Invited Commentary—Marketing Structural Models: “Keep It Real”

In their article, “Structural Modeling in Marketing: Review and Assessment,” Chintagunta, Erdem, Rossi, and Wedel (2006) provide a comprehensive survey of the contributions to the empirical marketing literature made by researchers using structural econometric modeling. More importantly, their review poses the question of whether structural methods should become more prominent in marketing research. Addressing that question requires a careful consideration of the potential gains of employing structure in this context, as well as the compromises necessary for implementation. Instead of specifically referencing many of the interesting papers cited by the authors, I will focus my comment on evaluating the value of structural approaches in marketing in more general terms.