Univ. of Md.s Robert H. Smith School of Business Marketing Faculty Honored For Top Research

College Park, Md. November 21, 2007 Marketing faculty at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business recently received honors for top research influencing business practices. P.K. Kannan, the Harvey Sanders Associate Professor of Marketing, and department chair Roland Rust, the David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing, were each recognized for separate projects. Kannan won the 2007 INFORMS Society on Marketing Science Practice Prize competition. Rusts research won the Best Article Award from the Journal of Service Research.

Im pleased to see our marketing faculty recognized for their thought leadership, said Howard Frank, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The Smith Schools faculty members have proven themselves among the worlds most prolific researchers, and the marketing department in particular has continuously produced cutting-edge work that is having real impact on business in the global economy.

Kannan presented his research, Pricing Digital Content Product Lines: A Model and Application to the National Academies Press, along with co-authors Barbara Kline Pope of the National Academies Press and Sanjay Jain of Texas A&M University, in a competition at the Practice and Impact of Marketing Science conference held at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, Oct. 14-16. The team was one of only four finalist teams selected to square off with a paper and presentation at the conference, judged by a panel of eminent marketing scientists.

The prestigious Practice Prize is awarded for outstanding implementation of marketing science concepts. The works methodology must be appropriate to the problem and organization, and the work should have had significant impact on the performance of the client organization. Kannans research model helped the National Academies Press create a business plan for selling digital content online along with printed books on its Web site. Each year, NAP publishes more than 200 books and reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council on a wide range of topics in science, engineering and health.

Rust won the Journal of Service Researchs Best Article Award for The Path to Customer Centricity, authored with Denish Shah, A. Parasuraman, George Day and Rick Staelin and published in the November 2006 issue of the journal, 2006-2007 volume. The award is sponsored by IBM and presented annually to the top article in the previous volume of the journal. Winners are selected by the journals editorial review board. The winning authors were awarded plaques and a cash prize of $2,000 at the 2007 American Marketing Association Frontiers in Service Conference, Oct. 4-7.

Rust is the executive director of the Smith Schools Center for Excellence in Service, which sponsors theJournal of Service Research. He founded the journal in 1998 and it has become the premier research outlet in the service domain. He also is the founder and chair of the AMA Frontiers in Service Conference. He has been recognized with numerous awards for his work. Earlier this year the Academy of Marketing Science honored Rust with its top award, the 2007 Cutco/Vector Distinguished Marketing Educator Award.

About the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 14 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents North America, Europe and Asia.