Keynote Speakers
Prof. Rajan Varadarajan
- University Distinguished Professor
- Distinguished Professor of Marketing
- Regents Professor, and Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce
- Texas A&M University
Date: 10th December, 2020Time:8:30am IST
Dr. Rajan Varadarajan is University Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Professor of Marketing, Regents Professor, and holder of the Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of marketing strategy, innovation, international marketing and environmental sustainability. He has published over 100 journal articles and made over 200 presentations at major national and international conferences, doctoral and faculty consortia, universities, and other forums. Rajan’s articles on topics such as competitive advantage, corporate diversification and divestitures, e-commerce, environmental sustainability, global competitive strategy, innovation, market pioneering, multi-market competition, outsourcing, strategic alliances, strategic marketing, strategy typologies and taxonomies, and interdependencies between corporate, business and marketing strategy have been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Business Horizons, and other journals.
Dr. Varadarajan is a Fellow of the American Marketing Association and Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Marketing Science. He served as editor of the Journal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996, and as editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science from 2000 to 2003. He currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards a number of journals including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of International Marketing. Dr. Varadarajan served as President of the Marketing Strategy Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association (1998-2000), Vice President for Publications for the American Marketing Association (2014-2017), Vice President for Publications for the Academy of Marketing Science (2004-2007), and the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science (1998-2004). He also served as program co-chair for the American Marketing Association Marketing Educators’ Conference in 1993, the Academy of Marketing Science Marketing Educators’ Conference in 1998, the American Marketing Association Faculty Consortium in 2001, and the American Marketing Association Doctoral Consortium in 2004.
Dr. Varadarajan is a recipient of a number of honors and awards including the Texas A&M University Mays Business School Lifetime Achievement Award for Research and Scholarship (2016), American Marketing Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2015), American Marketing Association Paul D. Converse Award for Contributions to the Field of Marketing (2008), University of Massachusetts Amherst Graduate School Centennial Award (2008), Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2003), American Marketing Association Marketing Strategy Special Interest Group Vijay Mahajan Award for Lifetime Contributions to Marketing Strategy (2003), Texas A&M University Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (1994), Journal of Academy of Marketing Science Sheth Foundation Best Paper Award (2008, 2010 and 2017), and Journal of Marketing Harold H. Maynard Best Paper Award (2001).
Musings on the Foundational Pillars of a Career in the Academia: Service, Teaching, Administration and Research (STAR) / Administration, Research, Teaching and Service (ARTS)
It is conceivable that a large majority of the doctoral students participating in this symposium may pursue a career in the academia. Furthermore, for some of the participants, this may be the first time they are presenting their research at a scholarly forum. Against this backdrop, in my address, I will focus on the roles and responsibilities associated with a career in the academia – service (to the discipline and to the institution), teaching, administration and research.
Chief among the principal missions of institutions for higher learning are the creation of new knowledge through research, and dissemination of knowledge through publication of articles in journal articles, presentations at conferences and symposia, and teaching in classrooms. Enshrined in the Grand Compact between society and universities is academic freedom and commitment to the ideal of objective knowledge. The State grants academic freedom to faculty -- the privilege of conducting research free from the dictates of the church and state. In exchange, the State demands from faculty a commitment to the ideal of objective knowledge. Objectivity of research guarantees the trustworthiness of the knowledge created (Hunt 1992).
Cole (2005, p. 13) aptly states the essence of academic freedom and commitment to the ideal of objective knowledge. He notes:
- “The university ought to be viewed in terms of a fundamental interdependence between the liberality of its intellectual life and the conservatism of its methodological demands. … We permit almost any idea to be put forward -- but only because we demand arguments and evidence to back up the ideas we debate and because we set the bar of proof at such a high level.
- These two components, tolerance for unsettling ideas and insistence on rigorous skepticism about all ideas -- create an essential tension at the heart of the American research university. It will not thrive without both components operating effectively and simultaneously.” (Cole 2005, p. 13)
On the one hand, scholarly research builds on the knowledge created by other researchers in a discipline and allied disciplines. However, the annals of scholarship are replete with instances of reigning theories being dislodged, and empirical research findings published in leading journal articles being discredited. As Summers (2003, p. 144) notes, in the academia it is the authority of ideas and not the idea of authority that reigns supreme.
- “But what is most special about the American research university is that it is a place where authority of ideas, rather than the idea of authority, reigns supreme. At Harvard, we consider it an extremely important accomplishment when a 25-year-old graduate student who has been here a mere 18 months makes a discovery that disproves the pet theory of a 55-year-old professor who has been here 30 years. Indeed, the professor whose theory has been disproved might be the first to congratulate that graduate student.”
Along the above lines, my address will also focus on the roles and responsibilities associated with the teaching, service, and administration dimensions of a career in the academia.
References
- Cole, J. R. (2005), “Academic Freedom Under Fire,” Daedalus, Spring, p.13.
- Hunt, S. D. (1992), “Marketing Is …,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20 (4), 301-311.
- Summers, L. H. (2003), “The Authority of Ideas,” Harvard Business Review, August, p. 144.