Wharton AI & Analytics for Business

Kartik Hosanagar is the John C. Hower Professor of Technology and Digital Business and a Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Kartik’s research work focuses on the digital economy, in particular the impact of analytics and algorithms on consumers and society, Internet media, Internet marketing, and e-commerce.

Kartik serves as a department editor at the journal Management Science and has previously served as a Senior Editor at the journals Information Systems Research and MIS Quarterly. He is a ten-time recipient of MBA or Undergraduate teaching excellence awards at the Wharton School and has been recognized as one of the world’s top 40 business professors under 40. Kartik’s research has received several best paper awards. Kartik cofounded and developed the core IP for Yodle Inc, a venture-backed firm that was acquired by Web.com. Yodle was listed by Inc. Magazine among America’s fastest growing private companies. He has served on the advisory boards of Milo (acq. by eBay) and is involved with many other startups as either an investor or board member. His past consulting and executive education clients include Google, American Express, Citi and others. Kartik was a co-host of the SiriusXM show The Digital Hour.

Kartik graduated at the top of his class with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters in Information Systems from Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS, Pilani), India, and he has an MPhil in Management Science and a PhD in Management Science and Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University.

Outside of Wharton, he likes to make short films and work on and with startups.

Contact Kartik at kartikh@wharton.upenn.edu.

Professor Raghu Iyengar’s research interests fall in two domains: pricing and social influence. In the area of pricing, his work focuses on the impact of multi-part pricing schemes on consumer response. The success of such pricing mechanisms to extract consumer surplus depends on how consumers respond to different components. Methodologically, Iyengar has developed novel consumer demand models that capture the effect of multi-part pricing tariffs in a theoretically meaningful way and include contextual factors such as consumers’ uncertainty about usage. Substantively, he has shown that accounting for consumers’ uncertainty is important for firm profits especially when multi-part prices are employed. In the area of social networks, Iyengar has done work that has investigated how and why such influence may be at work. Across several studies, Iyengar has identified the underlying mechanism(s) such as awareness, social learning or social normative pressure that may be at work in different contexts. Understanding the mechanism(s) is important not only theoretically but also managerially, because which customers to target and which ties to activate using what message depends on what mechanism is at work.

Professor Iyengar’s other current research projects focus on the impact of referral coupons on consumer behavior and how changes in loyalty program requirements may change future customer behavior. His research has been published or forthcoming in Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Psychometrika, Quantitative and Marketing Economics and Experimental Economics. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science and the International Journal of Research in Marketing.

Professor Iyengar’s teaching interests are in the area of Marketing Research and Analytics. He earned his PhD and MPhil from Columbia University and his B. Tech. from IIT Kanpur, India.

Contact Raghu at riyengar@wharton.upenn.edu.

As the Executive Director of Wharton AI & Analytics for Business, Mary Purk leads the academic research center that focuses on the development and application of cutting-edge analytics methods. Through AIAB’s experiential programs, Ms. Purk connects students, academics, and professionals across multiple industries to solve complex, real-world business challenges using machine learning, AI, and big data.

Ms. Purk has held other principal roles at Nielsen and IRI developing and implementing enterprise-wide analytic platforms focused on customers and brand equity. Her expertise includes forecast models, consumer segmentations, marketing mix models, product assortments, pricing, and digital strategies.

Other work experience includes leading the Retail Research Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and consulting roles with Accenture and AT Kearney. Ms. Purk is a proud MBA alumnus of the University of Chicago Booth and the University of Illinois.

Ms. Purk has designed and instructed executive education courses, presented at numerous conferences, and published papers in the Journal of Marketing and Journal of Retailing.

Contact Mary at marypurk@wharton.upenn.edu.