Should new products look similar or different? The influence of the market environment on strategic product styling

Academics and practitioners argue for the importance of making decisions on styling more strategic. We propose that styling strategies unfold according to three dimensions: decisions about the present product portfolio, the succession of product generations, and the products of competitors. On each of these dimensions, a key decision is to strive for differentiation or similarity in styling. In a conjoint analysis study, we presented a number of market situations to design professionals and asked them what decisions they would make on the three styling dimensions. The study demonstrates that internal and external factors, as well as individual differences influence decision making on styling.