On the invitation of the Marketing Department, Professor Vineet Kumar from Yale School of Management gave a research seminar about “The marketing impacts of operations and technology: the case of movies by mail” on Friday, November 7th. This research examines the rental-by-mail (RBM) business model, often called the “Netflix” business model. By developing a dynamic structural framework that is applicable for a variety of RBM services that include movies, games and books, he investigates consumers’ consumption and purchase decisions. His analysis suggests that consumers are forward-looking and strategically plan their consumption to maximize inter-temporal utility under the constraints of instantaneous quota and mailing time. Based on these insights on consumer behavior, he uncovers the optimal pricing and plan menu for the firm.
Vineet Kumar is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Yale School of Management. He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and taught at Harvard Business School as Assistant Professor of Business Administration from 2010 to 2014. His research interests focus on digital and social strategy. He has published in Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, and Harvard Business Review.