Research@Smith: Spring 2007

Research by Soeren Hvidkjaer

Technology has already transformed the way you do business. Now it may change the way you manage your health. Imagine a day when all of your medical history is digitized, available to you at a moment’s notice from your laptop or cell phone. You could track your own blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol—a great motivator to stick to your diet and exercise plan.

When corporations allocate their advertising dollars, most if not all go to traditional product brand messages. However, companies are increasingly allocating a portion of their advertising budgets to corporate-brand messages. This allocation is often hotly contested because managers generally don’t understand either the added value of corporate messages, or the differing effects of corporate and product messages. Gabriel Biehal, associate professor of marketing, separated out the effects of corporate messages from product messages in a recent paper, “The Influence of Corporate Messages on the Product Portfolio,” co-authored with Daniel A. Sheinin, University of Rhode Island. This is the first study to show the impact of corporate messages on multiple products in a company’s portfolio.