Emerging markets are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy, and yet research on marketing in emerging markets remains in its infancy.  The Emerging Markets Conference Board (EMCB) is a global initiative brought about to address this. 

Every year, the EMCB brings together some of the most respected minds in marketing, globally  – academics and practitioners, as well as doctoral students - to share their insights on marketing in emerging economies.This year, Wits Business School (WBS) in South Africa is proud to host this prestigious four-day event.

“The goal of the annual EMCB conference is to advance the understanding of marketing in emerging markets and facilitate collaboration on emerging markets research.  It offers stimulating discussion amongst thought leaders from around the globe who are engaged in emerging markets research,” says Professor Steve Burgess, Marketing Professor at Wits Business School.   “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to host the EMBC 2018 and equally pleased that so many leading South African and international scholars are donating their time to track and session chairs during the conference.”

Burgess’s co-chair of the conference is renowned marketing scholar Professor Naresh Malhotra from the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and founder of the EMCB.  In addition, a number of highly respected international faculty will be speaking at the conference, including Professor Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp, University of North Carolina (USA), Professor Charles R. Taylor, Villanova University of Business in Pennsylvania (USA), Professor Ruth Bolton, Arizona State University (USA) and Professor Rajiv Vaidyanathan, University of Minnesota Duluth.

The conference, on 6 and 7 April, will be preceded by the doctoral colloquium on 4 and 5 April.

“The conference is intended to be transformative.  Doctoral students conducting research in emerging markets, especially Africa, and their supervisors will have the opportunity to attend doctoral seminars presented by the people that they read about in textbooks and in leading journals,” says Burgess.

The Conference has also attracted a number of high-profile marketing faculty from South Africa, Ghana and Dubai to chair tracks, or breakaway sessions.  Tracks include a diverse range of topics, including brand management, communicating across the digital divide, services marketing and retailing, marketing strategy and analytics, consumer psychology, and relationship marketing, social connectedness and consumer networks, among others.

“It’s an exciting area of research. The majority of humanity resides in emerging markets and, in this next generation, it is reasonable to conclude that more half of the world’s economic development will take place there. New research is taking us into new directions that embrace a more diverse set of assumptions and worldviews,” notes Burgess.

For South African marketing practitioners, the EMCB 2018 will be a golden opportunity to engage with top marketing authorities from around the world and be a part of the development of new ideas, knowledge and research.

For more information about the conference, visit www.embc2018.co.za.