This Is How We Roll

At last, I've finally met all three blocks/classes of Mark 110/Consumer Behavior. I hope we are all in the same page already, having been oriented with what this class is all about and what we plan to acomplish till the end of the semester.

So, this is how we roll. Stand by. Lights. Cue music.

Class Management

We still have remaining issues though with Mark 110-2 and Mark 110-9 that I hope will be resolved before we meet again on 24 January.

Mark 110-2 needs to look at starting the class earlier, say 11:30am or 12NN so we can end by 2:30pm. This will allow some of you to attend both your 2:30pm and 4pm classes. Please look for an available classroom ASAP.

Mark 110-9 is still roofless during the first half of the class (8:30-10am). Please look for an available classroom ASAP.

Kindly coordinate this concern with CME officials. I'll also do what I can do from my end.

Papal Visit Holiday

We will miss another class time this week due to the Papal Visit holiday. For our class to keep moving however, all outstanding assignments should be submitted by Saturday, 17 January via email.

1. For Think Pieces, submit your essays in MS Word format. (For those who have submitted their Think-Piece assignments last Saturday, the instruction above is not for you.)
2. For Trends, Text and Tools, submit your reports in MS PowerPoint format using not more than 12 slides.
3. For Test, submit your 2-3 page report in MS Word format.

Notes on Test Assignment

Recall that Group 3 should have reported on 3 economic concepts last meeting: Indifference Curve, Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility and Deadweight Loss. In addition to that, they should have shared with you the article On the Economics of Giving, published in BusinessWorld on 22 December 2014.

Said article revisits the classic debate on gift-giving and asks why do we subject ourselves to all the hassles of shopping for something that may or may not make the recipients of our gifts any happier.

Noted Economist Joel Waldfogel of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania wrote a paper in 1993, "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas" which posits among others that:

1. Consumption choices are made by someone other than the final consumer
2. Gifts may be mismatched with the recipients' preference
3. 10-30% of the value of gifts received are lost or destroyed due to the mismatch/diminished utility
4. Giving cash is better and more economically efficient.

"Mr. Waldfogel surveyed Yale University students. They were asked how much they were willing to pay for the gifts had they bought these themselves barring "sentimental value." The responses were then used to calculate the deadweight loss by getting the difference between the gifts’ price and the students' valuation of the gifts.

The results showed that the students valued the gifts less than the price the giver paid for them. The difference was much bigger among givers who did not really know the recipients."

In 2013, 46 economists from the Initiatives on the Global Markets at the University of Chicago School of Business were polled on the question: 

"Giving specific presents as holiday gifts is inefficient, because recipients could satisfy their preferences much better with cash."

The poll results can be viewed here.

Now back to your assignment.
You will TEST whether:

1. The Deadweight Loss of Christmas is real among Filipino consumers who have had experienced participating in any gift-giving activity at any time (kris-kringle/exchange gift) by calculating the increase/decrease in the value/price of gifts received.
2. Filipino consumers prefer receiving cash because it is more satisfying than receiving gifts.

As discussed during class, each of the groups will be assigned with a certain population (PLM faculty members, PLM students, friends, family members, strangers) where you may get your sample size of 20.

You are free to devise your own sampling methodology (whether probability sampling or non-probability sampling) and your survey instrument (questionnaire/interview question). Demographics and psychographics are optional depending on how you envision to use the data gathered.

Your report should follow the format below:

I.  Introduction/Background

II. Data (Gathering, Sampling,

III. Analysis of Results

IV. Conclusion (use economic and behavioral concepts/principles/theories)

V. Application to Marketing (new product/new market/new ways of marketing products, etc)
VI. References
VII. Appendix (questionnaire, data set, etc)

Watch out for my next post: To-Do's for 24 January 2015.

That's how we roll. #THWR