On July 13, 2024, at the invitation of the School of Management, Associate Professor Liu Zhen from Benedictine University, USA, engaged in academic exchange with the faculty and students and delivered an academic lecture titled "Topics in Search for Product Information: Optimal Trials, Tiered Product and Premium Search." This lecture was the 20th session of the 2024 Overseas Lecture Series of the School of Management, chaired by Professor Chang Yu, with participation from some faculty and students from the Marketing Department.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chang Yu provided a brief introduction to Liu Zhen's research direction, scientific achievements, and academic contributions, and the attendees warmly welcomed his presence. In this lecture, Liu Zhen discussed the challenges in traditional consumer product information search and new scenario applications, combining his team's exploration and practice. He focused on three topics: optimal trials, tiered products, and premium search, to discuss the thought process behind product information search topics and how to establish and derive mathematical models to solve research problems. In terms of enhancing theoretical contributions, Liu Zhen gave a detailed explanation of the decision-making issues consumers face during product trials and analyzed the relationship between consumer expected valuation and product purchase decisions. He also discussed the independence of trial period length and its application in industry practices, further proving that the setting of the trial period is unrelated to the consumer's expected valuation of the product.

During the interactive Q&A session, Liu Zhen answered questions from the faculty and students regarding the lecture and engaged in discussions about research directions. He particularly shared his views on using mathematical modeling to solve marketing problems, and the attendees expressed that they benefited greatly from the exchange.

Written by Zhang Jingdong and Wu Cencen, Reviewed by Shao Jing and Zhang Shuang

Introduction to the Speaker:

Liu Zhen is currently a tenured Associate Professor at the Goodwin College of Business, Benedictine University, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2007. After that, he served as an Assistant Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Minnesota, during which he was a senior visiting scholar at Tsinghua University in 2009. In 2017, he joined Benedictine University. His research areas include quantitative marketing, revenue management, dynamic pricing, and supply chain finance. He has published over ten articles in international journals and conferences and serves as a reviewer for numerous international journals. He has also frequently acted as a session chair at international conferences and has been invited multiple times to review for the National Science Foundation. Liu Zhen has successfully supervised several doctoral students and has extensive work experience, having served as a consultant for companies such as Thunder Bay Capital, 21st Century Institute, and Ziena. He is also a senior member of INFORMS and a member of the American Marketing Association.