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Indian B schools have been regularly churning out cutting edge research work and publications that are making waves in the contemporary management discipline. Leading from the front are the top Indian B schools where a blend of knowledge with practical applications has incubated a healthy environment of learning and top of the line research.

Recently, Debasis Pradhan, Assistant professor of Marketing Management at XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute) Jamshedpur published a book on Marketing Management titled ''To Push or to Pull: Dynamics of Promotional Strategies Book”. An official excerpt about the book reveals a lot about the current promotional strategies prevalent in the global marketing scenario."A critical question facing a brand or product manager is, should marketing expenditures be directed to the end user (pull) or to the intermediaries in the channel (push)?

This can be understood better if advertising is viewed as a "defensive" strategy to build brand loyalty that helps in retaining loyal consumers and price promotions as an "offensive" strategy to snatch loyal consumers away from rival brands. This push vs. pull debate assumes more importance for efficiency concerns as well. In this book, the focus has been on the promotional strategies being adopted by three rural industries of India. Relevant research questions have been identified with the help of literature review coupled with exploratory work that has led to the conceptualization of a framework. Survey method has been used for data collection. Data analysis and its interpretation have been discussed in detail with a reference to the scope for further research.”

Published by a German publishing group- VDM Verlag (ISBN:3639236939 EAN:9783639236934 ), the book will go a long way in explaining the nascent topics of the field of promotional strategies. The 292-paged book would constructively address the push vs. pull debate with a focus on Indian rural industries. Prof. Pradhan, along with another faculty of XLRI, had earlier published a seminal paper on “Measurement of Retailer Brand Equity Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process.” Therein it was proposed that retailer brands possess equity termed as retailer brand equity or retailer equity. It is an “added value” endowed to the retailer brand as a result of past marketing activities of the retailer.

Branding of retailers can be instrumental in influencing customer perception and driving the store choice and loyalty. Measuring retailer brand equity can help the retailers and the brand mangers to be more strategic in their decision-making. This study undertaken in India has followed a customer-based brand equity measurement approach wherein dimensions like retailer awareness, retailer association, retailer perceived quality, and retailer loyalty have been considered. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to measure the retailer brand equity. The same was presented by the in University of Cologne, Germany this year.

Such publications and research are the need of the hour in the changing and volatile fields of global management. It is indeed heartening to notice that our national schools are sizing up to the challenge and able to leave a strong mark in the field.

Prof. Pradhan is a post graduate and fellow from XIMB and IRMA respectively. He joined XLRI in 2006 and teaches Advertising and Sales Promotion, Consumer Behaviour, and Marketing Management. Prior to this, he has more than two years of managerial experience in power sector. Papers and cases authored by him have been published in national and international journals of repute. He has presented papers authored by him at international conferences like INFORMS Marketing Science Conference held at Singapore Management University, University of Michigan, University of Cologne, Germany, and Academy of Management (AOM), Philadelphia. His research interests include Media mix decisions, Consumer decision heuristics, Fuzzy goal programming approach in marketing, Marketing theory, and Bottom of pyramid (BOP) markets.

Concluded.

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