Dr. Brian Ratchford
- Professor Emeritus of Marketing
- Charles and Nancy Davidson Distinguished Chair in Marketing
Charles and Nancy Davidson created the position in August 2006 to support the research and scholarly activities of the holder in the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Ratchford filled the position in September 2006.
“I was attracted to the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management because I observed that it was moving upward, and that I would have a chance to contribute to its development. I have not been disappointed. I have found the school to have a great working environment and strong leadership.”
Dr. Brian Ratchford’s research focuses on economics applied to the study of consumer behavior, information economics, marketing productivity, marketing research and electronic commerce. He has published more than 80 articles in leading marketing journals, including Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Marketing Research.
Ratchford has been a pioneer in developing methods to improve the product development process. In 2009, the American Marketing Association awarded the Lehmann Award to Ratchford and his co-authors for their research article “Incorporating Subjective Characteristics in Product Design and Evaluation,” which was published in the Journal of Marketing Research in 2008. The study developed the first formal model that measures user preferences for subjective attributes during the new product design process. The scholars’ work can help improve the new product design process that is undertaken by product inventors and engineers.
He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Journal of Consumer Research. He said he is most proud of having supervised 28 doctoral students throughout his career.
“That’s been neat because they’ve gone onto nice careers,” he said. “They seem to be happy by and large. It’s been nice to help them get published and guide them.”
Ratchford is currently an associate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. He serves on the editorial boards of several publications, including Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Journal of Service Research. He also serves on the emeritus editorial board of Marketing Science.
Before joining UT Dallas in 2006, he had taught at the University of Maryland since 1999. He also taught at State University of New York at Buffalo from 1971 to 1999.
Ratchford earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Canisius College. He earned a MBA from the University of Rochester, where he also completed a PhD in business economics.