The history of business, especially marketing, thought is an interesting topic to me. Modern text analytics techniques can help us get a better understanding of what has happened. If I understand correctly historians seem to be increasing using such techniques. What then can this tell use about the influence of marketing on managers? Changing Topics…
Category: Understanding Marketing
Colleges And Universities
Andrew Delbanco’s discussion of college in the US is at its most interesting discussing the origins of college. He is keen to emphasize that colleges and universities are not the same things. He suggests that college, a place for undergraduate education, developed from early American Puritan ideals. This was a place for moral and intellectual…
The Sokal Hoax
A fascinating event in academic history was the Sokal Hoax. A physicist reacted to the idea that reality is completely socially constructed and determined he would get published in a cultural studies journal. Satirizing Academic Publishing Before we celebrate Sokal’s inter-disciplinarity it is worth noting that he was satirizing social studies. The text he sent…
A Defense Of Enlightenment Thinking
Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now is a wonderful book. Pinker’s work is precisely the sort of thing that we need more of. I.e. writing from knowledgeable people able to see the big picture. The big picture in Enlightenment Now is about the biggest picture one can have. It is a defense of enlightenment thinking. The Enlightenment:…
The Science Of Spotting BS
The authors clearly had a lot of fun writing their paper on the reception and detection of BS. They use the term “bullshit” more in the first few paragraphs than most people use their core term in the whole of any paper. That said, why not? It is an interesting and important topic. Do people…
The Impact Of Conformity And The Need For Uniqueness
Analytical models are fascinating ways to look at what happens in markets. They can look a bit odd from the outside. These models tend to have a ton of strong assumptions which might lead to questions about their value. They can, however, help us think through some commonly observed phenomenon in markets. What then can…
Improving Measurement With Big Data
The data being used by managers is becoming increasing messy. Unstructured data lacks the nice organization of traditional data. Of course, the profusion of such unstructured data (text, videos, music) makes analysis complex but also brings considerable opportunities. Big data brings big headaches and big possibilities. We have some advice on improving measurement with big…
Linking Biology To Behavior
Many people buy into the idea that we shouldn’t have the bright line between biology and psychology that we do. That said it is challenging to try linking biology and behavior. Here consumer behavior. Not least because we have few scholars who have enough knowledge of both domains. Hormones To Help Linking Biology To Behavior?…
SKUs, Market Share And Distribution
An interesting question in marketing concerns the distribution that any particular SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) will receive. Generally, more distribution is better. Distribution simply allows more people the opportunity to buy your product. As such managers will fight for distribution. What then do we know about the relationship between SKUs, market share and distribution? Distribution…
What Do Business People Think Research Rigor Is?
A common theme in this blog is the problem of the connection between practitioners and research rigor. So what do business people think research rigor is? The Academic/Practitioner Divide It is hard not to notice that what academics do doesn’t seem to impact managers much. Indeed rigorous research often doesn’t seem to have any obvious…
