Suraj Commuri

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“We help stusents manage their challenges, and they end up in productive careers.”

According to Assistant Professor Suraj Commuri, “In marketing what we do is create brand and brand equity. There’s a promise to be fulfilled.” But what happens to that promise when the item has been counterfeited? Monetary loss due to counterfeiting has been studied, but not how the loss of brand image affects the brand. This year Commuri’s research, “The Impact of Counterfeiting on Genuine Item Consumers’ Brand Relationships” will be published in the Journal of Marketing, considered by many to be the premier marketing journal.

Counterfeits will eventually hurt the brand, as the people who buy the original article do not want to be lumped in with the folks who buy a cheaper version. Commuri explained that they may feel slighted, thinking “I’m not like that person,” may “wax poetic” about their brand, or take credit for being the first to discover it. Different responses came from each of the three groups studied: the young, who are most likely to move to a new brand; the older group which has more time and money invested in the brand, therefore while unhappy about the situation might not start buying another brand; and the affluent who deliberately choose obscure brands that are not easy to detect and hide the name of the brands they use, thus avoiding counterfeiters.

Besides his work in branding, Commuri is involved in a multitude of research projects, fitting them between teaching classes in Buyer Behavior. He has researched how loss affects materialism, comparing married and divorced couples (who have experienced a significant loss - a spouse) over a three year period. Commuri found that the divorced couples started with a higher rate of materialism than the married couples, which remained constant over time. However, materialism of married couples began low but rose over the same time period. One explanation is that as couples stay together, they have more resources and thus more interactions with the marketplace, leading to greater materialistic over time.

A Faculty Research Award Program grant from the University was awarded to Commuri to study why and when consumers forgive companies that have committed infractions such as Mattel’s issues with lead in their toys or Sony’s exploding computer batteries. Associate Professor Sanjay Putrevu is also engaged with this project.

Dr. Commuri was born in Hyderabad, India and lives with his wife Lunu and six year old son Meheer in Niskayuna. They are happy to be living in Tech Valley.