SEOUNGWOO LEE 3330J Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, USA +1 646 234 7660 seoungwoolee@rhsmith.umd.edu http://seoungwoolee.com/ EDUCATION University of Maryland, College Park, USA (2011-Present) Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing (Minor in Economics) Columbia University, New York, USA (2008-2010) M.S. in Operations Research Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea (2002-2008) B.E. in Industrial Engineering (Magna Cum Laude) RESEARCH INTEREST Substantive: Methodological: Mobile Applications, Crowdfunding, Loyalty Programs, Eye Tracking Dynamic Structural Econometric Models, Bayesian Statistics, Empirical IO, Cloud/Parallel Computing HONORS AND AWARDS Fellow, AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium, London Business School, 2015. Fellow, ISMS Doctoral Consortium, Johns Hopkins University, 2015. Marvin A. Jolson Outstanding Doctoral Marketing Student Award, University of Maryland, 2015. Fellow, Haring Doctoral Symposium, Indiana University, 2015. Runner Up, Oral Presentation, Graduate Research Interaction Day, University of Maryland, 2015. Fellow, Columbia-Duke-UCLA Workshop on Quantitative Marketing and Structural Econometrics, Duke University, 2013. Dean s Summer Research Fellowship,, University of Maryland, 2012-2015. Page 1 of 7
Scholarship, Korea University Alumni Association in New York, 2008, 2011. Honors Scholarship, Korea University, 2004, 2006, 2007. DISSERTATION (proposal defended in May 2015) Strategic Decision Making on Platforms for Mobile Applications Co-Chairs: Michel Wedel, Jie Zhang Committee Members: Tao Chen, Liye Ma, Andrew Sweeting (Economics) Essay 1: Free, Paid, or Freemium: Dynamic Versioning Decisions for Mobile Apps. (Job market paper, under review at Marketing Science) With Jie Zhang and Michel Wedel Abstract: We conduct an empirical investigation of mobile app publishers decisions on offering free, paid, or freemium (both) versions of their apps. The main objectives of this research are: 1) to gain a deeper understanding of the various trade-offs involved in publishers app versioning decisions, and 2) to provide policy recommendations on improving commission structures of app distribution platforms. We build a structural dynamic discrete choice model which takes into account various trade-offs involved in app publishers versioning decisions (e.g., revenues vs. costs, direct vs. indirect revenues, costs of serving new vs. existing users, etc.) and incorporates intertemporal and cross-version dynamics of mobile app demand. We have compiled a unique dataset consisting of 584 apps with 766 unique app-version combinations from various sources, and employ the Bayesian IJC algorithm and parallel computing to estimate the models. We find that the proposed model which takes into account app publishers forward-looking decisions substantially outperforms the myopic model and other benchmark models. Our model reveals that free apps generate higher revenues via advertising than in-app purchases, that in-app purchase revenues of paid apps are higher than those of free apps, and that costs associated with new app customers are substantially higher than those of serving existing ones. Via counterfactual simulations, we find that reducing the commission rate from the current level or charging a lower commission rate on direct revenues and a higher commission rate on indirect revenues could increase the app ecosystem payoffs and create profit-sharing opportunities. Moreover, adopting a rent-plus-commission pricing scheme could lead to higher platform revenues and higher publisher profits simultaneously by reducing the number of low-profit apps. These findings lead to valuable managerial recommendations on how to improve the current commission structure and to achieve mutual benefits for both the platform and app publishers. Essay 2: Strategic Investment Behaviors on Crowdfunding Platforms. (Data collection completed and model development in progress) With Jie Zhang, Michel Wedel, and Keongtae Kim Page 2 of 7
Abstract: The main objective of this project is to study strategic behavior of investors on a crowdfunding platform. We have collected data from a crowdfunding platform for mobile app publishers. The dataset includes 535 apps listed on the platform from August 2010 to June 2013. This unique panel dataset contains the characteristics of apps (e.g., price, app store, category, and developer identity), individual investors timing of investments, as well as the investment amounts for each project. We build a dynamic structural model to investigate the tradeoffs that investors face between getting paid earlier by investing earlier versus uncertainty reduction through waiting. Based on the model, we provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness of crowdfunding. Specifically, through counterfactual simulations, we intend to investigate alternative revenue allocation schemes offered by the crowdfunding platform which may benefit app publishers, investors, and the platform itself. Also, we examine if and how changing preset project characteristics (i.e., fundraising goal, maximum funding, minimum investment amount, and return on investment) influences the investors expected performance, which in turn affects their funding decisions. OTHER WORKING PAPERS Els Breugelmans, Jie Zhang, and Seoungwoo Lee, When Cents-off Discounts Are Replaced by Reward Point Promotions: A Cross-Category Analysis of Consumer Reactions, (to be submitted to the Journal of Marketing Research) Abstract: Most retail loyalty programs (LPs) reward customers based on the total amount that they have spent at the store level. In this study, we investigate a new LP design in which conventional cents-off price discounts are replaced by reward points that need to be cumulated and redeemed later. Under this practice, LP rewards are not just based on store-level total spending but largely driven by purchases of individual items on promotions. Zhang and Breugelmans (2012) called it an item-based loyalty program (IBLP) and studied the impact of switching to it on store level purchase outcomes and revenue implications. In this study, we focus on category-level purchase behavior reactions to the program and cross-category comparisons based on a large number of individual categories. For retailers, understanding whether and how individual categories may differ in the way they are affected by the program and how different groups of consumers may react differently can provide important insights to help them fine tune and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the program. Our main objective is to explore the drivers of different outcome measures resulting from switching to an IBLP among a large set of category and household characteristics and use them as basis for providing recommendations of program improvement. We utilize a unique dataset provided by a European online grocery retailer that switched from a conventional LP to the IBLP. The data cover the periods before and after the policy switch and offer a unique opportunity to study the impact of the new LP design on individual purchase behavior at the category level. We constructed a Hierarchical Bayes Type II Tobit model of households category purchase incidence and quantity decisions and estimated it on 22 categories Page 3 of 7
that span across food, beverage, personal care, and household products and vary on a variety of category characteristics. In the second stage analysis, we utilized household-specific posterior draws from the MCMC model estimation procedures and related the differences in purchase behavior outcomes to category and household characteristics. We find large variations in reactions to the new LP design across categories and consumers. While some categories and consumers exhibited increases in the baseline purchase tendency and responsiveness to promotions, the opposite held for others. Both category and consumer characteristics play an important moderating role. For instance, stockpilability reduces category baseline purchase tendency and consumers responsiveness to reward points promotions compared to cents-off discounts of the same monetary value. While consumers store visit frequency increases their promotion responsiveness, category purchase frequency appears to have the opposite effect. Our results provide several valuable insights to retailers and manufacturers on how to improve the effectiveness of an IBLP and how to minimize its potential negative impact on some categories and consumers. WORK IN PROGRESS Consumers Learning in Subscription Commerce, (Data Collection and Model Development In-Progress) Path Analysis of Shopping Mall Foot Traffic via Mobile Technology, (Data Collection and Model Development In-Progress) BOOK CHAPTERS Roland Rust, James Kim, Yue Dong, Tom Kim, and Seoungwoo Lee, Drivers of Customer Equity in The Handbook of Customer Equity: Mastering the Art and Science of Customer Management, V. Kumar and Denish Shah, Eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, MA (2015). RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Research Assistant,, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA (2011-2015) Dr. Jie Zhang, Dr. Michel Wedel, Dr. Michael Trusov, Dr. Liye Ma Research Assistant, Center for Decision Sciences, Columbia University, NY, USA (2010-2011) Dr. Eric Johnson, Dr. Olivier Toubia Research Assistant, Boston Consulting Group, Seoul, Korea (2008) Page 4 of 7
Associate, Samsung Corporation, Trading and Investment Group, Seoul, Korea (2008) Research Intern, Logistics/Transportation Information System Laboratory, Korea University, Seoul, Korea (2007) Dr. Chulung Lee Intern, Samsung SDS, Seoul, Korea (2007) PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Reviewer, 2015 AMA Summer Marketing Educators Conference Reviewer, 2014 AMA Summer Marketing Educators Conference PRESENTATIONS (* indicates presenter) Decisions for Mobile Apps, ISMS Marketing Science Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2015. Els Breugelmans, Jie Zhang*, and Seoungwoo Lee, When Cents-off Discounts are Replaced by Reward Point Promotions: A Cross-Category Analysis of Consumer Reactions, ISMS Marketing Science Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2015. Decisions for Mobile Apps, Poster Presentation, 5 th Marketing Academic Research Colloquium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 2015. Decisions for Mobile Apps, Graduate Research Interaction Day, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2015. Decisions for Mobile Apps, Decisions, Operations, and Information Technology Department Information Systems Student Presentation Series, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2014. Seoungwoo Lee* (Discussant), Understanding the Impact of Consumer-Retailer Relationship and Information States for In-store Displays, Haring Symposium, Indiana University, 2015. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Instructor (Scheduled),, University of Maryland (2016) Sales Management or Marketing Research Page 5 of 7
Teaching Assistant,, University of Maryland (2014) Marketing Management (MBA), Dr. David Godes SERVICE Service Award, Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) Washington Metro Chapter (2015) Committee Member, KSEA National Mathematics and Science Competition, KSEA Washington Metro Chapter (2015) President, Korean Graduate Student Association (KGSA), University of Maryland (2013-2014) Committee Member, KGSA UMD Symposium (2013-2015) Director, Korean Graduate Student Association, Columbia University (2008-2009) Team Captain (Player), Smith PhD II Basketball Team (Smith PhD Soccer Team), University of Maryland (2013-2015) President, Student Association, Division of Information Management Engineering, Korea University (2007) Representative of Korean Participants, UN University Global Seminar (2007) DOCTORAL COURSEWORK Marketing Seminar in Mobile Marketing, Dr. Jie Zhang Marketing Models with MCMC, Dr. Michel Wedel Marketing Strategy, Dr. Roland Rust Consumer Behavior, Dr. Amna Kirmani Survey of Marketing Models, Dr. P.K. Kannan Structural Models in Marketing, Dr. Tao Chen Economics Computational Economics, Dr. Andrew Sweeting Empirical Studies in Industrial Organization, Dr. Ginger Jin Empirical Microeconomics, Dr. Sebastian Galiani Econometrics IV, Dr. Ingmar Prucha, Dr. Shakeeb Khan Econometrics II, Dr. Ingmar Prucha, Dr. Hyungsik Moon Econometrics I, Dr. John Chao, Dr. John Rust Microeconomic Analysis II, Dr. Erkut Ozbay, Dr. Daniel Vincent Microeconomic Analysis I, Dr. Emel Filiz Ozbay, Dr. Lawrence Ausubel Page 6 of 7
REFERENCES MICHEL WEDEL PepsiCo Chaired Professor of Consumer Science Department of Marketing 3303 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, (301) 405-2162 mwedel@rhsmith.umd.edu P.K. KANNAN Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Marketing Science Chair of Department of Marketing 3445 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, (301) 405-2188 pkannan@rhsmith.umd.edu JIE ZHANG Professor of Marketing (Effective 7/1/2015) Harvey Sanders Fellow of Retail Management 3311 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland (301) 405-7899 jiejie@rhsmith.umd.edu TAO CHEN Assistant Professor of Marketing Department of Marketing 3317 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland (301) 405-9613 taochen@rhsmith.umd.edu ROLAND RUST Distinguished University Professor David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing 3451 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, (301) 405-4300 rrust@rhsmith.umd.edu Page 7 of 7