• Professor of Marketing, Olin Business School

Chakravarthi Narasimhan

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• Ph.D. at University of Rochester
• M.S. at University of Rochester
• Master's Degree in Technology at Indian Institute of Technology
• B.Tech. at Indian Institute of Technology

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Is less more? Businesses hold steady on price, offer smaller quantities to stay profitable June 27, 2008 -- Inflation may be rampant, but not all consumer products are getting more expensive. Instead, they're getting smaller. Three marketing professors from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis comment on why smaller packaging is a good idea — for business.

Discount myth exposed Why price promotions aren't the best marketing strategy Jan. 22, 2008 -- Discounts are no way to increase business. Price promotions may not be the best way to increase sales of canned tuna — or any other frequently purchased consumer good. Managers can become overly focused on losing market share and get caught up in a mindless cycle of discounting — without regard to the long-term implications of their actions, according to marketing professors at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

When recalls call Avoid one of business's pitfalls through resiliency Aug. 7, 2007 -- Mattel and Ford are just the latest in a long line of companies to enact a product recall. Whether it's lead paint or tainted dog food, every manufacturer faces the potential that its product needs to be taken off the shelf. How a firm handles its logistics and marketing after and before a recall can make or break a company's success in the long run.

Advertising high end products without compromising status is a delicate game Marketing professor advocates appealing to the emotions when promoting luxury goods March 5, 2007 -- Download Companies maintain a delicate balance when it comes to selling product lines that contain varying degrees of quality. Premium products need to be positioned beyond the claim of "higher quality" alone. A high-end product needs to compare favorably with its direct competitors, but it can't appear too similar to other items in the firm's product line. Part of the solution, according to a marketing professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis is for firms to use an advertising strategy that contains image-oriented appeals to differentiate its premium products from the rest. More...

How consumers react to sales depends on what they think the future holds Discounts don't always mean more profits for retailers and manufacturers June 8, 2005 -- Every week you see it: the local supermarket's specials include a discount on Brand X tuna fish. Common knowledge assumes that a sale on tuna fish will induce more people to buy Brand X, which boosts profits for both the manufacturer and the grocery store. However, a recent study by professors in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis has found that discounts are not always in the best interest of the retailer or manufacturer. In fact, some promotions may end up hurting future profitability.

Showing 5 Stories.

Areas of Expertise:

Consumer products marketing; e-commerce marketing; marketing management and strategy; market research; pricing and econometrics; management strategy; and microeconomics/industrial organization;

Research interests:

His current research interests are in supply chain strategies especially under uncertainty, competitive strategies in information intensive environment (e-strategies), modeling customer profitability and choice modeling.

Selected Publications:

* "Individual Marketing with Imperfect Targetability," Marketing Science, with Y. Chen and Z. Zhang, winter 2001

* "Customer Profitability in a Supply Chain," Journal of Marketing, with R. Niraj and M. Gupta, July 2001

* "Consumer Heterogeneity and Competitive Price Matching Guarantees," Marketing Science, with Y. Chen and Z. Zhang, 2001

* "Market Entry Strategy Under Firm Heterogeneity and Asymmetric Payoffs," in Marketing Science, with J. Zhang, 2000

* "Market Entry Strategy Under Firm Heterogeneity and Asymmetric Payoffs," Marketing Science, with J. Zhang, 2000

* "Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Models of Consideration Set and Parameter Heterogeneity," in Journal of Econometrics, with J. Chiang and S. Chib, 1999

* "The New Appeal of Private Labels," in Harvard Business Review, with D. Dunne, 1999

* "The New Appeal of Private Labels," Harvard Business Review, with D. Dunne, 1999

* "Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Models of Consideration Set and Parameter Heterogeneity," Journal of Econometrics, with J. Chiang and S. Chib, 1999

* "Private Labels and the Channel Relationship: A Cross-Category Analysis," Journal of Business, with R. Wilcox, 1998

* "Private Labels and the Channel Relationship: A Cross-Category Analysis," in Journal of Business, with R. Wilcox, 1998

* "A Model of Retail Formats Based on Consumers' Economizing on Shopping Time," Marketing Science, with P. Messinger, 1997

* "A Model of Retail Formats Based on Consumers' Economizing on Shopping Time," in Marketing Science, with P. Messinger, 1997

* "Promotional Elasticities and Category Characteristics," in Journal of Marketing, with S. Neslin and S. Sen, 1996

* "The Inverse Relationship Between Manufacturer and Retailer Margins: A Theory," Marketing Science, with R. Lal, 1996

* "Promotional Elasticities and Category Characteristics," Journal of Marketing, with S. Neslin and S. Sen, 1996

Academic/professional activities:

Past Secretary-Treasurer of the TIMS College on Marketing

Member: Business to Business Steering Committee at MSI

On the editorial board of Marketing Science

An associate editor of Management Science

Personal interests:

Professor Narasimhan is an avid sports fan. He plays tennis and likes to travel and hike