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Strategic Importance of Switching Costs: A LiteratureReview
The strategic importance of switching costs has beenrecognized and researched by several academic disciplines, primarily economics and marketing
(Porter, 1980, 1985, 2001; Rumelt, 1987; Lieberman & Montgomery, 1988; Klemperer, 1987a, 1987b,
1995; Kotler, 1997; Shapiro & Varian, 1999; Hax & Wilde II, 1999, 2001). In the economics
literature several researchers have studied the role of switching costs (Porter, 1980, 1985; Katz
& Shapiro, 1985; Farrell & Saloner, 1986; Farrell & Gallini, 1988; Farrell &
Shapiro, 1988; Klemperer, 1987a, 1987b, 1995; Shapiro & Varian, 1999; Shapiro, 2000). Klemperer
uses theoretical models to show that in certain cases consumers face switching costs after choosing
among products that were ex ante undifferentiated. As a result,
in subsequent purchases rational consumers display brand loyalty when faced with a choice between
functionally identical products. In their book
Information Rules
(1999), Shapiro and Varian emphasize that “switching costs are the norm, not the
exception, in the information economy.” In the marketing field, as well, switching costs are
identified as playing a key role in the process of creating strong customer loyalty (Kotler, 1997).
This process, known as relationship marketing, involves all of the actions a firm can take to
better understand and satisfy its customer. Jones et al. (2000) defined, then, a switching cost as
any factor which makes it difficult or costly for consumers to change providers. Ping (1993, 1997,
1999), following Johnson’s (1982) concept structural constraints, uses the term structural
commitment as a measure of the extent to which the customer has to remain in a relationship. Ping
argues that structural commitment includes alternative attractiveness, investment in a relationship
and switching cost. Fornell (1992), without proposing a formal definition of the concept, provides
a list of factors that can constitute such barriers (i.e., if they are prevalent they will hinder
customers trying to defect from a relationship): search costs, transaction costs, learning costs,
loyal customer discounts, customer habit, emotional cost, cognitive effort and financial, social
and psychological risk.
