Yale School of Management Opens New Research Center To Advance Study of Customer Behavior

The newest Research Center at the Yale School of Management plans to expand the minds of marketing officers by providing insights into customer behavior. Although one might think that confidentiality between companies regardless of whether they are competitors would make this a challenge, Professors Ravi Dhar and Dick Wittink believe this is what is attractive about the Center. The goal of the Center is to create an environment where people can collaborate on problems of interest to the larger world, not just the business community, but non-profit organizations and public policy as well. The uniqueness of the Center will be to approach these problems by enlisting Yale professors from SOM as well as from other schools within the University which represent diverse fields of study from marketing, economics, public health, psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, operations and finance.

The Center will be enhanced through the leadership of its Chair, William Pace '80, Chief Executive Officer, Kurt Salmon Associates. Although still growing, additional members of the Advisory Board include David Daniel '82, Chief Executive Officer, Spencer Stuart; James Firestone '78, Sr. Vice President, President Corporate Operations Group, Xerox Corporation; Thomas Gage '80, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, VeriSign Communications Services; John Lindsey ‘82, President, Thomas International Publishing Company; Tim Love, President, Global Clients & Co-Chairman of G1 Worldwide, TBWA World; Dr. Anil Menon, Vice President, Corporate Brand Strategy and Worldwide Market Intelligence, IBM; and Laura Walker '87, President & Chief Executive Officer WNYC Radio.

The YCCI, the Marketing Science Institute (MSI), and the Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), co-sponsored its first conference December 10-12, 2004 in New Haven. The conference of over 100 attendees featured “Collaborative Research” which brought together top scholars and practitioners collaborating on important research projects that was both scientifically rigorous and addressed problems of importance to marketing managers. People from all over the U.S attended including MIT, Wharton, Dartmouth, UCLA, Penn Stat, Columbia and Michigan. Corporate representation included IBM, Intel, P&G, Coca Cola, CVS, Lufthansa, Dream Works Pictures, as well as international representation from Holland, Germany, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, and Singapore. 

The Center’s Affiliate program creates opportunities for alumni, corporations, and individuals to create mutually beneficial relationships between industry, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations. The financial and intellectual commitment of our affiliates is critical to the Yale Center for Customer Insights ability to achieve its goals and to advance the understanding of customers. Your individual support or support from your employer through our Affiliate programs is critical to expanding our knowledge base and to continue to develop innovative ideas.