Co-organiser of conference in India
The researchers at the School of Business, Economics and Law have global networks, which include research colleagues at the School's partner universities around the world. In mid-April, the School co-organised a conference held at one of our newer partners – the Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya (IIMBG) in India – and Cecilia Solér was there.
“International Conference of Marketing on Consumer Experience in Digital Era” was conducted in a hybrid format with sessions both at the School's partner university IIMBG (Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya) and online. The conference discussed how the digitisation of marketing affects consumers' experiences and consumption. Cecilia Solér, Associate Professor in business administration, represented the School on site in India and Johan Hagberg, Ulrika Holmberg and Tommy Andersson participated as chairs for various online sessions.
Hello there Cecilia Solér!
What did you do at the conference?
I had a few different tasks. At the beginning of the conference, I gave a so-called welcome address. I also led a session on the theme "sustainability and wellbeing" and I gave a key note with the title "The Path to Publishing in Quality Journals, my experience as a marketing scholar"
What was most interesting or unexpected?
Our Indian counterpart integrates mindfulness into their training and has it as one of their core values. Now they are starting a programme in Health Management.
What do you hope the conference will lead to?
I hope we can continue our collaboration with IIMBG both in terms of sustainable markets and teaching in the field of Health Management.
What impressions do you take with you from your visit to Bodh Gaya?
I have already done research in India and have close collaboration with the School's partner university IIM Bangalore. But this visit to IIM Bodh Gaya in the province of Bihar has given me a greater understanding of the enormous challenges facing India. Bodh Gaya is the place where the Buddha attained nirvana and here is "The Bodhi Tree" and fantastic temples. Enormous amounts of tourists, both Indians and tourists from Burma and Thailand etc, make pilgrimages here.
Cecilia Solér is associate professor in business administration and works as a teacher and researcher in marketing. Her research on sustainable consumption focuses on how consumer culture and marketing practices shape consumption, including the construction of affluent consumer identities and ever-increasing levels of novelty consumption, and the impact such identities have on perceived consumer stress. A second field of interest concerns sustainability certifications in global supply chains and how competing certifications influence exchange on the global market and simultaneously have an impact on environmental protection and social justice in production. Cecilia also works with colleagues in India where she studies the socio-material features of poverty alleviating consumption among urban subsistence households in India.