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Donald Morrison

Professor Emeritus, Marketing
“My vision for the Morrison Family Center is that it provide a very significant bridge between first-rate marketing academic work and serious practitioners in the industry.”
donald.morrison@anderson.ucla.edu
(310) 825-7706; (310) 825-0003
Areas of Expertise:
  • Coupons
  • Marketing
  • Probability
  • Sports
  • Statistics
 

About

 
 

Biography

Don Morrison came to UCLA Anderson in 1988 after 22 years at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. Morrison is the author or co-author of more than 90 articles in refereed journals with special emphasis on marketing research and applied statistics. He has served as an expert witness as a statistician in a number of legal cases and a consultant to industrial firms and governmental agencies. He is co-author of the book Stochastic Models of Buying Behavior, with William F. Massey and David B. Montgomery.

Morrison has held numerous editorial positions with INFORMS, such as departmental editor, editor in chief of Management Science and founding editor of Marketing Science. He has also served as president of the Institute of Management Sciences, an academic trustee of the Marketing Science Institute and a member of the review panel for the National Science Foundation. Morrison has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Marketing.

Morrison’s most important and rewarding academic contribution is the advising and mentoring he has done with 18 Ph.D. students. Eight of these students currently hold endowed chairs in top marketing departments at universities across the country. On teaching and developing doctoral students at UCLA Anderson, Morrison said, “You give them roots and then wings; it’s rewarding to watch them grow as scholars.”

Now a professor emeritus, Morrison maintains his involvement with UCLA Anderson in number of ways. He is still active as a member of the school’s FEMBA and EMBA admission committees, is a member of the school’s Centennial Campaign committee and still serves as the unofficial curator of Anderson’s art collection.

He and his wife, Dr. Sherie Morrison, are generous benefactors of UCLA Anderson. Their $10 million gift launched the school’s Morrison Family Center for Marketing Studies and Data Analytics and is the single largest gift ever from an Anderson faculty member. The Morrison Family Center is a leading center for the creation and dissemination of marketing knowledge for the digital age. “Our whole family feels very connected to Anderson,” Morrison says, noting that his two daughters — Heather Felix (‘94) and Michelle Oliva (‘95) — are both alumnae. “Sherie and I feel very much a part of the Anderson community, we are engaged with all things Anderson. We feel very blessed to be able to give back to the school.”

The Morrisons also maintained a close relationship with Marion Anderson, widow of John Anderson, whose $100 million gift in part has led to the construction of the yet-to-open Marion Anderson Building. The Morrisons have donated an additional $1 million toward the project, and the boardroom in the building will be named for them.

In addition to his roles at UCLA Anderson, Morrison is a trustee of Hotchkiss and Wiley and on the advisory board for Northern Trust.

 

Education

Ph.D. Operations Research, 1965, Stanford University

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1961, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

Research

Empirical Bayes Methods in Marketing. Measurement issues in assessing brand choice models and concentration statistics (in progress)

 

Books

Massy, W.F., Montgomery, D.B. and Morrison, D.G., Stochastic Models of Buying Behavior, The M.I.T. Press, 464 pp. (1970).

Benartzi, Shlomo, with Roger Lewin, “Save More Tomorrow: Practical Behavioral Finance Solutions to Improve 401(k) Plans,” Penguin, 2012.

 

Chapters in Books

Morrison, D.G., “Discriminant Analysis,” Chapter 8 in Handbook of Marketing Research, Ferber, R. (Ed.), McGraw-Hill (1974).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “Discriminant Analysis,” Handbook of Marketing Research, Second Edition, Houston, M. (Ed.), McGraw-Hill (1995).

 

Professional Journal Articles

Frank, R.E., Massy, W.F. and Morrison, D.G., “Bias in Multiple Discriminant Analysis,” Journal of Marketing Research, 2, 250-258 (August 1965).

Morrison, D.G., Frank, R.E. and Massy, W.F., “A Note on Panel Bias,” Journal of Marketing Research, 3, 85-88 (February 1966).

Morrison, D.G., “Testing Brand-Switching Models,” Journal of Marketing Research, 3, 401-409 (November 1966).

Morrison, D.G., “Measurement Problems in Cluster Analysis,” Management Science, 13, 12, B775-B780 (August 1967).

Morrison, D.G., “On the Consistency of Preferences in Allais’ Paradox,” Behavioral Science, 12, 5, 373-383 (September 1967).

Morrison, D.G., “Critique of: ‘Ranking Procedures and Subjective Probability Distributions’,” Management Science, 14, 253-254 (December 1967).

Morrison, D.G., “Analysis of Consumer Purchase Data: A Bayesian Approach,” Industrial Management Review, 9, 31-40 (Winter 1968).

Morrison, D.G., “Approximate Methods for Calculating the Power of Certain Goodness-of-Fit Statistics,” The New York Statistician, 19, 3, 5-7 (January-February 1968).

Morrison, D.G., “A Stochastic Interpretation of the Heavy Half,” Journal of Marketing Research, 5, 194-198 (May 1968).

Massy, W.F. and Morrison, D.G., “Some Comments on Ehrenberg’s Appraisal of Brand-Switching Models,” Journal of Marketing Research, 5, 225-228 (May 1968).

Morrison, D.G., “On the Interpretation of Discriminant Analysis,” Journal of Marketing Research, 6, 156-163 (May 1969). This article was designated a “Citation Classic” in Current-Contents: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 16 (July 30, 1984).

Morrison, D.G., “Conditional Trend Analysis: A Model that Allows for Nonusers,” Journal of Marketing Research, 6, 342-346 (August 1969).

Morrison, D.G., “A Series Approximation for Negative Binomial Parameter Estimation, Journal of Marketing Research, 6, 355-356 (August 1969).

Morrison, D.G., “On Forming Confidence Intervals for Certain Poisson Ratios,” Decision Sciences, 1, 234-236 (1970).

Morrison, D.G., “Adaptive Behavior in Automobile Brand Choices: A Reply,” Journal of Marketing Research, 7, 117-119 (February 1970).

Morrison, D.G., and Gluck, D.J. “Spurious Correlations that Result from ‘Awareness vs. Usage’ Type Regressions,” Journal of Marketing Research, 7, 381-384 (August 1970).

Morrison, D.G. and Perry, A., “Some Data Based Models for Analyzing Sales Fluctuations,” Decision Sciences, 1, 3 and 4, 258-274 (July-October 1970).

Morrison, D.G., Massy, W.F. and Silverman, F.N., “The Effects of Nonhomogeneous Populations on Markov Steady-State Probabilities,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 66, 334, 268-274 (June 1971).

Morrison, D.G., “Upper Bounds for Correlations Between Binary Outcomes and Probabilistic Predictions,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 67, 337, 68-70 (March 1972).

Morrison, D.G. “Regressions with Discrete Dependent Variables: The Effect on R2,” Journal of Marketing Research, 9, 338-340 (August 1972).

Morrison, D.G., “Reliability of Tests: A Technique Using the ‘Regression to the Means’ Fallacy,” Journal of Marketing Research, 10, 91-93 (February 1973).

Morrison, D.G., “Evaluating Market Segmentation Studies: The Properties of R2, Management Science, 19, 11, 1213-1221 (July 1973).

Montgomery, D.B. and Morrison, D.G., “A Note on Adjusting R2,” The Journal of Finance, 28, 4, 1009-1013 (September 1973).

Morrison, D.G., “Some Results for Waiting Times with an Application to Survey Data,” The American Statistician, 27, 5, 226-227 (December 1973).

Sphicas, G.P. and Morrison, D.G., “On the Estimation of the Parameters of a Mixed Exponential,” SCIMA, Journal of Management Sciences and Applied Cybernetics, New Delhi, India, 4, 3, 105-114 (1975).

Rippe, R., Wilkinson, M. and Morrison, D.G., “Industrial Market Forecasting with Anticipations Data,” Management Science, 22, 6, 639-651 (February 1976).

Morrison, D.G., “On the Optimal Time to Pull the Goalie: A Poisson Model Applied to a Common Strategy in Ice Hockey,” Management Science, Special Issue on Sports, 137-144 (1976).

Villani, K.E.A. and Morrison, D.G., “A Method for Analyzing New Formulation Decisions,” Journal of Marketing Research, 13, 284-288 (August 1976).

Morrison, D.G., “Home Field Advantages and the Seventh Game World Series Phenomenon,” The New York Statistician, 28, 2, 1-2 (November-December 1976).

Kalwani, M.U. and Morrison, D.G., “A Parsimonious Description of the Hendry System,” Management Science, 23, 5, 467-477 (January 1977).

Beckwith, N.E. and Morrison, D.G., “Stochastic Interpretation of 2 X 2 Classification Tables,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 72, 358, 303-308 (June 1977).

Kalwani, M.U. and Morrison, D.G., “Estimating the Proportion of ‘Always Buy’ and ‘Never Buy’ Consumers: A Likelihood Ratio Test with Sample Size Implications,” Journal of Marketing Research, 14, 601-606 (November 1977).

Morrison, D.G., “A Probability Model for Forced Binary Choices,” The American Statistician, 32, 1, 23-25 (February 1978).

Sabavala, D.J. and Morrison, D.G., “A Model of TV Show Loyalty,” Journal of Advertising Research, 17, 6, 35-43 (December 1977).

Morrison, D.G., “On Linearly Increasing Mean Residual Lifetimes,” Journal of Applied Probability, 15, 617-620 (September 1978).

Morrison, D.G., “Purchase Intentions and Purchase Behavior,” Journal of Marketing, 43, 65-74 (Spring 1979).

Morrison, D.G., “An Individual Differences Pure Extinction Process,” Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 19, 3, 307-315 (June 1979).

Morrison, D.G. and Brockway, G., “A Modified Beta Binomial Model with Applications to Multiple Choice and Taste Tests,” Psychometrika, 44, 4, 427-442 (December 1979).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.C., “Jobs, Strikes and Wars: Probability Models for Duration,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25, 224-251 (April 1980).

Kalwani, M.U. and Morrison, D.G., “Sample Size Requirements for Zero-Order Models,” Journal of Marketing Research, 17, 221-227 (May 1980).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “On Individual Inference in Job Duration Research: A Reexamination of the Wisconsin School Superintendent Study,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 84-89 (March 1981).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “The Median Residual Lifetime: A Characterization Theorem and an Application,” Operations Research, 29, 392-398 (March-April 1981).

Sabavala, D.J. and Morrison, D.G., “A Stationarity Test for the Beta Binomial Model,” Journal of Business Research, 9, 221-230 (1981).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.C., “A Model of Careers in a Simple Hierarchy: Generalizing the Junior Professional’s Decision Rule,” The Bell Journal of Economics, 12, 310-320 (Spring 1981).

Sabavala, D.J. and Morrison, D.G., “A Nonstationary Model of Binary Choice Applied to Media Exposure,” Management Science, 27, 637-657 (June 1981).

Morrision, D.G., “Triangle Taste Tests: Are the Subjects Who Respond Correctly Lucky or Good?”, Journal of Marketing, 45, 111-119 (Summer 1981).

Morrison, D.G., “A Stochastic Model for Test-Retest Correlation,” Psychometrika, 46, 2, 143-151 (June 1981).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.C., “Predicting Future Random Events Based on Past Performance,” Management Science, 27, 9, 1006-1023 (September 1981).

Morrison, D.G., “Modeling Consumer Purchase Events: A Reply to Lawrence,” Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 465-469 (November 1981).

Morrison, D.G. and Toy, N.E., “The Effect of Grouping Continuous Variables on Correlation Coefficients,” Marketing Science, 1, 4, 379-389 (Fall 1982).

Morrison, D.G., Chen, R.D.H., Karpis, S.L. and Britney, K.E.A., “Modelling Retail Customer Behavior at Merrill Lynch,” Marketing Science, 1, 2, 123-141 (Spring 1982).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “Prediction of Future Random Events with the Condensed Negative Binomial Distribution,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 78, 382, 449-456 (June 1983).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “Modelling and Estimation Using Job Duration Data,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 32, 1-22 (August 1983).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “Measuring Miscomprehension for Televised Communications Using True-False Questions,” Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 147-156 (September 1983).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “Taste Tests: Psychophysical Issues in Comparative Test Design,” Psychology & Marketing, 1, 1, 69-91 (Spring 1984).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “Optimal Design of Parity Tests,” Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 24, 4, 453-466 (December 1984).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “Measuring Simple Preferences: An Approach to Blind, Forced Choice Product Testing,” Marketing Science, 4, 2, 93-109 (Spring 1985).

Schmittlein, D.C., Bemmaor, A.C. and Morrison, D.G., “Why Does the NBD Model Work? Robustness in Representing Product Purchases, Brand Purchases and Imperfectly Recorded Purchases,” Marketing Science, 4, 3, 255-266 (Summer 1985).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “Is the Customer Still Active?”, The American Statistician, 39, 4, 291-295 (November 1985).

Kahn, B.E., Kalwani, M.U. and Morrison, D.G., “Measuring Variety-Seeking and Reinforcement Behaviors Using Panel Data,” Journal of Marketing Research, 23, 89-100 (May 1986).

Kahn, B.E., Morrison, D.G. and Wright, G.P., “Aggregating Individual Purchases to the Household Level,” Marketing Science, 5, 3, 260-268 (Summer 1986).

Morrison, D.G. and Wheat, R.D., “Misapplications Reviews: Pulling the Goalie Revisited,” Interfaces, 16, 6, 28-34 (November-December 1986).

Schmittlein, D.C., Morrison, D.G. and Colombo, R.A., “Counting Your Customers: Who Are They and What Will They Do Next?”, Management Science, 33, 1, 1-24 (January 1987).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “Sampling Properties of Rate Questions with Implications for Survey Research,” Marketing Science, 6, 3, 286-298 (Summer 1987).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.C., “Generalizing the NBD Model for Customer Purchases: What Are the Implications and is it Worth the Effort?” (with Discussion and Rejoinder), Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 6, 2, 145-166 (April 1988).

Colombo, R.A. and Morrison D.G, “Blacklisting Social Science Departments with Poor Ph.D. Submission Rates,” Management Science, 34, 6, 696-706 (June 1988).

Buchanan, B.S. and Morrison, D.G., “A Stochastic Model of List Falloff with Implications for Repeat Mailings,” Journal of Direct Marketing, 2, 3, 7-15 (Summer 1988).

Kahn, B.E., Kalwani, M.U. and Morrison, D.G., “Niching vs. Change-of-Pace Brands: Using Purchase Frequencies and Penetration Rates to Infer Brand Positionings,” Journal of Marketing Research, 25, 384-390 (November 1988).

Colombo, R.A. and Morrison, D.G., “A Brand Switching Model with Implications for Marketing Strategies,” Marketing Science, 8, 1, 89-99 (Winter 1989).

Morrison, D.G. and Colombo, R.A., “An Explanation of Allenby and Blattberg’s Extra-Binomial Response Variance: Did the Postal Service Do It?”, Journal of Direct Marketing, 3, 1, 30-33 (Winter 1989).

Kahn, B.E. and Morrison, D.G., “A Note on ‘Random’ Purchasing: Additional Insights from Dunn, Reader and Wrigley,” Applied Statistics, 38, 1, 111-114 (1989).

Wheat, R.D. and Morrison, D.G., “Estimating Purchase Regularity with Two Interpurchase Times,” Journal of Marketing Research, 27, 2, 87-93 (February 1990).

Wheat, R.D. and Morrison, D.G., “Assessing Purchase Timing Models: Whether or Not is Preferable to When,” Marketing Science, 9, 2, 162-170 (Spring 1990).

Schmittlein, D.C., Kim, J. and Morrison, D.G., “Combining Forecasts:Operational Adjustments to Theoretically Optimal Rules,” Management Science 36, 9, 1044-1056 (September 1990).

Dekimpe, M.G. and Morrison, D.G., “A Modeling Framework for Analyzing Retail Store Durations,” Journal of Retailing, 67, 1, 68-92 (Spring 1991).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.C., “How Many Forecasters Do You Really Have? Mahalanobis Provides the Intuition for the Surprising Clemen and Winkler Result,” Operations Research, 39, 3, 519-523 (May-June 1991).

Gupta, S. and Morrison, D.G., “Estimating Heterogeneity in Consumers’ Purchasing Rates,” Marketing Science, 10, 3, 264-269 (Summer 1991).

Schmittlein, D.C., Cooper, L.G. and Morrison, D.G., “Truth in Concentration in the Land of (80/20) Laws,” Marketing Science, 12, 2, 167-183 (Spring 1993).

Morrison, D.G. and Kalwani, M.U., “The Best NFL Field Goal Kickers: Are They Lucky or Good?”, Chance, 6, 3, 30-38 (August 1993).

Kalwani, M.U., Meyer, R.J. and Morrison, D.G., “Benchmarks for Discrete Choice Models,” Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 1, 65-75 (February 1994).

Raju, J.S., Dhar, S.K. and Morrison, D.G., “The Effect of Package Coupons on Brand Choice,” Marketing Science, 13, 2, 145-164 (Spring 1994).

Wheat, R.D. and Morrison, D.G., “Regularity, Recency and Rates,” European Journal of Operational Research, 76, 2, 283-289 (July 1994).

Vanhuele, M., Dekimpe, M.G., Sharma, S. and Morrison, D.G., “Probability Models for Duration: The Data Don’t Tell the Whole Story,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 62, 1, 1-13 (April 1995).

Kim, D., Morrison, D.G. and Tang, C.S., “A Tactical Model for Airing New Seasonal Products,” European Journal of Operational Research, 84, 250-264 (1995).

Siddarth, S., Bucklin, R.E. and Morrison, D.G., “Making the Cut: Modeling and Analyzing Choice Set Restriction in Scanner Panel Data,” Journal of Marketing Research, 32, 3, 255-266 (August 1995).

Morrison, D.G. and Silva-Risso, J., “A Latent Look at Empirical Generalizations,” Marketing Science, 14, 3 (Part 2 of 2), G61-G70 (Summer 1995).

Dhar, S.K., Morrison, D.G. and Raju, J.S., “The Effect of Package Coupons on Brand Choice: An Epilogue on Profits,” Marketing Science, 15, 2, 192-203 (Spring 1996).

Morrison, D.G. and Schmittlein, D.S., “It takes a Hot Goalie to Raise the Stanley Cup: The Role of Team Ability, Home Ice and the ‘Hot Hand’ in Stanley Cup Finals,” Chance, 11, 1, 3-7 (Winter 1998).

Silva-Risso, J.M., Bucklin, R.E. and Morrison, D.G., “A Decision Support System for Planning Manufactures’ Sales Promotion Calendars,” Marketing Science, 18, 3, 274-300 (Summer 1999).

Drolet, A.L. and Morrison, D.G., “Do We Really Need Multiple-Item Measures in Service Research?”, Journal of Service Research, 3, 3, 196-204 (February 2001).

Schmittlein, D.C. and Morrison, D.G., “A Live Baby or Your Money Back: The Marketing of in vitro Fetilization Procedures,” Management Science, 49, 12 (December 2003).

 

Recognition

Morrison was inducted in 2003 (along with two UCLA Anderson colleagues, Arthur Geoffrion and William Pierskalla) as an inaugural fellow of INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Also in 2003, Morrison received the J. Clayburn La Force Faculty Leadership Award for UCLA Anderson School of Management.

For his dedication as a teacher, Morrison was presented with the 2002 American Marketing Association/Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator of the Year Award — the highest honor a marketing educator can receive. The primary criterion for this award is that its recipient be universally acknowledged as a long-standing leader in marketing education.

The American Marketing Association also honored Morrison in 2001, when he received the group’s Gilbert A. Churchill Award for Lifetime Achievement in Marketing Research. Presented annually by the AMA Marketing Research Special Interest Group, the Churchill Award honors the academic researcher who has contributed in an exceptionally significant way to the field of marketing research. To celebrate that honor, in January 2002 the Charles E. Young Research Library (YRL) spotlighted Donald Morrison and his academic achievements in an exhibit, which featured his biography and a selected bibliography of his scholarly work, along with books, journals and photographs.

 

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