David Godes Directory Page

David Godes

David Godes

Dean's Professor of Marketing

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Contact

3321 Van Munching Hall

David Godes is a Dean's Professor of Marketing. He holds a Ph.D. and S.M. in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Smith School faculty in 2009 after teaching for ten years at Harvard Business School. His teaching experiences include undergraduate, graduate and executive courses ranging from Introduction to Marketing to Business-to-Business Marketing and Sales Management. His academic research focuses on two areas: sales management and social networks/word of mouth. His work has appeared in top journals like Marketing Science, Management Science and Quantitative Marketing & Economics and he has authored numerous case studies on leading global firms like Federal Express, Avon Products, Terumo (Japan), SKF (Sweden), XM Satellite Radio, BMW, IBM, Hasbro, BzzAgent and Lincoln Financial. His research and opinions have been cited in a wide range of popular press outlets including The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist and The Boston Globe. He has consulted and/or delivered executive education courses to many firms, small and large, located in the U.S. and abroad.

Prior to returning to MIT to pursue doctoral studies, Godes started and ran his own market research and consulting firm which served a range of clients throughout the Northeast drawn from banking, mortgage lending, health care management and venture capital. Prior to that, he was a marketing manager in consumer banking.

Godes resides in Bethesda, MD with his wife Jodi and daughters Bellamy and Grace.

Selected Publications

Brandes, Leif, David Godes and DIna Mayzlin, “Extremity Bias in Online Reviews: The Role of Attrition,” Journal of Marketing Research, 2022, Vol 59 (4), (Lead Article)

Zhang, Yuchi and David Godes, “Learning from Online Social Ties,” Marketing Science, 2018, Vol. 37 (3), pp. 333-506

Phan, Tuan Q. and David Godes, “The Evolution of Influence through Endogenous Link Formation,” Marketing Science,  2018, Vol. 37 (2), pp. 177-331

Wojnicki, Andrea and David Godes, “Signaling Success: Word of Mouth as Self Enhancement,” Customer Needs and Solutions, 2017, Vol. 4, pp. 68-82

Godes, David, “Product Policy in Markets with Word-of-Mouth Communication,” Management Science, 2016, Vol. 63 (1), 267-78.

Aral, Sinan, Chrysanthos Dellarocas and David Godes, “Editorial – Social Media and Business Transformation: A Framework for Research," Information Systems Research, 2013, Vol. 24, (March), pp. 3-13.

Godes, David and Jose Silva, “Sequential and Temporal Dynamics of Online Opinion,” Marketing Science, 2013, Vol. 31 (3), (May/June), pp. 448-473.
- Winner, John D.C. Little Award

Godes, David, “The Strategic Impact of References in Business Markets,” Marketing Science, 2012, Vol. 31 (2), (March/April), pp. 257-76.
- Finalist, John D.C. Little Award

Godes, David and Dina Mayzlin, “Firm-Created Word-of-Mouth Communication: Evidence from a Field Test,” Marketing Science, volume 28, issue 4, 2009, (July/August), pp. 721-39.

- Winner 2017 INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Long-Term Impact Award
- Finalist, John D.C. Little Award
- Finalist, 2015 INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Long-Term Impact Award

Godes, David, Elie Ofek and Miklos Sarvary, “Content vs. Advertising: The Impact of Competition on Media Firm Strategy,” Marketing Science, volume 28, issue 1 (January/February), 2009, pp. 20-35

Bhardwaj, Pradeep, Yuxin Chen and David Godes, “Buyer-Initiated vs. Seller-Initiated Information Revelation,” Management Science, volume 54, June 2008, pp. 1104-1114.

Hartman, Wesley, Puneet Manchanda, Harikesh Nair, Matthew Bothner, Peter Dodds, David Godes, Kartik Hosanagar and Catherine Tucker, “Modeling Social Interactions: Identification, Empirical Methods and Policy Implications,” Marketing Letters 19, no 3/4 (December 2008), pp. 287-304.

Ustuner, Tuba and David Godes, “Better Sales Networks,” Harvard Business Review, Volume 84, Number 7/8, 2006, pp. 102-112.

Godes, David, Dina Mayzlin, Yubo Chen, Sanjiv Das, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, Barak Libai, Bruce Pfeiffer, Subrata Sen and Mengze Shi, “The Firm’s Management of Social Interactions,” Marketing Letters, 2005, volume 16, no. 3/4, pp. 415-28.

Godes, David and Dina Mayzlin, “Using On-Line Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication,” Marketing Science, 2004, volume 23, issue 4, pp. 545-560.
- Finalist, Frank M. Bass Award
- Winner, 2011 INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Long-Term
   Impact Award

Godes, David, “Contracting Under Endogenous Risk,” Quantitative Marketing and Economics 2004, volume 2, pp. 321-345.

Godes, David, “In the Eye of the Beholder: An Analysis of the Relative Value of a Top Sales Rep Across Firms and Products,” Marketing Science 2003, volume 22, issue 2, pp. 161-87.
- Winner of the AMA Sales SIG’s 2004 Excellence in Research Award

News

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos Shares His ‘Long and Windy Road’ to Success
There are two things that U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos says have always been most important to him – statistics and helping…
Read News Story : U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos Shares His ‘Long and Windy Road’ to Success
Godes Earns INFORMS Research Award
Consumer ‘Word-of-Mouth’ Study Cited for Long-Run Impact in Marketing Field

Research into managing consumer word-of-mouth communication…

Read News Story : Godes Earns INFORMS Research Award
Good move? Budweiser is now ‘America’

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Social media is buzzing about Budweiser. Just in time for the Summer Olympics and Trump v.

Read News Story : Good move? Budweiser is now ‘America’

Research

Identifying High Influencers in Social Networks

Examining Influence In A New Way

Read the article : Identifying High Influencers in Social Networks
A Learning Curve for Using Online Reviews

Beware of Rookie Mistakes When Making Purchase Decisions

Read the article : A Learning Curve for Using Online Reviews
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