Marketing Academia meets practice at University of Strathclyde Business School

This is why the University of Strathclyde Business School will be hosting a third annual Middle East Marketing Academia Meets Practice Roundtable at their Dubai campus from 9:30am-3:30pm on Saturday, May 18th.

The roundtable brings together marketing practitioners and academics to address the common complaint that lack of communication between the two communities leads to less productive marketing practices and less targeted marketing research than could be achieved with improved collaboration.

Marketers' frustrations over mismatches between traditional marketing frameworks and the realities of 21st century society tend to be amplified in the Middle East, where the behaviors, preferences, and values of local consumers do not always align with those of the Western markets studied in the vast majority of academic research.

Fortunately, the field of marketing research is alive and well in the Middle East, and a host of optimistic UAE academics are actively seeking to help resolve the disconnect between marketing academia and practice.

One prominent proponent of reviving the discourse between local marketers and academics is Dr. Catherine Demangeot, a Dubai-based Senior Lecturer of Marketing and Strategy at the University of Strathclyde Business School. She serves as the Chair of Strathclyde UAE's roundtables and is preparing to facilitate next Saturday's marketing roundtable.

"This participative event is open to the wider academic and professional communities," says Dr. Demangeot. "The roundtable generates and renews important dialogues between marketers and researchers, and thus helps to build collective wisdom about timely regional issues that can benefit marketing professionals and academics alike."

Four parallel discussion tracks at this year's roundtable will explore the following primary topics:
• Branding in the Middle East
• Islamic marketing and its relationship to other forms of marketing
• Listening to social media
• Cultures of the Middle East: Retailing, service, satisfaction and loyalty implications

According to Dr. Ron Bradfield, Director of Strathclyde Business School UAE and Associate Dean of the Global MBA, this event "creates an opportunity for the local business and academic communities to network and strengthen mutual understandings of the complex regional marketing considerations of today and tomorrow." Dr. Bradfield will be delivering an academic keynote at the event about scenarios on the future of social media.

Having grown in popularity over the past two years, the roundtable promises to have a strong turnout for 2013. In addition to participants from the University of Strathclyde Business School's Abu Dhabi and Dubai campuses, attendance has been confirmed from academic lecturers and professors hailing from at least fifteen highly regarded UAE institutions of higher education as well as representatives from several major regional corporations and marketing/ad agencies.
Registration for the May 18th event is free, and attendance will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis.