Social media provide an unparalleled platform for consumers to publicize their personal evaluations of purchased products and thus facilitate word-of-mouth communication. This paper examines relationships between consumer posting behavior and marketing variables - such as product price and...

Network effects and standards competition introduce significant uncertainty into consumers' new-product adoption decisions, creating a substantial challenge to the success of innovating firms. While the literature has highlighted the importance of establishing a large installed-user base (the...

Third-party product reviews (TPRs) have become ubiquitous in many industries. Aided by communication technologies, particularly on the Internet, TPRs are widely available to consumers, managers, and investors. The authors examine whether and how TPRs of new products influence the financial value...

Networks and the embedded relationships are critical determinants of how people communicate and form beliefs. The explosion of social media has significantly increased the scope and impact of social learning among consumers. This paper studies observational learning in networks of friends versus...

In this paper, we examine how firms can leverage reference-group effects (RGEs) in sequential introduction of upgraded products. RGEs arise when consumers engage in social comparisons: leaders desire to distinguish themselves from followers and followers desire to mimic leaders. We find that...

This paper uncovers the striking power of a product’s first consumer review. Our analytical model suggests that two key metrics of online consumer reviews, valence and volume, are not independent, but instead evolve interdependently. This interdependence forms a mechanism to transfer a...

This paper defines a unique type of products or services offering, termed "Probabilistic Goods," and analyzes a novel selling strategy, termed Probabilistic Selling (PS). A "probabilistic good" is not a concrete product or service but an offer involving a probability of getting any one of a set...

Technology transfer to low cost locations offers global firms an opportunity to reduce their variable costs involved in serving emerging markets. However, such moves may also make imitation by local competitors easier. As a consequence, technology transfer may create competition in the local...

This paper examines a unique selling strategy, Group Buying, under which consumers enjoy a discounted group price if they are willing and able to achieve a required group size and coordinate their transaction time. We argue that Group Buying allows a seller to gain from facilitating consumer...