Hongju Liu


I’ve Got to Buy That!

Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Notebook (iStock)

Best Mergers and Acquisitions Significantly Enhance Consumers’ Perception of Products

Consumer-product companies that execute well-thought-out mergers and acquisitions can tap a customer gold mine.

Not only can they appeal to savvy shoppers’ brand preferences, but also boost profits, streamline expenses and increase prominence among vendors. Continue Reading


Attention to Detail

Medical Sales

UConn Professor Asks: Would Reducing Pharmaceutical Sales Calls to Physicians Help, or Harm, Patients?

When a pharmaceutical company sends a representative to your doctor’s office to promote a new or existing medication, is that a benefit to you as a patient? Would restricting those visits bring greater fairness to the pharmaceutical industry—or prevent your doctor from being well-informed about treatment options?Continue Reading


Managing Customer Acquisition Risk Using Co-operative Databases.

Journal of Interactive Marketing, Volume 29, February 2015, Pages 39-56.

Authors: Hongju Liu and Joseph Pancras (Marketing). Co-author: Malcolm Houtz (Alliant Inc)

Firms typically have detailed information only about their own customers. In order to gain a broader view of customers across firms, several firms may pool their data together and engage an intermediary called a co-operative database firm to manage and analyze the pooled data to provide better targeting solutions for the firms. In this paper Professors Liu and Pancras study these interesting intermediaries by developing a framework for firms to manage customer acquisition risk using co-operative databases.Continue Reading


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

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


Marketing Department Fall 2013 Newsletter Now Available

Education takes many roads! In January, Professor Bill Ross led an MBA group to Lyon, France, and in June, Professor Robin Coulter led the Executive MBA Class of 2014 on their trip to Beijing, China (see the photos here). Both trips were filled with enriching academic and cultural experiences.

We are pleased to share these with you in our latest newsletter, along with exciting updates from our undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. programs here in Connecticut.

>>Access the Fall 2013 Marketing Department Newsletter (PDF)

In this issue, you’ll read about our undergraduate students who developed a promotional and advertising campaign for the Honda Civic sedan and graduate students who tackled marketing challenges for The Palace – Stamford Center for the Arts and News America Marketing.

You’ll find that we are also looking forward to some exciting research: Professors Hongju Liu, Nicholas Lurie, and Joseph Pancras received prestigious Marketing Science Institute grants for their proposals on mobile marketing.

View the full newsletter here to learn more. We are looking forward to a great 2013-14 academic year!


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Marketing Department Professors Awarded MSI Research Grants

Professors Hongju Liu, Nicholas Lurie and Joseph Pancras, Marketing Department, UConn School of Business, have received research awards from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) competition, “Mobile Platforms, Location-Based Services, and their Impact on Customers.” MSI received 35 proposals and funded only six, including two featuring UConn faculty. Please join us in congratulating the following scholars who have earned this honor:

  • Nicholas H. Lurie, Sam Ransbotham, and Hongju Liu: “Going Mobile: The Characteristics and Influence of Mobile Word of Mouth” received an $11,800 award.
  • Joseph Pancras, Rajukumar Venkatesan, and Bin Li: “Returns from Customizing Mobile Loyalty Programs: Spatial and Temporal Aspects” received a $13,000 award.

The competition was sponsored by MSI to stimulate research that contributes new insights to marketing practice. According to MSI, “There is widespread expectation that while mobile devices currently absorb a small part of marketing spending, they have game-changing implications for marketing in the future. This research competition [was] intended to provoke exploration of these implications.”

Pictured left to right: Hongju Liu, Nicholas Lurie and Joseph Pancras


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