The purpose of this paper is to explore the problem of power distribution within networks of relationships between companies and consumers (business-to-consumer (B2C) networks) and to examine the ways in which value is created and captured in such structures. To this end, we applied the network...

Online communities generate marketing value for both firms and consumers, and their sustainability relies on continuous user engagement. In an environment in which competition for engagement is fierce, digital platforms seemingly favor the use of negative emotion to engage users. Yet, the impact...

This paper examines the informativeness of consumer information networks and their effect on price competition between firms. Under the proposed information mechanism, consumers share their initial information with the members of their network and as such become better informed. The main result...

We study the efficient allocation of buyers in the presence of recommender systems. A recommender system affects the market in two ways: (i) it creates value by reducing product uncertainty for the customers and hence (ii) its recommendations can be offered as add-ons, which generates...

We study optimal pricing in the presence of recommender systems. A recommender system affects the market in two ways: (i) it creates value by reducing product uncertainty for the customers and hence (ii) its recommendations can be offered as add-ons which generate informational externalities....

This paper considers duopolistic firms targeting informative messages to consumers who share information locally with their neighbors in the network graph. A monopolist targets efficiently by sending messages to a parsimonious set of nodes that leave the whole population informed either directly...

A firm’s choices can shape patterns of consumer communication about its product. This paper examines the problem for a firm that can both set price and target sales when selling a product of hidden, exogenous quality over two sales rounds to consumers who share information locally with their...

The Web is the largest human information construct in history transforming our society. How can we understand, measure and model the Web evolution in order to design effective policies and optimize its social benefit? Early measurements of the Internet traffic and the Web graph indicated the...

In markets with search frictions, consumers can acquire information about goods either through costly search or from friends via word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. How do sellers’ market power react to a very large increase in the number of consumers’ friends with whom they engage in WOM?...

Consumers can acquire information through their own search efforts or through their social network. Information diffusion via word-of-mouth communication leads to some consumers free-riding on their “friends” and less information acquisition via active search. Free-riding also has an...