Marketing Seminar Series

Current & Past Events

Friday, April 14, 2023

8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Room L-110, Carlson School of Management

 

Featured Speakers (in order of presentation):

  • Anthony Dukes - University of Southern  California  (9:10-10:30 am)
  • Rebecca Ratner - University of Maryland (11:00 am-12:20 pm)
  • Selin Malkoc - The Ohio State University (1:30-2:50 pm)
  • Raghuram Iyengar - University of Pennsylvania (3:20-4:40 pm)

 

Anthony Dukes

"Marketing at the Edge of Law: The Case of Vertical Restraints"

This research explores the evolution of U.S. antitrust laws and their interplay with marketing practice. We examine legal doctrines related to five contractual restraints used in marketing channels: Min RPM, Max RPM, Primary-Line and Secondary-Line Price Discrimination (Robinson-Patman), and Non-Price (Territorial) Restraints. Using data from cases decided in Federal courts since 1980, we empirically demonstrate that over time, two of the doctrines have become significantly less relevant as courts have deemed them wholly inconsistent with the objective of antitrust. For the other three doctrines, our analysis indicates a more reasonable interpretation by the courts. Using the theory of case selection, we posit that five landmark rulings over the past 40 years have established a legal regime that gives marketers more flexibility in implementing efficient, pro-consumer practices yet still protects the market against anticompetitive conduct. We draw lessons for marketers who operate in marketing channels through a detailed analysis of individual cases. For managers assessing the legal risk associated with vertical restraints, we conclude that they are guided by the principle of customer value creation.

Biography
Anthony Dukes is the Robert E. Brooker Chair in Marketing and the Department Chair at the USC’s Marshall School of Business, where he teaches graduate courses in pricing and in marketing analytics. Professor Dukes’ research on e-commerce, retailing, and pricing strategies appears regularly in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and Marketing Science. He is Co-Director of the USC Marshall Initiative on Digital Competition and senior editor at the journal Marketing Science.

 

Rebecca Ratner

"Enriching Well-Being Solo or Accompanied"

Whereas recent work highlights benefits that people receive from interactions with others (Kumar and Epley 2023), other research described in this talk explores costs that can accrue from a desire to be social (Ratner, Kim, and Wu 2023). First, people often feel inhibited from solo consumption (Ratner and Hamilton 2015), foregoing pleasurable experiences when they lack an activity partner. Second, solo consumption can be more enjoyable than people expect (Ratner and Hamilton 2015) and more enjoyable than accompanied consumption (Wu et al. 2021; Garcia-Rada, Norton, and Ratner 2023). Third, solo (vs. accompanied) consumers can be more influential sources of recommendations following the consumption activity (Wu and Ratner, 2023). Finally, consumers who seek to cultivate friendship focus on signaling they are fun more than that they value meaningful connection with others (Kim, Ratner, and Paharia 2023), which can lead them to forego consumption activities that would facilitate meaningful social interactions.

Biography
Rebecca Ratner is Dean’s Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Ratner’s research explores factors underlying suboptimal consumer decision-making and focuses on erroneous lay beliefs and the influence of social norms. Her research has appeared in leading marketing, psychology, and decision-making journals, including the Journal of Consumer ResearchJournal of Marketing ResearchJournal of Personality and Social PsychologyJournal of Experimental Psychology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research has been featured in the media, including The New York TimesWashington PostCBS News: This Morning, and NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Prof. Ratner has served as co-editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and Associate Editor at the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing Research. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton University.

Selin Malkoc

"Consuming in a 'Materialistic' Way"

Experiential purchases are increasingly viewed as an antidote to materialism and materialistic consumption. We argue that while materialism, as the name suggests, is about how and why consumers acquire material possessions, it is also possible to acquire experiences in a “materialistic” way. Seven studies show that (1) consumers readily ascribe terminal enjoyment goals to experiential purchases and instrumental goals (e.g., status signaling) to material purchases, (2) material and experiential values are highly correlated with each other and both negatively predict well-being, and (3) consumers making purchases that signal instrumentality (vs. terminal goals) are judged negatively, even when the purchase is experiential. Taken together, our results suggest that experiences may not be the path to well-being and that the field might benefit from reconceptualizing the construct of “materialism” to incorporate experiences.

Biography
Selin A. Malkoc is the FCOB Distinguished Professor and a Professor of Marketing at The Ohio State University. Her research examines how consumers make present and future decisions, how they make judgments about the passage of time, and how they choose to use their time. In her research, she identifies anomalies in human behavior, understands the psychological underpinnings of these anomalies, and tries to identify remedies to overcome them. Dr. Malkoc also studies how consumers can best allocate their time between work and leisure, identifying if, when, and how consumers should be engaging in leisure activities to maximize their short and long-term happiness. Her work has important implications for consumer well-being, as well as long-term consumer satisfaction. Dr. Malkoc’s research has been published in the requisite journals (JCR, JMR, JCP, JBDM, JACR, OBHDP, JEP: G, etc.). She is the recipient of several prestigious awards and her research has appeared in numerous national and international media outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME magazine, and The Atlantic, among others. Dr. Malkoc recently edited the special issue "Pandemic Transformed Economy" for the Journal of the Association of Consumer Research.
 

Raghuram Iyengar

"Mega or Micro? Influencer Selection Using Follower Elasticity"

Despite the explosive growth of influencer marketing, wherein companies sponsor social media personalities to promote their brands, there is little research to guide companies’ selection of influencer partners. One common criterion is popularity: while some firms sponsor “mega” influencers with millions of followers, other firms partner with “micro” influencers, who may only have several thousand followers but may also cost less to sponsor. To quantify this trade-off between reach and cost, we develop a framework for estimating the follower elasticity of impressions, or FEI, which measures a video’s percentage gain in impressions corresponding to a percentage increase in the follower size of its creator. Computing FEI involves estimating the causal effect of an influencer’s popularity on the view counts of their videos, which we achieve through a combination of a unique dataset collected from TikTok, a representation learning model for quantifying video content, and a machine learning-based causal inference method. We find that FEI is always positive but often nonlinearly related to follower size, suggesting different optimal sponsorship strategies than those observed in practice. We examine the factors that predict variation in these FEI curves and show how firms can use these results to better determine influencer partnerships.

Biography
Professor Raghu Iyengar’s research interests fall in two domains: pricing and social influence. In the area of pricing, his work focuses on the impact of multi-part pricing schemes on consumer response. The success of such pricing mechanisms to extract consumer surplus depends on how consumers respond to different components. Methodologically, Iyengar has developed novel consumer demand models that capture the effect of multi-part pricing tariffs in a theoretically meaningful way. In the area of social networks, Iyengar has done work that has investigated how and why such influence may be at work. Across several studies, Iyengar has identified the underlying mechanism(s), such as awareness, social learning, or social normative pressure, that may be at work in different contexts. Understanding the mechanism(s) is important not only theoretically but also managerially because which customers to target and which ties to activate using what message depends on what mechanism is at work. Professor Iyengar’s current research focuses on how subscription programs change future customer behavior. His research has been published or forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, and the International Journal of Research in Marketing. He is an Area Editor at the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and the International Journal of Research in Marketing.

Professor Iyengar’s teaching interests are in the area of Marketing Analytics. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and his undergraduate degree from IIT Kanpur, India.

 


Paper packet labeled "Minnesota Camp"

 

a group photo

 

speaker talking before audience

 

an speaker standing before their presentation

a speaker engaging with the audience

a speaker smiling at the audience

 

an individual seated and looking at their laptop screen
two individuals standing and talking to each other
a seated individual looking at their laptop

Friday, April 29, 2022
Time: 8:30 am - 5:00pm
Location: Room L-110 Carlson School of Management


Tulin Erdem, Leonard N. Stern School Professor of Business and Professor

Who: Tulin Erdem

Title: Prior Information and Search Costs:  Evidence from Eye‐Tracking

Abstract: Do consumers search the brands they know well more often or do they prefer to learn about brands they are unfamiliar with? In this paper, we attempt to answer this question using data from an experiment with two novel features: (i) survey information on consumers’ prior brand ownership, familiarity with each brand, and prior experience using different product features, and (ii) eye‐tracking data capturing search behavior at a very granular level. We find consumers are generally more likely to search and buy brands they own and are familiar with, highlighting the importance of accounting for prior information. Based on this result, we develop a search model in which both the information obtained during the search process and the information possessed by consumers prior to the search are allowed to influence search and purchase decisions. Our model also contributes to prior work by modeling search at the brand and attribute level within a Bayesian learning framework. Using our model, we then quantify the impact of prior information on consumer choices, as well as document the estimation bias arising when brand prior knowledge is absent from the model. Finally, through a series of counterfactuals, we explore the managerial value of prior information data.


 

Page Moreau, John R. Nevin Chair in Marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business

Who: Page Moreau

Title: How a Diversified Cause Portfolio Helps Brands Engaging in Corporate Sociopolitical Activism

Abstract: Consumers are increasingly expecting brands to take a meaningful stance on many crucial sociopolitical issues, including racial inequality, same‐sex marriage, gun rights, and global warming. Offering support for such polarized issues, however, is likely to upset consumers who do not agree with the focal issue. As such, brands, especially large brands, have typically been hesitant to engage in corporate sociopolitical activism. In our research, we use a series of five studies to demonstrate that the strategy of launching a diversified cause portfolio can help brands mitigate the downsides of making a controversial stand. We also identify consumer groups for whom a diversified cause portfolio is particularly effective and identify the specific brand characteristics that may mitigate the strategy’s benefits. Additionally, we demonstrate that offering consumers the option to customize what cause(s) the focal brand should support can enhance the effectiveness of a diversified cause portfolio. Our research contributes to the emerging literature on sociopolitical activism in marketing by offering actionable guidance to brands, and in doing so, we also introduce a dissent measure that captures the polarization level of sociopolitical issues in this paper.


J. Miguel Villas‐Boas, J.Gary Shansby Professor of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business

Who: Miguel Villas‐Boas

Title: Browse or Experience

Abstract: Consumers gain information about the value of a product both prior to purchase and when owning a product. We consider a model where both these types of gaining information are possible. The information gained when owning the product may affect future product purchases. We characterize when the consumer chooses to purchase the product if the consumer does not own it, the expected interval of time between purchases, and the expected number of product purchases over time. We find that keeping product duration fixed, the optimal fixed price is independent of the initial product valuation if that valuation is sufficiently low such that a consumer not owning the product does not purchase it immediately, and characterize how the price charged affects the consumer information-gathering strategy. We also find that an increase in the information gained while using the product leads to an earlier purchase but less frequent repurchases thereafter. On the other hand, an increase in the information gained prior to purchases leads to later purchases but more frequent repurchases thereafter. When the firm can also choose product duration, and there are no costs of production, we find that the firm chooses an expected production duration that is infinitely small and charges a low price for the consumer to use the product. We also characterize how the extent of learning when owning and when not owning the product, the duration of the product, and the discount rate affect the optimal consumer and firm strategies.

Friday, September 9th 

Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Location: Carlson School of Management, Room 2-206

Who: Myles Shaver, Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Title: It Matters Where People Live: Innovative Collaborations and the Proximity of Inventors’ Residences

Abstract: We examine if the geographic proximity of knowledge workers’ residences affects the likelihood that they collaborate. We argue that the underlying mechanisms for why proximity in the workplace affects collaboration extend beyond the workplace and hypothesize that residential proximity enhances workplace collaboration. To test this prediction, we examine patenting outcomes and inventor's residential location in the Warsaw, Indiana, orthopedic device cluster – a setting that provides many research design advantages to isolate our predicted effect. We find the odds of collaborating decrease by 0.2% with each kilometer coworkers live apart. Moreover, the effect is pronounced for inventors of the same gender. Documenting residential proximity as a novel within-firm agglomeration measure provides a theoretical rationale to explain different innovation outcomes between firms and across regions.

 

Friday, October 7th 

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm

Location: Carlson School of Management, Room 2-207

Who: Peggy Liu,  Professor of Marketing, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburg

Title: Choosing More Food for Others

Abstract: Consumers’ portion size choices are important, both as larger portion sizes can lead to overeating and as uneaten portions can contribute to food waste. Existing research has largely focused on consumers’ portion size choices for themselves—even though consumers often choose for others. Fourteen studies examine portion size choices for others, testing: Do consumers choose smaller, similar, or larger portion sizes for others, compared to various benchmarks—(1) how much they choose for themselves, (2) how much others want to receive, and (3) predictions about how much others actually want to eat? Studies show that consumers choose larger portion sizes for others across multiple choosing-for-others contexts involving everyday favors, gift-giving, and joint consumption. Consumers’ goal to be considerate of others’ needs and desires, given uncertainty about others’ consumption, is one broad “baseline” driver of this multiply determined phenomenon. Consumers do not choose larger portion sizes for others when they lack a consideration goal, when choosing larger portions is inconsiderate, or when a responsibility goal instead dominates (as in the choosing-for-others context of caregiving). This research offers theoretical implications for understanding choices for others and portion size choices and practical implications through identifying a potential cause of overeating and/or food waste.

 

Friday, October 28th 

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm

Location: Carlson School of Management, Room 2-213

Who: Tanya Singh, Visiting Professor, Carlson School of Management

Title: The Deferral Momentum Effect

Abstract: My research explores novel antecedents and consequences of choice deferral. Choice deferral is a common consumer phenomenon wherein consumers put off making choices due to choice conflict during a decision task. I examine the impact of choice deferral on the likelihood of deferring subsequent choices. Across four studies, I find evidence for a novel “deferral momentum” effect, such that initial choice deferral begets subsequent choice deferral. I examine decision confidence as a potential mechanism of this effect and find evidence to support my predictions. I also investigate how the degree of choice conflict on initial choice impacts subsequent choice deferral. Across four studies, I find that choice conflict can counterintuitively decrease the incidence of choice deferral. I argue this occurs because a conflict mindset can facilitate the evaluation of contrasting information and attributes, thus simplifying tradeoffs and reducing deferral. My research aims to expand our understanding of how choice deferral and its determinants can impact subsequent choices. My findings have important implications, both for consumer behavior scholars and marketing practitioners.

 

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Sonia Monga, Professor of Marketing, Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University

 

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Puneet Manchanda, Isadore & Leon Winkelman Professor of Marketing, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

 

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Upender Subramanian, Associate Professor of Marketing, Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas

 

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Christine Moorman, T. Austin Finch Senior Professor of Business Administration, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

 

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Raghunath Rao, Associate Professor of Marketing, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

Friday, November 6, 2020

Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Kinshuk Jerath, Professor of Marketing, Columbia Business School, Columbia University

 

Friday, November 20, 2020

Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Location: Zoom

Who: Stijn Van Osselaer, Professor of Marketing, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University

Friday, March 27, 2020

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Yuqing Ren, Associate Professor of Information and Decision Sciences & Lawrence Fellow, University of Minnesota

 

Friday, April 3, 2020

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Yajin Wang, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland

 

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-206, Carlson School of Management

Who: Zsolt Katona, Associate Professor of Marketing, Haas School of Business, University of California - Berkeley

 

Friday, May 1, 2020

2020 Minnesota Camp

Time: 8:30AM - 5:00 PM

Location: Room 1-147, Carlson School of Management

Who:

Stijn van Osselaer (SC Johnson College of Business - Cornell University)
Christine Moorman (Fuqua School of Business - Duke University)
Kinshuk Jerath (Columbia Business School)
Puneet Manchanda (Ross School of Business - University of Michigan)

Friday, November 22, 2019

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-260R, Carlson School of Management

Who: Joseph Barbour, Postdoctoral Associate & Lecturer, Marketing Department, University of Minnesota

Title: The Multicultural Self: Prioritizing Cultural Identities and Implications for Consumer Behavior

Friday, February 15, 2019

 

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Jason Chan, Assistant Professor of Information & Decision Sciences, University of Minnesota

Title: Demonstrating the Conspicuous Benefits of Physical Stores: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Major Retailer

Abstract: With increasing e-commerce penetration, consumers are spending more of their shopping time online and away from brick-and-mortar stores. This brings to question the role of physical stores in an increasingly digitized landscape and whether they remain relevant to existing retailers. The measurement of the impact of physical stores is further characterized by the difficulty of attributing the increase in online sales to customers seeing and experiencing products that are showcased in stores, as this is not typically observed. Moreover, if physical stores remain valuable, how should retailers maximize product placements in stores to enhance their complementarity to online sales? In this study, we attempt to shed light on these questions using a quasi-experiment under the context of a nationwide retailer in China. This work distinguishes itself from past studies in that it studies consumer behavior in the underexplored, yet important Chinese market in a mature e-commerce era. In addition, we provide empirical evidence of the conspicuous benefits of physical stores by explicitly showing that showcased products in stores have a direct relationship with online sales, via a "DDD" framework. We also show nuances of store effects that were not explored in the past. Specifically, we examine the impact of store openings on online sales by contrasting the difference in online purchases within geographical tracts where new physical stores are located. Our findings indicate a positive effect of stores on online sales. This relationship holds under various robustness checks, abating inherent endogeneity concerns. We also find that online sales for products showcased in physical stores increase for both high and low-involvement products, while high-involvement products not showcased face a subsequent drop in sales. The positive impact of physical stores works through the route of new customer acquisition. We further provide insights on how product variety in stores can influence sales. Our study contributes by dispelling concerns about the diminishing role of stores and demonstrating how stores fulfill a crucial marketing purpose.


Friday, April 12, 2019

 

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Iris Vilares, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota

Title: To Trust or Not to Trust, That’s the Question

Abstract: Social interactions are an important component of most people’s lives, and higher-quality interactions are associated with better health outcomes, indices of well-being, and longevity. To achieve these, the capacity to trust and reciprocate trust is particularly important. Trust and reciprocity are typically studied using trust games: one subject gives (entrusts) money to another subject, which may return some of the proceeds (reciprocate). However, results obtained from the trust game can potentially vary considerably, depending on what is being exchanged (e.g. money vs. something else), the number of trials in the game, or other factors. Knowing how the results of the trust game vary with these different factors can give us cues about the generalizability of existing trust game results, as well as allow us to understand the real-life factors that may affect these social decisions.

The first study I will present analyzes if trust and reciprocity in monetary transactions are similar to trust and reciprocity of physical effort. This is particularly relevant as many everyday decisions imply an exchange of physical effort, and such exchange is central to labor relations. We developed a trust game based on physical effort and compared the results with those of a computationally equivalent monetary trust game. We found no significant difference between effort and money conditions in both the amount trusted and the quantity reciprocated. Moreover, there is a high positive correlation in subjects’ behavior across conditions, suggesting that trust and reciprocity may be character traits.

I will also talk about the results of a meta-analysis we are currently doing in the lab, which analyzes how trust and reciprocity are affected by the total number of trials played, if they are playing against another human or a computer, or if participants are getting real money or just course credit.

Finally, I will show how trust and reciprocity are affected in people with Borderline Personality disorder, and the potential use of computational phenotypes derived from these experimental economics games to quantitatively characterize and phenotype individuals and better understand psychopathology.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Scott Rick, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Michigan

Title: Managing Debt and Managing Each Other: The Interpersonal Dynamics of Joint Financial Decisions

Abstract: How do couples manage their debts? Prior work suggests that couple members’ differences in objective financial literacy do not predict who initially has greater influence over household finances. By contrast, we propose that couple members’ differences in subjective financial confidence predict influence over joint debt management decisions. In an incentivized debt management task, we found that following the lead of the partner with greater financial confidence is beneficial. Couple members manage debt more optimally when working together than when working individually. Financial confidence encourages financially optimal behavior among those faced with multiple debts (by focusing repayment efforts on large, otherwise daunting debts). Couples benefit from a shared understanding of which partner has greater financial confidence and placing greater weight on that partner’s preferences. Consistent with this account, we find that a shared financial “warm-up” task can improve partners’ understanding of each other’s financial confidence, which in turn improves their ability to manage debts jointly. Our work highlights the interpersonal (and beneficial) role of financial confidence in joint financial decisions.


Friday, October 19, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-260R, Carlson School of Management

Who: Oscar Garza, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems, University of Minnesota

Title: Social Capital in Community Pharmacy: Implications for Innovation in Pharmacy Services and Value Creation Strategy

Abstract: The evolution of the healthcare marketplace over the last decade has triggered a compulsory reevaluation of business models by many in the retail (community) pharmacy sector. Changes in the market forces affecting the retail pharmacy sector have been marked by increased consolidation through merger and acquisition activity, as well as changes in channel strategies. Many within the sector must respond by focusing strategies on increasing dispensing efficiency and creating economies of scale. The movement toward value-based health care, however, has presented a potential boon for retail pharmacies to survive the ever-shrinking margins in medication dispensing-based business models. This potential boon lies in the ability of those in the retail pharmacy sector to reposition themselves by making the transition from a goods-dominant (G-D) to a service-dominant (S-D) logic.

Emerging lines of inquiry have begun to focus on examining the development of the services marketing mix in the retail pharmacy sector; however, largely unaddressed is that at the heart of this phenomenon is the need to reevaluate the basis of the exchange and how value is created. This talk will provide insight into recent research investigating service development in retail pharmacy, with a particular focus on the exploration of social capital and what it means for value creation in the sector. Findings herein are consistent with recent evidence revealing limited diffusion and adoption of an expanded pharmacy services mix and findings of low levels of social capital among pharmacists in the retail pharmacy sector, further illuminating the challenges and opportunities for retail pharmacies looking to transition from a goods-dominant to service-dominant marketing strategy. Value-based healthcare is largely contingent on the ability to co-create value across the spectrum of the healthcare marketplace, capitalizing on strategic alliances across sectors and tapping into the power of social networks to increase the diffusion and adoption of innovations in services development.


Friday, November 9, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Bryan Bollinger, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Duke University

Title: Peer Effects in Water Conservation: Evidence from Consumer Migration

Abstract: Social interactions are widely understood to influence consumer decisions in many choice settings. This paper identifies causal peer effects in water conservation during the growing season, utilizing variation from consumer migration. We use machine learning to classify high-resolution remote sensing images to provide evidence that conversion to dry landscaping underpins the peer effects in water consumption. We also provide evidence that without a price signal, peer effects appear muted, indicating a complementarity between information transmission and prices. These results inform water use policy in many areas of the world threatened by recurring drought conditions.
 

Friday, November 30, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Gordon Burtch, Associate Professor of Information & Decision Sciences, University of Minnesota

Title: Examining the Timing and Quality of Movie Piracy Leaks and their Relationship with Box Office Revenue

Abstract: We extend prior literature on the relationship between movie piracy and box-office revenue in two ways. First, we estimate the distinct causal effects of piracy leaks of different quality levels, i.e., low-quality leaks, such as CAMs, versus high-quality leaks, such as DVDs, which commonly occur within the box office window and which have direct implications for movie studios’ piracy prevention efforts. Second, we evaluate the predictive value of piracy leak information for forecasting box-office revenue. We address these two research objectives leveraging a weekly panel data set that incorporates US box office revenue associated with 822 movies released between 2008 and 2018. This panel is merged with proprietary data tracking piracy leaks appearing on the Bit Torrent network. Our causal estimates indicate that low-quality leaks cause an average reduction of 31\% in weekly box office revenue and that subsequent high-quality leaks drive a further 6\% weekly loss on average. Our predictions, implementing a Gradient Boosted Machine, demonstrate notable improvements in the accuracy of revenue forecasts when piracy leak information (both in terms of leak availability and the timing of availability) is considered, over and above naive feature sets. We discuss managerial and policy implications for content providers and regulators, respectively, with the allocation of resources toward piracy prevention efforts and for advanced planning around movie releases. We also discuss various avenues for future research.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Room 2-207, Carlson School of Management

Who: Garrett Johnson, Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University

Title: The Online Display Ad Effectiveness Funnel & Carryover: Lessons from 432 Field Experiments

Abstract: We analyze 432 online display ad field experiments on the Google Display Network. The experiments feature 431 advertisers from varied industries, which, on average, include 4 million users. Causal estimates from 2.2 billion observations help overcome the medium's measurement challenges to inform how and how much these ads work. We find that the campaigns increase site visits (p<10^-212) and conversions (p<10^-39) with median lifts of 17% and 8%, respectively. We examine whether the in-campaign lift carries forward after the campaign or instead only causes users to take action earlier than they otherwise would have. We find that most campaigns have a modest, positive carryover four weeks after the campaign ended, with a further 6% lift in visitors and a 16% lift in visits on average, relative to the in-campaign lift. We then relate the baseline attrition as consumers move down the purchase process—the marketing funnel—to the incremental effect of ads on the consumer purchase process—the 'ad effectiveness funnel.' We find that total site visitors are less likely to convert than baseline visitors: a 10% lift in site visitors translates into a 5-7% lift in converters.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Exec. Ed. Center Room 2-260Z, Carlson School of Management 

Who:  Leslie John, Marvin Bower Associate Professor, Harvard Business School

Title: Privacy and Disclosure in the Digital Age: Temporary Sharing, Enduring Impressions

Abstract: Why are people so willing to share personal information on ambiguous quiz websites but still skeptical about making online payments through official, online retailers? Why do people post salacious photos or incendiary comments on social media, when the damage to their relationships, reputation, and careers could be permanent? These phenomena relate to an emerging area of inquiry: the psychology of privacy. This issue is central to understanding human behavior in consumer-firm interactions, job interviews, social media, romantic relationships, and beyond.

This talk will focus on recent research investigating answers to these questions, with a particular focus on a paper in which we explore the effect of temporary sharing on impression formation.

Relative to traditional, offline forms of communication, there is an enhanced permanence to digital sharing. Digital disclosures can come back to haunt, making it challenging for people to manage the impressions they make upon others. Nine studies show that, paradoxically, these challenges can be exacerbated by temporary-sharing technologies. Temporary sharing reduces privacy concerns, in turn increasing disclosure of potentially compromising information (in the form of uninhibited selfies). Recipients attribute these indiscretions to sharers’ bad judgment,

failing to appreciate the situational influence—the temporariness of the sharing platform—on sharers’ disclosures. Sharers do not anticipate this consequence, mistakenly believing that recipients will attribute their disclosure decisions to the (temporary) platform on which they chose to send the photographs.

Wednesday, September 6th, 2017

Time: 11:00 - 12:30 PM

Location: Carlson School of Management Room L-122

Who: Nicholas Olson, Doctoral Candidate, Carlson School of Management

Title: When Sharing Isn't Caring: The Influence of Seeking the Best on Sharing Word of Mouth about Unsatisfactory Purchases

 

Abstract: Past research generally finds that if consumers share word of mouth about past purchases with others, the valence of the information tends to be congruent with actual perceptions. Thus, a negative purchase experience should elicit negative (vs. positive) word of mouth. We examine how a goal of attaining the best possible outcome or maximizing, may alter this tendency. Building on the notion that seeking the best is associated with not only getting the best but also being the best relative to others, we show that maximizing increases consumers’ propensity to share favorable word of mouth about unsatisfactory purchases, specifically to persuade others to make the same poor choices, as this enhances relative standing and subjective feelings toward their own choice. We further demonstrate that individuals particularly exhibit this behavior when sharing with psychologically close (vs. distant) others, as close others tend to be especially important in determining relative standing. Finally, we consider the downstream consequences of such behavior, showing that when individuals are successful in their attempts to bring others down to their level, they feel subjectively better about their decisions, but they are also burdened with feelings of guilt that erode their overall well-being.

Friday, March 31st, 2017

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Location: Carlson School of Management Room 1-127

Who: Masakazu Ishihara, Assistant Professor of Marketing,  New York University - Stern School of Business
 

 

Friday, February 3rd, 2017

Time: 12:00 -1:30 pm

Location: Carlson School of Management Room 1-127

Who: Keith Wilcox, Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School


Title:  Restraint that Blinds: Attention Narrowing and Consumers' Response to Numerosity in Self-Control Decisions

 

Abstract: Research on numerosity demonstrates that consumers’ judgment can be influenced by the scale on which product benefit information is presented. However, only a limited amount of research has examined how consumers respond to the numerosity of cost information (e.g., prices, nutritional content) in decisions that involve self-control. The results of a pilot study and five experiments demonstrate that numerosity primarily influences self-control when consumers are high in restraint. Because restrained consumers regulate their behavior by anticipating negative emotions, they experience a narrowing of attention during self-control decisions that make them more reliant on cues for judgment. As a result, consumers who are situationally primed and predisposed to be high in restraint display less self-control when cost information is presented on a contracted scale compared to an expanded scale. The same effect does not emerge when consumers are less focused on restraint because these consumers do not experience a similar narrowing of attention during self-control decisions.

Friday, March 25th, 2016

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 1-136 Carlson School of Management

Who: Raphael Thomadsen,  Associate Professor of Marketing, Washington University - Olin Business School

Title: The Impact of Switching Stores on State Dependence in Brand Choice


Abstract: This paper demonstrates that brand-level state dependence is affected by the store at which a consumer shops. The classic structural state dependence literature models inertia in brand choice by assuming that consumers experience an extra boost in utility from consuming the products they last purchased. We demonstrate that the level of inertia depends on the context in which the purchase was made, which suggests that a richer decision process is driving the state dependence. Specifically, we find that consumers exhibit more state dependence if they shop at the same store that they previously patronized as compared to if they switch to a different store. This result replicates across 14 diverse consumer packaged goods (CPG) supermarket categories, and on-average across categories, the level of state dependence when the customer switches stores is about two-thirds of the level of state dependence when the customer patronizes the same store. This difference in same vs. different store state dependence translates into an additional willingness to pay for a product equal to 8% of the product’s price. When consumers switch back to a store they previously visited, both the brand purchased on the last shopping occasion (at the different store) and the brand purchased the last time the consumer was at the store they are currently patronizing influence the consumer’s decisions, but the consumer is more influenced by the last purchase they made at the particular store they are currently patronizing. We conclude by discussing possible theories behind the results.

 

Friday, April 8th, 2016

Time: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Location: 2-260-R Executive Center

The Minnesota Camp brings to our campus, four top researchers in the field of marketing for a full day of presentations and research interactions. The goal is to foster academic inquiry via exposure to and collaboration with top minds in the field. This initiative started in 2012. The camp not only aims to energize the passion for research among our faculty and Ph.D. students but also to showcase our expertise and superb facilities.

Who: Rebecca Hamilton, Marketing Professor - Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business

Title: Online Reviews of Credence Services: An Analysis of Their Content, Structure and Perceived Credibility

 

Abstract: Although, by definition, it is difficult or impossible for consumers to evaluate credence services, consumers frequently post reviews of credence service providers such as doctors and mechanics. What do they say in these reviews, and do other consumers find these reviews credible? We compare real reviews of credence service providers (e.g., doctors and mechanics) and experience service providers (e.g., hair stylists and landscapers) and find that they systematically differ in both content and structure. In a series of experiments controlling for the content and structure of the reviews across credence and experienced service providers, we find that the perceived credibility of reviews is sensitive to both differences in content (discussion of credence vs. experience attributes) and structure (supported vs. unsupported claims). Consumers rationally discount the credibility of simple credence claims in a review, but more complex argument structure and the inclusion of data attenuate this effect.

 

 

 

Who: Tom Meyvis, Marketing Professor - New York University - Stern School of Business

Title: Questioning the End Effect: Endings Are Not Inherently Over-Weighted in Retrospective Evaluations of Experiences

Abstract: The present research re-examines one of the most basic assertions regarding the evaluation of hedonic experiences: the end effect. The end effect suggests that the retrospective evaluation of an experience is disproportionately influenced by the final moments of the experience. The findings in this paper indicate that endings are not inherently over-weighted in retrospective evaluations. That is, episodes do not disproportionately affect the evaluation of an experience simply because they occur at the end. We replicate findings that are consistent with the end effect but provide additional evidence implicating other processes as driving factors of those findings.

 

 

Who: Avi Goldfarb, Marketing Professor - University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management

Title: Exit, Tweets, and Loyalty

Abstract: At the heart of economics is the belief that markets discipline firms for poor performance. However, while consumers may withdraw demand from a firm when quality falls, in his famous book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, Hirschman highlights an alternative mechanism that has received considerably less attention: voice. Hirschman argues that, rather than withdrawing demand from a firm, consumers may choose to communicate their dissatisfaction to the firm. In this paper, we develop a formal model of voice as the equilibrium of a relational contract between firms and consumers. Our model predicts that voice is more likely to emerge in concentrated markets, thus resolving a key source of ambiguity in Hirschman’s original formulation. Empirically, we estimate the relationship between quality, voice, and market structure. Combining data on tweets about major U.S. airlines with data on airlines’ daily on-time performance and market structure, we document that the quantity of tweets increases in response to a deterioration in on-time performance and that this relationship is stronger when an airline has a greater share of flights in a given market. Our findings indicate that voice is an important mechanism that consumers use to respond to quality deterioration and that its use varies with exit opportunities.

 

 

 Who: Kenneth Wilbur - Associate Professor - University of California - San Diego - Rady School of Management

Title: Priming and Framing in Print-at-Home Coupons

Abstract:  We report the results of two large-scale field experiments involving about 60,000 consumers at a website offering print-at-home retail coupons. Framing the savings benefits of diaper coupons as benefiting the baby significantly increases parents' coupon engagement, print rates, and redemptions. Framing the benefits of the diaper brand as benefiting the baby does not influence coupon behavior. Visual reminders of babies do not influence coupon redemption rates, but they do increase attention and redemptions of proximate coupons on the website.

 

Sponsored by: Institute for Research in Marketing

*By invitation only

 

Friday, April 29th, 2016

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 2-233 Carlson School of Management

Who: Alison Xu,  Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: Attachment to God Reduces Conformity to the Choice of the Majority


Abstract:  Previous research has found that a close relationship with God has positive effects on individuals’ well-being, self-image, and meaning in life (e.g., Stroope, Draper, and Whitehead, 2013), due to enhanced feelings of love, support, and approval. We propose that this sense of support may reduce individuals’ need to be affiliated with others, cultivating a more independent self-construal. Consequently, consumers who are strongly attached to God are more likely to make acquisition decisions based on their preferences rather than conforming to the choices of others. This effect only occurs for decisions relating to private consumption. For decisions relating to public consumption, the public context highlights the social pressure to conform, making consumers more susceptible to the choice of the majority. Support for the above hypotheses was provided by six experiments demonstrating that both measured and manipulated attachment to God reduced consumers’ tendency to conform to the majority’s choice. 

Tuesday, September 8th, 2015

Time: 3:30-5:00 pm

Location: 2-260Z Carlson School Executive Center

Who: Jennifer Stoner, Marketing PhD Candidate,  University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management


Title: When Bigger Isn’t Better:  How Perceptions of Market Dominance Interact with Existing Brand Images to Impact Brand Favorability

 

Abstract: Past research suggests that communicating dominance over competitors is generally beneficial to a brand. However, this research proposes that certain brands, namely those that have built a warm brand image, might not benefit from communicating market dominance. Results from four studies, using both real and fictitious brands in a variety of product categories, demonstrate that communicating dominance over the competition can be harmful to warm brands. This effect is driven by the dilution of the brand’s warm image triggered by the inconsistency between the power meanings in the dominant message and the brand’s warm image. Evidence for the underlying mechanism emerged in mediation analyses using measures of brand warmth. Additional evidence was provided by demonstrating that toning down power-related meanings in a dominant message—via framing the message in terms of the norms that describe the behavior of consumers in the category—attenuates the effects. Finally, our findings demonstrate that the dilution effects triggered by a dominant message only emerge for warm brands from categories in which warmth is not a normative attribute (i.e., warm-neutral categories) but not for categories in which warmth is a normative attribute stored at the category level (i.e., warm categories).

 

 

Friday, September 11, 2015

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 2-233 - Carlson School

Who: Chiraag Mittal, Marketing PhD Candidate,  University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management


Title:  Silver Spoons and Platinum Plans:  How Childhood Environment Affects Adult Healthcare Decisions

 

Abstract: Can socioeconomic status in childhood influence the desire for health coverage in adulthood? We developed and tested a model that yielded two sets of findings across four experiments. First, people who grew up poor were generally less interested in health coverage compared to those who grew up wealthy. This effect was independent of people’s current level of socioeconomic status, emerged most strongly when adults were experiencing financial threats, and was mediated by differences in willingness to take risks between people from poor versus wealthy childhoods. Second, we show that this effect reverses when people are provided with base-rate information about disease. When information about the average likelihood of getting sick is made available, people who grew up poor were consistently more likely to seek medical coverage than people who grew up wealthy. This effect was again strongest when people felt a sense of financial threat, and it was driven by people from poor versus wealthy childhoods differing in their perceptions of the likelihood of becoming sick. Overall, we show how, why, and when childhood socioeconomic status influences the desire for health coverage.

 

Friday, October 9th, 2015

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: 1-149 Carlson School

Who: Jordan Etkin, Assistant Professor,  Duke University - Fuqua School of Business

Title: The Hidden Cost of Personal Quantification

 

Abstract: From sleep and energy use to exercise and health, consumers have access to more information about their behavior than ever before. The appeal of personal quantification seems clear. By better understanding their behavior, consumers can make the necessary changes to live happier, healthier lives. But might the new tools consumers are using — quantifying life — rob them of some of the benefits of engaging in those activities? Six experiments demonstrate that while measurement increases how much of an activity people do (e.g., walk or read more), it can simultaneously reduce how much people enjoy those activities. This occurs because measurement can undermine intrinsic motivation. By drawing attention to output, measurement can make enjoyable activities feel more like work, which reduces their enjoyment. As a result, measurement can decrease continued engagement in the activity and subjective well-being. Even in the absence of explicit external incentives, measurement itself can thus have similar effects. We discuss implications for measurement’s use, as well as for the psychology of external incentives and intrinsic motivation.

 

Friday, October 16th, 2015

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: 2-233 Carlson School

Who: Clayton Critcher, Assistant Professor,  University of California Berkeley - Haas School of Business

Title:  The Non-Reflective Road Toward Goals and Toward God

 

Abstract: Economic and lay notions of human psychology see people as agentic, reasoning beings. People decide whether it is worth it to them to study or exercise, whether political and religious belief systems have merit, and more generally, decide how to live their lives. However many domains that can be argued for or debated rationally are governed by more intuitive or emotional systems. This talk considers two such domains. First, I will discuss studies that examine the role of implicit cognition in self-regulation. Whereas decades of research have examined the role that implicit attitudes (automatic positive and negative reactions to stimuli) play in various behaviors, this line of research introduces the construct of implicit importance (automatic associations between importance and concepts like schoolwork or exercise). Second, I will discuss studies that examine how and why the emotional experience of inspiration encourages a belief in God. Discussion will focus on how explicit, reason-based, and intuitive, emotional systems likely combine to govern thought and behavior.  

 

Friday, October 30, 2015

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: 2-233 Carlson School

Who: Eva Ascarza, Assistant Professor,  Columbia Business School

Title:  Beyond the Target Customer: Social Effects of CRM Campaigns

 

Abstract:   Customer Relationship Management (CRM) campaigns have traditionally focused on maximizing the profitability of the targeted customers. In this paper, we investigate the social effects of CRM campaigns. We demonstrate that in business settings that are characterized by network externalities, a CRM campaign that is aimed at changing the behavior of specific customers propagates through the social network, thereby also affecting the behavior of non-targeted customers. Using a randomized field experiment involving nearly 6,000 customers of a mobile telecommunications provider, we find that the social connections of targeted customers increase their consumption and are less likely to churn due to a campaign that was neither targeted at them nor offered them any direct incentives. We estimate a social multiplier of 1.28. That is, the effect of the campaign on first-degree connections of targeted customers is 28% of the effect of the campaign on the targeted customers. By further leveraging the randomized experimental design, we show that consistent with a network externality account, the increase in activity among the non-targeted but connected customers is driven by the increase in communication between the targeted customers and their connections, making the local network of the non-targeted customers more valuable. Our findings suggest that in targeting CRM marketing campaigns, firms should consider not only the profitability of the targeted customer but also the potential spillover of the campaign to non-targeted but connected customers.
 

 

Friday, November 6th, 2015

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: 2-233 Carlson School

Who: Karen Winterich, Associate Professor,  Penn State, Smeal College of Business

Title: A Constellation of Many Identities: How Self-Complexity Increases Evaluations of Identity-Linked Products

 

Abstract:  Consumers construct their self through multiple identities, although the number of identities and the degree of overlap among them varies across individuals. Self-complexity captures the structure (both the number of identities and degree of overlap) of the self, with greater self-complexity associated with both more identities and fewer redundancies between them. In this research, we introduce the construct of self-complexity to the consumer behavior literature and demonstrate that self-complexity is positively associated with evaluations of identity-linked goods. Specifically, we show higher self-complexity is associated with a more malleable self-concept, which increases attitudes toward identity-linked products. Furthermore, results indicate the positive effect of self-complexity is mitigated: 1) when a product-relevant identity is made salient exogenously, and 2) following an identity threat as individuals with high (low) self-complexity dissociate from (associate toward) the threatened identity. Future research investigating the effect of self-complexity on other consumer behaviors is also discussed.

 

Friday, November 13th, 2015

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: 2-233 Carlson School

Who: Baojun Jiang, Assistant Professor,  Washington University in St. Louis,  Olin Business School

Title:  Why Keep Your Product Value Secret from Competitor’s Customers?

 

Abstract:  Customers can sometimes learn unanticipated or hidden use value of a firm’s product, whereas non-customers remain uninformed about that extra value. A monopolist will benefit from informing the non-customers of its product’s hidden value. However, our analysis reveals that this may not be true when the firm faces competition in the market—the firm may make higher profits if it keeps its hidden value secret from its competitor’s customers, even if advertising to inform those customers is costless. Not advertising the product’s hidden value creates an incentive for both firms to continue targeting their existing customers rather than poaching each other’s customers. This can alleviate price competition and increase both firms’ profits even when firms anticipate the hidden value and compete more aggressively for customers in the early period. Our research also suggests that positive word-of-mouth about a firm’s product will not necessarily benefit the firm and can make all firms worse off.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 1-142 Carlson School

Who: Robert Zeithammer, Associate Professor, Anderson School of Management - University of California, Los Angeles


Title: Optimal Selling Strategies When Buyers Name Their Own Prices

Abstract: This paper models a name-your-own-price (NYOP) retailer that allows buyers to initiate their retail interaction by describing a product and submitting a binding bid for it. The buyers have an outside option to buy the same good for a commonly known posted price that also acts as an informative upper bound on the cost the NYOP retailer faces. We conceptualize a selling strategy of such a NYOP retailer to be the probability that a buyer’s bid gets accepted that is a function of only the bid level and the commonly known outside spot-market price, but does not depend on the exact realization of the retailer’s procurement cost. Using mechanism design techniques, we characterize the optimal selling strategy and the equilibrium bidding function that best responds to it. We show that the optimal strategy implements the first-best ex-post optimal mechanism: for every cost realization, the retailer can make as much profit as he would if he could learn his cost first and use the optimal mechanism contingent on it. The complexity involved in credibly communicating an entire bid-acceptance function to buyers can make the first-best strategy impractical in some real-world markets, so we also analyze several simpler NYOP strategies: setting a minimum bid, charging a participation fee, and accepting all bids above cost. When both the distribution of buyer valuations and seller cost are uniform, the minimum-bid strategy dominates the other alternative strategies and approaches the first-best strategy in terms of profit as the outside price for the same good drops.

 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 1-142 Carlson School

Who: Ting Zhu, Associate Professor, Sauder School of Business - The University of British Columbia

Title: Can Online Price Matching Defeat Showrooming?

Abstract: We study the impact of Best Buy's recent online price matching policy on the price competition between Best Buy and Amazon and examine whether the policy can defeat the practice of "showrooming." We first empirically explore Best Buy and Amazon's pricing patterns by using unique data sets we collected from different sources. We find that both retailers react to the new policy; Best Buy and Amazon adjust prices in the same direction. However, the directions vary across product categories. For products that a consumer can obtain a large value from physical store experiences, i.e., the "showrooming products," we find that prices went down for both Best Buy and Amazon. In addition, Amazon cut prices more aggressively than Best Buy. For the rest of the "non-showrooming" products, or the products that consumers benefit less from store experiences, we find the opposite patterns -- prices went up for both Best Buy and Amazon after the implementation of online price matching.

We then develop an analytical model to explain the observed data patterns. Two retailers competing on a Hotelling line are assumed to focus on both profit maximization and beating competitors. Consumers who may or may not be aware of price matching guarantee optimally decide which store(s) to visit and where to make the purchase. We show that the effect of price-matching guarantees depends on the additional value consumers obtain from visiting a physical store. Both retailers would raise prices when this value is small but would compete more aggressively on prices when this value is large, which is consistent with the data. We also show that for the "showrooming products," both retailers' profits are lower as a result of the price matching guarantee, but the online retailer's payoff may increase because of the success in beating its competitor. Finally, online price matching can reduce the degree of showrooming practices, but at the cost of reduced profits and payoffs for Best Buy.

 

Friday, April 10, 2015

Time: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Location: 1-109 Hanson Hall

The Minnesota Camp brings to our campus four top researchers in the field of marketing for a full day of presentations and research interactions. The goal is to foster academic inquiry via exposure to and collaboration with top minds in the field. This initiative started in 2012. The camp not only aims to energize the passion for research among our faculty and Ph.D. students but also to showcase our expertise and superb facilities.

Sponsored by: Institute for Research in Marketing

*By invitation only

Who: Aradhna Krishna, Professor of Marketing, Ross School of Business - University of Michigan


Title: Embodied Mental Simulation and Other Mental Imagery

Abstract: The theory of grounded cognition holds that our bodily states, actions, and even mental simulations are used to generate our cognitive activity. One of the more prominent findings within this literature is the effect of bodily states on persuasion. For instance, Wells and Petty (1980) show that participants nodding their heads up and down (vs. side to side) leads to increased persuasion of an editorial message. Other research supporting the concept of embodied cognition has focused on metaphorical transfers of meanings. For example, participants rated hypothetical individuals more positively on socially warm characteristics when they had previously held a warm (vs. cold) cup of coffee (Williams and Bargh 2008). Despite the recent interest in embodied cognition, bodily states are only one of how cognition is grounded (Barsalou 2008). Mental simulation, or the reenactment of perceptual experiences, is another way in which cognition is grounded and is the focus of this talk. By mental simulation, I refer to a more automatic form of mental imagery that is initiated by exposure to verbal or visual representations of objects. Across a series of studies, I provide evidence for such embodied mental simulation and other mental imagery.

 

Who: John G. Lynch, Jr., Professor of Marketing, Leeds School of Business - University of Colorado Boulder

 

Title: Resource Slack: A Theory of Perceived Supply and Demand

Abstract: We present a general theory of “resource slack,” the degree to which the perceived supply of a resource exceeds or falls short of the perceived demand for that resource. Our theory makes five main arguments. First, perceptions of resource slack influence when and how people change consideration sets for proposed resource uses and how they plan to conserve the focal resource. Second, perceived resource slack deviates from objective slack due to a set of psychological processes that influence the recruitment of subsets of potential supply and demand. Moreover, goal and subgoal pursuit influence perceived slack and cause impatience that alters relative evaluations of proposed resource use, and salient alternative uses. Third, these processes explain why it is common for perceived slack for proposed resource use to be different when it is for now rather than for the future. Fourth, slack is influenced by properties of resource supply such as fungibility, specificity of budgets, and other factors that can differ across resources and can affect the ambiguity of slack perceptions. These general resource characteristics can have different levels for different resources, such as time and money. Fifth, these psychological processes that determine perceived slack can explain many phenomena in intertemporal choice and connect judgment and decision-making phenomena that have heretofore not been seen as related, such as opportunity cost consideration, discounting of future resource expenditures, procrastination, the planning fallacy, and other intertemporal phenomena in the judgment and decision making literature.

 

Who: Tat Y. Chan, Associate Professor of Marketing, John M. Olin School of Business - Washington University in St. Louis

 

Title: Information Asymmetry, Manufacturer-Retailer Contracts, and Two-Sided Entry

Abstract: We investigate the economic determinants of contract structure and entry in an empirical setting with transfer contracts, which specify that manufacturers directly sell their products in retail stores while retailers collect the sales revenue and return a transfer to the manufacturers. Using a unique dataset describing the entry decisions of clothing manufacturers into a retail department store, we estimate a two-sided, asymmetric information entry model. We then use this model to compare welfare estimates under transfer contracts to counterfactual welfare estimates obtained under common alternative contract formats. Results show that transfer contracts dominate other contract formats when adverse selection is severe. We also find that, even in the absence of adverse selection, it is mutually beneficial for the retail store and the manufacturers to reduce information asymmetry.

 

Who: Jeff Shulman, Associate Professor in Marketing, Foster School of Business - University of Washington

 

Title: Regulating Illicit Markets with a Cross-Tariff

Abstract: Caremark, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the US, recently began charging customers a surcharge on any prescriptions filled at a pharmacy selling tobacco products. One goal of this surcharge is to reduce the use of tobacco products. In this research, we develop an analytical model to study whether such a penalty, which we refer to as a cross-tariff, can be more effective than a regular tariff in shrinking the illicit market. We also explore how a cross-tariff impacts prices and firm profitability. The results show that under certain conditions, a cross-tariff can reduce sales in an illicit market more than an equivalent regular tariff. Analyzing firm profits under cross-tariffs, we find that cross-tariffs can increase the profitability of competing firms. Allowing for asymmetry in firm quality, we find under certain conditions the profit of the inferior firm can even be higher than the superior firm. Our results have implications for regulators and marketers dealing with illicit goods.  

 

Friday, May 1, 2015

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm

Location: 1-142 Carlson School

Who: Yi Zhu, Assistant Professor, Carlson School of Management - University of Minnesota



Title: The Impact of Screening on Shopping Platforms in the Presence of Long Tail Sellers

Abstract: Shopping platforms such as Google Shopping, Amazon, Rakuten, and Tmall (the largest Chinese B2C platform) use screening mechanisms to filter long-tail sellers that offer niche products. Platforms claim that such screening helps to weed out sellers that provide poor services and encourage surviving sellers to improve services to consumers. However, third-party reports have disputed these claims. We develop an analytical model to investigate the impact of screening on shopping platforms’ service provision and consumer welfare. Two screening mechanisms have been examined: paid inclusion, under which sellers are screened based on profits, and service screening, under which sellers are screened based on observed service level. Our results suggest that paid inclusion may filter long tail sellers that provide better services when the product differentiation of long tail sellers is neither too large nor too small;  platform screening may reduce the average service level when the long tail sellers are NOT good at providing service; and consumer welfare becomes worse off even when screening increases the average service level. These results imply that platforms may need to consider the sellers’ strategic responses to the screenings before filtering long-tail sellers.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 2-224 Carlson School
Who: Xiaolin Li, Marketing PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

 

Title: The "Shadow of the Future" in Procurement Auctions

Abstract: Buyer behavior for procuring large, complex, customized items consists of initial phases where firms first specify the needed item(s) and pre-qualify vendors, following which an auction is used to choose the contractor. Despite the rigid rules and detailed specifications accompanying auctions, it is striking that procurement auctions in industries like information technology (IT) display very large differences between the initially agreed-to payment and the actual payments because of negotiations during the execution phase. However, these revisions are ignored in the theoretical and empirical auction literature. After developing a mathematical model to specify how bidders accommodate post-auction modifications, I developed a method to take my model to a comprehensive dataset of IT procurement auctions. I find that the prospects of modifications lower bidders’ “latent” costs, leading to more aggressive bids, especially by bidders without a previous contract with the buyer. To see the magnitude of this effect, I consider a buyer who commits credibly to a no-modification policy and finds that such a commitment would increase bids by 27%, all else equal. I also find that the size of this “shadow of the future” is larger for lump-sum bids. To see this magnitude, I consider a buyer who switches the auction bid format from a lump-sum bid to a more flexible bid format (e.g., time and materials) and finds that bids are lower by 16%, all else equal. These large effects form the basis of my recommendations for improving procurement auctions. They also contribute to long-standing theory concerns studied in transaction cost economics. My findings support the Williamsonian critique of procurement auctions as a solution for the ex-post monopoly problem; my estimates demonstrate that ex-post modifications remain an intrinsic aspect of procurement auctions. However, auctions remain a valuable procurement device for customized goods in complex, fast-moving environments, particularly when used with more flexible payment formats.

 

Friday, September 12, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 1-135 Carlson School
Who: Yajin Wang, Marketing PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

 


Title: The Devil Wears Prada: How Luxury Consumption Influences Social Behavior

Abstract: Does the Devil wear Prada? Or does wearing Prada lead people to behave more like the Devil? We propose that using luxury products boosts people’s perception of social status, which then alters their behavior. In four experiments, women used either a luxury or a non-luxury product. We then tested whether the consumption experience triggers more selfish behavior (take more for the self) or generous (give more to others). Using luxury products often led women to be more selfish, such as sharing fewer resources. However, luxury products made women more generous (donating more money to others), and doing so could enhance their reputation. Thus, we show that luxury products can lead people to be more selfish or more generous depending on the situation.

 

Friday, September 26, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 2-213 Carlson School
Who: Liangyan Wang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University - Antai College of Economics & Management (Visiting Professor at Carlson School)


Title: When Shanzhai Compete with Originals: Increased Satisfaction with Originals due to Low-Quality Shanzhai but Decreased Satisfaction with Originals due to Moderate Quality Shanzhai

Abstract: “Shanzhai” connotes copycat manufacturing and is a significant phenomenon in developing countries. The prevailing belief is that Shanzhai is always detrimental to the original products. However, we find that Shanzhai, depending on their relative quality, can elicit either dissatisfaction or satisfaction with the originals and thereby decrease or increase sales of the originals, such as the Apple iPhone. Study 1 found that compared with a separate display of the original only, a joint display of a low-quality Shanzhai and the original caused a contrast effect, increasing satisfaction with and intent to purchase the original. In study 2, conducted in a retail store, a joint display of a moderate quality Shanzhai and the original caused an assimilation effect, reducing shoppers’ satisfaction with and intent to purchase the original. Study 3 in an electronics center found corresponding effects on the original’s sales. Study 4 in a retail store found the effects were mediated by disconfirmation of expectations about the original due to the juxtaposed Shanzhai. Study 5 found further evidence of disconfirmation using a taste test.

 

Friday, October 3, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 1-103 Hanson Hall
Who: Mitchell Lovett, University of Rochester - Simon Business School

 

Title: The Role of Paid, Earned, and Owned Media in Building an Entertainment Brand: Reminding, Informing, and Enhancing Enjoyment

Abstract: Firms can communicate about their brands in numerous ways. We study three--advertising (paid media), word-of-mouth and other social media (earned media), and brand websites and other owned content (owned media--in the context of building an entertainment brand. We develop a structural model of viewing behaviors and apply the model to a new television program setting using a data set that contains both viewing and stated expectations and experiences. We use this model not only to assess the relative impact of paid, earned, and owned media but also to distinguish multiple roles that they might play--reminding (i.e., activating memory), informing (i.e., learning about the quality of the program), or enhancing enjoyment (i.e., gaining additional utility from socializing about the program). We present descriptive analyses and results from our structural model, which indicate that paid and earned media effects are relatively small and that owned media has a negligible effect. The effects primarily operate through reminding, but earned media plays a small yet statistically significant enhancing enjoyment role. Information about the show comes primarily from watching episodes. Our results imply that the average effect of paid media is larger than that of earned and owned media but that if earned media strategies can expand the proportion of frequent socializers; it can have a profound effect on viewership.

 

Friday, October 17, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 1-105 Hanson Hall
Who: Sridhar Moorthy, University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management

 

Title: Advertiser Prominence Effects in Search Advertising

Abstract: Online search ads feature two types of prominence: prominence due to ad position and prominence due to advertiser market prominence. This paper examines how these two types of ad prominence interact in determining the click-through rate (CTR), order of clicks, and consumers' perceptions of the underlying qualities of the advertisers.  We develop a structural model of consumers' click-through behavior as a directed search through search ads. What consumers are searching for is the best offer on a branded product from a set of advertising retailers; ad prominence provides direction to this search. Using individual-level click-stream data from Microsoft Live Search and measures of advertisers' market prominence from Alexa.com, we estimate a structural model to recover the unobserved qualities of the retailers' offers and determine how ad position and advertiser prominence interact in determining CTR. Contrary to previous assertions in the literature, we find that ad position and advertiser prominence are substitutes, not complements. Specifically, a retailer not in the top 100 of Alexa rankings increases its click-through-rate by as much as 150% in going from the bottom ad position to the top, while a retailer in the top 100 of Alexa rankings increases its click-through-rate by less than 50% for the same change in positions. Finally, the order of clicks and offer quality are positively correlated, suggesting that ad prominence of either type is not a significant source of market power for the search advertiser. We conclude that while search advertising is not very different from traditional TV or print advertising in the way it directs search, in its power to inform and persuade directly, it is necessarily more limited.

 

Friday, October 31, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 2-215 Carlson School
Who: Keisha Cutright, University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School

 

Title: In God's Hands: How Religion Dampens the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals

Abstract: Though God and religion play an important role in the lives of many consumers, little research has examined their implications for consumer behavior. This article focuses on understanding how reminders of God might affect consumer compliance with fear-based advertising. Results across several studies demonstrate that when the concept of God is salient, consumer compliance and persuasion in response to fear appeals are dampened.

 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 2-215 Carlson School
Who: Stephan Seiler, Stanford University - Stanford Graduate School of Business

Title: Consumer Search: Evidence from Path-Tracking Data

Abstract: We estimate the effect of consumer search on the price of the purchased product in a physical store environment. We implement the analysis using a unique data set obtained from radio frequency identification tags, which are attached to supermarket shopping carts. This technology allows us to record consumers' purchases as well as the time they spend in front of the shelf when contemplating which product to buy, giving us a direct measure of search effort. Controlling for a host of confounding factors, we estimate that an additional minute spent searching lowers the price paid by $2.10.

 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Time: 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: 2-215 Carlson School
Who: Derek Rucker, Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management

 

Title: Power: An Agentic-Communal Model

Abstract: This talk invokes the concepts of agency and communion to understand how psychological states of power transform behavior. The model puts forth the idea that one aspect of high power is that it promotes an agentic orientation whereby people think about and navigate their social world largely in terms of the self. In contrast, a key aspect of low power is that it fosters a communal orientation whereby individuals think about the self about others. Evidence for the relationship between power and the constructs of agency and communion is provided, and key implications for gift-giving behavior, persuasion, and ethical behavior are demonstrated. Limitations of the model are recognized, and future research directions are discussed.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: L-126 Carlson School
Who: Kevin Williams, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota - Department of Economics

 

Title: Zone Pricing and Spatial Menu Costs: Evidence from Drywall

Abstract: In the empirical industrial organization literature, the standard approach models prices as being set at the market level. In practice, retail firms often use zone pricing; that is, they set uniform prices over large, geographically contiguous areas. In this paper, we conduct an empirical analysis of zone pricing for the two largest home improvement retailers in the United States. We introduce the concept of "spatial menu costs," which we interpret as a type of friction that has induced firms to set the zone price structure we observe. Using a new micro-level data set, we estimate prices and profits under different pricing regimes to find bounds on the spatial menu costs needed to force zone pricing. We find that even small spatial menu costs can prompt zone pricing and deter retailers from using market power in their monopoly markets. We also evaluate the role zone pricing has on the competitive interaction of firms. In particular, we find that market-level pricing in the absence of menu costs would bring lower industry profits compared to the observed zone structure.

 

Friday, April 4, 2014

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: L-126 Carlson School
Who: Xiaolin Li, Marketing PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

 


Title: The "Shadow of the Future" in IT Procurement Bids

Abstract: The procurement of complex goods and services involving large transactions between firms or between government and private firms is very common, e.g., governments engaging construction firms to construct highways and corporate firms outsourcing tasks to specialist vendors. These situations share many features: the tasks are complex and long drawn out; these agreements are governed by detailed contracts that describe the client's expectations about deliverables, the expected payments, and mechanisms for the resolution of disputes. Finally, the contractor is often selected via a competitive sealed bid auction.

A striking empirical fact is that these large transactions are almost always subject to changes during the execution phase. It is reasonable to suppose that anticipation of these changes would be an important part of the bidding calculus of contractors. Surprisingly, the prior literature has almost completely ignored this "shadow of the future" in examining these transactions.

This paper attempts to address the gap just identified by trying to quantify the "shadow of the future." The challenge is to set up a mathematical model of bidding behavior wherein far-sighted bidders recognize the possibility of future changes and adjust their bids accordingly. I develop and apply such a model to a comprehensive dataset of IT procurement transactions and overcome significant methodological hurdles to estimate the "shadow of the future". I find that this shadow has a significant effect on winning bids. On average, the shadow of the future accounts for almost half of the size of the winning bids.

 

Friday, April 18, 2014

Time: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: 2-260R Carlson School (Executive Center Suite)

The Minnesota Camp brings to our campus four top researchers in the field of marketing for a full day of presentations and research interactions. The goal is to foster academic inquiry via exposure to and collaboration with top minds in the field. This initiative started in 2012. The camp not only aims to energize the passion for research among our faculty and Ph.D. students but also to showcase our expertise and superb facilities.

Sponsored by: Institute for Research in Marketing

*By invitation only

 

Who: Pradeep Chintagunta, Professor of Marketing, University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

 


Title: Service Quality Variability And Termination Behavior

Abstract: While researchers have documented a positive relationship between the average quality of a service and customer retention, the effect of variability on customer retention has been viewed more ambiguously in the literature. We investigate the roles of the level and variability in quality in the context of a new video-on-demand service in driving customer retention. We find that while high average quality helps in retaining customers, high variability leads to higher termination rates. Apart from these main effects, we empirically document the presence of an interaction effect between average service quality and its variability on termination rates; customers who experience low variability are more responsive to mean quality compared to those experiencing high variability. As an extreme outcome, at the lower end of the quality spectrum, customers experiencing high variability have a higher retention rate than those experiencing low variability; this is contrary to what the main effect of variability would imply. We postulate a mechanism involving risk aversion and learning, which can induce this interaction effect and test this against several alternative explanations. Our results reinforce the notion that high service quality is associated with lower termination rates. Moreover, our estimates suggest that households exhibit risk aversion, implying that, on average, variability increases termination. Based on the model and estimation results, we document that in the context of new services where customers are likely to learn about their quality, households that experience low variability in service are more likely to be more responsive to the quality level. This differential responsiveness results in an interaction effect between service quality level and its variability. In terms of managerial implications, we show that while increasing the average quality might be effective in retaining customers at low-quality levels, lowering variability is likely to be more appropriate at high-quality levels.

 

Who: Amna Kirmani, Professor of Marketing, University of Maryland - Smith School of Business


Title: Which Agent Will You Choose: The Moral or the Competent?

Abstract: Consumers often make tradeoffs between competence and morality when choosing among financial advisors, salespeople, and other agents. A couple selling their house might be torn between real estate agent A, who is a top producer in her firm but is rumored to cheat on her expense accounts, and agent B, who has only a moderately good selling record but is known for being honest. In this example, one agent is highly competent but morally deficient, and the other is less competent but stands on higher moral ground. Competence reflects an agent's skill or effectiveness in achieving goals, while morality reflects an agent's honesty. In this paper, we examine how consumers make tradeoffs between the competence and morality of agents in situations in which competence and morality are independent, meaning that the success of the agents is not due to their immoral behavior.

The trade-off involves at least two goals: upholding the value of behaving morally and the goal of being accomplishing the tasks for which the agent is being hired. Economic self-interest would dictate that consumers choose the competent agent, as this will further their hiring-related goal. We examine the situation when consumers choose a moral agent against their economic self-interest and test the hypotheses in four studies.

 

Who: Michael Norton, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

 


Title: Happy Money: How Prosocial Spending Improves Happiness - and the Bottom Line

Abstract: Can money make you happy? Our research suggests that it can - if you give it away. We show that encouraging people to spend on others - for example, by giving them $20 in the morning and asking them to give it away by the end of the day - makes people happier than spending on themselves. In addition, the positive impact of behaving charitably can improve organizational health. When we gave employees in two organizations "prosocial incentives" (bonuses for themselves), both employee satisfaction and job performance improved dramatically. I will discuss how these findings change the way organizations should think about incentivizing employees - and how we should think about spending our own money.

 

Who: Jiwoong Shin, Associate Professor of Marketing, Yale School of Management

 

Title: Managing Buzz

Abstract: We model the incentives of individuals to engage in word of mouth (or buzz) about a product and how a firm may strategically influence this process through its information release and advertising strategies. Individuals receive utility by improving how others perceive them. A firm restricts access to information, advertising may crowd out word of mouth, and a credible commitment not to engage in advertising is valuable for a firm. Finally, we find that the ability of the firm to target advertising to well-connected consumers may be detrimental to the signaling value of word of mouth.

We hope you can attend one of our upcoming Brand Matters events here at the Carlson School!

 


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Speaker: Carlos Torelli, Carlson School of Management


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Speaker: Krae Lausch, Life Time Fitness

Friday, March 29, 2013

Who: Christopher Federico, Associate Professor of Psychology and Political Science, University of Minnesota

Title: "Ideological Asymmetry in the Relationship Between Needs for Certainty, Order, and Security and Political Interest and Engagement"

Abstract: In this paper, we argue that those high in need of certainty, order, and security will show less political interest and engagement when their beliefs imply goals that run counter to these needs. Specifically, these needs should be associated with reduced interest and engagement to a greater extent on the political left than on the right because left-leaning politics, which challenges the status quo threatens more instability and uncertainty. Data from four surveys of Americans and Europeans provide evidence for this concerning the need for closure (Study 1), the authoritarian predisposition (Study 2), and security and conformity values (Study 3). Moreover, comparative data from Study 3 indicated that this interaction was found in "Westernized" political cultures, in which the traditional left-right difference is clearly defined, but not in Eastern European countries, where its meaning is less distinct due to a recent communist past and rapid transition to democracy.

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm

Location: 2-224 Carlson School

 


Friday, April 5, 2013

Who: Raghunath Rao, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business

Title: Conspicuous Consumption and Dynamic Pricing

Abstract: How do firms develop a strategy when consumers seek to satisfy both quality and status-related considerations? Our analytical model seeks to help us understand this issue, examining both pricing and product management decisions in markets of conspicuous durable goods. Our analysis yields many interesting and nontrivial insights. First, we demonstrate that high intrinsic quality indirectly generates exclusivity via pricing effects; in turn, this exclusivity conveys high social status to a large audience when consumption is greatly visible. This insight reverses the direction of causality in the existing literature, wherein only status considerations matter, and mere price increases may enhance consumer utility. Second, our dynamic model indicates that more visible products earn greater profits in equilibrium; however, since visible products entail status motivations, these items endure substantially higher price depreciation. Third, we examine the product management strategies used by firms to preserve early adopter exclusivity. Finally, we discuss the boundary conditions of our results, as well as our results' implications for managerial and policy issues.

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm

Location: 2-224 Carlson School

 


Friday, April 12, 2013

Minnesota Camp

The Minnesota Camp brings to our campus four top researchers in the field of marketing for a full day of presentations and research interactions. The goal is to foster academic inquiry via exposure to and collaboration with top minds in the field. This initiative was initiated last year. The camp not only aims to energize the passion for research among our faculty and Ph.D. students but also to showcase our expertise and superb facilities.

Time: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm

Location: 2-260R Carlson School (Executive Center Suite)

 


Presentations will include:

Who: Darren Dahl, Professor of Marketing, University of British Columbia - Sauder School of Business

Title: Earning the Right to Eat Organic: How Moral Judgments Depend on the Nature of the Target's Income

Abstract: The current research takes a behavioral ethics approach to examine how individuals are evaluated differently according to societal norms based on income for engaging in the same prosocial activity namely, purchasing organic food. We propose that because organic food is associated with both health and wealth, the moral judgments people form of consumers and organizations (e.g., charities) who buy organic versus conventional food will differ based on the nature of the target income. More specifically, across seven studies, we demonstrate that organic food choices polarize moral judgments: whereas high-income individuals choosing organic food (versus conventional) are perceived as significantly more moral, those in the lowest income bracket who are receiving government assistance are perceived as significantly less moral. In so doing, our work makes an important contribution to the literature by showing that the same prosocial action may lead to opposing moral judgments depending on who committed the act.

 

Who: Sharon Shavitt, Professor of Business Administration and Marketing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: How Does Cultural Self-Construal Affect Price-Quality Judgments?

Abstract: Is there a relation between cultural factors and consumers' tendency to use price to judge quality? Several experiments designed to address this question revealed that people with a more interdependent (vs. independent) cultural self-construal - operationalized by ethnicity, nationality, measured self-construal, or manipulated salient self-construal - have a greater tendency to use price information to judge quality. This difference arises because interdependents tend to be holistic (vs. analytic) thinkers who are more likely to perceive interrelations between the elements of a product. These effects hold regardless of whether the price-quality relation was assessed with a standard self-report scale or via actual product judgments and whether thinking style was measured or manipulated. However, cultural differences only emerged in situations that afforded interdependents (vs. independents) a relational processing advantage. These findings establish the mechanisms underlying the effects and identify novel boundary conditions for the influence of self-construal and thinking style on consumer judgments.

 

Who: K. Sudhir, Professor of Private Enterprise, Management and Marketing, Yale School of Management

Title: A Dynamic Structural Model of Search across Stores and across Time

Abstract: Price dispersion across stores and across time is widespread in many retail settings; in response, consumers can search across stores and across time. Yet the existing literature on structural models of search focuses either on modeling search across stores or across time but not both. This paper introduces a dynamic structural model that nests a finite horizon model of search across stores within an infinite horizon model of search over time. We formulate the dynamic structural model estimation problem as a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) and embed it within an iterative E-M algorithm that accommodates latent class heterogeneity. We use data on household choice in the milk category to estimate the model. Omitting either the across-store or across-time dimension of search biases the estimated search costs and price elasticity - suggesting the importance of accounting for both dimensions in structural models of search. Further, we provide intuition for how the direction of bias is dependent on the relationship between purchase and promotional frequency. Finally, contrary to the conventional wisdom that promotions increase cherry-picking behavior, we find that in the presence of search costs, price promotions can be a loyalty-enhancing device for stores.

 

Who: Gerry Tellis, Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Title: Make, Buy, or Ally: Patterns and Paradoxes in Making versus Buying for Innovations

Abstract: Firms constantly grapple with the question of whether to internally develop (make), acquire (buy), or partner (ally) for innovations. The literature has not analyzed the choice of and payoff to these alternate routes to innovation for the same firm. To address this issue, the authors collect and analyze the choice and payoff to 3260 make, buy, and ally for innovations for 192 firms across 108 industries over 5 years.

The authors find that, on average, making an ally generates a positive and higher payoff than buying, which generates a negative payoff. Nevertheless, firms continue to buy for two reasons. First, firms seem to have no memory for the payoff to buy, even though they have a memory for the payoff to make. Second, firms tend to buy when they lack commercialization, even though the strategy seems not to pay off. These results suggest that firms see buying as a quick fix for what may be a deep strategic problem. Nevertheless, buying can pay off if acquirers are experienced and the target is related and offers high customer benefit. Conversely and surprisingly, make an ally each pay off for unrelated innovations. The authors offer explanations for and implications of the results.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Who: Paola Mallucci, Marketing PhD Student, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: "The Effect of Social Pressure on Corporate Social Responsibility"

Abstract: The goal of this study is to better understand consumers' reactions to products associated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). I identify warm glow and social pressure as the two principal drivers. On the one hand, products offered by CSR-engaged firms are more appealing because of the warm glow consumers derive from choosing a product associated with a donation to their favored causes; such products directly enhance customer utility. On the other hand, once donations reach a threshold amount, consumers might feel social pressure to reciprocate the firm's donation. While such pressure can move some consumers to purchase the product, it reduces utility and can lead some consumers to opt out of the market. A warm glow is favorable to selling CSR products but does social pressure aversion imply that rational firms will never employ such appeals? Large numbers of firms rely on social pressure-based appeals (e.g., the Pink theme campaign for breast cancer). When and why is this a wise choice?
 

In two separate experiments, I found evidence for warm glow and social pressure effects. I formalize and quantify these effects with a novel utility function that embodies these opposing effects and find them to be of the same order of magnitude; hence, both are managerially relevant. To develop this idea further, I build a model of a profit-maximizing firm that recognizes these warm glow and social pressure aversion preferences of its customers. Under both monopolistic and duopolistic market structures, I show that if the warm glow is large enough, a firm will also engage in social pressure appeals despite its customers' aversion to social pressure. Put differently, despite the negative effect on consumers' preferences, employing social pressure in a CSR context can be profitable. Why? Intuitively, social pressure diminishes price sensitivity.

 


Friday, September 21, 2012

Who: Linli Xu, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: "Price Advertising by Multiple Channel Members"

Abstract: The central prediction of this paper is that manufacturer price advertising is less effective than dealer price advertising. Two experiments show that consumers who received a price advertisement from an automobile manufacturer indicate lower potential demand than consumers who received a price advertisement from a dealer. An econometric analysis of market data shows a pattern of results consistent with the experimental results: dealer price advertising is estimated to have larger effects on both perceived quality and price sensitivity than manufacturer price advertising. Counterfactual experiments suggest that a unified channel would shift 7-11% of its price advertising budget from the manufacturer to the dealer.


Friday, October 19, 2012

Who: Jannine Lasaleta, Marketing PhD Student, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: "Nostalgia Weakens the Desire for Money"

Abstract: Nostalgia is prevalent in the marketing of goods and services. The current research tested whether its effectiveness is because nostalgia weakens the desire for money. Drawing theoretical connections among nostalgia, desire for money, and meaning in life, five experiments demonstrated that nostalgia weakens the desire for money using perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive measures. Process evidence demonstrated that nostalgia's influence on the desire for money is due to its potential to heighten perceptions of meaning in life.

 


Friday, October 26, 2012

Who: Joseph Redden, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: "Two Approaches to Encourage Healthier Eating"

Abstract: Obesity is a growing public health concern in the United States, especially among minority populations. This research will talk about two different approaches to encourage healthier eating. The first approach examines the role of satiation in managing the consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. Specifically, we find in a series of studies that people with greater trait self-control satiate faster on unhealthy foods because they devote more attention to how much they are eating (and vice versa for healthy foods). The second approach tests the effectiveness of three "nudges" in encouraging elementary school children to eat more vegetables. Study 1 finds that a 50% larger portion increased carrot and orange intake by 49% and 154%, respectively; Study 2 created norms using photos on trays to increase carrot and green bean intake by 177% and 133%, respectively, and Study 3 served carrots first and increased intake 430%.

 


Friday, November 9, 2012

Who: Maria Ana Vitorino, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Title: "Drip Pricing when Consumers Have Limited Foresight: Evidence from Driving School Fees"

Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the add-on pricing behavior of firms in the Portuguese market for driving instruction. We develop a framework along the lines of Gabaix and Laibson (2006), where consumers purchase a base and, with some probability, an add-on product from the same firm but are not always aware of the possible need for the add-on product. We show that a typical loss-leader pricing strategy emerges in horizontally differentiated markets whereby markups on the base product are artificially lowered while firms price the add-on at monopoly levels. We test the implications of the model using a detailed snapshot of industry data on student characteristics and preferences, school attributes including prices and costs, and market demographics for a cross-section of local markets with differing numbers of school competitors. We find significant evidence in support of our model predictions, including that firms face a substantial profit motive in the add-on market. Most notably, markups for the base product, but not the add-on products, decline in the number of competitors a firm faces, a prediction that has not been established in the literature to date.

 


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Who: Roy Baumeister, Eppes Eminent Professor of Psychology, Florida State University

Title: "How Rejection Affects People"

Abstract: If the need to belong is one of the most important foundations of human motivation, then social rejection, which thwarts that need, should produce striking effects. This talk covers the past decades of work in my laboratory on how social rejection affects people. Their behavior changes drastically, including effects on aggression, helping, self-defeating behavior, intelligent performance, self-regulation, and the rational pursuit of enlightened self-interest. It explores cognitive factors and emotional ones. Surprisingly, the immediate impact of aggression appears to involve a numbness akin to shock reactions, characterized by a loss of emotion and even pain sensitivity.