Windows of Change in Mature Markets

Year after year, managers strive to improve their sales performance in mature markets. Marketing research should therefore provide a dynamic understanding of the conditions for performance growth and of the role marketing actions play in this process. This paper analyzes how strategic windows of performance change alternate with long periods of performance stability. The proposed framework combines consumer learning and punctuated equilibrium theories with the econometric concepts of evolution and long-term marketing effectiveness. Applied to a rich marketing dataset, we show and interpret transitions between stable and changing regimes and marketing's power to induce performance growth.