning and social media

Author(s)

Liu, Xuefeng

Issue Date

2015-01-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Fang, Eric

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Fang, Eric

Committee Member(s)

• Qualls, William J.
• Shavitt, Sharon
• Gajendran, Ravi S.

Department of Study

Business Administration

Discipline

Business Administration

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Marketing strategy
• Product positioning
• Social media

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two essays on product positioning and social media. In chapter 1, I study how firms should compete with existing products by enhancing product attributes that are important to consumers. I propose that firms can either improve upon one important attribute significantly (the dominant attribute design strategy) or enhance as many important attributes as possible moderately (the general improvement strategy), given that firms’ R&D resources are limited. Results from three empirical studies suggest that when the expected product quality is low or the marketing competition is high, the dominant attribute design strategy is more effective in increasing sales and product evaluations, whereas the general improvement strategy is more effective when the market conditions are the opposite. In chapter 2, I study how online user reviews and online expert reviews jointly affect sales. Although numerous studies have examined their effects separately, their joint effects have been largely neglected. Through three empirical studies, I find that the inconsistency of user reviews and that of expert reviews substitute each other, thus mitigating the negative influences of the inconsistency of user reviews and increasing sales. In addition, product quality could moderate these effects. I also identify the customer breadth effect and the customer depth effect as the underlying mechanisms.

Graduation Semester

2014-12

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Xuefeng Liu

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