Brian VIARD

Phone: +86-10-8518 8858 ext. 3632
E-mail: brianviard@ckgsb.edu.cn

Associate Professor of Strategy and Economics, Executive Academic Director for MBA Program

PhD, University of Chicago

Areas of Expertise: Industrial Organization, Environmental Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Economics of Competitive Strategy

Biography

Dr. Brian Viard moved to Beijing in 2007 to join the faculty of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Prior to that, he was a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Professor Viard’s research focuses on industrial organization economics, environmental economics, and economics of strategy. He has studied the pricing, product, and entry strategies of firms in information and technology industries as well as how competition influences technology adoption and pricing. He has also studied whether switching costs make markets more or less competitive and the effectiveness of reward programs in creating switching costs.

Professor Viard’s recent work focuses primarily on environmental economics including the economic effects of China’s efforts to reduce automobile pollution, the effect of air pollution on manufacturing productivity, and how spillovers between Chinese cities affects efforts to reduce air pollution. Professor Viard teaches courses on competitive strategy, managerial economics, and digital products markets and is the recipient of CKGSB’s inaugural M.B.A. Best Teaching Award. He received his Ph.D. in Business Economics from the University of Chicago.

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Publications

1. “A Mayor’s Perspective on Tackling Air Pollution,” (with Shihe Fu) – invited chapter in C.K.Y. Leung (Ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics (413 – 437). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
2. “Trans-Boundary Air Pollution Spillovers: Physical Transport and Economic Costs by Distance” (with Shihe Fu and Peng Zhang), Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 155, 102808, March 2022.
3. “Air Quality and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China” (joint with Shihe Fu and Peng Zhang), The Economic Journal, Vol. 131, 3241 – 3273, November 2021.
4. “Commute Costs and Labor Supply: Evidence from a Satellite Campus” (with Shihe Fu), Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 19, No. 3, 723 – 752, May 2019.
5. “The Effect of Beijing’s Driving Restrictions on Pollution and Economic Activity” (lead author with Shihe Fu), Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 125, 98 – 115, May 2015.
   Online Appendix: Click here
6. “Bayesian Estimation of Nonlinear Equilibrium Models with Random Coefficients” (lead author with Anne Gron and Nicholas G. Polson), Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, Vol. 31, No. 4, 435 – 456, July/August 2015.
7. “The Effect of Content on Global Internet Adoption and the Global ‘Digital Divide‘” (lead author with Nicholas Economides)Management Science, 61, No. 3, 665 – 687, March 2015.
   Online Appendix: Click here
8. “The Effect of Market Structure on Cellular Technology Adoption and Pricing” (with Katja Seim) American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Vol. 3, No. 2, 221 – 251, May 2011.
9. “Quantifying the Benefits of Entry into Local Phone Service” (with Nicholas Economides and Katja Seim) The RAND Journal of Economics, Vol. 39, No. 3, 699 – 730, Autumn 2008.
10. “Do Frequency Reward Programs Create Switching Costs?” (with Wesley Hartmann) Quantitative Marketing and Economics, Vol. 6, No. 2, 109 – 137 (lead article), June 2008.
11. “Do Switching Costs Make Markets More or Less Competitive?: The Case of 800-Number Portability” The RAND Journal of Economics, Vol. 38, No. 1, 146 – 163, Spring 2007. 
    Working paper version with theoretical model: click here (Stanford GSB working paper #1773R1).
12. “Information Goods Upgrades: Theory and Evidence” The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, Vol. 7, Issue 1 (Contributions), Article 3, 2007.
13. “Recent Advances in Structural Econometric Modeling: Dynamics, Product Positioning and Entry” (with Jean-Pierre Dube, K. Sudhir, Andrew Chiang, Greg Crawford, Michaela Draganska, Jeremy Fox, Wesley Hartmann, Gunter Hitsch, Miguel Villas-Boas, and Naufel Vilcassim) invited in Marketing Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 3 – 4, December 2005, 209 – 224.
14. “Pricing of Complements and Network Effects” (with Nicholas Economides) in Regulation and the Economic Performance of Communication and Information Networks, edited by Gary Madden, Edward Elgar, 2011.

Working Papers

1. “The Dynamic Role of Subnational Regions in Firm Performance,” (with Haibing Shu) – submitted.
2. “Evaluating Air Pollution Regulation: Separating Firm Competitiveness and Ambient Effects,” (with Guanglai Zhang, Ning Zhang, and Peng Zhang).
3. “Financial Deregulation and ESG: Impacts and Mechanisms,” (with Gang Zhang).

1. “99Bill,” with Arar Han, CKGSB Case #2011-09-1-214-1e (A) and #2011-09-1-215-1e (B), 2011. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
2. “Baidu: Searching for Truth?” with Arthur Chengchun Qi, CKGSB Case #2010-09-1-177-2e (A), #2010-09-1-179-2e (B), and #2010-09-1-189-2e (C), 2010. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
3. “The Battle for China’s Carbonated Beverage Industry,” with Christopher Hildner, CKGSB Case #2012-02-1-232-2 (A) and #2012-02-1-233-2 (B), 2012. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
4. “Blizzard Feels the Heat in China: Choosing a Local Partner for World of Warcraft,” with Richard Bethune, CKGSB Case #2011-09-1-190-2e (A) and #2011-09-1-195-2e (B), 2011. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
5. “Gushan and the Biodiesel Market: Is the Engine Running out of Gas?” with Yunfei Feng, CKGSB Case #2010-09-1-173-1e (A) and #2010-09-1-174-1e (B), 2010.
6. “Third-Party Payment Systems in China,” with Arar Han, CKGSB Case #2010-09-1-163-1e, 2010. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
7. “The Instant Messaging Battle: New Enemies and Widening Conflict,” CKGSB Case #2010-09-1-162-1e, 2010. Available through CKGSB Case Center.
8. “Blizzard v. bnetd.org: Managing Intellectual Property,” with Pamela Yatsko, Stanford GSB Cases #SM-154 (A) and (B), 2007. Available through Harvard Business School Publishing.
9. “ezboard: Making Customers Pay,” with Pamela Yatsko, Stanford GSB Case #SM-142, 2005. Available through Harvard Business School Publishing.
10. “The Long Battle for an Instant Messaging Standard,” with Steven Fan, Stanford GSB Case #SM-138, 2005. Available through Harvard Business School Publishing.
11. “Netflix: Opening or Closing Credits in Online Movie Distribution?” with Jessica Phillips Patrick, Stanford GSB Case #SM-131, 2004. Available through Stanford GSB.
12. “Tata Consultancy Services: Globalization of Software Services,” with Sanjeev Dheer and John Roberts, Stanford GSB case #S-SM-18, 1993. Available through Harvard Business School Publishing.
13. “EDS Information Technology Outsourcing,” with Sanjeev Dheer and Garth Saloner, 1992. Reprinted in Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, Robert A. Burgelman, Modesto A. Maidique and Steven C. Wheelwright, Irwin, 2nd edition, 1996.

• My Online Column Invisible Hand Revealed

• My paper “The Effect of Beijing’s Driving Restrictions on Pollution and Economic Activity” listed as example of business school papers with a social impact: “Academic focus limits business schools’ contribution to society,” Financial Times, February 24, 2020.