Günter Hitsch

Günter Hitsch is an assistant professor of marketing at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. He received his PhD in economics from Yale University, and his BA from the University of Vienna. He teaches classes on Marketing Strategy and Data Driven Market Analytics.

Much of his research focuses on dynamic marketing strategies, i.e., situations where marketing decisions that firms make today have effects on future sales, profits, and competitive reactions. Current examples of this research are the investigation of pricing under switching costs between brands or service providers, and the examination of pricing dynamics and industry evolution in hardware/ software markets with indirect network effects, such as Blu-ray versus HD-DVD. Past examples are product launch strategies under uncertain demand for a new product, and the question of how advertising should be optimally scheduled through time. Another area of his research is concerned with the measurement of the effectiveness of product placement on TV. In other work, he currently examines online dating as an example of matching markets, and investigates whether such markets lead to economically efficient match outcomes.