Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen

Is this the end of brands? Of course not. Brands still play some important roles that are not likely to go away. And in categories where prestige, status, and emotional links to brands matter a great deal, the rate of change is likely to be slow. So luxury brands are on safer ground. Yet in domains where objective, specification-based quality is important—and can be assessed … [ Read more ]

Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen

More decisions today are impacted by what we call O sources of information — “Other” information sources, such as user reviews, friend and expert opinions, price comparison tools, and emerging technologies or sources — whereas market research measures P sources — “Prior” preferences, beliefs and experiences. What market researchers often underestimate, though, is the degree to which consumers have difficulty imagining or anticipating a new … [ Read more ]

The Limits of One-to-One Marketing

The vision of one-to-one marketing, a concept that has gained new vigor in the interactive age of online marketing, has captured the imagination of managers, students, and educators. The idea is that a firm learns the preferences of each customer, thereby creating an insurmountable barrier to competition. Theoretically, a firm can predict what customers will want before the consumers are even aware of their own … [ Read more ]

Customer Surveys: Don’t Tell, Just Ask

New consumer research shows that when people are told in advance that they will be asked to respond to a survey, they look for problems more actively. The researchers found that people who expect to evaluate are decidedly more negative. They also discovered that merely asking people to state their expectations before they receive a service made people more negative—even though their predispositions may have … [ Read more ]

Be Careful What You Ask Your Customers

Understanding the needs and wants of customers in an ever-more competitive economic environment is critical. But Professor Itamar Simonson warns that information gleaned from some widely used types of customer surveys can be misleading and even counterproductive.

Earning the Right to Indulge

Ran Kivetz and Itamar Simonson have embarked on a broad research effort to understand why customers join loyalty programs and how they use them. They recently completed a paper that examined how the amount of effort consumers must expend to get a reward-how many miles, points, or purchases they must accumulate-affects the types of rewards they prefer. Kivetz and Simonson found that the more … [ Read more ]

Cultural Lenses Change Business Focus

How can firms understand and appreciate culture without overemphasizing or stereotyping it? Research conducted by Business School faculty members Michael Morris and Itamar Simonson shed new light on this question and uncover how traditional ways of studying cultural influence have led to misconceptions among management and marketing researchers.