Alumni Association

Montgomery Named INFORMS Fellow
David B. Montgomery has been named a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Montgomery, the Kresge Professor of Marketing Emeritus, was cited for "research contributions to marketing science, marketing strategy, and global marketing and management." Montgomery Named INFORMS Fellow Details

Courting So-So Customers Can Be Good
for Business
Marketers often lavish attention on their best customers, but GSB Professors James M. Lattin and V. Srinivasan suggest it may be more cost effective to increase their spending on clients who only occasionally use their products or services. Courting So-So Customers Details

You Can't Buy It if You Don't Know It Exists
Rock groups can lose as much as 40 percent of their potential sales because consumers don’t know enough about them, says the GSB Professor Alan Sorensen. There are lots of crowded markets out there where lack of information skews sales. You Can't Buy It if Details

Services Market Is Key to Open Source Software
Open source software has become a major and fast-growing presence in the computer industry in recent years. GSB Professor Tunay Tunca and his co-authors argue that the key factor in whether to create open source software is the strength of the market for support, integration, and related services for such programs. Services Market Is Key to Open Source Details

Specializing Can Mean Bigger Sales Customers like to feel they're buying goods and services from businesses that are leaders in a specific category or two. Being a jack of all trades in too many categories may reduce profits says GSB Professor Michael Hannan. Specializing Can Mean Bigger Sales DetailsMost Gamblers

Most Gamblers Are Just Out for Fun
Is gambling an addiction or a form of entertainment? Mostly the latter, according to a new academic study by GSB Professor Sridhar Narayanan who found evidence that most people have strict "loss thresholds" they will not cross when gambling. Most Gamblers Details

This Is Your Brain on Bargains
What are we thinking when we go shopping? Why do people dig themselves into debt from foolish spending? And what are the biological bases for the pleasures that shopping or even the anticipation of shopping can unleash? A growing number of researchers including GSB Professors Uzma Khan and Baba Shiv are working on these consumer mysteries. Your Brain on Bargains Details

It Really IS The Thought That Counts
When it comes to putting out money for gifts, less may well be more. GSB Professor Frank Flynn says that although most gift givers assume that a more expensive present will be more appreciated, receivers don't appreciate expensive gifts that much more. Thought That Counts Details

Do Samples Whet—or Dampen—Consumer Appetites?
Does passing out samples in a grocery store cause people not to be hungry and therefore shop less? GSB Professor Baba Shiv has found evidence that product sampling in fact can do what a good French appetizer is intended to do: whet the appetite for more. Do Samples Whet-or Dampen-Consumer Appetites? Details

Customer Behavior - Be Careful to Segment
Verbal, visual, or cognitive cues can have very opposite effects when used on different groups of potential customers, says GSB Professor Christian Wheeler. Customer Behavior - Be Careful to Segment Details

American Symphonies Often Spend More Than They Earn
Most major symphony orchestras in the United States regularly spend more money than they take in, and some dip so far into endowments that they risk their long-term survival, according to new research, by GSB Professor Emeritus Robert Flanagan, for a report commissioned by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. American Symphonies Often Spend More Than They Earn Details

The Price of a Medication May Affect How Well It Works
A marketing pitch or the price of a drug may do more than simply affect what the consumer thinks about the product. It also can influence how effective the user finds the drug, says GSB Professor Baba Shiv. The Price of a Medication May Affect How Well It Works Details

Does a Wine's Price Tag Affect Its Taste?
Wine drinkers, when asked to compare wines, told researchers the one they believed was more expensive tasted better. Although their brains did react with more pleasure to the higher price tag, GSB Professor Baba Shiv says the subjects were tasting the same wine under two price tags. Wine's Price Tag Details

Too Much Popularity Can Make Items Uncool
Products may go from cool to completely out of favor in a blink. The reason, says GSB Professor Chip Heath, is that consumers associate their own identity with some products and will shy away from something they once liked if they perceive it is associated with the wrong kinds of groups or individuals. Too Much Popularity Details

Information Can Help You Get the Right Cell Phone Plan
Given enough information, most users can choose the best payment plan for their needs in a cell phone contract. GSB Professor Sridhar Narayanan cautions there isn't always an obvious way to get the information. Information Can Help Details

Buyer Beware: Shopping Can Lead to More… Well… Shopping
Which items consumers purchase can actually create momentum to make them shop more, say researchers including the GSB Professor Uzma Khan. That bag full of items you really didn't intend to buy may not be completely your fault. Buyer Beware Details

Specializing Can Mean Bigger Sales
Customers like to feel they're buying goods and services from businesses that are leaders in a specific category or two. Being a jack of all trades in too many categories may reduce profits according to GSB Professor Michael Hannan. The Price Should Be RightDetails

Be Careful What You Ask Your Customers
Understanding the needs and wants of customers in an ever-more competitive economic environment is critical. GSB Professor Itamar Simonson warns that information gleaned from some widely-used types of customer surveys can be misleading and even counterproductive. What You Ask Your CustomerDetails

Time Pressures Color Consumer Decisions Say Researchers
As any woman who has ever shopped for shoes for a big event can tell you, a looming deadline affects consumer decisions. A month before the big event the shopper is looking for the perfect shoes. The day before, she just wants something that won't be awful. GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker and PhD candidate Cassie Theriault who have studied this phenomenon caution that time is one factor that makes framing a marketing campaign important. Time Pressures Color Consumer Decisions Say ResearchersDetails

The Price Should Be Right: Don't Underestimate the Savvy Consumer in Pricing Goods
"The problem for manufacturers is that rational consumers know that prices are going to decrease, so they have the incentive to wait," says GSB Professor Harikesh Nair, who teaches an elective course on pricing strategy. Price Should Be RightDetails

View from the Top: If It's India They Must Be Lentil Chips
Curry lentil snacks in India, chili lime in Mexico. Michael White, chairman of PepsiCo International, says he would rather follow local tastes than force an unwanted flavor on a market. If It's India They Must Be Lentil ChipsDetails

Michael WhiteMichael White Video (51:31 minutes)

New Research Center Named for Srinivasan
India's Great Lakes Institute of Management has created the Kotler-Srinivasan Centre for Research in Marketing to develop knowledge in marketing, focusing on research in India and its global role. The center is named for Professors Philip Kotler, Kellogg School of Management and V. Seenu Srinivasan, Stanford GSB. New Research CenterDetails

Grocery Circulars Do Attract Shoppers
Grocery retailers spend some $8 billion on feature print ads each year, but until now there has been little evidence of their effectiveness. A new study by GSB Professor Seenu Srinivasan and colleagues finds that at least 10 percent of shoppers choose their store based on the week's ads. Grocery Circulars Attracting ShoppersDetails

Calculating the Dollar Value of Brand Equity
Most managers would give five years' worth of stock options to figure out just how much brand equity is worth in dollar terms. Now, thanks to the work of GSB Professor Seenu Srinivasan and others, they just may have the magic market research method for doing so. Calculating the Dollar Value of Brand EquityDetails

Loyalty Programs Can Be a Waste of Money
Loyalty or reward programs like frequent flyer plans or buy-ten-get-one-free cards have been touted as powerful tools for increasing company profits. But recent research by GSB Professors Wesley Hartmann and Brian Viard suggests that in fact such programs have limited effectiveness and sometimes end up just costing organizations money. Loyalty ProgramsDetails

Startups Need a Special Sales Learning Curve
Before a young company can sell its product successfully, the entire organization needs to learn how customers will acquire and use the product. This requires a special learning curve for sales and marketing before the product is ready for a major push according to GSB Professors Charles Holloway and Mark Leslie. Special Sales Learning CurveDetails

For Buyers, More Choice Means Better Quality
Michaela Draganska, associate professor of marketing at the GSB, has found that while variety does have a positive impact on brand choice, some companies, especially those with well-known brands, are going overboard and would be better off offering consumers fewer brand choices. More Choice for Buyers Means Better QualityDetails

Too Much Choice Can Hurt Brand Performance
Some brand managers believe their brand needs to keep offering new choices to stay in the game but giving consumers too many choices may actually hurt brand performance says Michaela Draganska, assistant professor of marketing, co-author of the study. Too Much Choice Can Hurt Brand PerformanceDetails

Getting Emotional about Health
Health messages were most likely to be heard and absorbed when the emotion being experienced by the individual was positive, according to GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker and colleagues. Getting Emotional about HealthDetails

Bridging the Culture Chasm: Ensuring Consumers
Are Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise
The cultural background of individuals dramatically impacts their ability to set goals or make choices that are best for the long term, particularly in the areas of health and finances, according to new research by GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker. Bridging the Culture ChasmDetails

When Does Culture Matter in Marketing?
When does culture influence consumer purchasing decisions? This is a complex and under-examined issue recently explored by GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker and an Australian colleague. A key factor is the extent to which you draw upon cultural versus personal knowledge when making purchasing decisions. When Does Culture Matter in Marketing?Details

When Good Brands Do Bad Things
A new study by Jennifer Aaker, an associate professor of marketing at the Stanford GSB, suggests that miscues by a business can actually reinvigorate flagging customer interest and loyalty. When Good Brands Do Bad ThingsDetails

The High Price of Internet Keyword Auctions
Google and Yahoo earn revenues by charging advertisers who participate in auctions each time a user clicks on that advertiser's site. Research by GSB Professor Michael Ostrovsky and others shows how the current mechanism could be adjusted to create an auction that better serves advertisers - although such an adjustment may not necessarily financially benefit search engines. High Price of Internet Keyword AuctionsDetails

Franchisers Protect Valuable Brands Through
Higher Company Ownership
"As a franchiser, if your brand value is very high, you've put a lot of media expenditures into trade name value, and you therefore want more company-owned outlets so you can better control quality," says GSB Professor Kathryn Shaw. Franchisers Protect Valuable BrandsDetails

The Four-Minute Search for the Perfect Mate
"Marketers are interested in how people make choices, and one area in which we make an important choice is whom we want to date," said Itamar Simonson, a marketing professor at GSB, who studied dating preferences. The study examined how men and women responded to each other during speed dating trial--an increasingly popular option for meeting members of the opposite sex. Four-Minute Search for the Perfect MateDetails

Asking Consumers to Compare May Have Unintended Results
According to GSB Professor Itamar Simonson, "Telling people to make comparisons, which is a practice that marketers use a lot, can be very uncertain because it can change the behavior of consumers in very fundamental ways." Asking Consumers to CompareDetails

Consumers Work Hard for Loyalty Programs
Eat sushi in the name of consumer research. That's what GSB Marketing Professor Itamar Simonson and Ran Kivetz, an assistant professor at Columbia University, asked a group of 195 Columbia students to do — eat a lot of sushi. Participants were offered a "frequent diner" program that would reward them for their patronage at various university dining locations and given a card that would track their purchases. Consumers Working Hard for Loyalty ProgramsDetails

Valuing Bestselling Books
Making the New York Times bestsellers list is an honor, but it really doesn't boost sales substantially for most of the big name authors who make the list, according to GSB Assistant Professor Alan Sorensen's research. Valuing Bestselling BooksDetails

Are Discount Tickets Good for Business?
The Business School's Phillip Leslie says Broadway show producers benefit from multi-tiered ticket pricing systems, including those same-day discount ticket booths. He also concludes that these systems are a good match for consumers too. Discount Tickets being Good for Business?Details