Disruption frames new MSI research agenda: Privacy policies, new channels, inflation & recession, and stakeholder expectations for marketing and firm purpose

These seven new priority topics will guide MSI research activities and programming over the next two years.

2022-2024 Research Priorities

• Data Challenges from Business Disruption and Missing Information
• Measurement and Analytics
• Long-Term Changes in How Customers and Firms Interact
• Inflation and Supply Change Disruption
• Corporate Mission Shifts from Shareholder Value to Stakeholder Value
• Regulatory and Public Policy Issues Affecting Marketing
• The Influence of Marketing in the Firm

MSI’s research priorities come from listening tour conversations with our member companies earlier in 2022, said MSI Executive Director John Lynch.

“In our listening tour calls, MSI member firms were struggling to adapt to recent changes in privacy policies. Those changes affect their ability to understand and meet the needs of customers and monitor the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.  Some trends such as increased digitization of customer interactions have accelerated even as data needed for personalization and targeting may be increasingly restricted.  Firms are also struggling with inflation and preparing for looming recession.”

Lynch added that “These disruptions have implications not only for how marketing is done but also for its role in helping companies address the concerns of diverse stakeholders.  MSI has a history of supporting foundational research that can inform public policy discussions, and that has been increasingly focal so that firms can anticipate where regulation is headed and how this will affect their business rather than having to play catch up after regulations have changed. These issues were back burner five years ago but front burner now. Our member companies absolutely benefit from the MSI academics who were early movers in what is by now an exciting stream of academic research.”

MSI academics have learned over time that their work has higher impact on practice and on academic thought when grounded in the issues that are most pressing for our member companies.  The new priorities will inform the academic research that MSI expects to support.

New academic research takes time, and our member companies need solutions now. We plan a rich lineup of programming about what is known now about these priority topics, so our member firms can take next steps to prosper in a changing marketplace.

Download the MSI 2022-2024 Research Priorities Booklet