Stefano Puntoni

CV

All Courses

• BDS5991 - Independent Study

  The Independent Study is only open to MBDS students.

• MKTG2780 - Strategic Brand Mgmt

  Which brands make you happy? Apple? Amazon? Starbucks? Everlane? Soulcycle? Sweetgreen? What draws you into these brands? How do companies create compelling brand experiences? How could you cultivate a well-loved brand? This course explores such questions with the goal of identifying the ingredients for building an inspired brand. The course is created for students interested in building a brand and/or immersing themselves in the enhancement of an existing brand, and it is comprised of lectures, cases, guest speakers, discussions, in and out of class exercises, and a final project. Broadly, the course will be divided into four parts: 1) Understanding Brand, 2) Crafting Brand, 3) Measuring Brand, and 4) Managing Brand. The course will provide students with an appreciation of the role of branding and (taking a consumer-centric approach) will augment students' ability to think creatively and critically about the strategies and tactics involved in building, leveraging, defending, and sustaining inspired brands.

• MKTG2790 - AI in Our Lives

  This course takes a behavioral perspective on the topic of autonomous technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. It reviews new insights to help companies thrive in the dawning age of smart machines. The emerging behavioral science of autonomous technology helps us understand barriers to consumer adoption and how to design captivating AI experiences. Moreover, we discuss how to improve managerial decision-making with data and algorithms. This is a non-technical course. No coding or data science skills are required. The course uses a blend of pedagogical approaches, including interactive lectures, workshops, guest lectures, and case discussions, to bridge two perspectives. On one side, we acknowledge the tremendous value that autonomous technology can provide to firms and individual consumers. In many ways, automation defines progress. On the other side, we examine emerging risks for consumers in an AI-driven economy. The main theoretical lens will be offered by psychology, but we will also examine ideas from economics, management, history, statistics, computer science, art, sociology, and philosophy. The application contexts will focus on marketing. While also relevant to other disciplines (e.g., operations, innovation), the course is therefore especially suitable for students interested in a career in marketing (e.g., product management, customer experience management).

• MKTG3550 - Special Topic: AI in Our Lives

  “AI in Our Lives: The Behavioral Science of Autonomous Technology” (or “AI in Our Lives” for short) takes a behavioral perspective on the topic of autonomous technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. It reviews new behavioral insights to help companies thrive in the dawning age of smart machines. We focus on both the behavior of consumers and how managers should make decisions about consumers. Related to the former, the emerging behavioral science of autonomous technology helps us understand barriers to consumer adoption and how to design captivating AI experiences. Related to the latter, we discuss how to improve decision-making with data and algorithms. This is a non-technical course. No coding or data science skills are required. The course uses interdisciplinary materials and a blend of pedagogical approaches, including interactive lectures, workshops, guest lectures, and case discussions. In addition to its many substantive insights, the course offers moments of reflection to help you understand how technology is changing our lives, and how each of us can help effect positive change in the world. The course bridges two perspectives. On one side, we acknowledge the tremendous value that autonomous technology can provide to firms and individual consumers. In many ways, automation defines progress. On the other side, we examine emerging risks for consumers in an AI-driven economy. The main theoretical lens will be offered by psychology, but we will also examine ideas from economics, management, history, statistics, computer science, art, sociology, and philosophy. The application contexts will be focused on marketing. While also relevant to other disciplines (e.g., operations, IT, innovation, or general management), this course is therefore especially suitable for students interested in a career in marketing (e.g., product management, brand management, service design, and customer experience management). The ultimate goal of the course is to help ensure that the amazing technologies currently being developed bring about positive change. The course will strive to achieve that by tackling the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG9 (Innovation), SDG8 (Economic growth), SDG3 (Health and wellbeing), SDG10 (Reduced inequality), and SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production). The course complements the research activities of the new Wharton Human-Centered Technology Initiative.

• MKTG6120 - Dynamic Mktg Strategy

  Building upon Marketing 611, the goal of this course is to develop skills in formulating and implementing marketing strategies for brands and businesses. The course will focus on issues such as the selection of which businesses and segments to compete in, how to allocate resources across businesses, segments, and elements of the marketing mix, as well as other significant strategic issues facing today's managers in a dynamic competitive environment. A central theme of the course is that the answer to these strategic problems varies over time depending on the stage of the product life cycle at which marketing decisions are being made. As such, the PLC serves as the central organizing vehicle of the course. We will explore such issues as how to design optimal strategies for the launch of new products and services that arise during the introductory phase, how to maximize the acceleration of revenue during the growth phase, how to sustain and extend profitability during the mature phase, and how to manage a business during the inevitable decline phase.

• MKTG7790 - AI in Our Lives

  This course takes a behavioral perspective on the topic of autonomous technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. It reviews new insights to help companies thrive in the dawning age of smart machines. The emerging behavioral science of autonomous technology helps us understand barriers to consumer adoption and how to design captivating AI experiences. Moreover, we discuss how to improve managerial decision-making with data and algorithms. This is a non-technical course. No coding or data science skills are required. The course uses a blend of pedagogical approaches, including interactive lectures, workshops, guest lectures, and case discussions, to bridge two perspectives. On one side, we acknowledge the tremendous value that autonomous technology can provide to firms and individual consumers. In many ways, automation defines progress. On the other side, we examine emerging risks for consumers in an AI-driven economy. The main theoretical lens will be offered by psychology, but we will also examine ideas from economics, management, history, statistics, computer science, art, sociology, and philosophy. The application contexts will focus on marketing. While also relevant to other disciplines (e.g., operations, innovation), the course is therefore especially suitable for students interested in a career in marketing (e.g., product management, customer experience management).

• MKTG8550 - Special Topics: AI In Our Live

  “AI in Our Lives: The Behavioral Science of Autonomous Technology” (or “AI in Our Lives” for short) takes a behavioral perspective on the topic of autonomous technology, such as Artificial Intelligence. It reviews new behavioral insights to help companies thrive in the dawning age of smart machines. We focus on both the behavior of consumers and how managers should make decisions about consumers. Related to the former, the emerging behavioral science of autonomous technology helps us understand barriers to consumer adoption and how to design captivating AI experiences. Related to the latter, we discuss how to improve decision-making with data and algorithms. This is a non-technical course. No coding or data science skills are required. The course uses interdisciplinary materials and a blend of pedagogical approaches, including interactive lectures, workshops, guest lectures, and case discussions. In addition to its many substantive insights, the course offers moments of reflection to help you understand how technology is changing our lives, and how each of us can help effect positive change in the world. The course bridges two perspectives. On one side, we acknowledge the tremendous value that autonomous technology can provide to firms and individual consumers. In many ways, automation defines progress. On the other side, we examine emerging risks for consumers in an AI-driven economy. The main theoretical lens will be offered by psychology, but we will also examine ideas from economics, management, history, statistics, computer science, art, sociology, and philosophy. The application contexts will be focused on marketing. While also relevant to other disciplines (e.g., operations, IT, innovation, or general management), this course is therefore especially suitable for students interested in a career in marketing (e.g., product management, brand management, service design, and customer experience management). The ultimate goal of the course is to help ensure that the amazing technologies currently being developed bring about positive change. The course will strive to achieve that by tackling the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG9 (Innovation), SDG8 (Economic growth), SDG3 (Health and wellbeing), SDG10 (Reduced inequality), and SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production). The course complements the research activities of the new Wharton Human-Centered Technology Initiative.

• MKTG8960 - Global Modular Course

  Open to MBA, Executive MBA and, in some instances, Undergraduate students, these modular courses are intended to provide unique educational experiences to students in a regional context that has particular resonance with the topic. Taught around the globe, the modular courses help us enrich the curriculum and research on our own campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco.

• MKTG8990 - Independent Study

  A student contemplating an independent study project must first find a faculty member who agrees to supervise and approve the student's written proposal as an independent study (MKTG 899). If a student wishes the proposed work to be used to meet the ASP requirement, he/she should then submit the approved proposal to the MBA adviser who will determine if it is an appropriate substitute. Such substitutions will only be approved prior to the beginning of the semester.

• MKTG9520 - Consumer Research Topics - A

  The purpose of this seminar is to provide graduate students with an overview of contemporary topics in consumer research. Depending on faculty, areas addressed may include basic research on consumer knowledge (learning and memory), goals, persuasion, and emotions, with applications to branding. consumer finance, human-technology interaction, and social influence. The course draws from the literature in marketing, psychology and economics. The course will enable students to conceptualize, operationalize, and develop research ideas. Therefore, the focus is on understanding theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base.

• Finalist, Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award, 2023
• Steenkamp Award for Long-Term Impact, 2023
• Finalist, Donald R. Lehmann Award, 2023
• AMA TechSIG-Lazaridis Prize, 2022
• Scientist in Residence, Experiments in Arts and Economics, ZKM Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, 2021
• Science Communication Grant, Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, 2021
• Case Centre’s Marketing Case Award, 2021
• EFMD Case Writing Award, 2020
• Case Centre’s Outstanding Case Writer Award, 2020
• C.W. Park Award, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2019
• AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 2019 Description

  2013, 2015, 2018, 2019

• MSI Scholar. Marketing Science Institute, 2018
• Research Grant, Marketing Science Institute, 2017
• Fellow, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), 2017
• Outstanding Reviewer Award, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016
• MSI Young Scholar. Marketing Science Institute, 2011
• ERIM Research Award. Erasmus Research Institute of Management, 2010
• Marie Curie Fellowship, 2006
• EUR Fellowship, 2006
• Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, 2006
• Ogilvy Foundation Research Grant, 2004-2005

• Why Walmart’s quick success in generative AI search should have Google worried, CNBC.com - 03/10/2024
• Generative AI is having a throw-everything-at-the-wall moment, Yahoo Finance - 02/29/2024
• 5 Ways Marketing and Sales Leaders Can Embrace GenAI, Harvard Business Review - 11/16/2023
• How AI Affects Our Sense of Self, Harvard Business Review - 08/15/2023
• As AI Expands, Consumers Will Still Prefer Some Products Made With a Human, Wall Street Journal - 06/19/2023

Knowledge at Wharton

• Outsourcing vs. Offshoring: Why Consumers Push Back on Jobs Sent Abroad, Knowledge at Wharton - 5/20/2025
• Five Ways Gen AI Is Changing Workplace Identity, Knowledge at Wharton - 5/5/2025
• How Consumers Perceive Layoffs: Offshoring vs. Automation, Knowledge at Wharton - 5/2/2025
• Tired of Chatbots? Here’s How They Could Improve, Knowledge at Wharton - 4/28/2025
• The Wharton Blueprint for Effective AI Chatbots, Knowledge at Wharton - 3/27/2025
• Regulating AI: Getting the Balance Right, Knowledge at Wharton - 12/10/2024
• How Are Companies Really Using AI? A New Report Has Answers, Knowledge at Wharton - 11/19/2024
• Can an AI Chatbot Be Your Friend?, Knowledge at Wharton - 10/8/2024
• Can AI Chat Bots Be Your Companions? New Research on How AI Can Combat Loneliness, Knowledge at Wharton - 8/29/2024
• The AI-Savvy Leader: Building the Leadership Skills to Make AI Work, Knowledge at Wharton - 7/29/2024