Singapore Management University hosts 2007 INFORMS Marketing Science Conference

This marks the first time the prestigious global marketing conference is being held in Asia, with SMU being chosen to host its 29th meeting.

Singapore, 28 June 2007 – The Singapore Management University (SMU) is proud to be the first university in Asia to host the prestigious INFORMS Marketing Science Conference at its city campus from 28 to 30 June 2007. The 2007 INFORMS Marketing Science Conference is an important international forum which brings together leading marketing scholars, industry professionals, members of non-profit organizations and the government to present cutting-edge research and engage in intellectual exchange in the area of quantitative marketing. Over 600 participants from all over the world will be attending the conference held at the Bras Basah campus of SMU.

This is the first time that the INFORMS Marketing Science Conference is being held in Asia, with SMU being chosen as its venue for its 29th meeting. The two-and-a-half day conference will witness presentations of over 600 research papers during which leading scholars in marketing will present the results of their latest research projects. The four conference co-chairs comprise Professor Tan Chin Tiong, Provost & Deputy President of SMU, Consulting/Visiting Professor of Marketing and Management David B. Montgomery (Stanford University), Associate Professor of Marketing Jin K Han (SMU) and Visiting Associate Professor of Marketing Sundar G. Bharadwaj (Emory University). The annual conference is organised under the auspices of the INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Society for Marketing Science.

Among some of the more interesting sessions during the conference is a special forum on June 28 dedicated to the memory of the late Dr Frank M. Bass, the Eugene McDermott Chair at the University of Texas at Dallas who passed away on 1 December 2006. One of the founders of Marketing Science, Dr Bass' research was pivotal in helping establish marketing as a quantitative science. He was also known for his development of research scholars. Another special session with a strong Asian relevance titled “Contemporary Issues in Branding in the Asia Pacific Region: Challenges for Marketing Science” will explore in greater depth the importance of branding which is receiving increasing attention by businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

The conference also brought in many editors of famous top-tier marketing journals who will present their editorial policies and perspectives on two separate sessions on June 28 and 29. They include Dr Tulin Erdem of the Journal of Consumer Research, Dr Teck H. Ho of the Journal of Marketing Research, Dr A. Parasuraman of the Journal of Services Research, Dr Roland T. Rust of the Journal of Marketing, Dr Jagmohan S. Raju of Management Science, Dr Steven M. Shugan of Marketing Science, Dr Stefan Stremersch of the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Dr Joe Urbany & Dr Randolph E. Bucklin of Marketing Letters.

Said Professor Tan Chin Tiong, Provost & Deputy President of SMU: "We are priviledged to have the honour of hosting the 2007 INFORMS Marketing Science Conference. It is a key global platform which ranks among the top marketing educators conferences where leading scholars in marketing come together annually to network andexchange cutting edge knowledge. Leading scholars attending the conference include renowned professors from MIT, Stanford, Wharton and Duke. Participants come from 35 countries."

Said Visiting Professor of Marketing and Management David B. Montgomery from Stanford University who is also Dean Emeritus of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at SMU: “This is the leading global conference for quantitative marketing and it is a real feather in the cap for SMU to play host to more than 600 marketing scholars and researchers worldwide. This marks the first time the conference is being held in Asia, having been held outside the US in Europe five times and Australia once. In fact, this is the first time it is being hosted by a university less than eight years old – another strong indicator of the precociousness of SMU. Since the inaugural conference held in 1979 at Stanford of which I was the co-chairman, the INFORMS Marketing Science Conference has grown from 120 registrants to over 600 this year, setting a new attendance record of which we are all very proud.”

About INFORMS

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research (O.R.). It was established in 1995 with the merger of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA) and The Institute for Management Sciences (TIMS). The society serves the scientific and professional needs of O.R. educators, investigators, scientists, students, managers, and consultants, as well as the organizations they serve, by such services as publishing 12 scholarly journals that describe the latest O.R. methods and applications and a membership magazine with news from across the profession. The society organizes national and international conferences for academics and professionals, as well as members of the society's special interest groups. The Institute serves as a focal point for O.R. professionals, permitting them to communicate with each other and reach out to other professional societies, as well as the varied clientele of the profession's research and practice.