A study on the relationship between technology diffusion and new product diffusion

This study investigates the relationship between technology diffusion and new product diffusion. We define technology diffusion as a knowledge spillover process, which is represented by patent citation, and new product diffusion as the spread of a new product that has been developed by the application of patented technology. To investigate the relationship between the two types of diffusion, we use patent citation data of code division multiple access (CDMA) technology and market sales data of mobile phones in South Korea for the analysis. The results show that the diffusion of technology through patent citation could be successfully explained by empirical analysis, for which the Bass diffusion model was used. Moreover, we can find out if technology diffusion can be the leading indicator of a new product's diffusion before its launching; in other words, before the commercialization of the patent. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.