MAS 6v05 001

Course
Marketing PhD Seminar
Professor Brian Ratchford
Term Fall 2010
Meetings T 2:30 - 5:15 p.m. – Rm. 2.802

Professor’s Contact Information

Office Phone 972-883-5975
Other Phone 972-473-9384
Office Location SOM 3.707
Email Address Btr051000@utdallas.edu
Office Hours Tuesday 10-noon
Other Information

General Course Information

Pre-requisites, Co-
requisites, & other Ph.D. Program or permission of instructor
restrictions
The purpose of this course is to study the theoretical and empirical
literatures in marketing, consumer behavior and economics on
information, search for information and the provision of information.
Thus we will study theoretical models of consumer information seeking,
empirical studies of consumer search, consumer knowledge and expertise,
models of markets under imperfect information, and models of the
provision of information through advertising and retailing, and the effect
Course Description of electronic commerce on search and choice.

Since the acquisition and provision of information lies at the heart of

marketing, this is an important body of knowledge for understanding
marketing and the functioning of markets. Because it employs a variety of
analytical approaches drawn from economics, statistics and psychology,
this topic provides a good introduction to the variety of approaches that
are employed in the study of marketing.
Knowledge of economics of information, including consumer search and
its implications. Knowledge of marketing institutions that provide
Learning Outcomes information, including advertising, retailing and Internet. Knowledge of
published literature in these areas. Background needed to do research in
these areas.
Brian T. Ratchford, “Consumer Search Behavior and Its Effect on
Markets.” Foundations & Trends in Marketing, 2008, 3 ( 1), 1-74. This
Required Texts &
can be downloaded from journal site in library.
Materials
Outside readings that can be downloaded from library sources such as
Google Scholar and J-Stor.
Suggested Texts,
Brian T. Ratchford, “Online Pricing: Review and Directions for
Readings, &
Materials Research,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 23 (February 2009), 82-90.

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Assignments & Academic Calendar

Date Topic
Introduction and Overview of the Topic

August 24 Ratchford, pp. 1-7.

Stigler, “The Economics of Information,” Journal of Political Economy,
69 (June 1961), 213-225.
Models of Consumer Search

Ratchford, pp. 7-16.

Weitzman, "Optimal Search for the Best Alternative," Econometrica, 47

(May 1979), 641-654.
August 31
Moorthy, Ratchford and Talukdar, “Consumer Information Search
Revisited: Theory and Empirical Analysis,” Journal of Consumer
Research (JCR), 23 (March 1997), 263-277.

Putrevu and Ratchford, “A Model of Search Behavior with an Application

to Grocery Shopping,” Journal of Retailing, 73 (Winter 1997), 463-486.

Deviations from Normative Models

Haubl, Dellaert and Donkers, “Tunnel Vision: Local Behavioral

Influences on Consumer Decisions in Product Search,” Marketing
Science, 29 (May-June 2010), 438-455.

September 7 Griffin and Broniarczyk, “The Slippery Slope: The Impact of Feature
Alignability on Search and Satisfaction,” Journal Of Marketing Research,
47 (April 2010), 323-334.

Kuksov and Villas-Boas, “When More Alternatives Lead to Less

Choice,” Marketing Science, 29 (May-June 2010), 507-524.

Sources of Information for Durables

Ratchford, pp. 16-19.

Hauser, J., G. Urban and B. Weinberg (1993), “How Consumers Allocate

Their Time When Searching for Information,” Journal of Marketing
Research, 30 (November 1993), 452-466.
September 14 Erdem , Keane, Öncü and Strebel, “Learning About Computers: An
Analysis of Information Search and Technology Choice,”
Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 3 (September 2005), 207 – 247.

Ratchford, B., D. Talukdar, M. Lee, “The Impact of the Internet on

Consumers’ Use of Information Sources for Automobiles,” Journal of
Consumer Research, 34 (June 2007), 111-119.

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 Learning and Consideration

Ratchford, pp. 19-30.

Shin, S., S. Misra and D. Horsky, “Disentangling Preferences, Inertia and

Learning in Brand Choice Models,” Marketing Science, forthcoming.

September 21 Hauser, Toubia, Evgeniou, et al., “Disjunctions of Conjunctions,

Cognitive Simplicity, and Consideration Sets,” Journal of Marketing
Research, 47 (June 2010), 485-496.

Lapersonne, E., G. Laurent and J. Le Goff (1995), “Consideration Sets of

Size One: An Empirical Investigation of Automobile Purchases,”
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 12, 1 (May 1995), 55-66.

Empirical Studies of Search - Durables

Ratchford, pp. 31-36.

Ratchford and Srinivasan, "An Empirical Investigation of Returns to

Search," Marketing Science, 12 (Winter 1993), 73-87.

September 28 Furse, Punj and Stewart, "A Typology of Individual Search Strategies
Among Purchasers of New Automobiles," JCR, 10 (March 1984), 417-
431.

Marmorstein, Grewal and Fishe, "The Value of Time Spent in Price-

Comparison Shopping: Survey and Experimental Evidence," JCR, 19
(June 1992), 52-61.

Empirical Studies of Search - Nondurables

Ratchford, pp. 36-39.

Fox and Hoch (2005), “Cherry Picking,” Journal of Marketing, 69, 1

(2005), 46-62.
October 5
Gauri, Sudhir and Talukdar, “The Temporal and Spatial Dimensions of
Price Search: Insights from Matched Household Survey and Purchase
Data,” Journal of Marketing Research, 45 (April 2008), 226-240.
Talukdar, “Cost of Being Poor: Retail Price and Consumer Price Search
Differences Across Inner-City and Suburban Neighborhoods,” JCR, 35
(October 2008), 457-471.

October 12 Knowledge and Search

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 Ratchford, pp. 39-44.

Stigler and Becker, “De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum,” The American
Economic Review, 67 (March 1977), 76-90.

Ratchford, “The Economics of Consumer Knowledge,” JCR, 27 (March

2001), 397-411.

Murray and Haubl, “Explaining Cognitive Lock-In: The Role of Skill-

Based Habits of Use in Consumer Choice,” JCR, 34 (June 2007), 77-88.

Market Models with Costly Search

Ratchford, pp. 44-51.

Carlson and McAfee, "Discrete Equilibrium Price Dispersion," Journal of

Political Economy, 91 (June 1983), 480-493.
October 19
Stahl, D. (1989), “Optimal Pricing with Sequential Consumer Search,”
The American Economic Review, 79 (September), 700-712.

Anderson, S. and R. Renault (1999), “Pricing, Product Diversity and

Search Costs: A Bertrand-Chamberlain-Diamond Model,” The Rand
Journal of Economics, 30 (Winter 1999), 719-735.

Price Dispersion

Ratchford, pp. 51-53.

Dahlby, B. and D. West (1986), "Price Dispersion in an Automobile

October 26 Insurance Market," Journal of Political Economy, 94 (2), 418-438.

Pan, Ratchford and Shankar, “Price Dispersion On The Internet: A

Review And Directions For Future Research,” 18 (Fall 2004), 116-135.

Progress reports on projects.

Supply of Information: Advertising

Ratchford, pp. 53-57.

Ehrlich and Fisher, "The Derived Demand for Advertising: A Theoretical

and Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, 72 (June
1982), 366-388.
November 2
Kirmani and Rao, “No Pain, No Gain: A Critical Review of the Literature
on Signaling Unobservable Product Quality,” Journal of Marketing, 64,
2(April 2000),66-79

Iyer, Soberman, and Villas-Boas, “The Targeting of Advertising,”

Marketing Science, 24 (Summer 2005), 461-476

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 The Supply of Information: Retailing

Ratchford, pp. 57-60.

Betancourt and Gautschi, "Demand Complementarities, Household

Production, and Retail Assortments," Marketing Science, 9 (Spring 1990),
146-161.
November 9
Wernerfelt, B., “Selling Formats for Search Goods,” Marketing Science,
13 (Summer 1994), 298-309.

Messinger and Narasimhan, “A Model of Retail Formats Based on

Consumers' Economizing on Shopping Time,” Marketing Science, 16
(Winter 1997), 1-23.

Search and Electronic Commerce: Theory

Ratchford, pp. 60-66.

Lal, R. and M. Sarvary, “When and How is the Internet Likely to

Decrease Price Competition?” Marketing Science, 18 (Fall 1999), 485-
503.
November 16
Iyer, G. and A. Pazgal, “Internet Shopping Agents: Virtual Co-Location
and Competition,” Marketing Science, 22 (Winter 2003), 85-106.

Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse , “Cognitive Lock-In and the Power Law of
Practice,” Journal of Marketing, 67 (April 2003), 62-75.

November 23 Search and Electronic Commerce: Empirical Evidence

Brown and Goolsbee, “Does the Internet Make Markets More

Competitive? Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry,” Journal of
Political Economy, 110 (2002), 481–507.

Zettelmeyer, Scott Morton and Silva-Risso, “How the Internet Lowers

Prices: Evidence from Matched Survey and Automobile Transaction
Data,” Journal of Marketing Research, 43 (May 2006), 168-181

Huang, Lurie and Mitra, “Searching for Experience on the Web: An

Empirical Examination of Consumer Behavior for Search and Experience
Goods,” Journal of Marketing, 73 (March 2009), 55-69.

November 30
Student Presentations of Project Results

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Course Policies
Students will be required to read and discuss a number of readings which are
representative of the literature in the various areas. Each student will be
assigned to present a 30 minute summary and critique of a number of
readings (the exact number will vary inversely with class size). In addition,
Grading (credit) each student will be asked to complete a project which ideally will lead to a
Criteria publication sometime in the future. The project can use one of the data bases
which I have at my disposal to be outlined below. There will be a take home
final exam, and one or more exams/assignments of the take home variety.
Grades will be based on projects (about 50%), exams/assignments (about
30%), class presentation and participation (about 20%).
Make-up Exams None
Extra Credit None
Late Work Handled on ad hoc basis – I do not want to give incompletes.
While you may study anything which is relevant to the course, using any data
base, I have a number of data bases at my disposal, and a number of "pet
Special ideas" for projects which use them. I will outline the nature of the data bases
Assignments and "pet ideas" at greater length to anyone interested in pursuing a particular
project.

Class Attendance Mandatory

Classroom
Students are expected to be prepared and to participate.
Citizenship
Field Trip Policies N/A

The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas

have rules and regulations for the orderly and efficient conduct of their
business. It is the responsibility of each student and each student
organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which
govern student conduct and activities. General information on student
conduct and discipline is contained in the UTD publication, A to Z Guide,
which is provided to all registered students each academic year.

The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the

procedures of recognized and established due process. Procedures are
defined and described in the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents, The
Student Conduct
University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and in Title V,
and Discipline
Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of
Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are available
to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are
available to assist students in interpreting the rules and regulations (SU
1.602, 972/883-6391).

A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the
responsibilities of citizenship. He or she is expected to obey federal, state,
and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules, university regulations, and
administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the
standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or
whether civil or criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.

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 The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and
academic honesty. Because the value of an academic degree depends upon
the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree, it is
imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual honor in
his or her scholastic work.

Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or

omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a degree,
and/or the submission as one’s own work or material that is not one’s own.
Academic Integrity
As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following acts:
cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records.
Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary
proceedings.

Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other
classes, and from any other source is unacceptable and will be dealt with
under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see general catalog for details).
This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the web
for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.

The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of

communication between faculty/staff and students through electronic mail.
At the same time, email raises some issues concerning security and the
identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a
student’s U.T. Dallas email address and that faculty and staff consider
Email Use
email from students official only if it originates from a UTD student
account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence
in the identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the
transmitted information. UTD furnishes each student with a free email
account that is to be used in all communication with university personnel.
The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method
for students to have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.

The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of

any college-level courses. These dates and times are published in that
Withdrawal from semester's course catalog. Administration procedures must be followed. It is
Class the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from any
class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do
the proper paperwork to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F"
in a course if you choose not to attend the class once you are enrolled.

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 Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student
Services and Activities, of the university’s Handbook of Operating
Procedures.

In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades,

evaluations, or other fulfillments of academic responsibility, it is the
obligation of the student first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter
with the instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the
grievance originates (hereafter called “the respondent”). Individual faculty
members retain primary responsibility for assigning grades and evaluations.
If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the grievance must be
Student Grievance
submitted in writing to the respondent with a copy of the respondent’s
Procedures
School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response provided
by the respondent, the student may submit a written appeal to the School
Dean. If the grievance is not resolved by the School Dean’s decision, the
student may make a written appeal to the Dean of Graduate or
Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an
Academic Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic Appeals Panel is
final. The results of the academic appeals process will be distributed to all
involved parties.

Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office
of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist
students in interpreting the rules and regulations.

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work
unavoidably missed at the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course
work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved within
Incomplete Grades
eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the
required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade is
not submitted by the specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed
automatically to a grade of F.

The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities

educational opportunities equal to those of their non-disabled peers.
Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the Student Union. Office
hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:

The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688
Disability Services
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those
reasonable adjustments necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis
of disability. For example, it may be necessary to remove classroom
prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for
students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may be
substituted (for example, a research paper versus an oral presentation for a
student who is hearing impaired). Classes enrolled students with mobility
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 impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible facilities. The
college or university may need to provide special services such as
registration, note-taking, or mobility assistance.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need

for such an accommodation. Disability Services provides students with
letters to present to faculty members to verify that the student has a
disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special
accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office
hours.
The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other
required activities for the travel to and observance of a religious holy day
for a religion whose places of worship are exempt from property tax under
Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.

The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as

soon as possible regarding the absence, preferably in advance of the
assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to take the exam or
complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a
period equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A
student who notifies the instructor and completes any missed exam or
Religious Holy assignment may not be penalized for the absence. A student who fails to
Days complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period may receive
a failing grade for that exam or assignment.

If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e.,

for the purpose of observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar
disagreement about whether the student has been given a reasonable time to
complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the student or the
instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the
institution, or his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee
must take into account the legislative intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the
student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief executive
officer or designee.
Off-campus, out-of-state, and foreign instruction and activities are subject
to state law and University policies and procedures regarding travel and
Off-Campus risk-related activities. Information regarding these rules and regulations
Instruction and may be found at
Course Activities http://www.utdallas.edu/BusinessAffairs/Travel_Risk_Activit
ies.htm. Additional information is available from the office of the school
dean.

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.

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 MAS 6v05 001

Marketing PhD Seminar

Presentations of Readings

Students will be asked to volunteer to present articles in class; given the size of the class this
means that each student will be asked to present about 3 articles through the course of the
semester.

The presentations should form the basis for a thorough discussion of each article; one reason why
I have limited readings to 3-4 per class is to enable this.

Presentations should be set to no more than 30 minutes. The following should be covered:

Major problem addressed in the article.

Broad explanation of the main technical aspects. The ideal is a succinct presentation of
the main ideas in a way that can be understood by all in attendance.
Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the article.
Suggestions for further research and further application of the ideas in the article.
Outline of how the article appears to fit into the broader picture.

All students are expected to read each article carefully and to be prepared to discuss each of the
readings. I will explain the more difficult points to make sure that everyone understands them.

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 MAS 6V05 001

Marketing PhD Seminar

Suggestions for Projects

As is standard for Ph.D. seminars, a project is required for this course. The objectives of the
project are to get you into independent research early, to help you to develop a deeper
understanding of some topic related to the course, and possibly to get you started on something
that you might pursue in a summer paper or dissertation.

The project might be on any topic related to the course, broadly defined. I will be the final arbiter
of the appropriateness of the topic, but will employ a loose definition of relatedness of the topic to
the course. Topic areas that are fair game are anything related to consumer search, broadly
defined to include retailing, advertising, branding, personal selling and search behavior itself.

Topics will differ as a function of time in the program, and may be related to dissertations of
advanced students, or allow beginning students to test their interest in a particular area. Given the
orientation of the course, an empirical analysis of some problem related to the course would be
most appropriate. However, other types of projects are possible, subject to my approval.

While you are welcome to use your own data for the empirical analysis, we have access to a
number of datasets that you may use. See me for information on accessing data. Some of these
datasets are:

Surveys of auto car buyers matched to data on individual car attributes. Data are
currently available from surveys conducted in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010.
Survey data on online and offline purchases of books and CDs

Projects that show creativity and promise for future development, but may need work on some
issues, will be rewarded more than projects that are done correctly but are low on the creativity
and promise dimensions.

You will note that a time for final presentations has been set on the syllabus. Given that the class
is larger than most seminars, more than the 3 hours contained in one class will probably be
required for this. While details on presentations will follow, the following timeline for projects
will be employed.

September 16 – one page proposal outlining topic, problem to be addressed, and

approach to the problem
October 26 – informal 15-20 minute progress report on project outlining progress to
date, and problems in need of solution.
Noovember 30 – PowerPoint presentation of final results.
December 7 - Submit a paper in the format of a Marketing Science article. While there
is no specific length requirement, the paper should have an introduction that states the
problem to be addressed, literature review, theory/hypotheses, presentation of results,
conclusions and suggestions for further research.

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