The 6th “Marketing Knowledge Innovation”Forum Coming to a Successful Conclusion

The 6th "Marketing Knowledge Innovation" Forum was held in SYSBS from March 31 to April 1, 2018. — The 6th "Marketing Knowledge Innovation" Forum was co-hosted by Chinese Marketing Innovation research team of SYSBS and Chen Ruiqiu Asia-Pacific Case Development and Research Center.

Guests invited to attend the forum are from University of Washington, National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University and other famous universities, as well as People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC), Midea Group, China Mobile, Tongcheng Air Ticket, Jianke. com and other domestic well-known enterprises. Professor Wang Haizhong of SYSBS, the sponsor of forum, acted as chairman of the meeting, and professor Li Guangzhong, deputy dean of SYSBS, delivered an opening speech.

Deputy Dean of SYSBS Professor Li Guangzhong Delivered an Opening Speech

Professor Li Guangzhong expressed thanks to the guests and alumni for their supports and assistances in development of marketing discipline of SYSBS on behalf of SYSBS. The marketing discipline of Sun Yat-sen University started to cultivate doctoral students since 1996. It is one of a few domestic universities cultivating doctoral students at the earliest. The discipline attaches importance to empirical study, adheres to research paradigm being geared to international standards and actively carries out theoretical innovation with its research results gradually entering into the international view, and many papers published in internationally famous journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, and Journal of Consumer Psychology as the first author.

So far, the marketing discipline of Sun Yat-sen University has formed stable research directions including “consumer behavior research”, “research on marketing strategy of corporation”, “Cross-cultural and international marketing research” and “service marketing”. Many PhD graduates it has guided currently teach at Nankai University, Lanzhou University, South China University of Technology, Ji’nan University, China University of Mining and Technology, Hainan University, Guangxi University and other national “double first-rate” colleges. It enjoys good reputation for PHD cultivation.

Participants of the 6th “Marketing Knowledge Innovation” Forum Taking a Group Photo

The gist of the “Chinese Marketing Innovation” Forum was “brand and marketing of emerging markets” and was positioned on small size, depth and actual effect with the aim of improving the academic strengths of participants and promoting high-level manuscripts for international journals. The speeches of the forum were divided into two types: academic guest presentation and marketing manager roundtable discussion.

In terms of academic guest presentation, a famous international scholar in marketing made a macro and large-span review and forward-looking on specific themes. Keynote speakers included the professor of Foster School of Business of University of Washington in marketing, world-renowned scholars, professor Robert W. Palmatier, chief editor of the internationally famous journals JAMS; professor of Business School of National University of Singapore in marketing, professor Leonard Lee, associate editor of Journal of Consumer Research; professor of Business School of Hong Kong University in marketing, professor Echo Wen Wan, an editorial board member of Journal of Consumer Research; doctor Liang Yitian, an assistant professor of Tsinghua University in marketing.

Professor Robert W. Palmatier from University of Washington made a speech of how to establish, strengthen and maintain the relationship between enterprises and customers to teachers and students present in terms of the topic “Role of Brands and Relationships in Emerging Markets:Using Loyalty Programs for Business Success” on the morning of March 31.   Study on relationship between brand role and customer brand in emerging markets by virtue of loyalty programs discovered some features different from the market in developed countries, and a systematic study was carried out to verify the mechanism and boundary condition therein, which was of important guiding significance for brand research and practice of emerging markets.

Professor Leonard Lee of National University of Singapore brought a keynote speech about “Conducting Field Experiments - Opportunities and Challenges” for everyone, discussing the target, procedure, factors to consider and common defects and other contents in designing and carrying out field experiments by means of the research cases in marketing and psychology.

Professor Echo Wen Wan from Hong Kong University, according to the consumption characteristics of the current young generation of China, made a keynote speech about “Thinking of The ‘New’ Brand Relationship Building for Chinese Young People” in the afternoon of March 31, carrying out deep analysis and discussion on how to affect establishment of brand relationship from brand anthropomorphism and brand ritual.

Assistant professor Liang Yitian from Tsinghua University discussed the application scope of structural model and natural experiment by virtue of his own research paper and matters that needed attention in practice against the theme of “structural model and natural experiment in empirical marketing”. Study of participants on the structural model was deepened by analysis on practical application based on narration of model construction.

Professor Robert W. Palmatier from University of Washington made a speech about “Designing and Implementing an Effective Research Program”, describing some common causes for rejection and contribution problems and offering insight into how to avoid these problems (or how to solve these problems when they took place), so as to provide some guidelines for improving the success rate of publication.

Besides, the professor also introduced us the research program process of designing and implementing the marketing strategy. Professor Leonard Lee of National University of Singapore, according to a latest real-life example, introduced how to design and conduct the process and results of field experiment under specific research problems with “Designing a Field Experiment - An Example” as his subject of speech, the contents of which integrated closely with the actual research condition and were vivid.

Academic Guests Made Speeches

For marketing manager roundtable discussion, well-known enterprise marketing managers made speeches and discussion on the problems faced by marketing strategies of enterprises, putting forward relevant problems that were in urgent need of researches of the theoretical cycle. The conference participants discussed together to provide theoretical guidance for brand marketing strategy of the business circles. Keynote speakers included Ms. Wang Hong, general manager of People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) for office marketing communication, Ms. Wang Juan, director of Midea Group for MeiCloud smart marketing cloud products, Ms. Zheng Shaojun, deputy general manager of Marketing Department of China Mobile (Jangmen of Guangzhou), Mr. Bi Ran, chief business officer of Tongcheng Air Ticket, Mr. Xie Fangmin, CEO of jianke. com and other well-known senior managers.

Guests of Marketing Manager Roundtable Discussion of the 6th “Marketing Knowledge Innovation” Forum Taking a Group Photo

Ms. Wang Hong of People’s Insurance Company of China introduced the contents of the Customer Service Department establishing online customer service system of Guangdong Province in details for the subject of speech “establishing online customer service system and realizing precise marketing reachability for customers” in the morning of April 1, including how to manage customer relationship, accumulate points budget management, user portrait, precise marketing, mobile Internet and O2O integration.

Ms. Wang Juan of Midea Group made a keynote speech on “data driving, marketing upgrading”, offering suggestions on user operation of enterprises focusing on the user operation system of user identification, insight into users, active users and user conversion.

Ms. Zheng Shaojun of China Mobile made a keynote speed on “discussion on brand marketing of operators and user loyalty in new times”, discussing how to effectively deal with price competition, make customers still willing to pay certain brand premium by means of brand creation or maintain real meaning brand loyalty of customers.

Mr. Bi Ran of Tongcheng Air Ticket made a keynote speech on “how OTA could help the airline companies to stimulate repurchase of frequent flyer members”, discussing that, faced with the contradiction of product homogenization and experience demand diversification of airline companies, how OTA, as the main consumption channel of traveling products, could help the airline companies to stimulate repurchase of frequent passenger members to reach a new marketing mode of win-win cooperation.

Mr. Xie Fangmin of jianke.com made a speech on “how to win customers: flow bonus marketing of medicine e-commerce” with contents involving future development of medicine e-commerce, discussing the impacts of customer loyalty program on enterprise performance and providing guidance for enterprises designing and implementing effective customer loyalty programs.

Marketing Manager Roundtable Discussion

Successful holding of the “Marketing Knowledge Innovation” Forum constructed an important platform for teachers and students of Sun Yat-Sen University in marketing discipline to learn from famous scholars and entrepreneurs at short range and improve their research result levels. “Marketing Knowledge Innovation” Forum has been successfully held for 6 times since 2013.