This year the ANZMAC Conference will start at 11:00am on 1 December, 2008
The Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy was formed in 1998 following two successful marketing educators conferences in 1996, and 1997. It was formed with the expressed intent of improving the quality and standing of marketing research, marketing teaching and practise by providing a vehicle for publishing, presenting, and discussing ideas relevant to marketing research. The Academy is managed by an Executive Group comprising elected members.
Our main activity is the annual conference which this year is hosted by the University of Western Sydney. The conference is hosted on a rotating basis between Australia and New Zealand and is a fantastic focus for the academy with social events and a successful doctoral colloquum integrated with the presentation of academic papers, discussion panels and special sessions which attracts contributors from all over the world.
As ANZMAC is a diverse and globally oriented organisation, we are very proud of our international standing and collaborative events with sister academies. 2008 saw the fourth combined European Marketing Academy/ANZMAC event 'BigMaC 4' held in Brighton UK. Next year 2009, our conference will be held back to back with the ANZAM conference (The Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management)in Melbourne and I hope this marks increasing cooperation between our two academies and greater interaction between our disciplines.
The ANZMAC Executive is pursuing a range of initiatives to enhance our presence and ensure that the academy remains relevant to its membership.
We are pursuing alliances with academies in Korea and in China and hoping to build further extensive networks within our region. Locally, we are encouraging regional events to be started to provide a more continuous presence and activity for our members.
In 2008 we embarked upon a major review of our operations and will be investing heavily in developing our website to become a full academic portal including on-line payment facilities, an active discussion platform and employment exchange. As part of that development we are also updating our membership processes to provide for an enhanced membership database for both individual and institutional members and better tracking of our member details.
Finally, as tangible evidence of our activity ANZMAC publishes the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Journal (AMJ) which is provided free to all members. This has been, and will remain a significant vehicle for disseminating marketing research in our region.
ANZMAC is still a relatively young organisation and we have ambition to be a major voice for marketing academics in our region. This is especially important as government policy starts to reshape the higher education environment in Australia and New Zealand. We believe that we can enhance our role by building networks locally and internationally, getting exposure for our activity both within and outside academia, and ensuring that our members are well served and well represented. Our credibility in this endeavour relies heavily upon the reputation of the quality of our research, and the enthusiasm of our members.
Ultimately we are a community of marketing scholars and you'll find us open, engaged and enthusiastic about our discipline, our research and our future and if you feel the same way about marketing then I invite you to join our community and become part of the ANZMAC family.
Mark Gabbott
Anzmac President