Introduction
Brand research has turned out to be the heated discussed topic in Management study among western scholars. The globalization of economy encourages scholars from all over the word to focus their study on international brand strategies of enterprises and their products. In order to draw on the experience and research findings developed in the western countries to guide the brand internationalization strategies of Chinese enterprises and their products, the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and the School of Marketing and Logistics Management at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics decide to establish “ Sino-US International Brand Communication Research Institute” , which has been put into full operation in December, 2006.
This initiative to set up the institute can be traced back to “2006 International Forum on Industrial Brand Communication” held in Nanjing University of Finance and Economic ,organized by School of Marketing and Logistic in July, 2006. During the conference session, Professor QIAO Jun, Dean of School of Marketing and Logistics of NJUFE, held discussion with Professor Jan Slater, Associate Director Media Sales Centre, and Professor, CHENG Hong from OU about the intention to set up an organization to undertake brand research. Ever since then the institute under discussion is operationalized accordingly.
Mission
To improve social warfare through helping entities from both USA and PRC successfully internationalize respective product brands and strategize their branding practice.
Goals
- To introduce high-quality research resources from United States in the field of brand research to NJUFE;
- To collect hand-on data in China to further the research of both parties in brand research on Chinese products;
- To internationalize scientific research in brand field at both OU and NJUFE and in the process of doing so enhance the reputation and impact of both institutions globally;
Service items
1. Organizing International Brand Symposium.
The institute is to organize an international symposium on brand research each year. This international symposium is to be carried out by the SUIBCR, which is an administrative organization of the international symposium.
2. Academic Research
Both parties agreed to focus on one research subject in a year. The researches in this question fall into two categories. One is horizontal development and research programs initiated and sponsored by enterprises and firms. Both parties agreed to do their utmost to find relevant research topics from practitioners and relevant organizations in their respective countries. The other is vertical research program oriented to further the development of brand education discipline. This can be initiated by staff from both parities acquiring in the process of brand teaching and research.
3. International academic exchange.
The institute will invite the world top scholars to Nanjing University of Finance and Economics to exchange their research findings in this field.
Introduction to Partners
1The E. W. Scripps School of Journalism
The E. W. Scripps School of Journalism is a top journalism and mass communication program in the United States. It is the largest school within the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. The school has nearly 30 full-time faculty members and about 1,000 students, specializing in six professional sequences—advertising management, public relations, news writing and editing, broadcast news, magazine journalism, and online journalism. As a full-blown journalism and mass communication program, the school offers BSJ, MSJ, and Ph.D. degrees.
The school houses many leading scholars in the field of journalism and mass communication. The editors of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, a flagship academic journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Journalism History, and the Web Journal of Mass Communication Research are all on the school’s faculty.
The school is active in global outreach. It is the home of the Institute for International Journalism, and hosts several exchange programs with universities or media organizations in other countries. The school’s advertising faculty, together with the marketing faculty in the College of Business at Ohio University, has strong interest in collaborative research on branding.
2. School of Marketing and Logistics Management of Nanjing University of Finance & Economics
The school can be traced back to the Foodstuff Economic Trading Department of Nanjing College of Foodstuff Economy with a history of 25 years. It was officially established in April, 2003, when Nanjing University of Finance and Economics was founded. The School consists of three departments such as marketing, advertising management and planning, logistic management. Marketing education characterizes that discipline of Jiangsu Educational Bureau, while advertising management and planning characterizes all the specialties of Nanjing University of Finance and Economics. These three disciplines compose a key discipline of Business Management of Jiangsu Province.
It enrolls both undergraduate and postgraduate students for marketing and advertising, and logistics study. Currently, the school enrolls 1594 full-time undergraduates for bachelor degree and 21 postgraduates for master degree. By the end of September, 2006, there are 34 teaching faculty, among which there are 4 professors, 11 assistant professors and 18 lecturers, and among which 23 teachers are Ph.D. holders or Master Degree holders. There are four teacher who had been studied overseas.
In addiction, there are four research centers under the supervision and operations of the school including Nanjing Metropolitan Development Research Center, Jiangsu Provincial Commodities and Trading Circulation Research Center, Advertising Research Center of NJUFE and Branding Research Center of NJUFE.
In terms of international academic exchanges, the school successful organized Advertising Symposium Across Taiwan Strait, Marketing Symposium of Nanjing and Hong Kong, International Symposium of Chinese Advertising Education, International Forum of Chinese Industrial Brands.
3.Journal of China’s Advertising
The journal got published in 1981, which is the first monthly journal of professional advertising in China. It is organized by East Press Center, Shanghai Bailiang Group Incorporation. The journal is currently in charge of China Press Incorporation.
4. China’ Market Association
Operating Organization
1. Director：Qiao Jun, Ph.D.
2. Vice Director ： LIU Yongqiang,Ph.D.
3.Academicians
1.Hong CHENG (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) is an associate professor of advertising with the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University. He teaches and conducts research in the field of international and cross-cultural advertising, including global branding. His works have been published in Asia-Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics, Gazette, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Media Asia, Media Australia International, and Sex Roles, and presented at many national and international conferences. He has also contributed several chapters to books on international advertising, and is writing one book (under contract with Peter Lang Publishing in New York) and co-editing another, both on international advertising.
Dr. Cheng was a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore during the 2002-’03 academic year. He is a former head of the International Communication Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the immediate past secretary of the American Academy of Advertising. He co-organized AAA’s 2005 Asia-Pacific Conference in Hong Kong and participated in the Advertising Educational Foundation’s 2005 Visiting Professor Program at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Currently he is an associate editor of the Asian Journal of Communication and is on the executive committee of AEJMC’s Advertising Division.
2.Jan Slater (Ph.D., Syracuse University) is associate professor of advertising, and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University. In addition to her 16 years of teaching experience, Dr. Slater has 20 years experience in the advertising industry, having worked in both private industry and advertising agencies. Until 1990, she owned her own agency in Omaha, Nebraska. Her primary research focus is on brand strategy, media strategy, and building brand relationships. She has been published in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Advertising Education, and Advances in Consumer Research. She is the co-author of What’s in a Name? Advertising and the Concept of Brands, with John Philip Jones of Syracuse University, a world-renowned scholar on branding. She is a contributing author to a series of advertising books published by Sage and is currently writing “A Case for Media,” a case study approach to advertising media. Dr. Slater serves on the Academic Committee of the American Advertising Federation, is a former head of the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and is the current chair of AEJMC’s Council of Divisions. She organized the 2006 AEJMC Annual Convention in San Francisco, California, this past summer. She is also on the national team for accreditation reviews of journalism and mass communication programs in the United States.
3.Jillian Sweeney is Associate Professor in Marketing at the University of Western Australia. Before starting an academic career, she obtained extensive experience in market research consultancies in London, Sydney and Perth, focusing on statistics and sampling, industrial research and consumer research. She was awarded a PhD in marketing in 1995. Her academic research focuses on services marketing as well as brand equity, relationship marketing and word-of-mouth. She has published widely including in the Journal of Retailing, the Australian Journal of Management, Psychology and Marketing and the Journal of Service Research. Jill was state Chair of the Australian Marketing and Social Research Society until recently and on the National Council of the same body. She is on the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Executive and was co-chair of the ANZMAC 2005 conference held in Fremantle in December 2005.
4.QIAO Jun, a professor and mater supervisor, is the dean of School of Marketing and Logics. He graduated from Shanghai Jiatong University, and was senior visiting scholar to Economic Research Institute of Social Science Academy of China. He is a member of both Academic and Academic Degree Committee of Nanjing University of Finance &Economics.. Currently, he is a standing member of Academic Committee of Advertising Association of China, the head of Academic Committee of Advertising Association of Jiangsu Province. He works as vice-chief editor of Marketing Journal, editing member of Chinese Advertising Journal. He is also the winner of Outstanding Teaching Award and Elite Textbook Award granted by Education Bureau Jingsu Province, Outstanding Achievement Award in Jiangsu social science, and technological advance.
5. ZHANG Huixin, a professor from Advertising Department, Shanghai University. Professor ZHANG graduated from Chinese Language and Literature Department of Shanghai Normal University in 1990 and was awarded with Master Degree in Gallery Design. Professor ZHANG is a pioneer in advertising research and teaching. He published more than a dozen of academic papers. He is the chief editor of Journal of China’s Advertising.
6.Dr LIU Yongqiang (Ph.D., Nanjing University) is a senior lecture in English language and literature, yet a PH.D. in Management. He works in Advertising Department of School of Marketing and Logistics Management, NJUFE. He is the author of a dozen of academic articles, one of which published in Journal of Chinese Industrial Economy, which ranked the second in top economics academic journal. Currently, he is involved in international advertising research, international human resource management, management communication, international advertising and media communication.