Pinar Yildirim

Pinar Yildirim
  • Assistant Professor of Marketing

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    748 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    3730 Walnut Street
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304

Research Interests: advertising, industrial organization, media, news media, open innovation, political economy, privacy, social media, social networks, two-sided matching

Links: Personal Website, SSRN Page, Google Scholar

Overview

My Wharton page is updated very infrequently. For up to date information about my research please visit here.

 

Pinar Yildirim is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pinar’s research areas are technology, media and information economics. She focuses on applied theory and applied economics of online platforms, advertising, networks, media, and politics. Her research appeared in top management and marketing journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and Journal of Marketing. She has received numerous grants and honors from institutions like the NET Institute, Royal Economic Society, Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar Award, Seenu Srinivasan Young Scholar Award in Quantitative Methodology and the Erin Anderson Award for Emerging Mentor and Scholar. Her research has been covered by numerous media outlets such as NPR, Forbes, Politico, Vox, San Francisco Chronicle. She is on the Editorial Board of Marketing Science and Journal of Marketing Research, leading academic journals of marketing.

Pinar collaborates with a number of large and small firms for her research. She holds a PhD degree in Marketing and Business Economics and another PhD degree in Industrial Engineering, both from the University of Pittsburgh.

She is teaching within the Wharton Executive Education, MBA, and undergraduate programs and is a frequent contributor for Knowledge@Wharton and Wharton Business Radio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




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Research

For up to date information on my research please visit www.pinaryildirim.com

  • Yi Liu, Pinar Yildirim, Z. John Zhang (Under Review), Implications of Revenue Models and Technology for Content Moderation Strategies.

    Abstract: This paper develops a theoretical model to study the economic incentives for a social media platform to moderate user-generated content. We show that a self-interested platform can use content moderation as an effective marketing tool to expand its installed user base, to increase the utility of its users, and to achieve its positioning as a moderate or extreme content platform. The optimal content moderation strategy differs for platforms with different revenue models, advertising or subscription. We also show that a platform's content moderation strategy depends on its technical sophistication. Because of imperfect technology, a platform may optimally throw away the moderate content more than the extreme content. Therefore, one cannot judge how extreme a platform is by just looking at its content moderation strategy. Furthermore, we show that a platform under advertising does not necessarily benefit from a better technology for content moderation, but one under subscription does. This means that platforms under different revenue models can have different incentives to improve their content moderation technology. Finally, we draw managerial and policy implications from our insights.

  • Pinar Yildirim, Yanhao Wei, Christophe Van den Bulte, Joy Lu (2020), Social Network Design for Inducing Effort, Quantitiave Marketing and Economics, 18, pp. 381-417.

    Abstract: Many companies create and manage communities where consumers observe and exchange information about the effort exerted by other consumers. Such communities are especially popular in the areas of fitness, education, dieting, and financial savings. We study how to optimally structure such consumer communities when the objective is to maximize the total or average amount of effort expended. Using network modeling and assuming peer influence through conformity, we find that the optimal community design consists of a set of disconnected or very loosely connected sub-communities, each of which is very densely connected within. Also, each sub-community in the optimal design consists of consumers selected such that their “standalone” propensity to exert effort correlates negatively with their propensity to conform and correlates positively with their propensity to influence others.

  • Pinar Yildirim (2020), Social Network Design for Inducing Effort, Quantitative Marketing and Economics.

  • Pinar Yildirim, Are Political and Charitable Giving Substitutes? Evidence from the United States.

    Abstract: We provide evidence that individuals substitute between political contributions and charitable contributions, using micro data from the American Red Cross and Federal Election Commission. First, we find that foreign natural disasters, which are positive shocks to charitable giving, crowd out political giving. Second, we show that political advertisement campaigns, which are positive shocks to political giving, crowd out charitable giving. Our evidence suggests that individuals give to political and charitable causes to satisfy similar needs, and some of the drivers of charitable giving, such as other-regarding preferences, may be driving political giving too.

  • Pinar Yildirim (2018), Optimizing online recurring promotions for dual-channel retailers: Segmented markets with multiple objectives, European Journal of Operations Research.

  • Pinar Yildirim (Working), Could “Less” Be “More” in Signaling Wealth?.

  • Hanna Halaburda, Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Pinar Yildirim (2016), Competing by Restricting Choice: The Case of Search Platforms, Management Science.

  • Pinar Yildirim, Jessie Liu, Z. John Zhang (Working), Conspicuous Consumption on the Long Tail: How can luxury brands benefit from counterfeits?.

  • Pinar Yildirim, Jennifer Shang, Guoquan Zhang (2016), Optimal Pricing for Group Buying with Network Effects, Omega, 63 (September), pp. 69-82.

  • Maria Petrova, Ananya Sen, Pinar Yildirim (2016), Social Media and Political Donations: New Technology and Incumbency Advantage in the United States, Management Science .

Teaching

Professor Yildirim teaches Marketing Research in the Wharton Undergraduate and Graduate Program.

Current Courses

  • MKTG247 - Mktg Strgy Tech Platform

    This course focuses on the unique aspects of creating effective marketing and management strategies for technology-intensive on-line and off-line businesses. It addresses the effective competitive marketing strategies for winning in markets which are powered by technology: specifically, how firms create value for customers and how they can integrate technology in delivering a better consumer experience. While competitive marketing strategy is important for all managers, this course will be particularly useful to students who are planning to accept a position in leading technology companies, and marketing firms in which technology is likely to play an important role. In addition, the course will provide value to those who expect to work in consulting or investing in technology industries, and must analyze firm strategies. Course open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.

    MKTG247402 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG247404 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG247406 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG247408 ( Syllabus )

  • MKTG747 - Mktg Strgy Tech Platform

    This course focuses on the unique aspects of creating effective marketing and management strategies for technology-intensive on-line and off-line businesses. It addresses the effective competitive marketing strategies for winning in markets which are powered by technology: specifically, how firms create value for customers and how they can integrate technology in delivering a better consumer experience. While competitive marketing strategy is important for all managers, this course will be particularly useful to students who are planning to accept a position in leading technology companies, and marketing firms in which technology is likely to play an important role. In addition, the course will provide value to those who expect to work in consulting or investing in technology industries, and must analyze firm strategies.

    MKTG747402 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG747404 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG747406 ( Syllabus )

    MKTG747408 ( Syllabus )

Past Courses

  • MKTG212 - DATA & ANLZ FOR MKTG DEC

    This course introduces students to the fundamentals of data-driven marketing, including topics from marketing research and analytics. It examines the many different sources of data available to marketers, including data from customer transactions, surveys, pricing, advertising, and A/B testing, and how to use those data to guide decision-making. Through real-world applications from various industries, including hands-on analyses using modern data analysis tools, students will learn how to formulate marketing problems as testable hypotheses, systematically gather data, and apply statistical tools to yield actionable marketing insights.

  • MKTG247 - MKTG STRGY TECH PLATFORM

    This course focuses on the unique aspects of creating effective marketing and management strategies for technology-intensive on-line and off-line businesses. It addresses the effective competitive marketing strategies for winning in markets which are powered by technology: specifically, how firms create value for customers and how they can integrate technology in delivering a better consumer experience. While competitive marketing strategy is important for all managers, this course will be particularly useful to students who are planning to accept a position in leading technology companies, and marketing firms in which technology is likely to play an important role. In addition, the course will provide value to those who expect to work in consulting or investing in technology industries, and must analyze firm strategies. Course open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.

  • MKTG277 - MARKETING STRATEGY

    This course views marketing as both a general management responsibility and an orientation of an organization that helps one to create, capture and sustain customer value. The focus is on the business unit and its network of channels, customer relationships, and alliances. Specifically, the course attempts to help develop knowledge and skills in the application of advanced marketing frameworks, concepts, and methods for making strategic choices at the business level.

  • MKTG712 - DATA & ANLZ FOR MKTG DEC

    This course introduces students to the fundamentals of data-driven marketing, including topics from marketing research and analytics. It examines the many different sources of data available to marketers, including data from customer transactions, surveys, pricing, advertising, and A/B testing, and how to use those data to guide decision-making. Through real-world applications from various industries, including hands-on analyses using modern data analysis tools, students will learn how to formulate marketing problems as testable hypotheses, systematically gather data, and apply statistical tools to yield actionable marketing insights.

  • MKTG747 - MKTG STRGY TECH PLATFORM

    This course focuses on the unique aspects of creating effective marketing and management strategies for technology-intensive on-line and off-line businesses. It addresses the effective competitive marketing strategies for winning in markets which are powered by technology: specifically, how firms create value for customers and how they can integrate technology in delivering a better consumer experience. While competitive marketing strategy is important for all managers, this course will be particularly useful to students who are planning to accept a position in leading technology companies, and marketing firms in which technology is likely to play an important role. In addition, the course will provide value to those who expect to work in consulting or investing in technology industries, and must analyze firm strategies.

  • MKTG777 - MARKETING STRATEGY

    This course views marketing as both a general management responsibility and an orientation of an organization that helps one to create, capture and sustain customer value. The focus is on the business unit and its network of channels, customer relationships, and alliances. Specifically, the course attempts to help develop knowledge and skills in the application of advanced marketing frameworks, concepts, and methods for making strategic choices at the business level.

  • MKTG899 - 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.

  • MKTG995 - DISSERTATION

  • MKTG999 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

    Requires written permission of instructor and the department graduate adviser.

Awards and Honors

  • Erin Anderson Award, 2020
  • MSI Young Scholar, 2016
  • Mack Institute Research Grant, 2014
  • Dean’s Research Grant, 2014
  • Zicklin Center Research Support, 2014
  • ISMS Doctoral Consortium – Faculty Fellow, 2013
  • Wharton- Dean’s Research Fund Recipient, 2013
  • Wharton Mack Center Research Funding Support, 2013
  • Wharton Public Policy Initiative Summer Research Program Grant, 2013
  • Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, 2012
  • Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, American Red Cross Grant, 2012
  • INFORMS Future Academician Colloquium Fellow, 2008 Description

     

     
     
  • AMA-Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 2008 Description

     

     
     
  • University of Pittsburgh Honoree, 2008 Description

     

     
     

In the News

Knowledge @ Wharton

Activity

Latest Research

Yi Liu, Pinar Yildirim, Z. John Zhang (Under Review), Implications of Revenue Models and Technology for Content Moderation Strategies.
All Research

In the News

Less Is More: Redefining the Luxury Goods Market

Conspicuous consumption is giving way to a new ethos called "minimalist luxury." Wharton’s Pinar Yildirim and Z. John Zhang explain how the makers of high-end goods can respond to this market trend.

Knowledge @ Wharton - 4/6/2021
All News