Dr. V. Kumar: “There are a lot of talents outside, they just need the right training.”
The unthinkable has happened. There will not be a single article from American authors in next May’s issue of Journal of Marketing (JM). Dr. V. Kumar emphasized how rare this is during his visit to the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.
This was Dr. V. Kumar’s, one of most prominent professors and researchers in the field of Marketing, first visit to Slovenia. He described Slovenia as a beautiful country. “I am very impressed to learn that leadership of this country, the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education, all have PhDs.”
He adds that he is highly motivated to contribute to a country with such a progressive way of thinking. Although we know there is not everything down to a fine art in Slovenia the discussion on Publishing in top journals with a focus on rigor and relevance attracted many professors from all around the Europe, from the British Isles to our closest neighbors.
Professor of Marketing and Communications at University of Belgrade Prof. Ognjanjov came to the event to meet with her peers and colleagues from the region and to use the opportunity to meet Prof. V. Kumar as well.
How to publish in top journals such as Journal of Marketing?
The main importance of marketing research is being relevant to businesses. But even so, relevance should come not at the price of rigor. The correctly chosen research topic should always be supported by a large empirical dataset with correct analytical methods used to interpret results. Prof. Kumar used the example of his first article published in JM requiring 10 years of data collection before it was approved. Finding the correct way of analyzing the data is often problematic, but the Professor adds: “Co-authorship is a form of outsourcing talents that you do not have. I co-authored with 128 colleagues to this day.”
And where should research topic come from? Some of them originate from literature. The so called ‘Research Gap’ can be noticed whenever you cannot the answer of why somebody has done something.
But most of the ideas come from the field. Prof. Kumar leads the Center for Excellence in Brand & Consumer Management (CEBCM). The Center is comprised of 12 doctoral students and 10 faculties. Faculties chose the business problems and each student decides to participate in three of them. The business problems originate directly from the economy as Prof. Kumar often meets with various CEOs and CMOs.
Marketing really matters
In Slovenia the field of marketing is still relatively neglected. But recent economic challenges have started to push developments in the right direction. The importance of finding the correct marketing strategy was illustrated with specific examples that the Professor presented to the group. One example was of aquariums, where they did not correctly target specific segments of their potential customers and therefore had a constant decline in the number of visitors and revenues. Another example was us airline companies and their wrong decision to cut personal and lower customer satisfaction. After correcting their mistakes most companies increased their sales and revenues by double digits.
Task of new generations – US still firmly on the throne
Advice to new marketing researchers by Prof. Kumar is to be oriented on three areas: “Being familiar with the type of data (Big data, 360˙ view of a customer); familiarity with developing technology that enables collection of data; and most important analysis of the data. The last one is where majority gives up.”
He deducts that this is the reason why the US will remain the powerhouse of marketing research. They add two years of statistical analysis courses to every PhD of marketing and this is what has to change in Europe and Asia. His visit should encourage all those responsible for the structure of curriculums to take his words to heart and help future Slovenian generations to be even more competitive in a volatile market.
Aleksander Koren, EFnews
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