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Z. John Zhang
Professor of Marketing, Murrel J. Ades Professor

Professor Z. John Zhang's research focuses on targeted pricing and other pricing strategies, competitive strategies, market entry and channel and retail management. Recent work probed the complex, unintended pitfalls of targeted pricing - the process of targeting a competitor's customers with lower prices - in the fast-moving Internet age. Zhang's research suggested that while this approach isn't for every business, it can be an effective tool under the right circumstances. Zhang also provided guidelines to help companies understand when targeted pricing might play an effective role in their marketing strategy.

Professor Zhang's research has been published in top-tier academic journals including Marketing Science, Management Science and the Journal of Marketing Research. He also serves as Area Editor for Marketing Science and Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Interactive Marketing and has won numerous academic and teaching awards.

Professor Zhang currently teaches Marketing Management to Executive MBA students, and Pricing Strategies to undergraduate and MBA. He also teaches pricing strategies to executives in China in Chinese.

Professor Zhang received a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Michigan , a PhD and MA in History and Sociology of Science and Technology from the University of Pennsylvania , and a BA in Engineering Automation from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Hubei, China.

Current Research Papers

Z. John Zhang, Dongsheng Zhou "The Art of Price War: a Perspective from China"

Yuxin Chen, Yogesh V. Joshi, Jagmohan S. Raju, Z. John Zhang "A Theory of Combative Advertising"

Fred Feinberg, Aradhna Krishna, Z. John Zhang "Should Price Increases Be Targeted?"

Yunchuan Liu, Sunil Gupta, Z. John Zhang "Sherlock Holmes' Dog and Retail Online Expansion"

Yunchuan Liu, Z. John Zhang "The Benefit of Targeted Pricing in a Channel"

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Publications

Greg Shaffer, Z. John Zhang, (2002), "Competitive One-to-One Promotions", Management Science, 48 (9), 1143-1160.

Skander Essegaier, Z. John Zhang, (2002), "Pricing Access Services", Marketing Science, 21 (2), 160-177

Fred Feinberg, Aradhna krishna, Z. John Zhang, (2002), "Do We Care What Others Get? A Behaviorist Approach to Targeted Promotions", Journal of Marketing Research, 39, 277-291

Kamel Jedidi, Z. John Zhang, (2002), "Augmenting Conjoint Analysis to Estimate Consumer Reservation Price", Management Science, 48 (10), 1350-1368

Yuxin Chen, Chakravarthi Narasimhan, Z. John Zhang, (2001), "Consumer Heterogeneity and Competitive Price-Matching Guarantees", Marketing Science, 20 (3), 300-314.

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In The News

How Lenovo Is Leveraging the Brand from East to West, Knowledge@Wharton, 09/21/2005

What Consumers - and Retailers - Should Know about Dynamic Pricing, Knowledge@Wharton, 07/27/2005

Attention Shoppers: Great Deals in Retail Mergers, Knowledge@Wharton, 03/30/2005

Choosing the Wrong Pricing Strategy Can Be a Costly Mistake, Knowledge@Wharton, 06/04/2003

The Hidden Dangers - and Payoffs - of “Targeted Pricing”, Knowledge@Wharton, 03/26/2003

Awards

Finalist for the O’Dell Award for the Most Impactful JMR Paper Five Years Later, 2007

Wharton EMBA Electives Teaching Award., 2003

John Little Award for the Best Paper in Marketing Science, 2001

Frank Bass Award for the Best Dissertation Paper, 2001

Eugene Lang Research Fellowship, Columbia University, 2000

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Current Projects

Targeting and channel strategies; behavior-based targeted pricing; demand collection systems.

Research Interests

Targeted pricing and other pricing strategies; competitive strategies; market entry; channel and retail management.

Executive Education

Co-Academic Director, Pricing Strategies: Measuring, Capturing and Retaining Value, Philadelphia

Program Faculty, Essentials of Marketing, Philadelphia

Knowledge@Wharton

How About Free? The Price Point That Is Turning Industries on Their Heads (03/04/2009)

Why Firing Your Worst Customers Isn't Such a Great Idea (12/12/2007)

Who Owns You? Finding a Balance between Online Privacy and Targeted Advertising (12/12/2007)

Retail Price Maintenance Policies: A Bane for Retailers, but a Boon for Consumers? (08/08/2007)

Will the 2008 Olympics in Beijing Showcase Pollution as Well as World-class Athletes? (01/10/2007)

How and Why Chinese Firms Excel in 'The Art of Price War' (12/13/2006)

Navigating the Labyrinth: Sales and Distribution in Today's China (10/17/2006)

One Billion, Three Hundred Million: The New Chinese Consumer (10/17/2006)

Chinese Firms: Taking a Gamble on Finding Customers Abroad (08/10/2005)

What Consumers -- and Retailers -- Should Know about Dynamic Pricing (07/27/2005)

Z. John Zhang
700 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
3730 Walnut Street University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia , PA 19104
Phone: (215) 898-1989
Fax: (215) 898-2534
zjzhang@wharton.upenn.edu

Wharton Page

Research Interests: Targeted pricing and other pricing strategies; competitive strategies; market entry; channel and retail management.

Current Projects:
Targeting and channel strategies; behavior-based targeted pricing; demand collection systems.

Last Modified September 18, 2009