Leapfrogging

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Leapfrogging even leap-frogging , (. English leap frogging : Leapfrog ) is initially a general term of economics and generally refers to the (voluntary) omission of individual stages in the course of a development process.

The principle can be applied on a large scale to entire economic sectors or national economies (e.g. developing countries ), or on a small scale e.g. B. in marketing or in market research.

The phenomenon can be observed in the IT sector, among other things, when it comes to the acquisition or modification of software and hardware - both in companies and in private.

In the field of marketing , the conscious decision of a consumer is specifically meant not to buy an innovation in order to postpone the purchase decision to the next product generation . The reason for this behavior is that the relative benefits of innovation currently offered to consumers still does not appear large enough. The consumer’s wait-and-see attitude results in a purchase decision being postponed to a new generation of products expected in the future.

Leapfroggers are often characterized as "waiting experts". You have a high level of knowledge about information and communication (ICT), but only a low willingness to innovate.

In particular, by announcing innovations that are not yet on the market and are still being developed (“pre-announcement policy”), this consumer behavior is reinforced by companies. One way out is to deliberately slow down the innovation process in cooperation with other companies that are active in the same sector.

literature

  • Klaus Backhaus, Markus Voeth: Industrial goods marketing . Vahlen, 2007, ISBN 3-8006-3351-5 .
  • Silke-Annette Kaulfuss: An approach to recording the leapfrogging phenomenon. Basic concept, model-theoretical basis and empirical findings. DUV, 2007, ISBN 3-8350-0182-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leapfrogging - definition in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon