About ME
Academic Perspective
Field Experience and Success
Academic Perspective
For the past 10 years, I have helped businesses and students cultivate the necessary tools and insights to tackle the uncertainty of market problems ranging from procurement and employee turnover to pricing and customer experience. Using methodologies grounded in game theory and data, you can overcome obstacles in developing a solutions based strategy.
Analytical Approach
Field Experience and Success
Academic Perspective
I use econometrics, game theory and microeconomics to inform my analysis and recommendations.
Field Experience and Success
Field Experience and Success
Field Experience and Success
Through the Economic Consulting Capstone, I have worked with over 100 firms to address business issues uncertainty.
research
Ridlon, Robert, and Jiwoong Shin. "Favoring the winner or loser in repeated contests." Marketing Science 32.5 (2013): 768-785.
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
Should a firm favor a weaker or stronger employee in a contest? Despite a widespread emphasis on rewarding the best employees, managers continue to tolerate and even favor poor performers. Contest theory reveals that evenly matched contests are the most intense, which implies that a contest designer can maximize each player's effort by ar
Should a firm favor a weaker or stronger employee in a contest? Despite a widespread emphasis on rewarding the best employees, managers continue to tolerate and even favor poor performers. Contest theory reveals that evenly matched contests are the most intense, which implies that a contest designer can maximize each player's effort by artificially boosting the underdog's chances. We apply this type of "handicapping" to a two-period repeated contest between employees, in which the only information available about their abilities is their performance in the first-period. In this setting, employees are strategic and forward looking, such that they fully anticipate the potential impact of the first-period contest result on the second period contest, and thus adjust their behaviors accordingly. The manager also incorporates these strategic behaviors of employees when determining an optimal handicapping policy. If employees' abilities are sufficiently different, favoring the first-period loser in the second period increases total effort over both periods. However, if abilities are sufficiently similar, we find the opposite result occurs: total effort increases the most in response to a handicapping strategy of favoring the first-period winner. Ridlon, R. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd-In or Crowd-Out Retailer Advertising"
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
When a manufacturer advertises, what is the impact on retailer advertising? I analyze a contest model of advertising where total advertising by the manufacturer and by retailers determines market size, and the relative level of advertising by each retailer determines market share. If retailers are symmetric I show that there is a crowding
When a manufacturer advertises, what is the impact on retailer advertising? I analyze a contest model of advertising where total advertising by the manufacturer and by retailers determines market size, and the relative level of advertising by each retailer determines market share. If retailers are symmetric I show that there is a crowding-in effect so increased manufacturer advertising increases retail advertising. But if one retailer is stronger, then marginal increases in manufacturer advertising have a crowding-out effect on retailer advertising, while sufficiently large increases have a crowding-in effect by "jump-starting" competition between retailers for the larger market. Furthermore, asymmetric abilities in such contests can lead the weaker player to effectively drop out of the contest, thereby undermining the ability of increased prizes to increase effort by intensifying competition. More generally the model can be applied to other contests such as patent races or promotion tournaments where not just the probability of winning but also the value of winning depends on contest effort levels.
Dayton, Keith Gelarden, et al. "Short-term global business immersion courses: Short-term program, long-term effects?." Business Horizons 61.6 (2018): 903-911.
Ridlon, Robert. "Does Manufacturer Advertising Crowd‐in or Crowd‐out Retailer Advertising? An Application of an Endogenous Prize Contest with Asymmetric Players." Southern Economic Journal 83.2 (2016): 364-379.
Dayton, Keith Gelarden, et al. "Short-term global business immersion courses: Short-term program, long-term effects?." Business Horizons 61.6 (2018): 903-911.
This article explores the potential impact of short-term global business immersion courses designed for undergraduate students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. As part of the Global Foundations Core curriculum, the school offers students a unique opportunity to study a country or region in depth in the classroom and t
This article explores the potential impact of short-term global business immersion courses designed for undergraduate students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. As part of the Global Foundations Core curriculum, the school offers students a unique opportunity to study a country or region in depth in the classroom and then participate in an accompanying short-term study program abroad. In this article, multiple Kelley faculty who teach global immersion courses offer context-specific strategies and insights into classroom teaching and observed outcomes for student learning. Research shows that short-term study-abroad programs can offer transformative opportunities for students when intentionally designed as part of curriculum, affecting attitudes toward environmental citizenship and shaping global careers. The Chronicle of Education reports that even short study-abroad programs can have a lasting effect. To date, the Kelley School has not measured for standardized learning outcomes across its 14 existing global immersion courses, so this article does not offer commentary on program-wide student learning. However, through analyses of their on-campus course design and respective overseas program activities, Global Business Immersion program faculty share insights into student learning as observed in their individual programs. Our intent is to capture the impact of the courses through the lens of faculty program directors and student participants in three programs across three continents. In addition, we contribute to future research on similar global academic initiatives and add to the expanding body of knowledge on the impacts of short-term study abroad.