Several marketing faculty in the College of Business Administration (CBA) are bringing international attention and engagement to LMU through their work on two international virtual conferences. Both conferences were originally scheduled to happen on the LMU campus but had to pivot to a virtual format due to COVID-19.
Professors Myla Bui, Mitch Hamilton and David Stewart co-chaired the 2020 American Marketing Association (AMA) Marketing and Public Policy Conference (MPPC) on May 28-29, which attracted more than 200 scholars and policymakers from around the world. MPPC is the premier international event for marketing academics, public policy makers and marketing practitioners interested in social and public policy. As a part of their roles as co-chairs, they also edited the conference proceedings.
The theme of the conference, “Marketing, Public Policy and Moral Courage in a Diverse, Rapidly Changing World,” was chosen to encourage research and dialog on the contributions of marketing for addressing social issues that involve diverse perspectives and interests in a dynamic, rapidly changing environment.
Dayle Smith, dean of LMU College of Business Administration, kicked off the conference with a welcome video where she talked about the importance of moral courage as both a key construct in the CBA mission as well as an opportune moment to, in the words of Douglas MacArthur, address the “age-old struggle—the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other.”
A few days later, Professor Madhu Viswanathan (supported by a team of CBA staff members) organized the Virtual Subsistence Marketplaces Conference on May 31 and June 1, sponsored by LMU Center for International Business Education (CIBE). The conference attracted over 250 registrants from across the globe. The first day featured eight sessions and 30+ presentations on a variety of topics. The second day featured a workshop and panel on teaching subsistence marketplaces online and future pathways, conducted with seven virtual interviews across three countries.
Subsistence marketplaces consist of consumer and entrepreneur communities living at a range of low-income levels, and are concentrated in developing countries and regions such as Brazil, India, China, Vietnam and Sub-Saharan Africa. The subsistence marketplaces stream of work pioneered by Madhu during his 29 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign is unique in examining the intersection of poverty and marketplaces with a bottom-up orientation. Click here to learn more.
“Our faculty are bringing global attention to CBA and LMU by hosting these conferences with deep dives into topics that speak uniquely to our mission and values as both a business school and institution,” said Smith.
