Discrete Attribute Models of Brand Switching

A formal analysis is presented for three general classes of discrete attribute models of brand switching. The analysis focuses on the role of feature importance in specifying transition probabilities. A number of formal properties based on ordinal relations between transition probabilities are defined and each class of models is shown to satisfy a unique subset of the properties. The analytic results reveal important relations between the functional forms of model equations and the managerially-oriented interpretations that are given to the variables in those equations.