UTD Professor’s Paper Among Most Influential In 50-Year History of Journal Management Science

Description of ‘Bass Model’ Makes Publication’s ‘Top 10’ List

RICHARDSON, Texas (May 3, 2004) – Members of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) have voted a landmark paper describing a method to predict consumer product sales, written by Professor Frank Bass of The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), one of the top 10 most influential papers published in the 50-year history of the prestigious scholarly journal Management Science.

The paper, “New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables,” was published in the journal in 1969. It describes what is known as the “Bass Model,” a mathematical model used to predict the sales and life cycles of various consumer products, including color television sets in the 1960’s, wireless telephones and disposable diapers in the 1980’s and, more recently, digital satellite radio. The model has earned Bass international recognition.

INFORMS is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management and operations. The society publishes a number of journals, including Management Science, a monthly publication that promotes the science of managing private and public sector enterprises through publication of theoretical, computational and empirical research that draws on a wide range of management subdisciplines.

“Thirty-five years after it was introduced, the Bass Model continues to win plaudits for its talented creator, Frank Bass,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the UTD School of Management. “This latest honor further solidifies his standing as one of the giants in the field of marketing science.”

In the same INFORMS poll of its members, a paper co-authored by one of Bass’ former Ph.D. students, Iyer V. Padmanabhan, was also included on Management Science’s “top 10” list. He received his Ph.D. degree in management science from UTD in 1990.

Bass, who is Eugene C. McDermott University of Texas System Professor of Management and director of the UTD School of Management’s doctoral programs, has won numerous awards for his research, including the Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award in 2003 and the Richard D. Irwin/American Marketing Association Distinguished Marketing Educator Award in 1990. Additionally, INFORMS has created an award in his name, the Frank M. Bass Dissertation Paper Award, and he won an INFORMS Fellows Award in 2002.

A native of Cuero, Texas, Bass received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois, an M.B.A. degree from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.B.A. degree from Southwestern University. In 1960, Bass joined the faculty of Purdue University and later become the Loeb Distinguished Professor of Management at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. He joined UTD in 1982 as a marketing professor.

In addition to being a member of the UTD faculty, Bass does consulting work for a number of leading companies in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area.