SPILLOVER EFFECTS, COST SAVINGS, RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT AND THE USEOF BRAND EXTENSIONS

Introducing a new product as a brand extension can both lower the cost of introduction and create a spillover effect that depends on its rea lized quality level. We show that these two facts along with a model o f R&D in the presence of marketing uncertainty, explain the empirical observation that firms introduce brand extensions later than new-name products. Our theory also explains the otherwise puzzling empirical ob servation that brand extensions that enter early in the product life c ycle succeed less often than do early entering new-name products.