The company perspective of product variety: a conceptual model

In economics research questions are often discussed in isolation, thereby forgetting the bigger picture, e.g. regarding product variety, and consumer needs and demands on a product. In this paper, we integrate miscellaneous aspects and establish a conceptual model of changing product variety from a company ́s perspective using qualitative reasoning. We use a set of selected publications that gives a contemporary overview of this economic domain and how parts of the system are interconnected. The formalization and visualization of domain knowledge is expected to dissolve discrepancies and misinterpretations in meaning, since it empowers people involved in decision processes to enter in dialog and discussion more easily. The development of causal relationships turned out to be demanding, perhaps also because in the literature there is a lack of answers to some questions. However, that is also a benefit of our research: developing mechanisms that explain how these phenomena may work. The question of how the relevant parts of the system behave if a trigger from the outside comes (or the absence of a trigger) is helpful for thinking about business processes.