Burgess leads consumer research

The Advisory Committee is a new initiative of ACR President David Glen Mick and will guide and invigorate transformative consumer research.

"This is an exciting age of transformation in the world economy. The transformative consumer research movement focuses on important topics of our time, such as consumer issues in 'base-of-the-pyramid' country contexts, environmental, cultural and social sustainability, and the harmful effects of consumer behaviours," says Burgess.

"Industrialised countries have ageing populations and this highlights the need for research into elderly consumers, product safety and financial and medical decision-making. Less industrialised countries have more cultural diversity and more rapid growth, which stresses identity dynamics, harmful consumer behaviours and social marketing.

"Researchers are increasingly recognising the diversity and special characteristics of less industrialised countries, as well as the urgent need to conduct research there to test the validity of marketing theories. Organisations are realising the profit potential in the many long ignored consumer needs that transformative consumer research explores."

The new committee Burgess will serve on reports to the ACR Board and it will work side-by-side as needed with the organisation's president.

Burgess has a 30-year career in marketing, sales and management that spans both the corporate and academic worlds and has published widely in international scholarly journals. His book SA Tribes: Who We Are, How We Live and What We Want From Life examined consumer and political behaviour in southern Africa and has received much acclaim. In 2006, Oxford University Press will release his fourth book, International Marketing.