Assessing consequences of component sharing across brands in the vertical product line in the automotive market

Component sharing may look great in the boardroom, but not in the showroom. Indeed, savings on R&D and production costs could be offset by a plunge in customer brand attractiveness. Combining experimental with econometric studies, this paper investigates the impact of component sharing on customer evaluation of luxury, volume and economy brands offered in a car manufacturer’s vertical product line. An experimental study shows that the evaluation of luxury brands sharing with a volume brand suffers more than when a volume brand shares components with an economy brand. The evaluation of an economy brand benefits more from sharing with a volume brand than a volume brand suffers from sharing with an economy brand. The magnitude of these effects depends on several factors, such as component type, the source of the component sharing and the salience of component sharing to the consumers. The explorative examination of market share effects confirms that luxury brands may suffer, while economy brands may benefit from component sharing. The first to look at the consumer impact of component sharing, this paper sets up a rich agenda for future research.Zyman Institute for Brand Science (ZIBS) Emory University ; Customer Insights Center of the University of Groningenpre-prin