Lakshman Krishnamurthi - Faculty - Kellogg School of Management

Lakshman Krishnamurthi

MARKETING
A. Montgomery Ward Professor of Marketing

Overview
Vita
Research
Teaching

Lakshman Krishnamurthi is the Montgomery Ward Distinguished Professor of Marketing. He has been a faculty at Kellogg since 1980, having earned degrees in engineering from IIT, Madras, an MBA from LSU, an MS in statistics and a Ph.D. in marketing from Stanford University. He served as the chairman of the marketing department from 1993-2004.

At Kellogg, Professor Krishnamurthi teaches Marketing Strategy & Pricing in a variety of programs. Professor Krishnamurthi is also the Academic Director of the executive program on Pricing Strategies & Tactics, a position he has held since 1995. In addition, he teaches a multivariate statistics course in the Ph.D. program. He was voted “teacher of the year” for core courses in the Kellogg Executive MBA Program (EMP 63), 2006, voted “teacher of the year” by the second graduating class of the joint Kellogg-Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Executive Master’s program in 2000, and was a finalist for the award in 2002. He received the Sidney Levy award for teaching excellence in the MBA program at Kellogg in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007, and has been awarded several other teaching commendations.

Professor Krishnamurthi has also won many awards for his research publications including the Paul Green award and the Donald Lehmann award for best paper in the Journal of Marketing Research; the John D.C. Little award for best paper in Marketing Science; and was a finalist for the William O'Dell Award from the American Marketing Association. He serves on the editorial board of Marketing Science and the Journal of Marketing Research. He is a member of the Institute of Management Sciences and the American Marketing Association.

In addition to his teaching and research activity, Professor Krishnamurthi has consulted for numerous companies including Harcourt Publishing, Motorola, the Chicago Tribune, ZS Associates, Eastman Chemical, and several others. He has also conducted executive education seminars for DuPont, Microsoft, Abbott, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon, Ethicon Endo, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, ASP), ThyssenKrupp Elevators, British Petroleum, Ford Motors, Merck KgaA, Novartis, Wolters Kluwer, Honeywell, Seminarium (Latin America), Peninsula Hotels, Chicago Tribune, Union Camp, Xerox, Coca Cola, Motorola, Procter & Gamble (Latin America), and others.

Areas of Expertise

Brand Management
Business to Business Markets
Consumer Behavior
Data Analysis
International Marketing
Marketing Management
Marketing Research
Marketing Strategy/Planning/Policy
New Product Development

Recent Media Coverage

BNET: Improve Sales by Monitoring Online Feedback - 6/1/2009

MIT Sloan Management Review: Using online discussions to predict sales - 5/12/2009

Open Forum: How to Use the Predictive Value of Buzz - 5/12/2009

The Mint (Dow Jones publication in India): Asian century: new challenges - 7/14/2008

See all Kellogg in the Media

Recent Kellogg News

The Asian century - 7/28/2008

See all Kellogg News

Education

PhD, 1981, Marketing, Stanford University

MS, 1980, Statistics, Stanford University

MBA, 1977, Louisiana State University

BS, 1975, Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Academic Positions

A. Montogmery Ward Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1992-present

Chairman of Marketing Department, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1993-2004

Associate Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1990-1992

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois Chicago, 1989-1990

Visiting Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois Chicago, 1988-1989

Associate Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1987-1988

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1980-1987

Research Interests

Impact of price and advertising on consumer purchase decisions, new product strategy, competitive strategy, application of conjoint analysis

Articles

Hahn, Minhi, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Hyunmo Kang, Jin-Sok Hyun, Sang-June Park and Yong J. Hyun. 2008. A New Test of Attribute Significance for Nonparametric Conjoint Models. Korean Journal of Marketing.

Zhang, Jie and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 2004. Customizing Promotions in Online Stores. Marketing Science. 23(4): 561-578.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and Purushottam Papatla. 2003. Accounting for Heterogeneity and Dynamics in the Loyalty: Price Sensitivity Relationship. Journal of Retailing. 79(2): 121-135.

Shankar, Venkatesh, Gregory Carpenter and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1999. The Advantages of Entry in the Growth Stage of the Product Life Cycle: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Marketing Research. 36(2): 269-276.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and Venkatesh Shankar. 1999. The Advantages of Entry in the Growth Stage of the Product Life Cycle: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Marketing Research. 36(2): 269-276.

Jain, Dipak C., Sehoon Park and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1998. A Hierarchical Elimination Modeling Approach for Market Structure Analysis. European Journal of Operational Research. 111(2): 328-350.

Shankar, Venkatesh, Gregory Carpenter and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1998. Late Mover Advantage: How Innovative Late Entrants Outsell Pioneers. Journal of Marketing Research. 35(1): 54-70.

Briesch, Richard A., Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Tridib Mazumdar and S.P. Raj. 1997. A Comparative Analysis of Reference Price Models. Journal of Consumer Research. 24(2): 202-214.

Papatla, Purushottam and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1996. Measuring the Dynamic Effects of Promotion on Brand Choice. Journal of Marketing Research. 33(1): 20-35.

Shankar, Venkatesh and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1996. Relating Price Sensitivity to Retailer Promotional Variables and Pricing Policy: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Retailing. 72(3): 249-272.

Rangaswamy, Arvind and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1995. Equity Estimation and Assessing Market Response: A Rejoinder. Journal of Marketing Research. 32(4): 480-485.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman, S.P. Raj and K. Sivakumar. 1995. Unique Inter-Brand Effects of Price on Brand Choice. Journal of Business Research. 34(1): 47-56.

Hahn, Minhi, Sehoon Park, Lakshman Krishnamurthi and Andris Zoltners. 1994. Analysis of New Product Diffusion Using a Four-Segment Trial-Repeat Model. Marketing Science. 13(3): 224-247.

Rangaswamy, Arvind and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1994. The Statistical Properties of the Equity Estimator: A Reply. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics. 12(2): 149-155.

Rangaswamy, Arvind and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1994. The Statistical Properties of the Equity Estimator: Reply to Rejoinder. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics. 12(2): 155.

Papatla, Purushottam and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1992. A Probit Model of Choice Dynamics. Marketing Science. 11(2): 189-206.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman, Tridib Mazumdar and S.P. Raj. 1992. Asymmetric Response to Price in Consumer Brand Choice and Purchase Quantity Decisions. Journal of Consumer Research. 19(3): 387-400.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and S.P. Raj. 1991. An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between Brand Loyalty and Consumer Price Elasticity. Marketing Science. 10(2): 172-183.

Rangaswamy, Arvind and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1991. Response Function Estimation Using the Equity Estimator. Journal of Marketing Research. 28(1): 72-83.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and Dick R. Wittink. 1991. The Value of Idiosyncratic Functional Forms in Conjoint Analysis. International Journal of Research in Marketing. 8(4): 301-313.

Wittink, Dick R., Lakshman Krishnamurthi and David Reibstein. 1990. The Effect of Differences in the Number of Attribute Levels in Conjoint Results. Marketing Letters. 1(2): 113-123.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman, Jack Narayan and S.P. Raj. 1989. Intervention Analysis Using Control Series and Exogenous Variables in a Transfer Function Model: A Case Study. International Journal of Forecasting. 5(1): 21-27.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and S.P. Raj. 1988. A Model of Brand Choice and Purchase Quantity Price Sensitivities. Marketing Science. 7(1): 1-21.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman. 1988. Conjoint Models of Family Decision Making. International Journal of Research in Marketing. 5(3): 185-198.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and Arvind Rangaswamy. 1987. The Equity Estimator for Marketing Research. Marketing Science. 6(4): 336-357.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman, Jack Narayan and S.P. Raj. 1986. Intervention Analysis of a Field Experiment to Assess the Buildup Effect of Advertising. Journal of Marketing Research. 23(4): 337-345.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and S.P. Raj. 1985. The Effect of Advertising on Consumer Price Sensitivity. Journal of Marketing Research. 22(2): 119-129.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman. 1983. The Salience of Relevant Others and Its Effect on Individual and Joint Preferences: An Experimental Investigation. Journal of Consumer Research. 10(1): 62-72.

Wittink, Dick R., Lakshman Krishnamurthi and Julia B. Nutter. 1982. Comparing Derived Importance Weights Across Attributes. Journal of Consumer Research. 8(4): 471-473.

Working Papers

Gopinath, Shyam, Jacqueline S. Thomas and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 2008. When Talk Matters - A Study of Online Word-of-Mouth and Firm Performance.

Nijs, Vincent, Kanishka Misra, Eric T. Anderson, Karsten Hansen, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, and . 2007. Channel Pass: Through of Trade Promotions.

In non-vertically integrated channels manufacturers rely on incentives to influence the prices offered by channel partners such as wholesalers and retailers. One of the most common channel incentives is a trade promotion. Packaged goods manufacturers spend in excess of $75 billion annually on trade promotions with the goal of offering temporary discounts to end-consumers (Cannondale 2001). A common metric used by practitioners and academics to evaluate trade promotion effectiveness is pass-through. Although the effectiveness of trade promotions has been debated for decades, empirical research on the topic is scarce. Extant research has relied on data from one or two supermarket chains in a single market and managerial surveys. For this study we assemble a unique dataset containing information on prices, quantities, and promotions throughout the entire channel in a category. The data enable us to extend the empirical literature on pass-through in two important ways. First, we investigate how it varies across more than 1000 retailers in over 30 states. Second, we study pass-through at multiple levels of the distribution channel, allowing us to assess how channel intermediaries -- such as wholesalers and brokers -- influence pass-through. We find that the median pass-through elasticities are 0.75, 0.58, and 0.39, for the wholesaler, retailer, and total channel respectively. Thus, a 10% reduction in manufacturer price results in a 3.9% reduction in consumer price. At each of the levels in the channel large variances in the estimates of pass-through elasticities are observed. We therefore argue that average pass-through elasticities are only of limited tactical value to manufacturers. For example, the pass-through for a specific chain in California may be 0.98 while it is equal to 0.42 for the same chain in Nevada. The average of these values holds little meaning for a firm trying to evaluate and improve trade-promotion effectiveness. We investigate the sources of pass-through variation using various measures of cost and competition.

Bhatia, Tulikaa, Karsten Hansen and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 2007. To Switch or Not to Switch: Influence of Generics on Physician Prescription Behavior.

Book Chapters

Shaffer, Jonathan, Lakshman Krishnamurthi and Ying Xie. 2004. "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for MIS Arthroplasty." In Minimally Invasive Total Joint Arthroplasty, edited by Hozack, W.J., Krismer, M., Nogler, M., Bonutti, P.M., Rachbauer, F., Schaffer, J.L. and Donnelly, W.J., 309-317. Heidelberg: Springer Medizin Verlag.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman. 2000. "Pricing Strategies and Tactics." In Kellogg on Marketing, edited by Dawn Iacobucci, 270-301. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and S.P. Raj. 1983. "Interactive Effects of Advertising and Price: Discussion and Methodology." In Advances and Practices of Marketing Science, edited by Fred Zufryden, Operations Research Society of America.

Wittink, Dick R. and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1981. "Rank Order Preferences and the Part-Worth Model: Implications for Derived Attribute Importance and Choice Predictions." In Proceedings: The Third ORSA/TIMS Special Interest Conference on Market Measurement and Analysis, edited by John Keon, Operations Research Society of America.

Wallendorf, Melanie, Gerald Zaltman and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. 1979. "Consumer Information Processing." edited by Gerald Zaltman and Melanie Wallendorf, Wiley & Sons.

Other

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman. "Pricing: Part Art, Part Science." Financial Times.

Krishnamurthi, Lakshman and Venkatesh Shankar. "What are the options for later entrants?." Financial Times.

Megginson, Leon C. and Lakshman Krishnamurthi. "Teacher's Manual for Personnel and Human Resources Administration.".

Teaching Interests

Marketing strategy, marketing research, multivariate statistics

Full-Time / Part-Time MBA

Marketing Strategy (MKTG-466-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Marketing, Marketing Management

This course presents an integrative, dynamic view of competitive brand strategy. It focuses on understanding, developing and evaluating brand strategies over the life of a product market. A framework for developing marketing strategies that yield a distinctive competitive advantage based on customer and competitor analysis will be presented and applied in various situations throughout the course. Topics include strategies for pioneering brands, strategies for late entry, growth strategies, strategies for mature and declining markets, and defensive marketing strategies. Material is presented using a mix of cases, lectures and a computer simulation game called MARKSTRAT. Prerequisite: MKTG-430.

Doctoral

Seminar In Marketing (MKTG-520-7)
This seminar confronts students with significant problems, issues and theories at the leading edge of the marketing field. Presentations and discussions are designed to stimulate thinking on important areas of research and the development of new theoretical viewpoints.

Executive MBA

Marketing Management (MKTGX-430-0)

Marketing Strategy (MKTGX-466-0)

CONTACT INFO:
PHONE: 847-467-1286
FAX: 847-491-2498

EMAIL:
laksh
@kellogg.northwestern.edu

OFFICE:
Jacobs Center Room 483