Diffusion agency establishment: The case of friendly ice cream and public-sector diffusion processes

doi:10.1016/0038-0121(79)90025-9

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences

Volume 13, Issue 5, 1979, Pages 241-249

https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0121(79)90025-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Examining diffusion processes from the perspective of the market and infrastructure context focuses attention on the decisions made by suppliers or distributors of a new innovation. Public sector innovations have a market and infrastructure context but initial understanding of this context is simplified by using a private sector innovation: Friendly Ice Cream, a product and marketing concept sponsored by a single propagator entity. The location and timing of diffusion agency establishments (shops) supports the importance of logistical factors and capital availability but reveals the minimal importance of increases in urban population for an innovation with low thresholds of profitability.

References (16)

E.M. Rogers et al.
Communication of Innovations: A Cross-Cultural Approach
(1971)
T.S. Robertson
Innovative Behavior and Communication
(1971)
J. Walker
The adoption of innovations by the American States
Am. Pol. Sci. R.
(1969)
V. Gray
Innovation in the states: a diffusion study
Am. Pol. Sci. R.
(1973)
L.A. Brown
The market and infrastructure context of adoption: a spatial perspective on the diffusion of innovation
Economic Geography
(1975)
B.P. Shapiro
Marketing for nonprofit organizations
Harvard Business Rev.
(1973)
Z. Griliches
Hybrid corn: an exploration in the economics of technological change
Econometrica
(1957)
T. Hagerstrand
Innovation Diffusion as a Spatial Process
(1967)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (13)

Assessing the impact of retail location on store performance: A comparison of Wal-Mart and Kmart stores in Cincinnati
2012, Applied Geography
Citation Excerpt :
Wal-Mart has been growing at a phenomenal rate even in the current tough economic times, while Kmart closed 600 under-performing stores in 2002 and 2003 (Shields and Kures, 2007), and subsequently merged with Sears in 2005. There has been extensive research done in investigating the reasons for Wal-Mart’s success and Kmart’s dismal situation, including examining store environment (Hayden, Lee, McMahon, & Pereira, 2002; Vance and Scott, 1994), price and brand (Graff, 2006; Hayden et al., 2002; Katz, 2003; Vance and Scott, 1994), distribution network of supercenters (Laulajainen, 1988; Meyer and Brown, 1979), culture (Lichtenstein, 2010; Tong and Tong, 2006), as well as technology (Basker, 2007). Because location is well accepted as the primary key to retail success (Birkin et al., 1996; Litz & Rajaguru, 2008), some scholars have paid more attention in examining the locational strategies of Walmart and Kmart.
This study aims to analyze and explain, from a locational perspective, differences in the performance of Wal-Mart and Kmart stores in the Greater Cincinnati Area. A modified Huff model, taking competition and agglomeration into consideration, is developed to estimate the potential sales of individual Kmart and Wal-Mart stores. Results show that the modified Huff model is capable of more accurately estimating individual store sales than traditional interaction models. This study also suggests that the selection of store locations partially explains the difference in performance between Kmart and Wal-Mart stores. The model is calibrated using data collected in 2003, and the validity of the model is supported by the latest development of the stores in Greater Cincinnati Area since 2003.
Spatial aspects of the diffusion of technological innovations among American municipal governments
1982, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
Examination of the spatial diffusion patterns of a sample of 43 technological innovations organized into four functional areas—fire fighting, traffic control, air pollution control, solid waste collection, and disposal—indicates the absence of systematic patterns of either rank-size or contagious diffusion of these innovations among municipal governments in the United States. Absence of these general patterns reflects an inadequate identification in existing theories of spatial diffusion processes of variables that enter into agency decisions to adopt new technologies and the inadequate identification of possible interactions among variables. In particular, attempts to model diffusion patterns based on neighborhood effect or on hierarchical relationships fail to take into account, it least for the classes of adopters and innovations studied here, polynuclear propagation and the role of intermediaries (e.g. professional associations, governmental agencies, suppliers) in communication patterns or the role of site-specific factors that determine the “suitability” or “worth” or an innovation to different potential adopters.
Prior interactions and contractual completeness in Spanish franchising
2019, Small Business Economics
Marketing to the Big Middle: establishing Australian discount department stores
2016, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing
Modeling retail chain expansion and maturity through wave analysis: Theory and application to Walmart and Target
2015, International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research
Strategic and contextual influences on firm growth: An empirical study of franchisors
2002, Journal of Small Business Management

View all citing articles on Scopus

^☆: This paper is part of ongoing research on the diffusion of innovation supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant G-36829). This support is appreciated. Various individuals in the advertising and real estate divisions of Friendly Ice Cream Corporation willingly offered information and data, and their help is appreciated. Also, helpful comments on the manuscript were provided by C. Samuel Craig, Cornell University; B.J. LaLonde, The Ohio State University; D. Archabal, The Ohio State University; and R. Erickson, Friendly Ice Cream, Inc. Graphics were prepared in the Cartographic Laboratory, and typing was by the Research Foundation, University of Connecticut.

View full text

Diffusion agency establishment: The case of friendly ice cream and public-sector diffusion processes☆

Abstract

Communication of Innovations: A Cross-Cultural Approach

Innovative Behavior and Communication

The adoption of innovations by the American States

Am. Pol. Sci. R.

Innovation in the states: a diffusion study

Am. Pol. Sci. R.

The market and infrastructure context of adoption: a spatial perspective on the diffusion of innovation

Economic Geography

Marketing for nonprofit organizations

Harvard Business Rev.

Hybrid corn: an exploration in the economics of technological change

Econometrica

Innovation Diffusion as a Spatial Process