Department News

Articles about activities within the academic departments

New MBA Case Study Tackles Trillion Dollar Changes in Mutual Fund Distribution Channels

Posted on by Nancy White

cash flow

Mutual funds are a core element of retirement and investment plans, representing roughly $1 of every $5 held in the bank or financial accounts of US households. In April, MBA students in Professor Mary Caravella’s MBA Marketing classes analyzed how mutual fund products from the roughly 800 fund companies in the industry currently reach the roughly 57 million households who own them, and then debated how one market leader, Capital Group/American Funds, should address some potential profound market forces affecting their retail go-to-market strategy. Continue Reading

Smart Pricing Strategies for Generating Higher Conversions

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Marketing Profs – Consumers are sensitive to the text size of discounted prices on price tags and product advertisements,  according to researchers Keith Coulter and Robin Coulter from Clark University and the University of Connecticut, respectively. They found that consumers perceive price to be significantly lower when the reduced price is printed in a smaller font than that of the original price.

Thrive or Falter?

Posted on by Claire Hall

emotional intelligence

UConn Professor Finds that ‘Emotional Intelligence’ May Determine Whether Young Managers Succeed

UConn Management Professor Yuntao Dong and two of her colleagues believe they may have uncovered possible reasons why some young managers thrive in challenging new jobs, while others become frustrated and discouraged.

In an article published on the Harvard Business Review web site, Dong and her colleagues revealed the findings of their research that analyzed the “emotional intelligence” of 214 study participants. While all were highly intelligent, some of them were identified as having a better ability to deal with frustration, uncertainty and other challenges associated with new, demanding tasks.Continue Reading

Brand Ambassador Experience

Posted on by Nancy White

Marketing Society Members Act as Brand Ambassadors for US POLO ASSN.

by Robert O’Gara, Chief Organization Officer, UConn Marketing Society

This academic year the UConn Marketing Society involved its members through guest speakers, meetings, and community involvement. The Marketing Society brings together students who are interested in marketing and want to learn more about the “real world” experiences from professionals in the field opening up opportunities for learning, networking, internships, and careers.Continue Reading

Pi Sigma Epsilon Happenings

Posted on by Nancy White

PSE Regionals

Pi Sigma Epsilon Places in National Level Competitions

by Emily Vasington, Co-president of Pi Sigma Epsilon

During the 2014-2015 academic year, Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE) involved itself with the local and national community. Pi Sigma Epsilon is a professional, co-ed business fraternity with over 65 chapters at different schools across the country. Locally, members participated in Huskython for the first time, organized a golf tournament with local marketing and sales professionals, and volunteered at elementary schools in the Storrs area.Continue Reading

Shared and Connected: Interpersonal Relationships and Shared Brands

Posted on by Nancy White

Brands and Brand Relationships (BBR) Conference, May 2015, Boston MA
Selcan Kara and Anna J. Vredeveld

Selcan Kara, doctoral candidate in Marketing, presented her work entitled “Shared and Connected: Interpersonal Relationships and Shared Brands” (Co-author: Anna J. Vredeveld) at Brands and Brand Relationships (BBR) Conference in Boston, MA. Kara and Vredeveld’s research examines how married consumers form relational brand connections. Findings show how shared brand consumption and marital satisfaction influence the nature of the consumer’s connection to the brand and the perceived importance of the brand to the marital relationship.  From a theoretical perspective, Kara and Vredeveld examine the effect of how consumers incorporate brands into their personal relationships (experiential vs. mundane), and resulting shared brand consumption, on consumers’ brand evaluations. From a managerial perspective, the findings address important implications especially in the advertising domain.

Accelerate UConn Program Launches

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

UConn Launches Program to Help Students, Faculty Transform Ideas for Technology into Commercialized Products

New Haven Register – The University of Connecticut is launching a program to help students and faculty transform ideas for technology into commercialized products. The school kicked of its Accelerate UConn program with a ceremony Tuesday in Storrs. The program, which builds upon UConn’s existing technology transfer, incubation and commercialization infrastructure, is being funded by a three-year, $300,000 grant by the national science foundation.

An Empirical Model of Drug Detailing: Dynamic Competition and Policy Implications

Posted on by Nancy White

Management Science, forthcoming

Hongju Liu. Co-authors: Qiang Liu, Sachin Gupta, and Sriram Venkataraman

Although the pharmaceutical industry is mainly driven by innovation, it spends an enormous amount of money on marketing. Among various marketing vehicles, detailing – personal selling through representatives – accounts for the single largest expenditure. The vast amount of detailing spending in the pharmaceutical industry has drawn the attention of the public and of policy makers. As a result, the practice of detailing in the marketing of prescription drugs is undergoing significant changes. Continue Reading

How Competitor Brand Names Affect Within-Brand Choices

Posted on by Nancy White

Marketing Letters (forthcoming)

Kunter Gunasti and Berna Devezer

In a recent research forthcoming at Marketing Letters, Dr. Gunasti and his co-author show that consumer choices among different models of a brand name can be affected by exposure to a competitor brand name that forms an incidental trend with the numbers in the focal brand names. For instance, a consumer shopping for a Mercedes and trying to choose between a Mercedes C330 vs. C340 can be exposed to a competitor brand such as a BMW 320i, which increases the chances that he will leave the store with the higher number focal brand Mercedes C340. Although the competitor brand is not even available to choose and it is not considered, its mere presence seems to affect consumers’ focal choices.Continue Reading