Ad-blockers enable consumers to block ads on websites. While ad-blockers began as user-oriented initiatives promising to block all ads, many now allow limited display of ads. Much of the ensuing debate has questioned the role and intent of the ad-blocker, viewing ad-blocking as a zero-sum game...

Many customers visit several online platforms before making a product purchase. These online platforms often offer multiple "ad positions" that advertisers can obtain via bidding in an auction. The ad positions differ in their "prominence" - the probability of engaging incoming visitors. We...

Many firms buy a production input from a competitor. However, managers often worry that this supply relationship may give their competitor valuable knowledge about new product innovations. We develop a two-period model in which a firm can buy an input from a competitor or a third party in each...

Many products have different attributes which appeal to the different segments of the market. We investigate how firms should position their products in a multi-attribute product market where consumers are heterogeneous in (1) the product attributes that they care about, and (2) their...

It is common for consumers to rely on opinion leaders, who presumably have a higher expertise in the product category, to form beliefs about the product quality. At the same time, the evaluations and product adoptions of opinion leaders are influenced both by the product quality and by their...

Scalping has long existed in many markets. Scalpers purchase products with limited supply for resale at inflated prices later. A somewhat puzzling observation is that although firms often impose restrictions on scalping, we rarely observe actions that completely eliminate it. This paper explains...

A well-established phenomenon of consumer buying behavior is that consumers evaluate prices relative to a reference point and exhibit loss aversion; i.e., their propensity to buy is more negatively affected by prices above the reference point than it is positively affected by prices below the...

Showrooming, the phenomenon of consumers visiting a brick-and-mortar (B&M) store to learn about products but then buying online to obtain lower prices, is attracting increased attention both in business practice and in academic literature. It is considered a major threat to the B&M retailers,...

This paper analyzes the competitive role of retail shopping experience in markets with consumer search costs. We examine how a retailer's advantage in providing consumer shopping experience affects its equilibrium pricing and price advertising strategies. We find that if the consumer valuation...

This paper analyses firms' decisions to provide connectivity to their customers. We distinguish between intraconnectivity — the ability of one firm's customers to connect to each other— and interconnectivity — the ability of one firm's customers to connect with another firm's customers....