混合型消費者對產品線設計之影響

Abstract

過往的研究多將顧客分為兩種：高階與低階，高階顧客擁有較高的品質評價，偏好品質較高的產品，低階顧客擁有較低的品質評價，偏好品質較低的產品。然而，市場中還有可能存在混合型消費者，他們沒有固定的品質評價，會在高品質及低品質產品之間做選擇。因此，在本研究中，我們先提出一個模型，探討混合型消費者的效應，結果顯示在無混合型消費者的模型中，廠商的最佳利潤會隨著高階與低階消費者人數的增加而增加，但與品質評價無關；而在具有混合型消費者的模型中，廠商的最佳利潤和高階與低階消費者人數的差及品質評價的差有關，但它不總是隨著高階與低階消費者人數差的增加而增加，有時會隨著消費者人數差的增加而減少。接著，我們進一步考慮在各個顧客區段是否完全覆蓋的情境下，探討自我選擇限制的滿足區域和參與限制的關係和廠商獲利的差異。結果顯示滿足自我選擇限制的區域可區分成三種類型，有趣的是，滿足限制的區域類型只和高階與低階顧客區段是否完全覆蓋有關，但和混合型顧客區段是否完全覆蓋無關，然而，混合型顧客的人數可用於區隔同類型的滿足限制的區域。結果亦顯示除了每個顧客區段皆完全覆蓋的模型外，具有較少完全覆蓋區段的模型的廠商最佳利潤會比具有較多完全覆蓋區段的模型的廠商最佳利潤大。本研究成果可提供廠商在產品線設計上，一些有價值的見解，並可幫助他們根據市場情況擬定最佳的營運策略。

Most previous studies classify consumers into high-type and low-type. High-type consumers have a high valuation for quality and tend to buy high-quality products while low-type consumers have a low valuation for quality and tend to buy low-quality products. Besides both types of consumers, there may exist some consumers who have an indefinite quality valuation and may choose between high-quality and low-quality products. We call these consumers as mixed-type consumers. However, previous studies rarely discuss the effects of mixed-type consumers. Therefore, in this thesis, we first propose a stylized model to explore the effects of mixed-type consumers by comparing the model without mixed-type consumers (2-type model) to the model with mixed-type consumers (3-type model). The results show that the optimal profit in the 2-type model increases with the difference between amounts of high-type and low-type consumers, but is independent of quality valuations. The optimal profit in the 3-type model depends on the difference between amounts of high-type and low-type consumers, and the difference between quality valuations of both types of consumers. However, the optimal profit in the 3-type model does not always increase with the difference between amounts of high-type and low-type consumers. It may decrease with the difference in some condition. We further investigate the effects of mixed-type consumers by considering the market coverage of each segment and self-selection constraints. The regions satisfied the self-selection constraints can be classified into three categories. Interestingly, the category of satisfied regions depends on the coverage of high-type and low-type segments, but is independent of the coverage of mixed-type segment. However, the amount of mixed-type consumers can be used to separate the satisfied regions for the models in the same category. Furthermore, the optimal profit in the model with fewer fully-covered segments is greater than that in the model with more except the model with three types of segments being fully covered. Our analytical results can provide some valuable insights of product line design and help firms formulate effective strategies for different market circumstances.