Dr Venky Shankar

  • An Across Store Analysis of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Cross-Category Effects

    Shankar_Kannan_CNS 2014

    by Venkatesh Shankar and P.K. Kannan

    This article appeared in Customer Needs and Solutions.

    An important part of the rapidly growing shopper marketing practice is cross-category retail management. In managing two related product categories,
    retailers face some important questions: which category should be stocked more? How close to each other should they be stocked in the store (aisle adjacency)? which category should be promoted more often? and when should the two categories be sold as a bundle? To address these questions, we examine how purchases of related product and sub-product categories influence one another, and how the relative aisle locations of two related product categories influence their respective purchases. We consider both extrinsic (aisle location based) and intrinsic (affinity based) cross-category effects. Using aggregate store-level data together with store descriptor and store shopper demographic data, we estimate a simultaneous system of models for two related product categories, soft drinks and salty snacks. We also estimate a system of salty snack sub-category purchase models. We find that both extrinsic and intrinsic cross-category effects are asymmetric, that is, different categories and sub-categories have different effects on one another. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

     

  • Interview with Karen Katz, CEO, Neiman Marcus

    Karen Katz,  CEO and President, Neiman Marcus answered my questions before an auditorium full of students, faculty and staff at the Mays Business School, Texas A&M on April 2, 2014. Karen Katz started as an assistant buyer with the company took over as the CEO in 2010. She is continuously engaged in delivering customized experience to Neiman Marcus’ luxury customers. I had a chance to moderate her talk. She spoke on a range of topics. Below is a video link to the interview.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYFm3AxgDp0&list=UUxAHlFYRlJn1K2DOskiQA2w

  • Reimagining Change

    by Venkatesh Shankar

    This article was published in Business Standard.

    Uncertainty is dominating the world agenda now. Economic and political uncertainties threaten to derail progress even as digital technologies and digitization are transforming the way consumers behave and businesses operate the world over. These trends assume special significance for India because its economic future depends on its demographic dividend characterized by half its population being 25 years or younger. Young Indians are increasingly digital savvy and face a future marked by widespread use of digital technology.  However, they face an uncertain economic and political environment with nagging infrastructural, cultural, and ethical challenges. Using a five-step framework, companies can reshape their strategies in an increasingly uncertain world.

    http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/reimagining-change-113122900634_1.html

     

  • How Emerging Markets are Reshaping the Innovation Architecture of Global Firms

    by Venkatesh Shankar and Nicole Hanson

    This article was published in Review of Marketing Research

    In recent years, there has been a fundamental shift in the innovation architecture of global firms. Rapid growth of the middle class in emerging markets, led by China, India, Brazil and Russia, is fueling the need to create affordable innovations in local markets. Such local innovations tend to have a wider global appeal due to commonalities in consumer demand and infrastructure across many developing markets. Additionally, the severity of economic downturns in developed markets is creating increased consumer demand for affordable innovations. Thus, these innovations are reshaping the innovation architecture of many global firms, such as G.E., PepsiCo, and Hyundai. We propose a framework for analyzing: the effects of emerging markets on the innovation architecture; the potential innovation strategies that leverage these effects; and the consequences of these innovation strategies. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our framework.

  • Asymmetries in the Effects of Drivers of Mobile Device Brand Loyalty between Early and Late Adopters and across Generations of Mobile Technology

    Lam and Shankar JIM 2014

    by Shun Yin Lam and Venkatesh Shankar

    The article was published in Journal of Interactive Marketing

    Mobile marketing activities are growing at a rapid pace. The success of mobile marketing hinges on consumers’ adoption of mobile devices. However, consumers’ mobile device adoption is not well understood at the brand (e.g., Apple, Nokia, Samsung) level. We propose a conceptual framework linking mobile device brand loyalty (repurchase intention) to its drivers including perceived value, brand satisfaction, brand attachment and trust, and develop hypotheses about the moderating roles of adopter type and mobile technology generation in some of these linkages. We test these hypotheses using structural equation modeling on a unique cross-sectional dataset of attitudes toward mobile phone brands spanning two technology generations, 2.5G and 3G. The results reveal important asymmetries between adopter types and between technology generations: early adopters of mobile devices emphasize perceived value, whereas late adopters rely on brand satisfaction in developing brand loyalty; and consumers depend more on trust and less on perceived value in developing loyalty for the new generation than for the existing generation. We outline how brand managers of mobile devices should adapt their marketing strategies to different adopter
    types and technology generations.

  • Are Multichannel Customers Really More Valuable? The Moderating Role of Product Category Characteristics

    Kushwaha and Shankar 2013

    by Tarun Kushwaha and Venkatesh Shankar

    The article is forthcoming in Journal of Marketing.

    How does the monetary value of customer purchases vary by customer preference for purchase channels (e.g., traditional, electronic, multichannel) and product category? The authors develop a conceptual model and hypotheses on the moderating effects of two key product category characteristics—the utilitarian versus hedonic nature of the product category and perceived risk—on the channel preference–monetary value relationship. They test the hypotheses on a unique large-scale, empirically generalizable data set in the retailing context. Contrary to conventional wisdom that all multichannel customers are more valuable than single-channel customers, the results show that multichannel customers are the most valuable segment only for hedonic product categories. The findings reveal that traditional channel customers of low-risk categories provide higher monetary value than other customers. Moreover, for utilitarian product categories perceived as high (low) risk, web-only (catalog- or store-only) shoppers constitute the most valuable segment. The findings offer managers guidelines for targeting and migrating different types of customers for different product categories through different channels.

  • Service Innovativeness and Firm Value

    Service innovativeness and firm value JMR 2013

    by Thomas Dotzel, Venkatesh Shankar, and Leonard L. Berry

    This article was published in Journal of Marketing Research.

    Service innovativeness, or the propensity to introduce service innovations to satisfy customers and improve firm value at acceptable risk, has become a critical organizational capability. Service innovations are enabled primarily by the Internet or people, corresponding to two types of innovativeness, e- and p-innovativeness. The authors examine the determinants of service innovativeness and its interrelationships with firm-level customer satisfaction, firm value, and firm risk and investigate the differences between e- and p-innovativeness in these relationships. They develop a conceptual model and estimate a system of equations on a unique panel data set of 1,049 innovations over five years, using zero-inflated negative binomial regression and seemingly unrelated regression approaches. The results reveal important asymmetries between e- and p-innovativeness. While e-innovativeness has a positive and significant direct effect on firm value, p-innovativeness does not. P-innovativeness has an overall significantly positive effect on firm value through its positive effect on customer satisfaction, but only in human-dominated industries. Both e- and p-innovativeness are positively associated with idiosyncratic risk, but customer satisfaction partially mediates this relationship for p-innovativeness to lower this risk in human-dominated industries. The findings suggest that firms should nurture e-innovativeness in most industries and p-innovativeness in human-dominated industries.

  • Strategic Retail Management

    The objectives of this course are to enable the participants develop a deep understanding of retail economics, shopper marketing, solution selling, total promotions, cross-selling, and channel partnering. The key topics covered also include retail environment, trends in and future of retailing, retail buying behavior, total promotions, and communicating the value proposition to channel partners.

  • Branding Strategy

    This course is designed to give you a good understanding of branding fundamentals, how to craft a successful branding strategy, and how to revitalize the brand to achieve business objectives. The focus will be on understanding and application of strategic branding concepts in the form of presentation and discussion of real-world examples. The module will emphasize the following key elements: 1. Strategic Analysis of Branding Issues: Issues of focal concern include analysis of customers, target audience, value proposition/positioning, brand equity, branding strategy, and brand revitalization; and 2. Branding Decision Making Process: This process enables executives and managers to systematically organize the relevant issues to make appropriate decisions on branding issues based on analysis of the market situation. The major emphasis of this process will be on application of the relevant branding analysis tools to the branding decisions.

  • Strategic Channel Management

    The objectives of this course are to enable the participants better appreciate the importance of customer solutions and channel management, understand the essentials of customer solutions and channel management, and apply the concepts to real life cases. The key topics covered include: customer-centric mindset, customer value and needs, customer-centric strategy, customer solution and solution selling, customer segmentation, targeting, and value proposition to partner, channel design, channel development, channel monitoring and control, and channel relationship management.