International product rollout strategies and performance: the moderating effects of product innovativeness, order of entry and firm size

Export marketing strategy requires firms to decide whether to launch a new product sequentially or simultaneously across targeted foreign markets. While a handful of papers have explored the strategic launch concepts, the research community has yet to empirically assess how they affect multiple performance outcomes along the strategic-fit paradigm involving entry-level organisational contexts. To address this gap, the present study compares the effects of launch strategies across firms with distinguishing degrees of product innovativeness and different international entry order positions. Firm size was also assessed for possible moderating effects. Results from a sample of 182 exporting firms indicate that sequential product rollouts produced a stronger effect than simultaneous rollouts when regressed directly on performance. Although we did not find support for the firm size and strategy interaction, product innovativeness and order of entry displayed moderating influences on product performance. A closer examination via post-stratification interaction effects reveals that a sequential strategy was superior when firms introduced radical innovations. Conversely, in comparison to sequential launches, a simultaneous approach was found to be most applicable for first-mover product launches. Incremental product innovations and followers appear to be successful on specific launch-performance indicators. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.