Scholars@Duke
Wilfred Amaldoss

Wilfred Amaldoss

Thomas A. Finch Jr. Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, in the Fuqua School of Business
Fuqua School of Business
Box 90120, Durham, NC 27708-0120
A337 Fuqua Sch of Bus, Durham, NC 27708

Scholarly Works - Journal articles

Sustainable Consumption: A Strategic Analysis

Journal article Marketing Science · September 1, 2025 Consumers’ growing concern for the environment has motivated firms to offer sustainable products in several categories. An exploratory survey shows that many consumers desire sustainable products and are willing to pay more for them, but some consumers dis ... Full text Cite

Content Provision on UGC Platforms

Journal article Management Science · June 18, 2025 Consumers visiting platforms that host user-generated content (UGC) not only consume content but also generate content by investing time and effort. This paper seeks to examine a UGC platform’s content provision strategy: how a UGC platform can motivate co ... Full text Cite

Rejoinder: Can a Prototypical Product Be Priced Lower Than a Nonprototypical Product?

Journal article Marketing Science · May 1, 2025 We present the conditions under which a prototypical product can be priced lower than a nonprototypical product when consumer valuations are moderately high. ... Full text Cite

Self-Preferencing in E-Commerce Marketplaces: The Role of Sponsored Advertising and Private Labels

Journal article Marketing Science · September 1, 2024 Traditionally, e-commerce marketplaces have enabled third-party sellers to sell to potential consumers and have earned commission from the sales. In recent years, e-commerce platforms have begun to leverage private label and sponsored advertising to genera ... Full text Cite

Focus on Authors

Journal article Marketing Science · May 2024 Full text Cite

Pricing Strategy of Competing Media Platforms

Journal article Marketing Science · January 1, 2024 Media platforms generate revenue by bringing consumers and advertisers together. Although advertisers like to promote their services and products to consumers, consumers dislike advertisements to varying levels. Given heterogeneity in consumers’ dislike fo ... Full text Cite

How Can Publishers Collaborate and Compete with News Aggregators?

Journal article Journal of Marketing Research · December 1, 2023 Publishers face an existential threat from a variety of news aggregators, such as free aggregators (e.g., Google News, Yahoo News), micropayment-facilitating aggregators (e.g., Blendle), and subscription-charging aggregators (e.g., Apple News+). The author ... Full text Cite

Pricing of Vice Goods for Goal-Driven Consumers

Journal article Management Science · August 1, 2023 Research in psychology shows that consumption goals can help consumers avoid excessive consumption of vice goods and the associated long-term harm. In this paper, we propose a model of self-control with consumption goals and examine how goals moderate the ... Full text Cite

Media platforms’ content provision strategies and sources of profits

Journal article Marketing Science · January 1, 2021 Some media platforms earn their profits from both consumers and advertisers (e.g., Spotify, Hulu), whereas others earn their profits from either advertisers only (e.g., Jango, Tubi) or consumers only (e.g., Tidal, Netflix). Thus, media platforms adopt dive ... Full text Cite

The Charm of Behavior-Based Pricing: When Consumers’ Taste Is Diverse and the Consideration Set Is Limited

Journal article Journal of Marketing Research · October 1, 2019 Technology is making it easier for firms to track consumers’ purchase history and leverage the information when setting prices. This article explores the practice of behavior-based pricing (BBP) in a horizontally differentiated market where consumers’ tast ... Full text Cite

Reference-dependent utility, product variety, and price competition

Journal article Management Science · September 1, 2018 Products such as Nike running shoes, Gillette razors, and Gatorade sports drink serve as the standard against which consumers evaluate other members of the category. Empirical evidence suggests that consumers care about not only the consumption utility der ... Full text Cite

Keyword management costs and “Broad Match” in sponsored search advertising

Journal article Marketing Science · March 1, 2016 In sponsored search advertising, advertisers bid to be displayed in response to a keyword search. The operational activities associated with participating in an auction, i.e. submitting the bid and the ad copy, customizing bids and ad copies based on vario ... Full text Cite

Multitier Store Brands and Channel Profits

Journal article Journal of Marketing Research · December 1, 2015 Multitier store brands are increasing in significance in retail outlets. In this article, the authors theoretically examine the rationale for the existence of multitier store brands, their optimal quality levels, and their implications for consumer welfare ... Full text Cite

Branding conspicuous goods: An analysis of the effects of social influence and competition

Journal article Management Science · September 1, 2015 Branding decisions are critical for the success of new products. Prior research on branding and brand extension has primarily focused on how branding influences consumer's perceptions of product quality. However, consumers of conspicuous goods care not onl ... Full text Cite

Do Firms Endowed with Greater Strategic Capability Earn Higher Profits?

Journal article JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH · June 1, 2015 Full text Link to item Cite

Keyword search advertising and first-page bid estimates: A strategic analysis

Journal article Management Science · March 1, 2015 In using the generalized second-price (GSP) auction to sell advertising slots, a search engine faces several challenges. Advertisers do not truthfully bid their valuations, and the valuations are uncertain. Furthermore, advertisers are budget constrained. ... Full text Cite

Pricing prototypical products

Journal article Marketing Science · January 1, 2013 When we think of colas, Coca-Cola first comes to mind. Products such as Cola-Cola, Tide laundry detergent, and Chapstick lip balm are the prototypical products in their respective categories. For more than three decades, research in consumer psychology has ... Full text Cite

Behavioral models of managerial decision-making

Journal article Marketing Letters · June 1, 2012 This paper reviews the literature that applies behavioral economic models to managerial decisions. It organizes the literature into research that focuses on alternative utility functions and research that focuses on non-equilibrium models. Generally, behav ... Full text Cite

Competing for low-end markets

Journal article Marketing Science · September 1, 2011 Recent business research points to the fortune awaiting to be tapped in low-end markets. In this paper, we investigate how the size of the low-end market influences a firm's profits and the pioneering firm's quality choice. As low-valuation consumers incre ... Full text Cite

Reference groups and product line decisions: An experimental investigation of limited editions and product proliferation

Journal article Management Science · April 1, 2010 Some luxury goods manufacturers offer limited editions of their products, whereas some others market multiple product lines. Researchers have found that reference groups shape consumer evaluations of these product categories. Yet little empirical research ... Full text Open Access Cite

Cross-function and same-function alliances: How does alliance structure affect the behavior of partnering firms?

Journal article Management Science · February 1, 2010 Firms collaborate to develop and deliver new products. These collaborations vary in terms of the similarity of the competencies that partnering firms bring to the alliance. In same-function alliances, partnering firms have similar competencies, whereas in ... Full text Open Access Cite

Product variety, informative advertising, and price competition

Journal article Journal of Marketing Research · January 1, 2010 In many product categories, consumer tastes are diverse, and firms use finely targeted advertising to inform consumers about their products. This article proposes a model of informative advertising that allows for diverse consumer tastes and multiple compe ... Full text Cite

Excessive expenditure in two-stage contests: Theory and experimental evidence

Journal article · December 1, 2009 Budget-constrained and financially motivated members of independent groups participated in a series of two-stage contests to win a single, commonly valued, and exogenously determined prize. We present and test an equilibrium model that, in addition to the ... Cite

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs: A strategic analysis

Journal article Marketing Science · May 1, 2009 Consumers cannot purchase a prescription drug without a prescription from a physician, yet many prescription drugs are promoted to consumers with the help of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. In this paper, we propose and test a competitive model of DT ... Full text Cite

Strategic pricing: An analysis of social influences*

Journal article · March 31, 2009 Social factors influence our everyday life in many ways. For example, consumers purchase conspicuous goods to satisfy not only material needs but also social needs such as prestige. In an attempt to meet these social needs, producers of conspicuous goods s ... Cite

Experiments on strategic choices and markets

Journal article Marketing Letters · December 1, 2008 Much of experimental research in marketing has focused on individual choices. Yet in many contexts, the outcomes of one's choices depend on the choices of others. Furthermore, the results obtained in individual decision making context may not be applicable ... Full text Cite

Experiments on strategic choices and markets

Journal article Marketing Letters · December 2008 Cite

Joint bidding in the Name-Your-Own-Price channel: A strategic analysis

Journal article Management Science · October 1, 2008 In this paper, we study the name-your-own-price (NYOP) channel. We examine theoretically and empirically whether asking consumers to place a joint bid for multiple items, rather than bid one item at a time as practiced today, can increase NYOP retailers' p ... Full text Cite

Trading up: A strategic analysis of reference group effects

Journal article Marketing Science · September 1, 2008 Reference groups influence product and brand evaluations, especially when the product is a publicly consumed luxury good. Marketers of such luxury goods need to carefully balance two important social forces: (1) the desire of leaders to distinguish themsel ... Full text Cite

Biased but efficient: An investigation of coordination facilitated by asymmetric dominance

Journal article Marketing Science · September 1, 2008 In several marketing contexts, strategic complementarity between the actions of individual players demands that players coordinate their decisions to reach efficient outcomes. Yet coordination failure is a common occurrence. We show that the well-establish ... Full text Cite

In search of experimental support for an asymmetric equilibria solution in symmetric investment games

Journal article Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization · July 1, 2008 In one of their experimental studies, Rapoport and Amaldoss [Rapoport, A., Amaldoss, W., 2000. Mixed strategies and iterative elimination of strongly dominated strategies: an experimental investigation of states of knowledge. Journal of Economic Behavior a ... Full text Cite

Theory-driven choice models

Journal article Marketing Letters · December 1, 2005 We explore issues in theory-driven choice modeling by focusing on partial-equilibrium models of dynamic structural demand with forward-looking decision-makers, full equilibrium models that integrate the supply side, integration of bounded rationality in dy ... Full text Cite

Theory-Driven Choice Models

Journal article Marketing Letters · December 2005 We explore issues in theory-driven choice modeling by focusing on partial-equilibrium models of dynamic structural demand with forward-looking decision-makers, full equilibrium models that integrate the supply side, integration of bounded rationality in ... Cite

Conspicuous consumption and sophisticated thinking

Journal article Management Science · October 1, 2005 Consumers purchase conspicuous goods to satisfy not only material needs but also social needs such as prestige. In an attempt to meet these social needs, producers of conspicuous goods like cars, perfumes, and watches, highlight the exclusivity of their pr ... Full text Cite

Two-stage contests with budget constraints: An experimental study

Journal article Journal of Mathematical Psychology · August 1, 2005 We report the results of an experiment on two-stage contests with budget-constrained agents competing to win an exogenously determined prize. In stage 1, agents first compete within their own groups by expending resources, and then in stage 2 the winners o ... Full text Cite

Collaborative product and market development: Theoretical implications and experimental evidence

Journal article Marketing Science · June 1, 2005 In alliances jointly developing product and market, we first investigate how (a) the number of networks competing to develop a product, (b) the number of alternative technology platforms, and (c) market sensitivity to product development expenditures affec ... Full text Cite

Pricing of conspicuous goods: A competitive analysis of social effects

Journal article Journal of Marketing Research · January 1, 2005 Social needs play an Important role In the purchase of conspicuous goods. In this article, the authors extend traditional economic models to accommodate social needs, such as desire for uniqueness and conformism, and examine their implications for pricing ... Full text Cite

Mixed-strategy play in single-stage first-price all-pay auctions with symmetric players

Journal article Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization · January 1, 2004 We consider sealed-bid, first-price, all-pay auctions with complete information, discrete strategy space, budget constraint, and symmetric players, and then construct the equilibrium solution in mixed strategies for both fixed and variable prizes. The equi ... Full text Cite

David vs. Goliath: An analysis of asymmetric mixed-strategy games and experimental evidence

Journal article Management Science · January 1, 2002 Mixed strategies are widely used to model strategic situations in diverse fields such as economics, marketing, political science, and biology. However, some of the implications of asymmetric mixed-strategy solutions are counterintuitive. We develop a styli ... Full text Cite

Mixed strategies and iterative elimination of strongly dominated strategies: An experimental investigation of states of knowledge

Journal article Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization · January 1, 2000 The iterative elimination of strongly dominated strategies (IESDS) and mixed-equilibrium solution concepts are studied in an iterated two-person investment game with discrete strategy spaces, non-recoverable investments, and either equal or unequal investm ... Full text Cite

Collaborating to compete

Journal article Marketing Science · January 1, 2000 In collaborating to compete, firms forge different types of strategic alliances: same-function alliances, parallel development of new products, and cross-functional alliances. A major challenge in the management of these alliances is how to control the res ... Full text Cite