XU ZHANG

Assistant Professor of Marketing

London Business School


Research Interests: pricing and information provision on digital platforms


Email: xzhang@london.edu


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Xu Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at London Business School. She specializes in information design and pricing strategies for digital platform markets. With a global reach, she collaborates with companies across various industries, including healthcare, freelancing, e-commerce, online travel, and NFTs. Her work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science. She serves on the editorial board of Marketing Science.


Xu currently teaches Digital Marketing courses within the Executive MBA, MBA, and other master programs at London Business School. She has previously taught Empirical Marketing Models and Marketing core at London Business School, and Applied Microeconomics at the University of Michigan. Her teaching skills were recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA professors in 2023 and being a runner-up for LBS's Best Teacher Award in MiM 2021. Additionally, Xu has been interviewed by leading media outlets such as BBC and the Economist. 


Xu holds a PhD degree in Business Economics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Economics from UC Davis, a BS in Engineering from Tsinghua University, and dual BA in Economics from Peking University.  

PUBLICATIONS

  • The Value of Platform Endorsement, with Mimansa Bairathi and Anja Lambrecht. Forthcoming at Marketing Science.


  • TV Advertising and Online Sales: A Case Study of Intertemporal Substitution Effects for an Online Travel Platform, with Anja Lambrecht and Catherine Tucker. Journal of Marketing Research (2024). 


  • Meet Me Halfway: The Costs and Benefits of Bargaining, with Puneet Manchanda and Junhong Chu. Marketing Science (2021). 


  • Brighter Prospects? Assessing the Franchise Advantage Using Census Data, with Francine Lafontaine and Marek Zapletal. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (2019). (Lead Article)

Working Papers

  • Information Disclosure via Platform Endorsement in Online Healthcare, with Jiajia Zhan and Hongqiao Fu. Revise and resubmit at Journal of Marketing Research.


  • Online Healthcare Platform Evolution: The Interplay of Bargaining and Network Effects, with Junhong Chu and Puneet Manchanda. Revise and resubmit at Marketing Science.


  • The Impact of Voice versus Text Messaging on Patient-Perceived Outcomes in Online Medical Consultations, with Yi Zhang. 


  • Gender Disparity in Online Reputation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Platform, with Mimansa Bairathi and Anja Lambrecht. 


  • Seller Experience and Transaction Prices on a Blockchain-Enabled Marketplace, with Chaoran Liu and Anja Lambrecht.


  • Digital Platforms 2.0: Learnings, Opportunities, and Challenges, with Shrabastee Banerjee, Ishita Chakraborty, Hana Choi, Hannes Datta, Remi Daviet, Chiara Farronato, Minkyung Kim, Anja Lambrecht, Puneet Manchanda, Aniko Oery, Ananya Sen, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Prasad Vana, Kenneth C. Wilbur, and Bobby Zhou.

HONORS and awards

  • ISMS Early Career Scholar 2023
  • Poets & Quants’ Best 40-Under-40 Business School Professors 2023
  • Best Teacher Award Runner-up - London Business School MiM Programme 2021
  • 47th Haring Symposium Fellow, Indiana University 2017
  • Flamholtz Award for Academic Excellence, University of Michigan 2016
  • INFORMS Marketing Science Doctoral Consortium Fellow 2016
  • Neary Award for Academic Excellence, University of Michigan 2015
  • University of Michigan Rackham 3MT Competition Finalist, University of Michigan 2015
  • Katherine Terrell Award for Best Paper, University of Michigan 2013

education

  • Ph.D. in Business Economics, University of Michigan 2018
  • M.A. in Economics, University of California, Davis 2012
  • B.Eng. in Automation (Magna Cum Laude), Tsinghua University 2011
  • B.A. in Economics (double major), Peking University 2011

TEACHING

London Business School

  • Digital Marketing (newly developed elective for MBA and executive MBA) 2022 - present
  • Empirical Marketing Models (PhD) 2020 - present
  • Marketing I (core for MiM) 2018 - 2021
  • Marketing II (marketing analytics for MiM) 2018 - 2022

Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

  • Applied Microeconomics (core for BBA) 2015

media coverage

  • 2024 Marketer’s Priorities – All Signs Point to AI. Martechvibe. January 22, 2024.
  • Why Should Firms Experiment More When It Comes to Their Marketing Activity? The Why Podcast. October 25, 2023.
  • The Key Ingredients of Social Commerce Success. Raconteur. January 13, 2023.
  • John Lewis Christmas Ad Focuses on Kindness Theme. BBC News. November 13, 2020.
  • Is Your Firm Too Dependent on Facebook? The Economist Applied. October 19, 2020.
  • Independent Businesses Measure Up Against Franchises. Ross Thought in Action. July 17, 2018.