Lee Cooper

Since joining the marketing faculty in 1969, Lee Cooper conducted research in market-share analysis and the measurement of marketing effectiveness.  His achievements include the development of a system of competitive analysis and marketing planning based on data obtained from retailer scanners, methods for analyzing consumer perceptions and competitive mapping, and an actionable segmentation scheme for online advertising and ecommerce.  His most recent research activities involve developing approaches to strategic marketing planning for radically new products, datamining, digital convergence, and technology-enabled marketing.

Dr. Cooper was the principal investigator on Project Action: Planning for Radically New Products supported by grants from Intel Corporation (1996-99) and software donations from Microsoft Corporation.  Project Action was dedicated to addressing the issues of research on and planning for radically new products.  Its second phase, the Venture Development Project, focused on helping to bring the radical innovations from UCLA labs to market and using that effort as a learning laboratory for UCLA students interested in the process of new-venture creation.

Dr. Cooper served as area chair of the marketing faculty from 1988 to 1991.  He has also served on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Program in Social Statistics and the Museum of Cultural History and as director of the Management in the Arts Program.  He became Professor Emeritus in November 2004. He was recalled for 2005-2006 to teach strategic marketing planning for new ventures at UCLA Anderson and directed the Venture Development Project in the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

In 1999, he started Strategic Data Corporation, which developed e-commerce and display-ad optimization for a number of major web portals. In 2007, the company was acquired by Fox Interactive Media.  Since then he has been an adviser to a few Internet companies, one of which was recently acquired by Google.

In 2010, he was appointed to the Board of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and has been connecting Conservation International with students and faculty at UCLA that are interested in helping design sustainable businesses for threatened ecosystems. 

Education

• Ph.D. Psychology, 1970, University of Illinois
  
• A.M. Psychology, 1969, University of Illinois
  
• B.A. Psychology, 1966, UC Berkeley
  

Interests

High Technology Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Market Research, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability