Backward invention
{{Orphan|date=April 2022}}
Backward invention is a product strategy in international marketing in which an existing product may have to be re-engineered or dumbed down by the company to be released in Less Developed Countries, often at a cheaper rate.{{cite web|title=Backwards Invention |url=http://business.monash.edu/marketing/marketing-dictionary/b/backward-invention |publisher=Monash Business School |accessdate=15 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515184742/http://business.monash.edu/marketing/marketing-dictionary/b/backward-invention |archivedate=May 15, 2016 }}
Doing so can often breathe new life into an obsolete product by the company or even target people too poor to afford the actual product.
Definition
There are two definitions for a backward invention:
- "Reintroducing earlier product forms that can be well adapted to a foreign country’s needs."{{cite web|title=Marketing Management by Philip Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha 12th edition|url=http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/2170/2222134/bp_kotler_mm_12_glossary.pdf|publisher=Pearson|accessdate=23 September 2012}}
- "Redesigning and producing a product for specific foreign markets after it is obsolete in industrialized countries."{{cite web|title=Courtland L. Bovee, John V. Thill|url=http://mencyclopedia.narod.ru/b_text.html|publisher=Marketing Encyclopedia|accessdate=23 September 2012}}
Examples
The National Cash Register Company reintroduced a dumbed down version of its crank-operated cash register at a lower cost for South American and African markets.{{cite web|title=Glossary of MarketingTerminology|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/46128059/13/BACKWARD-INVENTION|publisher=Mridul Greenwold|accessdate=23 September 2012}}
Another example would be of the German book-publishing giant Bertelsmann in Ukraine, where the average person's salary is less and bookstores are hard to find. The old-fashioned book club is enjoying huge popularity there, whereas it has seen a decline in its Book-of-the-Month and Literary Guild units in both the United States and Europe. In Ukraine, however, these clubs are seeing profit margins triple the 4% global average. Bertelsmann also finds that these clubs draw a younger following than in the United States. The publisher also keeps prices low because its main competitor in Ukraine is the open air book market, where books sell very cheaply.{{cite book|title=Marketing Management by Philip Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha 13th edition Pg 600|year = 2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KN6PqQMnFBAC&q=marketing+management+kotler+keller+koshy+jha+pdf&pg=PR1|publisher=Pearson|isbn = 9788131716830|accessdate=23 September 2012}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}