Marketing

Marketing is the study of activities that influence consumer decisions and the demand for an organization's products and services. The Simon School at the University of Rochester offers multiple programs in the Marketing area, from MBA and MS programs, as well as a PhD program designed to produce outstanding marketing scholars.

The distinctive features of our program are its reliance on microeconomics and psychology as foundational disciplines, and an emphasis on research based on rigorous analysis. The marketing faculty has diverse research interests, which cut across the traditional behavioral, quantitative, and managerial classifications in marketing.

Faculty and Research Interests

• Andrew Ainslie: His major interest is in economic and statistical models of heterogeneity in consumer behavior and segmentation, using panel data, and in direct marketing. In particular, he has focused on developing variance components models for a variety of environments in order to measure heterogeneity in consumers’ preferences.
• Kristina Brecko: Areas of interest include, quantitative marketing, empirical industrial organization, pricing, advertising, sustainability m
• Hana Choi: Areas of interest include, digital economy, advertising, consumer search, two-sided markets, startup business, applied IO
• Paul Ellickson: His research interests lie at the intersection between quantitative marketing and industrial organization, with a focus on using structural modeling.
• Ron Goettler: His research spans quantitative marketing, industrial organization, and finance, with an emphasis on structural econometric methods to understand consumer and firm behavior.
• Avery Haviv: His research interest is in the development of methodology and the application of dynamic models to solve marketing problems.
• Vincent Hope: Teaching interest include, strategic marketing, customer knowledge management, data-driven "smart marketing" analytics, experiential learning, corporate/classroom project collaborations.
• Yufeng Huang: His research interests are consumer learning by doing, demand estimation, quantitative marketing, and structural 
• Kristin Lennarz: She is an expert in digital marketing.
• Mitchell J. Lovett: His research interests include learning by consumers, voters and firms, and the influence of that learning on behavior.
• Jeanine Miklos-Thal: Her research spans industrial organization, marketing, and personnel economics. She is particularly interested in cartel pricing, pricing strategies in intermediate-goods markets, the impact of various marketing strategies on consumer quality perceptions, and reputational incentives in labor markets.
• Paul E. Nelson: Professor Nelson’s teaching and research in­ter­ests are concentrated on the multi-attrib­ute model of consumer behavior, brand management, product posi­tioning and pricing, outsourcing, and the Internet.
• James Prinzi: He served as Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Monro for over 20 years and has research interests in using analytics to drive effective marketing.
• John Schloff: He believes excellence in marketing requires an understanding of both the art and the science of the discipline, that market pull outweighs technology push, and that great marketing is nothing unless it creates great business.
• Greg Shaffer: His research employs game theoretic models to examine pricing-related issues in IO and antitrust economics. His specialty is in the area of vertical restraints, including exclusive dealing, bundling, slotting allowances, market-share based contracts and resale price maintenance.
• Takeaki Sunada: Areas of interest include, quantitative marketing, econometric modeling, industrial organization, information goods, product design

Recent Research in Marketing

Price is the Priority for Busy Customers

Yufeng Huang

In the busy aisles of the grocery store, consumers push their carts past a daunting array of brand options in all food categories. Nowhere is this more true than in the yogurt aisle, where dozens of varieties compete for consumer attention. The consumer must make quick decisions, so to choose which brand to buy, he or she focuses on a tiny subset of options. Read more about “Pennies for Your Thoughts: Costly Product Consideration and Purchase Quantity Thresholds,” where Simon professor Yufeng Huang and Bart Bronnenberg of Tilburg University in the Netherlands examine what this means for product managers.

Comparison Shopping May Counter Demand

Avery Haviv

In a recent paper—“Does Purchase Without Search Explain Counter Cyclic Pricing?”—Simon assistant professor Avery Haviv explores how seasonal consumption and purchase without search may explain counter-cyclic pricing. When demand for a product increases, the price goes up as well—most of the time. Read more about Comparison Shopping.

When Talking Trumps Twitter

Mitchell Lovett and Renana Peres

Research suggests that in-person conversations have more influence than social media when it comes to TV viewing. As pervasive as social media has become, it’s still no match for a good old-fashioned water cooler. When it comes to TV show recommendations, in-person conversations are the most influential way to get viewers to watch a program. Read more about When Talking Trumps Twitter.