Vahid Karimi Motahhar, Ph.D. in Marketing

Welcome

Vahid Karimi Motahhar

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Sabancı University

I study how people make decisions and forecasts. My research spans prediction markets, decision biases, and quantitative modeling, with publications in the International Journal of Forecasting. I also build VASAAPPS — an online platform for conjoint analysis and survey research that doubles as a standalone teaching tool.

Vahid Karimi Motahhar

At a Glance

🎓
Degree
Ph.D. in Business Administration — Marketing
University of Iowa, 2022
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Position
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Sabancı University, Istanbul
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Email
📞
📍
Address
Sabancı University, Sabancı Business School
Office 1015, Istanbul, Türkiye

Research Interests

📊 Quantitative Modeling
📈 Prediction Markets
🧠 Decision Biases
💬 Natural Language Processing
🗄 Big Data

Selected Research

Published 2025

Emotions and the Status Quo: The Anti-Incumbency Bias in Political Prediction Markets

Motahhar, V. K., Gruca, T. S., & Tavakoli, M. H.

International Journal of Forecasting, 41(2), 571–579. DOI →

Published 2025

How Does Training Improve Individual Forecasts? Modeling Differences in Compensatory and Non-Compensatory Biases

Motahhar, V. K. & Gruca, T. S.

International Journal of Forecasting, 41(2), 487–498. DOI →

Working Paper

Modeling Calibration Biases: Assessing the Calibration of Movie Award Prediction Markets

Karimi Motahhar, V. & Gruca, T. S.

Draft available

Work in Progress

Movie Successes Perception and Investment: How Prediction Market Participants Justify Their Investment

Preliminary results

 

Courses at Sabancı University

I teach courses in marketing analytics, marketing research, and digital marketing at both undergraduate and graduate levels. My courses incorporate case studies, hands-on analytics projects, and the latest developments in AI and vibe coding.

BAN 801

Marketing Analytics

Master’s in Professional Business Analytics — 2025–26 Spring

MKTG 414

Marketing Analytics

Undergraduate — 2025–26 Spring

MKTG 560 / MKTG 860

Applications in Digital Marketing

MBA & PMBA Programs — 2025–26 Spring

MKTG 414 / 514

Marketing Analytics

MBA & Senior Undergraduate

MKTG 401

Marketing Research

Undergraduate

MKTG 301C

Introduction to Marketing

Undergraduate

MiM 811

Marketing Analytics for Masters

Masters (MiM)

MiM 810

Data Insights for Marketing

Masters (MiM)

DT 524

Digital Marketing Analytics

Masters (FENS)

VASAAPPS

VASAAPPS (Vahid Survey Analytics Applications) is an online platform for conjoint analysis and survey research, hosted right here on this website. Create a free account to get started with the basic features. The Academia tier — also free — unlocks all features and includes a ready-made conjoint survey with an auto-generated report that walks you through interpretation step by step, no prior experience with survey design required. It is designed for classroom use and can be applied directly in coursework.

Conjoint Analysis (CBC, ACBC, MaxDiff)
Market Simulation & Willingness-to-Pay
Free tier to explore — Academia tier for full access
Built-in teaching survey: learn to design & interpret results
No installation needed — sign up and start online

Sign Up Free →
VASAAPPS Conjoint Analysis Learn · Build · Analyze

What You Can Do with VASAAPPS

One conjoint survey. Twelve report tabs. Each one answers a different business or research question — from “what matters most?” to “how should I price this?” Browse the tabs to see the kind of insight each section delivers.

📄 The Survey Report

Every tab comes with built-in interpretation guides and plain-language examples, so you can understand the results without prior training.

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Executive Summary

“Give me the big picture in 10 seconds.”

Before diving into details, you need to know: did the survey work? How many people responded? What are the headline findings? This tab gives you a dashboard of summary cards — model quality, sample size, and the top-line takeaways — so you can decide where to dig deeper.

Is my data reliable? How many completed? What jumps out first?
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Attribute Importance

“What do customers care about most?”

When customers choose between products, some features matter more than others. This tab ranks every attribute by how much it drives the decision. If Price accounts for 40% and Brand only 10%, you know where to focus your strategy. Color-coded so you can instantly tell what is critical, competitive, or just nice-to-have.

Where should I invest? What can I deprioritize? What do competitors need to worry about?
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Part-Worth Utilities

“Which specific option do customers prefer — and by how much?”

Importance tells you which attribute matters. Utilities tell you which level wins. Do customers prefer the 128 GB or 256 GB? Matte or glossy? Free shipping or same-day? Each option gets a preference score, so you see exactly what people want — and how strongly. The report explains how to read these numbers even if you’ve never seen a utility chart before.

Which option wins? How strong is the preference? Are any options deal-breakers?
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Interaction Effects

“Does the answer change depending on the combination?”

Sometimes preferences are not independent. Customers might love a premium brand at mid-range prices but reject it at budget prices — the combination matters. This tab tests whether any two attributes interact, helping you spot bundles that punch above their weight and combinations to avoid. Available on Academia and Professional tiers.

Do certain combos create extra value? Which pairings should I avoid? Is the whole greater than the parts?
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Trade-off Analysis

“What are customers willing to give up to get something else?”

Every product is a set of compromises. This tab tells you the exchange rate between features: how much brand quality are customers willing to sacrifice for a lower price? How much speed for better durability? These trade-off ratios turn abstract preferences into concrete product design guidance.

What is the “exchange rate” between features? Where should I compromise? What trade-offs do customers accept?
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Swap & Mental Accounting

“Is this upgrade worth the price increase?”

Pick any two changes — say, upgrading from standard to premium material versus switching from Brand A to Brand B — and compare them side by side. The tool translates both into dollar equivalents, so you can say: “this material upgrade is worth the same as a $12 price drop to customers.” Invaluable for pricing decisions and feature prioritization.

How much is this feature upgrade worth in $? Which change delivers more value? Can I justify this price increase?
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Demographics

“Who responded, and is my sample balanced?”

Before trusting the results, you need to know who you’re hearing from. This tab shows the demographic breakdown of your respondents — age, gender, income, or any custom fields you added — so you can verify your sample is representative before drawing conclusions.

Is my sample representative? Which groups are over/underrepresented? Can I trust these findings?
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Market Simulation

“If I launch this product, what market share will it capture?”

Define your product and your competitors’ products, then predict who wins. Four scenarios: how products compete head-to-head, how to allocate inventory, what happens if you change a feature, and which portfolio captures the most demand. Plus a disruption simulator — drop a new entrant into the market and see exactly which products lose share, with before-and-after charts.

Will my product beat the competition? What happens if a competitor launches? How should I allocate inventory?
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Product Optimization

“What is the single best product I could build?”

Out of all possible combinations of attribute levels, which one would customers prefer the most? This tab finds it automatically and shows you the ideal configuration along with strategic pricing guidance — so you know not just what to build, but how to position and price it.

What is the ideal product? How should I price it? What is the strongest positioning?
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Willingness-to-Pay

“How much more would customers pay for this feature?”

Translates preferences into money. If you upgrade from plastic to aluminum casing, how much extra are people willing to pay? What is your brand name worth in dollars compared to a generic? This tab puts a price tag on every feature level and maps price sensitivity across your design.

What is each feature worth in $? What is my brand equity? How price-sensitive are customers?
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WTP to Switch

“How much would it cost to steal a competitor’s customers?”

Compare two full product configurations — yours versus a competitor’s — and calculate the price difference needed to make a customer switch. Tells you the exact dollar amount standing between your product and theirs, which is the insight you need for competitive pricing, upgrade offers, and retention strategy.

How loyal are their customers? What discount would trigger switching? How defensible is my product?
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Model Diagnostics

“Can I trust the numbers behind all of this?”

The technical foundation. Model fit statistics, convergence info, and per-respondent raw data — for researchers and instructors who want to verify the statistical quality before citing the results. Export to CSV (Academia and Professional tiers) for further analysis in R, Python, or Excel.

Is the model statistically sound? Can I export raw data? Are there any estimation issues?

How do you get all of this?

From a single conjoint survey. Design it in minutes, share the link, collect responses, and the entire report generates automatically.

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Design Builder

Guided wizard: pick an industry, define attributes and levels, choose Rating-Based or ACBC methodology, add demographics, generate profiles.

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Live Survey

Share a link. Respondents rate profiles or go through an adaptive three-phase process (BYO → Screening → Tournament). Responses stream in live.

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Interactive User-friendly Report

View results per individual, across custom groups, or auto-segment by demographic field. See how different audiences value things differently.

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Classroom

Teachers create classes, enroll students with join codes, assign studies, track progress, and grade work — all built in.

Education & Experience

Education

2022
Ph.D. in Business Administration — Marketing
University of Iowa
2017
MBA, Master of Business Administration
University of Tehran
2014
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
 

Professional Experience

September 2022 – Present
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Sabancı University, Istanbul
2017 – 2022
Graduate Assistant
University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
2014 – 2017
Marketing Research Expert
Kerman Motor Company

Technical Skills & Languages

R Python Stata SPSS SAS LaTeX Matlab C++ NLP Machine Learning Sentiment Analysis
English (fluent) Farsi (native) Turkish (intermediate) Russian (intermediate) Arabic (basics)