Christophe Van den Bulte Faculty Profile

Christophe Van den Bulte
Associate Professor of Marketing

PhD, Pennsylvania State University, 1998; MA, University of Antwerp, Belgium, 1991; BA, University of Antwerp, Belgium, 1988

Research Areas
New product diffusion; social networks; industrial marketing

Recent Consulting
Boehringer Ingelheim; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Ernst & Young; RAND Corporation

Current Projects
The impact of sales calls, social network position, and social contagion on physicians’ prescription volume of new drug. Social contagion and marketing effects across unobserved stages of the new product adoption process. The drivers of diffusion speed at early versus late points in the new product diffusion process. Testing Everett Rogers’ theory of how the speed of diffusion varies across products. Variations in the speed at which best practices get shared within organizations. The integration of distinct social networks among employees after a corporate acquisition. Patterns of product-market entry and product line extension in the U.S. mutual fund industry.

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1997-present 

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Marketing, 2008; Elected Member, Belgian American Educational Foundation, 2005; ERIM Award for Top Academic Article, 2005; Excellence in Teaching Award (Undergraduate Division), 2002

Professional Leadership 2005-2009
Associate Editor: Journal of Marketing Research, 2008-present; Editorial Boards: International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2006-present; Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 1997-present; Journal of Marketing, 2007-present; Journal of Marketing Research, 2004-2008; Marketing Science, 2001-present

Representative Publications
(with S. Wuyts)
Social Networks and Marketing. Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute (2007).

(with Y. Joshi)
"New Product Diffusion with Influentials and Imitators." Marketing Science (2007).

(with S. Stremersch)
"Social Contagion and Income Heterogeneity in New Product Diffusion: A Meta-analytic Test." Marketing Science 23 (2004).

(with G.L. Lilien)
"Medical Innovation Revisited: Social Contagion versus Marketing Effort." American Journal of Sociology 106 (2001).