School of Management co-sponsors marketing conference in India

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Marketing experts from around the world will gather Jan. 9-11 at the Indian Institute of Management/Lucknow (IIML) in Noida, India, for the 2014 Annual Conference of the Emerging Markets Conference Board, co-sponsored by the University at Buffalo (UB) School of Management.

Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research in the UB School of Management, is a co-organizer of the conference.

Guided by the theme, “Listening to Consumers of Emerging Markets,” the conference will focus on how to determine the most effective ways to reach and engage consumers in emerging markets (EMs).

“Predictions abound regarding the increasing contribution of populations in emerging markets to global consumption,” says Jain. “Over the next few decades, household spending from emerging markets could constitute two-thirds of total global household spending, up from the current one-third.”

Jain says emerging market economies present significant socio-economic, demographic, cultural and regulative departures from the marketing theories and practices used in developed economies.

“To succeed, we need to know what EM customers like, what makes them spend more, how they think, feel and act in the marketplace and when they are happy or unhappy. The challenge is to determine the most effective ways to reach and engage them. This requires a truly customer-centric view that can only be achieved with a well-informed and intelligent understanding of the customer.”

The four-day conference will feature five workshops, six plenary sessions and 15 tracks. A special feature of the conference is a focus on the use of qualitative research to understand customers. These will include presentations on metaphor analysis and use cultural trends, lifestyle factors, attitudes and social contexts in ethnographics for listening to customers. The president or prime minster of India will inaugurate the conference.

“This conference aims to provide a platform for a distinguished group of speakers and participants who will discuss debate and share their insights in furthering understanding on marketing theory and practice to listen and understand consumer voice in the context of emerging markets,” says Jain. “It will feature leading academic researchers from business schools as well as experts from the world of marketing practice.”

A selection of the best conference papers will be published in regular or special issues of refereed journals, including International Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journal of Business to Business Marketing, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Journal of Food products Marketing, Journal of International Food Agribusiness, Journal of Indian Business Research, and Metamorphosis.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes and U.S. News and World Report for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system that is its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.