746 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
730 Walnut Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Research Interests: online marketing, marketing analytics, advertising effectiveness, startups and entrepreneurship, game theory, industrial organization
Links: Personal Website, CV, Twitter: @marketsensei
Links to my research and publications can be found on my personal website www.ron-berman.com.
Daniela Schmitt and Ron Berman, Suspenseful and Surprising Content.
Abstract: Not much research has been done about the impact of content types on subscriber demand and long-term revenue. Answering this question empirically is hard because editors make an endogenous decision about the content they solicit and the allocation to the paid and free sections. One type of content, however, shows promise in answering this question - suspenseful and surprising content. Suspenseful events are events for which there is high variance in the uncertainty of their outcome. For example, a close match between two soccer teams. Surprising events are those where the realized outcome is very different than the expectation prior to the event. An example would be an upset victory by an underdog soccer team. Other important contexts where suspense and surprise are common include political debates, voting and elections. Because these events have inherent uncertainty, their realized outcome allows us to use randomness for empirical identification purposes when estimating demand and consumer preferences. Our research project focuses on empirically determining how content editors should treat surprising and suspenseful events - how much coverage should they allocate to them, and whether the content should be paid or free.
Qi Yu, Ron Berman, Eric Bradlow (Working), The Dark Side of Adding a Category: Will Existing Ones Pay the Price.
Abstract: ‘‘More is better’’ has been a belief held by many retailers when they manage product assortments. We challenge this conventional wisdom by demonstrating that a retailer may face more price sensitive demand for existing products when expanding its assortments. To measure the effects of assortment expansion on price sensitivity, we exploit the state of Washington’s privatization of liquor sales in 2012 that generated exogenous variation in retailers’ assortments over time. We find that customers are on average more price sensitive when purchasing from other drink categories after a store started to carry liquor but its impact is heterogeneous. To understand the differential changes in the price sensitivity across product categories depending on whether they are complements or substitutes to the new one, we build a demand model that simultaneously estimates the degree of complementarity between product categories and the changes in price sensitivity upon assortment expansion. We find that the increase in the price sensitivity happens in product categories that are complements to the new one, and that these changes cannot be rationalized by alternative explanations, e.g., correlated preferences across product categories and changes in error variance. Based on the demand estimates, we conduct counterfactual simulations and show that the observed prices are consistent with retailers’ (biased) belief that the price sensitivity does not vary with assortment, which results in significant profit loss.
Qi Yu, Ron Berman, Eric Bradlow, Pricing Strategy Post Assortment Expansion.
The effect of the Internet and related technologies on business and social institutions is more profound than that of any prior invention, including the printing press and the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, marketing is critical to the success of firms that will shape the consumption-led economies that are fueled by these technologies. MKTG 227 provides a research-based and framework-driven approach to succeeding in this environment, through a rigorous approach to understanding digital marketing and electronic commerce. The course is organized into two sections and utilizes relevant theory, empirical analysis, and practical examples, to develop the key learning points.Guest speakers will participate as well, as appropriate.
MKTG227001 ( Syllabus )
MKTG227003 ( Syllabus )
MKTG227004 ( Syllabus )
The effect of the Internet and related technologies on business and social institutions is more profound than that of any prior invention, including the printing press and the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, marketing plays a key role in shaping the modern consumption-led economies fueled by these technologies. MKTG 727 provides a research-based and framework-driven approach to understanding digital marketing and electronic commerce. The course is organized into two sections and utilizes relevant theory, empirical analysis, and practical examples, to develop the key learning points. Guest speakers will participate as well, as appropriate.
MKTG727001 ( Syllabus )
MKTG727002 ( Syllabus )
This is a continuation of MKTG 954. This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.
MKTG955302 ( Syllabus )
The effect of the Internet and related technologies on business and social institutions is more profound than that of any prior invention, including the printing press and the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, marketing is critical to the success of firms that will shape the consumption-led economies that are fueled by these technologies. MKTG 227 provides a research-based and framework-driven approach to succeeding in this environment, through a rigorous approach to understanding digital marketing and electronic commerce. The course is organized into two sections and utilizes relevant theory, empirical analysis, and practical examples, to develop the key learning points.Guest speakers will participate as well, as appropriate.
MKTG 270 explores the digital marketing environment from both a consumer and business perspective. The course provides an overview of various online business models and delves into digital advertising and social media marketing techniques and technologies. A mixture of case studies, guest speakers and assignments, including one that uses real advertising data, translates theory into practice. It is recommended that students enrolling in the course be comfortable using Excel and are knowledgeable in applying regression analysis techniques. Students who would prefer a less technical course may wish to take MKTG 227, Digital Marketing and Electronic Commerce, a half cu course offered by the department.
The effect of the Internet and related technologies on business and social institutions is more profound than that of any prior invention, including the printing press and the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, marketing plays a key role in shaping the modern consumption-led economies fueled by these technologies. MKTG 727 provides a research-based and framework-driven approach to understanding digital marketing and electronic commerce. The course is organized into two sections and utilizes relevant theory, empirical analysis, and practical examples, to develop the key learning points. Guest speakers will participate as well, as appropriate.
MKTG 770 explores the digital marketing environment from both a consumer and business perspective. The course provides an overview of various online business models and delves into digital advertising and social media marketing techniques and technologies. A mixture of case studies, guest speakers and assignments, including one that uses real advertising data, translates theory into practice. It is recommended that students enrolling in the course be comfortable using Excel and are knowledgeable in applying regression analysis techniques. Students who would prefer a less technical course may wish to take MKTG 727, Digital Marketing and Electronic Commerce, a half cu course offered by the department.
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.
This is a continuation of MKTG 954. This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.
Taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department, this course investigates advanced topics in marketing. It is organized in a way that allows students to 1) gain depth in important areas of research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance their own research interests.
This course is taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department. It is designed to expose Doctoral students to the cutting-edge research in marketing models in order to help them to define and advance their research interests. This course will offer: in-depth discussions on some important topics in marketing by experts in respective areas; tools, and methodologies required for conducting research in those areas; broad exposure to our faculty members and their proven research styles.
Requires written permission of instructor and the department graduate adviser.
Free shipping is great for shoppers, but it’s becoming an increasingly significant cost for online sellers. Wharton’s Barbara Kahn and Ron Berman discuss the free-shipping conundrum faced by retailers large and small.
Knowledge @ Wharton - 12/10/2019