Generalised Bass model (with pricing) Bass found that his model fit the data for almost all product introductions, despite a wide range of managerial decision variables, e.g. pricing and advertising. This means that decision variables can shift the Bass curve in time, but that the shape of the curve is always similar. Although many extensions of the model have been proposed, only one of these reduces to the Bass model under ordinary circumstances. This model was developed in 1994 by Frank Bass, Trichy Krishnan and Dipak Jain: :\frac{f(t)}{1-F(t)} = (p + {q}F(t)) x(t) where \ x(t) is a function of percentage change in price and other variables Unlike the Bass model which has an analytic solution, but can also be solved numerically, the generalized bass models usually do not have analytic solutions and must be solved numerically. Orbach (2016) notes that the values of p,q are not perfectly identical for the continuous-time and discrete-time forms. For the common cases (where p is within the range of 0.01-0.03 and q within the range of 0.2-0.4) the discrete-time and continuous-time forecasts are very close. For other p,q values the forecasts may divert significantly.
Successive generations Technology products succeed one another in generations. Norton and Bass extended the model in 1987 for sales of products with continuous repeat purchasing. The formulation for three generations is as follows: : \ S_{1,t} = F(t_1) m_1 (1-F(t_2)) : \ S_{2,t} = F(t_2) (m_2 + F(t_1) m_1 ) (1-F(t_3)) : \ S_{3,t} = F(t_3) (m_3 + F(t_2) (m_2 + F(t_1) m_1 )) where • \ m_i = a_i M_i • \ M_i is the incremental number of ultimate adopters of the
ith generation product • \ a_i is the average (continuous) repeat buying rate among adopters of the
ith generation product • \ t_i is the time since the introduction of the
ith generation product • \ F(t_i) = \frac{1-e^{-(p+q)t_i}}{1+\frac{q}{p} e^{-(p+q)t_i}} It has been found that the p and q terms are generally the same between successive generations.
Relationship with other s-curves There are two special cases of the Bass diffusion model. • The first special case occurs when q=0, when the model reduces to the
exponential distribution. • The second special case reduces to the
logistic distribution, when p=0. The Bass model is a special case of the Gamma/
shifted Gompertz distribution (G/SG): Bemmaor (1994)
Use in online social networks The rapid, recent (as of early 2007) growth in online social networks (and other
virtual communities) has led to an increased use of the Bass diffusion model. The Bass diffusion model is used to estimate the size and growth rate of these social networks. The work by Christian Bauckhage and co-authors shows that the Bass model provides a more pessimistic picture of the future than alternative model(s) such as the
Weibull distribution and the shifted Gompertz distribution. == The ranges of the p, q parameters ==