MICA Ahmedabad has announced the launch of a research centre dedicated to marketing — Centre for Research Excellence in Marketing (CREM). It is aimed at achieving research excellence in the field of marketing and providing insights into complex marketing phenomena, a release from the institute, said.

The Centre will focus on mainstream business issues as well as serve government sector agencies, non-profit organisations, and policymakers, helping them with insights into citizenship, engagement, social innovation, grassroots innovation and Make-in-India branding.

The Centre would also look to demystify marketing and cultivate a deeper understanding of various global and strategic marketing issues facing practitioners and companies in a digital world, the institute said.

Enhancing scope

Shailendra Raj Mehta, President and Director, MICA, said, "Through CREM, we desire to produce cutting-edge marketing knowledge by bringing together the leading scholars and practitioners in the world to work with our faculty in solving some of the most exciting and complex emerging problems."

V Kumar, Chief Advisor of MICA-CREM and Salvatore Zizza Professor of Marketing, Tobin College of Business at St. John's University said, "The centre can rest on the foundation of research themes spanning several different disciplines such as risk management, statistics, finance, international business, geosciences and epidemiology that can help multiple stakeholders with its expertise and excellence."

The centre was virtually launched in the presence of Shailendra Raj Mehta, MICA-CREM Chief Advisor V Kumar, Salvatore Zizza Professor of Marketing, Tobin College of Business at St. John's University, MICA-CREM Chair, and core committee members, MICA faculty, staff, students and academic and industry guests from across the globe.

Bridging gaps

Delving deep into the centre's functioning, Shaphali Gupta, Chair, MICA-CREM, said, "The mission of CREM is focused to excel in the field of implementable marketing knowledge creation and dissemination to minimise the gap between industry and academia. The centre will develop a network community of academicians and industry professionals to create a rich experience and foster learning in marketing research."

The launch was followed by an enriched panel discussion with CREM advisory board members and representatives from academia and industry.