Yale School of Management Professor Ravi Dhar Honored by IIM Calcutta

Ravi Dhar, the George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing and director of the Center for Customer Insights at the Yale School of Management, has been honored with the 2013 Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Dhar earned his MBA from IIM Calcutta in 1987. The Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves through their extraordinary achievements in their chosen professions, immense contributions to society, nation, and the Institute. The award was presented to Dhar during the Institute’s Foundation Day events on November 15.

Dhar, who also has an affiliated appointment as professor of psychology in Yale University’s Department of Psychology, is an expert in consumer behavior and branding, marketing management, and marketing strategy. He is a leader in bringing psychological insights to the study of consumer decision making. His research focuses on using psychological principles, such as limited self-control and ability to process information, to investigate fundamental aspects of the formation of consumer preferences, in order to understand consumer behavior in the marketplace. He has addressed questions such as the following: How do consumers choose as the number of options increase? How do people make tradeoffs between what’s fun and what’s practical? Can engaging in a selfless act lead to more selfish choices? Does making an initial purchase have an impact on the willingness to spend on additional purchases?

Dhar’s research has been widely published and recognized with marketing’s leading scholarly awards, including the William O’Dell Award. In 2012, he was honored with the Distinguished Scientific Accomplishment Award of the Society for Consumer Psychology for “outstanding lifelong research contributions to the field of consumer psychology.” He also serves or has served on the editorial boards of prominent marketing journals, such as Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Marketing Science.

Dhar, who joined the Yale School of Management faculty in 1992, was instrumental in establishing the Center for Customer Insights, a research center that facilitates interaction between marketing executives and academic scholars from many disciplines who share an underlying interest in understanding customer behavior and marketplace dynamics. Under his leadership since 2004, the center has built its roster of corporate research affiliates, which include Activision, American Express, Google, IBM, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, TIAA-CREF, and Visa, as well as an active program of conferences that engage practitioners and academics, consulting projects that pair MBA students with corporations seeking consumer insights, and case studies.

Yale SOM students have recognized Dhar for his teaching, honoring him as the outstanding teacher in an elective class for 2011-2012. This year, Dhar is teaching the elective Strategic Marketing Leadership: The Role of a Chief Marketing Officer.

Commenting on the award, Dhar said “As an alum, it is a very special honor to be recognized by your alma mater. I felt happy and honored to receive this award from IIM Calcutta. It was also heartwarming to see some of my professors who had since retired but came to celebrate the occasion.”

(Courtesy Yale School of Management News and personal comment by Professor Dhar)