Bio
John was a professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School for 28 years. He joined the HBS Marketing Unit in 1995 after receiving his PhD at the University of Chicago in marketing and behavioral research. He taught extensively in the core MBA program, the doctoral program, and the executive-education program. Prior to receiving his PhD, John held management positions with Booz, Allen & Hamilton; Mobil Oil; and the New York Telephone Company.
Current Research Topics
Behavioral decision theory, pricing, product assortment, the marketing of innovation, new product adoption
Professional Activities
Academic Positions
- Visiting Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business, 2023–present
- Albert J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration [currently emeritus], Harvard Business School, 2008–present
- Professor of Business Administration, 2006–08; Associate Professor of Business Administration, 2000–06; Assistant Professor of Business Administration, 1995–2000, Harvard Business School
Nonacademic Positions
- Associate, Booz, Allen & Hamilton, 1989–91
- Operations Analyst, Mobil Oil Corporation, 1988
- Network Design Engineer, New York Telephone Company, 1984–87
Editorial Positions
- Past Member, Editorial Review Board: Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Economic Psychology
- Reviewer: Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Journal of Retailing, Administrative Science Quarterly
Awards
- Invited Faculty Delegate, AMA-Sheth Doctoral Consortium, 2006
- Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar, 2003
- Invited Faculty Presenter, ACR Doctoral Symposium, 2002
- Finalist Award, Best Article in Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 2002
- Honorable Mention, Hillel Einhorn New Investigator Award, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, 1998
- Winner, Alden G. Clayton Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Competition, Marketing Science Institute, 1994
Working Papers
- With D. Soman, “Extremeness Seeking: When and Why Consumers Prefer the Extremes,” HBS Working Paper Series, 2007, # 07-092
- With J. J. Koehler, “Downsizing Price Increases: A Differential Sensitivity to Price Over Quantity in Consumer Markets,” HBS Working Paper Series, 2004, # 04-042
Selected Publications
Books
- With J. A. Quelch and V. K. Rangan, Problems and Cases in Health Care Marketing, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2005
- With J. A. Quelch and V. K. Rangan, Problems and Cases in Health Care Marketing [Instructor Manual], McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2005
Journal Articles
- With M. Bertini, “Pricing to Create Shared Value,” Harvard Business Review, 2012, 90 (6): 96–104
- With D. Soman, “The Consumer Psychology of Mail-in Rebates,” Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2011, 20 (2): 147–57
- With M. Bertini and E. Ofek, “When the Name Is the Game,” Business Strategy Review, 2011, 22 (3): 50–5
- “Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers: Understanding the Psychology of New-Product Adoption,” Harvard Business Review, 2006, 84 (6): 98–106
- With D. Soman, “Overchoice and Assortment Type: When and Why Variety Backfires,” Marketing Science, 2005, 24 (3): 382–95
- With Y. Moon, “Managing Price Expectations through Product Overlap,” Journal of Retailing, 2004, 80 (1): 23–34
- “The Effects of Monetary Magnitude and Level of Aggregation on the Temporal Framing of Price,” Marketing Letters, 2003, 14 (2): 125–35
- With D. Soman, “Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption,” Harvard Business Review, 2002, 80 (9): 90–96
- With D. Soman, “Transaction Decoupling: How Price Bundling Affects the Decision to Consume,” Journal of Marketing Research, 2001, 38 (1): 30–44
- “The Effect of Implicit versus Explicit Comparisons on Temporal Pricing Claims,” Marketing Letters, 1999, 10 (2): 113–24
- With D. Soman, “Payment Depreciation: The Behavioral Effects of Temporally Separating Payments from Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research, 1998, 25 (2): 160–74
- “Pennies-a-Day: The Effect of Temporal Reframing on Transaction Evaluation,” Journal of Consumer Research, 1998, 24 (4): 395–408