Ahmedabad University Professor wins top Global Marketing Award

AHMEDABAD: Professor Kunal Basu, Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the Centre for Learning Futures and the School of Arts and Sciences of Ahmedabad University, has been conferred the prestigious Parasuraman Award for Long-term Impact by the Academy of Marketing Science for his article "Customer Loyalty: Towards an Integrated Conceptual Framework".

Professor Basu’s article, co-authored by Alan Dick, which was first published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) in 1994, has been selected for this award. The Parasuraman Award is awarded to an article published in JAMS at least six years previously judged by a selection panel to have had the most significant impact on marketing thought and practice. This is only the second time the Academy has conferred such an award, which is based on originality, demonstrated impact, technical competence and quality of contribution to theory and practice.  The same article had earlier won the Jagdish Sheth Award by the Academy of Marketing Science for Best Paper in published in JAMS in1995. 

The selection criteria include: originality – a work that, at the time of publication, broke the mold on traditional research both in substance and/or in research approach; demonstrated impact – a work that shows long-term impact on the field of marketing as evidenced by steady or increased citations and positive notoriety over time; technical competence – a work that stands as a model in terms of meticulous execution of research and writing; and quality of the contribution – a work demonstrating inarguable contribution to marketing thought and practice.

The Academy of Marketing Science Foundation is an international, scholarly, professional organization based in the US. It is dedicated to promoting high standards and excellence in the creation and dissemination of marketing knowledge and the furtherance of marketing practice through a role of leadership within the discipline of marketing around the world.

Professor Basu is also a Fellow of Green Templeton College and was until recently a tenured professor at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. A PhD from the University of Florida, he has published extensively on marketing as well as on corporate social responsibility. 

He was elected the International Visiting Scholar at the Coca Cola Centre for Marketing Studies and was awarded the Royal Bank of Canada Teaching Innovation Award. The People’s University of China, Beijing, has conferred upon him an honorary visiting professorship. Professor Basu consults frequently with major corporations and governments. 

Professor Basu is also an eminent author who has published seven novels – The Opium Clerk, The Miniaturist, Racists, The Yellow Emperor’s Cure, Kolkatta, The Endgame and Sarojini’s Mother – and a collection of stories The Japanese Wife, the lead story of which has been made into an award winning film. His work has been widely translated and nominated for awards. 

He has also written four novels in Bengali, which are due for publication in English.  He has authored a photo essay – Intimacies – and written extensively on the indigenous arts.  Professor Basu has presented his literary work in more than 30 international literary festivals, conducted writing workshops and held prestigious fellowships in the US and Australia. The Shakespeare Society has published a volume of essays on his historical novels, Romancing the Strange: The Fiction of Kunal Basu. He has acted on stage and screen, and directed documentary films.