Should academic researchers market their papers to create a wider reach?

 This is an updated version of a post I wrote on Quora way back in January 2018.

My answer is always "Yes!"

When I say ‘market’, I would like to point out that I am referring to the academic definition and not the commonly held perception of marketing as "selling". 

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA, 2012):

"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large."

According to a study in 2007, half of the academic papers are only read by their authors, referees and journal editors. I guess Academics like me have ourselves to blame. We have tended to focus too much on theoretical contributions and also limit the discussions mostly to the academic community. However, changes in the way our Key Performance Indices (KPIs) are measured have resulted in the way we view research. Most educational institutions of higher learning which have a research focus, now require you to show the “impact” of the research. This impact includes evidence on how the results were circulated on mass media, the implementation by industry or target audiences, etc.

The problem is that many academic are not media savvy and do not really know how to market their research. Moreover, they tend to move on to the next project once they end the previous one. Happy that they have a conference proceeding or two and a journal paper from the research and they move on to the next one. Again this is due to pressure from institutions to churn out research papers regularly to meet KPIs, University rankings and quality certifications.

Coming back to the definition, we can market our research by looking at how we can create value from our research. We also need to be media savvy and should reach out to the general public. Many of us are now active on social media and sharing our research and knowledge with everyone who cares to listen and we are also finding out what people think about our research. Engaging and collaborating with organisations (including NGOs, Governments and Corporates) allows us to fine-tune our research to meet and satisfy specific needs and requirements.

Hopefully, this will increase the reach of our research.

Sales Vs Marketing

Note: This post is motivated by a recent chat I had with a marketing consultant in LinkedIn.

Chatting with marketing professionals, I realise that sales and marketing are often considered separate and distinct areas in the industry with marketing being understood as advertising.

From a theoretical perspective, Sales is considered as part and parcel of Marketing as is Public Relations. 

Here is a post (slightly updated) which I wrote in my old University of Warwick blog in 2009 titled "Selling is not Marketing".

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "MARKETING"?

A number of people apparently associate it with either a) selling and b) advertising. What I find surprising is that these include several individuals involved in business and in the corporate sector, including marketing managers.

Selling and advertising is part of marketing but it is NOT marketing.

The concept of marketing has undergone drastic changes over the past three decades, evolving from the production era, namely producing products fast and cheap (Remember "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” - Henry Ford). That's one problem with companies which rely too much on engineers or tech people without any input from marketers.

I have heard countless stories where the engineers create a "great" product and then push it to the sales and marketing department, to "sell" it to the customers.

If the product fails, it is apparently due to "bad marketing" (blaming the sales and marketing dept.). In a way it's true but not because of the marketing guys (some of whom don't know what marketing is all about). Rather it was doomed right from the start. The customer didn't need it nor do they want it and any amount of marketing (or selling) won't help.

We then moved through the sales and marketing era - the concept that many companies in the UK are still following now: "If you have a good product, then everyone would buy it. You only have to let the customers know". These companies overly rely on advertising in order to push the products to customers. 

It comes as no surprise that a number of companies in the UK and in Malaysia go under all the time. Many of these companies are still living in the sales era of marketing. So, you will see a number of companies spending thousands (if not millions) of Pounds/ Ringitt Malaysia, to get new customers and then ignore them once they sign up.

I am sure that all of you have at least one personal experience, where you were treated like a King or Queen BEFORE you bought the product and service. And then treated like dirt afterwards.

The old adage that if a customer is happy, he/she tells one person while an unsatisfied customer will tell 10 more people, still holds. The only difference is that people now rant on Twitter, Facebook and on their blogs. It's not just 10 more people anymore but rather thousands via online as well as offline word-of-mouth.

The change in marketing focus from the product to the customer occurred during the marketing era, which appeared around the 1960s in the US. Effectiveness and efficiency in meeting customer demands, needs and wants were identified as the key elements in determining companies' long-term success. Now it has moved beyond market segmentation of customers based on their demographics. Researchers also looked at the attitude or lifestyles of consumers- psychographics. Ever wonder what Tesco does with the information provided by millions of their customers using the loyalty cards?

We have since then moved into the relationship era, which emerged during the 1990s. It shifted the focus to the establishment and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships with existing customers and suppliers. Now, we are not talking about just making a sale. We want loyal customers who would come back for more and bring along others with them at the same time. We are now talking about long-term relationships.

I wonder how many companies are in this era?

Some companies are still hung up on their proud history, their so-called "heritage" and fail to innovate. More importantly, they forgot to take care of their customers.

A good example: Coventry was once the centre of the British car industry. Now, there's only Jaguar left and that too owned by Tata, an Indian company.

So what's my concept of marketing?

I like the latest definition given by the American Marketing Association (2014) which sums up the concept as I understand it: 

“the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large”

Updated ABS Marketing Journals List 2018

UPDATE: View the list of Marketing journals in the most recent CABS Academic Journal Guide 2021.

The much-awaited Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Academic Journal Guide 2018 is finally out.

I have to say that I am really disappointed. The list is practically the same. The major change seems to be the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, which has moved up from 4 to 4* and four journals which have entered the list under the 1 journals, namely, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Social Marketing and Young Consumers.

Here is the updated list of Marketing journals:

4*
Journal of Consumer Psychology
Journal of Consumer Research
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Marketing Research
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Marketing Science

4
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Journal of Retailing

3
European Journal of Marketing
Industrial Marketing Management
International Marketing Review
Journal of Advertising
Journal of Advertising Research
Journal of Interactive Marketing (formerly JDM)
Journal of International Marketing
Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
Marketing Letters
Marketing Theory
Psychology and Marketing
Quantitative Marketing and Economics

2
Academy of Marketing Science Review
Advances in Consumer Research
Consumption, Markets and Culture
Electronic Markets
International Journal of Advertising
International Journal of Consumer Studies
International Journal of Market Research
International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management
Journal of Brand Management
Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing
Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing
Journal of Consumer Affairs
Journal of Consumer Behavior
Journal of Macromarketing
Journal of Marketing Management
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice
Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Journal of Services Marketing
Journal of Strategic Marketing
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

1
Advances in International Marketing
Australasian Marketing Journal
Corporate Communications: An International Journal
Corporate Reputation Review
Health Marketing Quarterly
International Journal of Bank Marketing
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising
International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing
International Review of Public and Non-profit marketing
International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research
Journal of Communication Management
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Journal of Customer Behavior
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management
Journal of Financial Services Marketing
Journal of Global Marketing
Journal of marketing channels
Journal of Marketing Communications
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education
Journal of Non-Profit and Public Sector Marketing
Journal of Product and Brand Management
Journal of Relationship Marketing
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
Journal of Social Marketing
Marketing Intelligence and Planning
Review of Marketing Science
Services Marketing Quarterly
Social Marketing Quarterly
Young Consumers.


Academic Journal Guide 2018

Marketing Research Areas

Quite sometime back, a colleague once asked (jokingly, I should add), why does marketing have so many modules? All you need is one Marketing module.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to be annoyed. However, I later found out that despite it's importance, marketing is often looked down by academics in other fields. The problem is that they associate marketing with only one thing - selling/ promotion/ advertising.

In fact, we are probably the only discipline which links directly to the most important factor in business - the customer.

That's why I always joke (though it is the reality): you can have a great engineering team, a great HR team, the best accountants and finance people, the best managers. However, if you don't have a good marketing team, you are done for because no customers means no jobs, no accounting, and of course no managers.

Anyway, if you have always wondered what Marketing is all about, take a look at the various tracks at the UK's Academy of Marketing Conference 2018.

1. Arts and Heritage
2. B2B Marketing
3. Brand, Identity and Corporate Reputation
4. Consumer Psychology and Cross-Cultural Research
5. Consumer Behaviour
6. Consumer Culture Theory
7. Critical Marketing
8. Entrepreneurial and Small Business Marketing
9. E-Marketing and Digital Marketing
10. Ethics and Marketing
11. Fashion Marketing and Consumption
12. International Marketing
13. Marketing Case Studies
14. Marketing Communications
15. Marketing Education
16. Marketing of Higher Education
17. Marketing Research and Methodology
18. Marketing Segmentation and Target Marketing Strategy
19. Non-Profit and Social Marketing
20. Place Marketing and Branding
21. Political Marketing
22. Retail Marketing
23. Services and Customer Relationship Marketing
24. Sports and Events Marketing
25. Strategic Marketing
26. Sustainability
27. Tourism Marketing

Yes, that's a total of 27 different tracks. 

Marketing our research papers

I am an active member on Quora.com and I saw a very interesting question: "Do you think academic researchers should market their papers to create wider reach for the work?"

I wanted to share it with the audience on my blog as well. I have edited the answer a bit.

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA, 2012) marketing refers to: 

"the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large."

According to a study in 2007, half of academic papers are read only by their authors, referees and journal editors. I guess we academics have ourselves to blame as we tend to focus largely on the theoretical contributions and also limit the discussions mostly within the academic community.

However, changes in the way our Key Performance Indices (KPIs) are measured and funders disperse their money, have slowly resulted in changes in the way we view and carry out research as well. Most educational institutions of higher learning which have a research focus as well as funders, now require you to show the “impact” of the research. This impact includes evidence on how the results were circulated on mass media, implementation by industry or target audiences, etc.

The main issue is that many academics are not media savvy and do not really know how to market their research. Many researchers feel uneasy with promoting themselves. One Professor told me, "Your research should speak for itself". However, as indicated earlier, this may not be as straightforward if only 3 people read your research. Moreover, researchers tend to move on to the next project once they end the previous one - happy that they have a conference proceeding or two and a journal paper from the research and then move on to the next one. Again this is due to pressure from institutions to churn out research papers regularly to meet KPIs, University rankings and quality certifications.

Coming back to the definition of marketing in this context, we can market our research by looking at how we can create value from our research. We also need to be media savvy and should reach out to the general public. 

Thankfully, I can see that many of us are now active on social media and sharing our research and knowledge with everyone who cares to listen and we are also finding out what people think about our research. Engaging and collaborating with organisations (including NGOs, Governments and Corporates), allows us to fine tune our research to meet and satisfy specific needs and requirements.

Hopefully, this will increase the reach of our research.

Paper on Consumers’ Values for Buying Organic Personal Care Products published

Our paper titled Health and Cosmetics: Investigating Consumers’ Values for Buying Organic Personal Care Products has been published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.

This is one of the fastest I have ever had a paper published. It was submitted on 28 March 2017. Revised 24 June 2017. Accepted on 2 August 2017 and available online 10 August 2017.

Here is the abstract of the paper:

In investigating consumers’ intentions to re-purchase organic personal care products (PCP), this study extends the theory of planned behaviour by including perceived value dimensions as the antecedents of attitude in the model. The findings revealed that most of the hypothesised relationships linking the consumer perceived value constructs (namely, health, safety, hedonic and environmental) with attitude towards the rebuying of organic PCP, were supported. Also, better product knowledge about organic PCP would lead to more positive attitudes towards re-purchasing the product. In contrast, social value was not important in predicting attitude. Similarly, the influence of subjective norm on rebuying intention was not supported. In terms of ranking of importance with regards to prediction of re-purchasing intention, attitude was the most important predictor followed by perceived behavioural control, product knowledge, hedonic value, environmental value and safety value.

You can download the paper for free till September 29, 2017 using this link below:

Ghazali, E., Soon, P.C., Mutum, D. S. and Nguyen, B. (2017). Health and cosmetics: Investigating consumers’ values for buying organic personal care products, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, 154-163.

Book on Islamic Finance, Marketing, and Management is now out

I am delighted to announce that our latest edited book is finally out. The book 'Advances in Islamic Finance, Marketing, and Management: An Asian Perspective' is co-edited with Dr. Mohammad Mohsin Butt, Associate Professor of Marketing at Curtin University Malaysia and Dr. Mamunur Rashid Assistant, Professor of Finance at Nottingham University Business School.

With contributions from 35 experts, this book is targeted at both academics and practitioners who are interested and assist in making Shariah-centric strategies.

Here is the preface from the book:

The Islamic financial industries have been growing at a double-digit rate for over a decade now. Referring particularly to the post-financial crisis era, challenges of the management of Islamic financial, management and marketing have reached new heights. Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) from the South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle Eastern countries hold a major percentage of Islamic assets. New opportunities are opening up in the Central Asian countries as well. Currently, the knowledge base on Shari’ah-compliant business and finance is particularly limited, and largely written on the development of finance and allied industries. Experts foresee the need for a useful integration of Islamic finance, halal marketing, and management of Islamic businesses.
This book “Advances in Islamic Finance, Marketing, and Management: An Asian Perspective” aims to balance these gaps by focusing on the Asian perspective of Islamic businesses and by incorporating, alongside finance, the development in Islamic marketing and management of Islamic business. The book is divided into three sections, considering:
Islamic finance that includes topics on Islamic equity and mutual funds, risk and performance of Islamic banks, long-term investment and Sukuk, dynamics of credit portfolios, and financial crimes in Islamic perspective.
Islamic marketing that includes topics on Islamic marketing theory, halal marketing in several Asian markets, and halal logistics.
Islamic business management that includes topics on management of Zakat institutions, and the corporate social responsibility in Islamic organizations.
A group of international experts offer original conceptual articles, empirical research findings, case studies, and critical reviews in the areas of Islamic finance, banking, capital market, halal marketing, consumer perception, services orientation, risk management, industry readiness for better customer satisfaction, as well as policy issues coupling strategy and best practices. As expected, major portion of the discussion surrounds already established Islamic finance industry and a preliminary discussion on the management of businesses. The book can be considered as a guidebook for the academicians as well as the practitioners in the areas of Islamic finance, marketing, and management.

New Services Marketing Cases Book

I am delighted to announce that our latest book 'Services Marketing Cases in Emerging Markets: An Asian Perspective' has now been published by Springer. I would like to thank all the contributors and my co-editors Sanjit Kumar Roy (The University of Western Australia) & Bang Nguyen (East China University of Science and Technology).

You can buy the book on the Springer site for 57.19 € (Hardcover) and as an eBook for 44.02 €.

It is also available on Amazon.com.

About the book:
This casebook provides students and academics in business management and marketing with a collection of case studies on services marketing and service operations in emerging economies. It explores current issues and practices in Asia, across different areas, countries, commercial and non-commercial sectors. This book is important and timely in providing a framework for instructors, researchers, and students to understand the service dynamics occurring in these countries. It serves as an invaluable resource for marketing and business management students requiring insights into the operationalization of services across different geographical areas in Asia. Students will find it interesting to compare and contrast different markets covering important aspects related to services.

Here are some reviews of the book:

“Services are the foundation of human civilizations. Every market has different needs that must be met with different service solutions. This case book provides an invaluable collection of service cases on emerging markets in Asia. These cases cover the very established topics of service experience, co-creation, branding and servicescapes, and add the very forward-thinking topic of transformative services. Services faculty and service students will be well served by this book.” (Professor Raymond P. Fisk, Department of Marketing, McCoy College of Business Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA)

“Asia has experienced tremendous growth of the service sector. This case book is timely to help educate tomorrow’s leaders in Asia on service marketing and management. If offers valuable insights and case examples on the management of three contemporary themes - service experience and co-creation, branding and servicescapes, and transformative services. Students, academics, and practitioners alike will find this book highly insightful.” (Professor Jochen Wirtz, Department of Marketing, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore)

“This is a timely book. We need real world cases that make new concepts and theory come alive. Ideas and conceptual models are often difficult to grasp as they go against the mainstream. Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic and IBM's Service Science service are leading the way but I see them constantly being misinterpreted. More cases can cure this.” (Dr. Evert Gummesson, Emeritus Professor, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Sweden)

“This book is a direct response to the emerging need for a quality case book on services marketing in Asia which has been witnessing tremendous growth in services arena in recent times. The cases have addressed the contemporary issues of services marketing, are relevant and well written. I am sure students and academics interested in services marketing will find the book to be useful.” (Professor Ali Quazi, School of Management, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia)

“Good, relevant and timely case studies are always in demand from business and management educators. And it is increasingly important that students are exposed to a diversity of business experiences when undertaking case work. Despite the rapid growth in in the service sector across much of Asia, good case studies have been in short supply. Until now! The authors are to be congratulated for bringing together an excellent collection of cases that are diverse in terms of sectors and countries but which together provide invaluable insights into contemporary service marketing practice.” (Professor Christine Ennew, Provost, Faculty of Social Siences, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Nottingham University Business School, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia)

“This book on services marketing is timely as businesses are grappling with the “what” and “how” of an effective strategy to win the competition in service industries. Lessons from case studies would provide the much needed learning for a richer class room experience for final year undergraduates and MBA students, giving them an early start on dealing with the complexities of managing service businesses.” (Professor Fon Sim Ong, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Nottingham University Business School, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia)

Workshop on Islamic Financial Management and Marketing Principles for SMEs

Helping create some buzz about a workshop:

Application of Islamic Financial Management and Marketing Principles: Preparing SMEs for International Business  Two-day programme for start-up owners, venture capitalists, prospective entrepreneurs from both services and manufacturing sectors. The primary focus of this training is to provide you with a comprehensive synopsis of the tools needed to manage financial functions efficiently, and to develop halal marketing strategies that are necessary for an internationally diversified small and medium enterprise (SME). The course will be delivered using presentations, discussions, case studies and role plays that will help the participants in fulfilling the financial and marketing objectives of their SMEs in a shari’ah compliant way.  Financial management and marketing strategy to prepare SMEs for International Business  Small businesses are essential ingredients of the high-growth Asian markets. Growth of SMEs, particularly that operate based on shari’ah, in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and in South Asia has been astonishing. As the local market is becoming too competitive, local SMEs are in need to expand their operation across border. Financial management deals with two major aspects: collecting funds and investing funds. A good financial manager should know the alternative methods of low cost shari’ah compliant fund collection in foreign lands. Similarly, one must know the criteria that make their investment shari’ah compliant. A good Islamic market strategy will help local SMEs in targeting their foreign customers and marketing their products in foreign lands in a halal way.  Key financial and marketing management questions from an Islamic perspective:   How to collect money for SMEs?  Where to invest money?  How to write a financial plan for loan application?  How to do halal marketing? How it is different from conventional marketing?  How to manage marketing challenge in foreign land?  How to manage typical Islamic marketing challenge for SMEs?  Learning outcomes After completing the training, you will be able: To develop an understanding of Islamic financial management for SMEs that includes an overview of the industy, opportunities and challenges. To learn how to prepare a financial plan to apply for bank/venture capital loans.  To learn how to prepare a halal branding strategy for your company/product.  To analyse the opportunities and challenges for Islamic SMEs in other countries.  Methods of training and assessment Powerpoint presentations  Case exercises  Flipchart presentations for brainstorming Presentation from participants  Programme outline Day One Module one – Financial management of Islamic business  Element of a financial plan Forecasting financial variables Applying for Islamic bank loans Understanding shari'ah compliant investments Module two – Alternative financing, operational management, and sustainability  Understanding alternative financing available Preparing cash budget and determining funds needs  Influence of taxation (GST) and the way forward Micro-equity funds and Micro-takaful insurance   Day Two Module three – Essentials of halal marketing     Elements of a halal branding strategy Target markets and customer satisfaction in Islamic business  Module four – Advertisement, branding and distribution of halal products   Social image of shari'ah compliant advertising Branding of Islamic business Creating a sustainable brand value Supply chain management of halal products  Costing and profitability of the halal product    Programme fee Early bird price: RM2,500/person + GST of 6% Normal price: RM2,600/person + GST of 6% Group of three and above: RM2,200/person + GST of 6% (for more than three delegates attending from the same company/institution) The programme fee covers tuition, case materials and tea breaks.  About the programme leaders Dr Mamunur Rashid is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Nottingham University Business School Malaysia. He has been teaching and conducting training on financial management and Islamic entrepreneurship for the last ten years. His area of expertise includes financial management, financing of small firms, Islamic business, and Islamic ethics. He worked on the “Malaysian Workforce Quality” (a Malaysian Human Resource Development Ministry project) and he trained senior officials of PVH Corp., on advance computer application in business in Bangladesh. Dr Mamunur is also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Islamic Business and Finance Research (CIBFR) at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. He has published on Islamic finance and business, business ethics and Islamic services marketing. Dr Mamunur is a Malaysian Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) certified trainer. Dr Dilip Mutum is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Nottingham University Business School Malaysia. Prior to this, he was attached with the Coventry Business School, Coventry University, as a Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising. He has also taught at the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick and Universiti Utara Malaysia. Before joining academia, Dilip has worked with various organisations in different capacities. This includes a short stint as a sub-editor of a magazine and as the Communications Officer for Consumers International - Asia Pacific office. Dilip has published widely in journals and books, as well as presented at national and international conferences. His research interests include digital consumption, social networking, customer relationship management, and social marketing. His Twitter profile (@admutum) has over 8000 followers.    To register, download the registration form.  For more information, contact Nottingham University Business School Malaysia Executive Education at +6(03) 8924 8303 (Ms Judy Wong; email: Judy.Wong@nottingham.edu.my) or by email NUBS.EDP@nottingham.edu.my  or visit our website at Executive Education.

Inviting Contributors to a Services Marketing Case Study Book

Following the success of our book on 'Marketing Cases from Emerging Markets', edited by Mutum, D.; Roy, S. K. & Kipnis, E., Springer has commissioned Dr. Sanjit Roy, Dr. Bang Nguyen, and I to edit a book entitled 'Services Marketing Cases in Emerging Markets'.

The book is a comprehensive collection of case studies by seminal authors that provides key reviews and analyses on the leading thinking in services marketing across Asia. We believe you would be an excellent contributor and would like to kindly invite you to contribute a chapter on a topic of your choice (please see list in the attachment). If you are able to accept, the deadline for final submission is 15 May 2015.

Please do not hesitate to contact me> should you require further information.

Our timelines are as follows:
Expression of Interest with description of case (1 page or less): 15 October 2014
Full Case Submission: 15 May 2015

Australian Business Deans Council - ABDC Marketing Journals List 2014

Note: This is the old 2014 list. View the updated ABDC 2022 Marketing journals list here

The list of marketing journals is compiled from the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List 2013.

Journals are ranked into four categories of quality, namely, A*, A, B, C, with journals listed under A* considered the best in terms of quality.

Comparing the ABDC list with the ABS ranking of Marketing Journals, the guys from the Land Down Under mostly agree with the Brits. However, there are some clear differences of opinion regarding certain journals. For example, the European Journal of Marketing, which is a 3* ABS journal is listed as A*.

Much more surprising was the fact that five journals which are ranked 1* in the ABS list, are listed as an A journals in the ABDC list. This includes Electronic Markets, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and Marketing Intelligence and Planning, which are all 1* journals in the ABS list. There are also five 2* ABS journals listed as A as well.

I also notice that their list of Marketing journals is much longer and they list several journals not included in the ABS list including sports, services and digital marketing journals, which I personally think is a good thing as they are underrepresented in the ABS list.

A*
European Journal of Marketing 3* ABS
Industrial Marketing Management 3* ABS
International Journal of Research in Marketing 3* ABS
Journal of Consumer Research 4* ABS
Journal of Retailing 4* ABS
Journal of Marketing 4* ABS
Journal of Marketing Research 4* ABS
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 3* ABS
Marketing Science 4* ABS
Journal of Service Research

A
Electronic Markets 1*
International Journal of Consumer Studies 1*
International Marketing Review 3*
Journal of Advertising 3*
Journal of Advertising Research 3*
Journal of Brand Management 1*
Journal of Business Research 3*
Journal of Consumer Psychology 4*
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management
Journal of Interactive Marketing 2*
Journal of International Marketing 3*
Journal of Marketing Management 2* 
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 1*
Journal of Services Marketing 2*
Journal of Strategic Marketing 2*
Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing
Journal of Vacation Marketing
Marketing Intelligence and Planning 1*
Marketing Letters 3*
Marketing Theory 2*
Psychology and Marketing 3*
Quantitative Marketing and Economics 2*
Journal of Macromarketing

B
Academy of Marketing Science Review 2*
Advances in Consumer Research 2*
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
Australasian Marketing Journal 1*
Consumption, Markets and Culture 2*
Corporate Communications: An International Journal 1*
International Journal of Advertising 2*
International Journal of Bank Marketing 1*
International Journal of Market Research 2*
International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 1*
International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research 1*
International Journal of Sports Management and Marketing
Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing
Journal of Consumer Behaviour 2*
Journal of Consumer Marketing 1*
Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior
Journal of Financial Services Marketing 1*
Journal of Interactive Advertising
Journal of Marketing Communications 2*
Journal of Marketing Education
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice
Journal of Product and Brand Management 1*
Journal of Social Marketing
Qualitative Market Research: an international journal 1*
Services Marketing Quarterly
Sport Marketing Quarterly
Young Consumers

C
Advances in International Marketing
Arts Marketing
Asian Journal of Marketing (SING)
Asian Journal of Marketing (USA)
Canadian Journal of Marketing Research
International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising
International Journal of Management and Marketing Research
Irish Marketing Review 1*
Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education (JAME)
Journal of Euromarketing 1*
Journal of Food Products Marketing
Journal of International Consumer Marketing
Journal of International Marketing and Exporting
Journal of International Marketing and Marketing Research
Journal of Islamic Marketing
Journal of Management and Marketing in Healthcare
Journal of Medical Marketing
Journal of Relationship Marketing
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics
Review of Marketing Science
Social Marketing Quarterly
The Marketing Review

Related Links:

ABDC Journal Rankings Access

Note: Please let me know if I missed any journal.

Where and why do you shop? Choice of retailer.

Last evening I was shopping at the Lidl store in Foleshill, Coventry and realised that I had been shopping there quite frequently in the past few months. This made me wonder about the stores I normally shop at and whether I am actually loyal to a store. The answer seems to be a big "No!".

It was quite different a couple of years back - I shopped almost exclusively at Tesco. This was probably due to the fact that there was a Tesco Metro very near to my house and maybe partly due to the fact that I was getting Tesco loyalty card points every time I shopped.

I did shop at Sainsburys and Morrisons sometimes but hardly ever shopped at Asda. This changed when an Asda opened very near to the Tesco Metro near my house. I started shopping there quite often and maybe even more so than at the Tesco. At first this was due to convenience as finding parking near the Tesco store can be quite hard while the Asda store has their own dedicated parking space.

Distance from our house to various stores in the area

Tesco Metro 0.3 miles

Asda 0.3 miles

Aldi 0.8 miles

Lidl 1.7 miles

Tesco Extra 1.8 miles

Morrisons 1.8 miles

Sainsbury 2.4 miles

Sainsburys 3.5 miles

The distance of the store may have something to do with my choice of store but I hardly ever visit the Aldi store which is nearer than Lidl or Tesco Extra. Moreover, I do not think that this was the only reason, as I hardly ever visited the Netto store which was at the same location before Adsa took over. Netto was simply depressing. Choice of products, store layout and overall ambiance of the store does matter.

I think it has got a lot to do with pricing as well - I found out that a lot of the products sold at Asda are cheaper than at Tesco and I am not talking about the store brands but other products they sell. For example, my favourite white bread - Warburtons Medium Sliced White Bread, costs only £1 at Asda while it is £1.45 in Tesco. The staff are really helpful as well.

This brings me to Lidl. I first explored it when it first opened their store in Foleshill and there was nothing special - just felt like another Aldi which has a store in our area which I hardly visit as well. The store layout and aesthetics is nothing to shout about.  However, I noticed that they had a small selection of organic vegetables and fruits. As we consume a lot of organic food this was the initial attraction. I normally buy meat, chicken (Halal) and rice from one of the local stores along Foleshill road (cheaper than in Tesco).  Lidl has also started carrying a number of other products including clothing and  tools among other products. What really surprised me was that the quality of these products (almost all of them are made in Germany) are quite good yet very affordable. It is no wonder that the German stores are really doing well. Read: German Aldi and Lidl crush British 'big four' supermarkets at the checkouts over Christmas.

The big Tesco Extra store at the Arena park has still got the best variety/ range of choices in the whole of Coventry and has probably the best selection of organic food among all the stores. They have undergone a major oerhaul of the entire store layout and I am slowly getting used to it. I realise I still do a major proportion of my monthly shopping  there. However, it is not the only store I go to now and even though loyalty cards and store aesthetics do matter, I realise that convenience and price does play an important role in my shopping habits.

Would love to hear your opinion. What is your favourite store and why do you shop there?

Related Academic Sources:

Tang, C. S., Bell, D. R., & Ho, T. H. (2001). Store choice and shopping behavior: how price format works. California Management Review, 43(2), 56-74.

Fotheringham, A. S. (1988). Note—Consumer Store Choice and Choice Set Definition. Marketing Science, 7(3), 299-310.

Walsh, G., Shiu, E., Hassan, L. M., Michaelidou, N., & Beatty, S. E. (2011). Emotions, store-environmental cues, store-choice criteria, and marketing outcomes. Journal of Business Research, 64(7), 737-744.

Reardon, J., Mikller, C. E., & Coe, B. (2011). Applied scale development: measurement of store image. Journal of Applied Business Research, 11(4), 85-93.

Starting salaries of Marketing lecturers at different British Universities

Note: This list has not been updated since 2014 and starting salaries may have changed.

Updated: 4 June 2014 (added Bournemouth University & Keele University)

While glancing at some of the lecturing jobs (in Marketing) coming through my inbox, I was quite surprised at the range of starting salaries at various Universities in the UK. As expected, most of the older and more established, Russell group of Universities, have high starting salaries as compared to most of the younger Universities. However, there were some surprises. The 2nd most highest starting pay is actually offered by the University of East Anglia. So far, the lowest starting pay is offered by the University of Southampton, a Russell Group University.

The starting pay at the University of the West of Scotland, Scotland’s largest modern university, was also much higher than either Coventry University or Swansea University.

If you have a PhD + teaching experience + publications, I would strongly recommend negotiating for a higher pay. DO NOT START AT THE BASE IF POSSIBLE. Nobody told me that I could negotiate my salary when I started and just accepted what was offered to me.

Given below are the starting salaries Lecturers in Marketing of some Universities based on recent ads on Jobs.ac.uk with the highest starting salaries on top alphabetically:

Aston University, Aston Business School
£37,382 - £44,607

University of Bath, School of Management
Lecturer (Assistant Professor): £37,756 -  £45,053

University of Bedfordshire
£31,331 - £37,382

University of Birmingham, College of Social Sciences, Birmingham Business School, Department of Marketing * 
£37,756 - £45,053 (with potential progression to £50,688 a year)

Bournemouth University, Business School, The Department of Strategy and Marketing
£31,644 - £36,661 (with further progression opportunities to £40,046)

University of Brighton, Business School
£32,590 to £38,907

Brunel University - Brunel Business School
£34,223 - £44,607 incl. London Weighting.

Cardiff University - Cardiff Business School *
£30,728 - £36,661 (Grade 6)
£38,907 - £45,053  (Grade 7)  BEST STARTING PAY 1

Coventry University, Coventry Business School
£30,426 - £37,386  (Grade 7)

University of East Anglia
£38,522 - £44,607 BEST STARTING PAY 2

University of Glasgow - Adam Smith Business School, College of Social Sciences * 
£32,267 - £36,298

Glasgow Caledonian University - Glasgow School for Business & Society, Department of Business Management
£38,522 - £44,607  (Grade 7). BEST STARTING PAY 2

Keele University, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Keele Management School

Grade 7a: £32,590 to £37,756

Lancaster University - Lancaster University Management School, Marketing Department
£32,267 - £44,607

University of Leeds - Leeds University Business School * 
£33,230 - £36,298

University of Leicester, School of Management
Grade 8 – Extended Lecturer Scale- £36,661 to £45,053 per annum

University of Liverpool * 
£31,331 - £36,298

Liverpool Hope University - Liverpool Hope Business School
£30,728 to £36,661  (Grade 7)

The University of Northampton
£31,331 - £44,607

Northumbria University - Faculty of Business and Law Newcastle Business School
 £32,590 - £36,661

University of Nottingham - Nottingham University Business School * 
(For Assistant Professor): £36,298 - £44,607

Nottingham Trent University - College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, Nottingham Business School
£30,728 - £45,053

Oxford Brookes University
£32,267 - £35,244

Queens University Belfast * 
£33,230 - £48,729

University of Reading, Henley Business School
£37,756 to £46,400  (Grade 7)

Regent's University London, Department of Marketing and Strategy
£34,000 - £36,000

University of Salford, Salford Business School
£37,756 - £45,053

University of Strathclyde, Strathclyde Business School
£33,562

Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Business School, Department of Management
£31,644 to £35,597

University of Southampton, Southampton Management School *   LOWEST STARTING PAY
£27,854 - £57,743

University of Sussex - School of Business, Management and Economics
£33,562 - £45,053

Swansea University - School of Management
£31,331 - £36,298

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School * 
(For Assistant Professor): £37,382 - £44,607

University of the West of England, Bristol
£30,424 - £45,941

University of Wolverhampton - Business School
£32,267 - £45,941

University of York - The York Management School * 
£36,298 - £44,607

* Russell group of Universities


NOTE: I am still building up the list and any input from my readers are welcome.

Past updates:

27 May 2014
9 May 201424 April 2014
6 April 2014 - arranged the Universities alphabetically.
21 March 2014
25 Nov. 2013. I have changed Red Brick to Russell Group of Universities.
7 Nov. 2013: I have added a few more Universities to the list. Thanks to all my friends for their input.