VCU Department of Marketing Position Paper 2007:

Guiding Principles and Themes

Preamble

This position paper outlines the aspirations of the VCU Department of Marketing.  It includes our principles and the broad guidelines for our efforts to attain them.  It is not intended to constrain individual exploration and growth by free-minded scholars.  By outlining common aspirations and shared pathways, we aim to foster both individual and combined creativity, and to mobilize efforts that support our common goals.  As we explore and grow, our aspirations will naturally grow.  To feed natural growth, we intend to view this position paper as an evolving document that guides our way and challenges us to rise to higher levels of scholarship.

Principles:

·        Strive for Excellence.  In everything we do, we strive for excellence.  We commit to encouraging, supporting, and rewarding excellence in scholarship and scholarly impact.  We recognize that individuals who strive for excellence can do extraordinary things.

·        Commitment to Scholarship.  We commit to the pursuit of meaningful contributions to scholarship that advance marketing knowledge creation and dissemination.  We view scholarship as including:

Scholarship of discovery, which contributes to the stock of marketing knowledge.

Scholarship of integration, which makes connections across disciplines and contexts and interprets findings to offer a comprehensive understanding of marketing problems.

Scholarship of teaching, in which marketing theory and practice come together to contribute the highest form of understanding.

·        Learning Driven.  Learning is the center of all our scholarship efforts.  We commit to actively engage in continuous adaptation and innovation.  We recognize that learning is required for growth and improvement.

·        Distinctive Signature.  We commit to a distinctive signature for our scholarship.  We commit to creating a unique positioning of our scholarship in the minds of our stakeholders.

Distinctive Themes

To guide our individual scholarly efforts and bolster the group’s impact, the VCU Department of Marketing has identified a set of themes that define our distinctive signature.  Themes are viewed from two perspectives - theme of ideas (cf. knowledge) and themes of contexts (cf. knowing).

·        The theme of ideas represents elements of abstract and generalized frameworks, models and theories, around which we commit to develop programs of research and generate scholarly contributions.  We identify Responsible Marketing as a guiding theme of ideas for the VCU Marketing group and define it as follows:

o       Responsible Marketing is the study of value adding market relationships and exchanges in their larger economic and social context.

·        The themes of contexts represent arenas within which we commit to test, apply, examine, and explore our frameworks, models and theories, for the purpose of solving specific problems that matter.  We identify health-care, globalization, and technology as guiding themes of contexts for the VCU marketing group.  The University and School have strengths and resources in these areas that can be exploited.  In addition, each of these contexts offers emergent and interesting problems that provide fertile ground for high-impact scholarly contributions.  Consider some illustrative questions:

o       How can marketing be applied to encourage health care organizations to effectively deliver high quality of care while employing productivity and cost control measures to ensure efficient operations?

o       How can we enhance the health literacy of consumers to motivate better decisions and greater engagement?

o       How can we foster development of open networks that asynchronously connect global partners for innovation and growth?

o       How can we develop globally interconnected customer response systems that are both effective and efficient? 

o       How can we configure technology to facilitate customer co-production in service development and delivery? 

o       How can technology facilitate knowledge creation and knowledge capture at customer contact points?

·        By connecting the themes (or “worlds”) of ideas and contexts in our scholarship, we aim to develop a generative cycle that emboldens our scholarship and deepens our link to practice (see figure below).

Notes on Position Paper:

• The theme of ideas represents the core of our scholarly mission.  It is an area around which we commit to making contributions that address the scholarship of discovery and integration.  It does not imply that everything and anything we do must relate to this theme.  Rather, the commitment is to make a long-term contribution to this theme, leaving each project to be guided by ideas that make most sense in getting it published at most prestigious outlet.

• The themes of context are a bridge between the diversity in faculty interests to study specific, contextualized marketing problems and areas where the University/School has unique strengths and resources that can be exploited.  It is expected that these themes will evolve with faculty interests, and will serve the core scholarly mission of the group.  Thus, unlike the theme of ideas, the themes of context are emergent and expected to be closely aligned with the group’s contributions to the scholarship of teaching.

• This positioning initiative was undertaken to organize, guide, and communicate the scholarly research interests of the VCU Department of Marketing.  It was inspired, and to a large extent driven, by a true marketing scholar, who we hope will one day lead this effort internally, as a member of the department.  Since we are uncertain [but remain hopeful] this will happen, we dedicate this document to the individual who provided this inspiration.  Identity will remain anonymous. 

• Several VCU Department of Marketing faculty members are engaged in a variety of research projects that fit the broad confines of Responsible Marketing.  These applications identify scholarly works and applications within identified contextual themes.  These faculty members, and their research agendas, are described below. 

Frank Franzak’s primary research interests are new product development [NPD] and global marketing.  To connect to the Department’s focus on responsible marketing, he is exploring NPD within the contextual areas of technology and globalization.  Recent presentations included “The Role of Emerging Technologies for Future Global Marketing Experiences and Interactions” at the 2007 AMA Winter Educators’ Conference and “Attracting and Retaining the Creative Class: Assessing the Foundation of Latin American Competitiveness in the Global Knowledge Economy” at the Strategic Management in Latin America Conference [with Van Wood].  He has also contributed to a grant proposal that proposes establishing an incubator for consulting with Mexican SMEs who have been harmed by NAFTA. 

Haeran Jae’s research centers on marketing communication with low-literacy consumers.  Marketing efforts toward this or any disadvantaged segment presents considerable challenges, and there is much to be learned that can apply to numerous aspects of responsible marketing.  Haeran’s current and ongoing projects are looking at (1) comparisons of reading processes and working memory between high and low-literacy consumers, (2) low-literacy consumers reliance on peripheral cues such as pictures when making decisions, and (3) the extension of findings in the low-literacy area to consumers in the United States who are linguistically isolated, examining the impact of this situation on marketplace participation. 

David Urban’s joint appointment with the Wilder School of Government & Public Policy, and his position as Director of the Survey and Evaluation Research Lab, housed in that School, have provided him the opportunity to be involved in numerous research projects across the University.  Many of his collaborative endeavors fit the broad ideology of Responsible Marketing, through projects designed to evaluate public policy outcomes across a range of industries.  Examples include: Developing Measures of Business Climate for local governments, Developing New Service Quality Standards for Telephone Service in Virginia, and Perceptions of Service Quality in Low-Income Mortgage Lending.  Each of these studies involved application of qualitative and quantitative methods to measure, and eventually to improve, public sector performance.  Public policy, consumer response to regulation, and evaluation methodology are among the topics David has contributed to. 

The primary research focus of Heiko Wijnholds’s entails a continuing investigation into on-line marketing, particularly of markets involving harmful products, such as gambling and cigarettes. Most of this work is being done in conjunction with Mike Little.  Viewed in a broad context, this research considers the impact of these growing markets on web operators, consumers, financial institutions, technology providers, legislators, and law enforcement agencies.  Fundamental societal issues are addressed, e.g., the desirability of regulating web marketing of gambling instead of banning it, the potential impact of recent legislation on the Internet marketing environment, the impact of on-line gambling on vulnerable consumer groups, and various effects on U.S. international trade policy. This research encompasses not only the domestic environment but also the role of global forces, such as foreign operators, relevant foreign laws and international treaties.

Van Wood, Professor of International Marketing and Philip Morris Chair in International Business, has as his primary research focus the correlates of international business success.  His current research project deals with the area of "cognitive structures" of experienced exporters.  This work demonstrates that experienced international business managers show evidence of a distinct cognitive structure that is both logical and hierarchical.  This work in not only relevant to our understanding how mental frameworks are formed and used when evaluating international market opportunities, but it lends insights into the critical elements of global business success and thus economic and social development.  It is directly tied to the notion of responsible marketing and the positive advancement of human endeavors in the international arena of commerce and trade.  In addition, Van is the driving force and principal contributor to a grant proposal that proposes establishing an incubator for consulting with Mexican SMEs who have been harmed by NAFTA. 

Updated 5/8/07