Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is also Professor of Consumer Behaviour at the University of Manchester, U.K. Prior to joining the St. Joe’s faculty in Fall 2006, he was the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University. He has advised numerous companies on consumer research and lifestyle marketing issues; these include Bayer, eBay, DuPont, Black & Decker, The Gap, Intel, Levi Strauss, PPG Industries, State Farm, Visa, VF Corp., Timberland, and Calvin Klein. Michael is in demand as a speaker to business groups; recent keynote addresses include NCR Corp., The SAS Institute, The Toy Industry Association, The U.S. Army, and The Vision Council of America. Within the last two years he has delivered keynotes in S. Korea, Brazil, Peru, Japan, Germany, Mexico, the U.K. and Poland.
Michael is at the forefront of marketing thought that emphasizes the strategic importance of understanding how products and services ranging from clothing to credit cards are actually experienced by the people who buy them. His current research program, centered on developing new online methods to study consumer behavior, is funded by The U.S. Department of Commerce. His book The Psychology of Fashion is regarded as the seminal work in the field. He is often quoted in national magazines and newspapers such as News¬week, The New York Times, Self, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," CNBC, Channel One, "Inside Edition," "Newsweek on the Air," The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the WOR Radio Network, and National Public Radio.
Michael has published research on such topics as consumer behavior, fashion psychology, branding, retailing, and marketing research in numerous academic journals, and he has been recognized as one of the ten most productive scholars in the field of advertising and marketing communications. He is the author of several leading textbooks, including Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being (now published in its eighth edition by Prentice Hall), which is the most widely-used book on the subject in the world. His trade book, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World was praised by marketing expert Philip Kotler as “The best book I have read for deciphering today’s new consumers.” His newest book, The Truth about What Customers Want, was recently published by FT Press.
