Feb. 27, 2024
Faculty members of the Marketing Department at the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business are sharpening their expertise through research that examines the most relevant issues in marketing today.
Julien Bei
Research from Julien Bei, an assistant professor of marketing, found that brands that set their own prices and promotions and use online platforms to sell directly to their customers gain market shares over time, while brands that use online platforms as resellers or wholesalers and relinquish their power to set prices and promotions lose market shares.
According to the study: “Millions of brands, big or small, are eager to be present on these brand-aggregator platforms. However, for most brands, selling through such platforms is beyond simply finding another gateway to their consumers, as these platforms increasingly control access to their consumers.”
Bei’s study also found that the impact of losing control of pricing and promotions on the one-party marketplace platform was far more severe for luxury brands. He recommends luxury brands use third-party marketplaces to retain their exclusivity.
Brady Hodges
Assistant Professor Brady Hodges' research addresses the factors that go into creating an effective slogan. His discoveries lie at the intersection of cognitive psychology and marketing and contribute primarily to the domains of pricing and branding. Hodges’ interest in slogans was intensified when he discovered there had been little scientific research into effective slogan creation.
Hodges found that slogans that are longer, include the brand name and use uncommon words are likely to be more memorable, whereas shorter slogans that omit the brand name and use simple language make the brand more likable. The research provides guidelines for business owners about the best practices for slogan creation.
Niket Jindal
A team of researchers including Niket Jindal, an assistant professor of marketing, discovered that the key to recovery for struggling firms is to first identify the source of the distress. There are three outcomes for financially distressed firms: bankruptcy, continued distress or recovery.
Jindal and his coauthors discovered that when the source of distress is firm-specific, marketing capabilities enable a firm to turn around. However, when the distress is industry driven, a firm’s research and development capabilities aid most in the firm’s recovery.
“Overall, these results highlight the importance of capabilities in the context of distressed firms and have implications for both firm managers and shareholders,” Jindal said.
Khimendra Singh
A new study from Khimendra Singh, an assistant professor of marketing, focuses on how lobbying impacts the decision to recall a product in the automobile industry. Singh discovered that more money in lobbying expenditures is associated with fewer voluntary or mandatory recall decisions.
“Product defects can cause severe societal impacts, such as loss of lives and economic loss,” Singh said. “Therefore, any element that may bias corrective actions to address product defects should be examined.”
Additionally, Singh found that political influence through lobbying might also affect mandatory recall decisions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Results suggest that firms with higher lobbying expenditures are likely to face fewer mandatory recalls.
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