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Dear Colleagues, Southern Danish University has just announced the sixth edition of the renowned Doctoral Seminar on the Cultural Embeddedness of Marketing, Consumer and Organizational Research This program is always exciting, and it has been a highly rewarding event for participants in previous editions. There is room for 25 doctoral candidates. There is also room for up to five faculty observers. If you are interested, please contact A. Fuat Firat for a complete prospectus in .pdf form with all details and a copy of the seminar schedule. For more information, write to Prof. Firat at [log in to unmask] Best regards, Ken Friedman THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF BUSINESS RESEARCH VI The Sixth Doctoral Seminar on the Cultural Embeddedness of Marketing, Consumer and Organizational Research Arranged by University of Southern Denmark - Odense Main Campus From June 20, 2005 morning to June 25, 2005 evening. Prepared by A. Fuat Frat & Dominique Bouchet Faculty: Søren Askegaard Dominique Bouchet Lars Thøger Christensen A. Fuat Frat Romain Laufer Linda Scott Alladi Venkatesh The seminar facilitator is: A. Fuat Frat Department of Marketing SDU-Odense University Campusvej 55 DK-5230 Odense M Denmark Phone: (45) 6550 3646 Fax: (45) 6615 5129 e.mail: [log in to unmask] OBJECTIVE OF THE SEMINAR This doctoral seminar deals with the cultural dimension of business research. The purpose of the seminar is to draw the attention of researchers to cultural factors in business research in order to broaden, deepen and update their understanding of the phenomena they wish to examine in fields of business. The questions asked, the issues addressed and the methods used in all research projects are embedded in a culture. A critical self-awareness of this embeddedness not only raises the scientific level of the research, but also enlightens the researcher as it provides a new perspective not only in cross-cultural but in all research. For example, to renovate advertising, it is necessary to be aware that contemporary consumers perceive themselves and advertising in a different way than their parents did. Postmodern consumers have a tacit understanding of semiotics. They play different roles, sample different statuses, pursue different ideals. Analyzing organizations requires an understanding of the presentation of self, rituals and symbols, and the cultural dimensions of communication. An appreciation of cultural differences is mandatory to international marketing but also to human resource management. The purpose of this doctoral seminar is 1) to provide PhD students and other researchers participating in the seminar with insights about the cultural context of their research project - a context of which they are not always aware, and have not always been properly trained to take into consideration - and 2) to help seminar participants in working on a cross cultural project to improve their approach. Some basic concepts and advanced methods of the cultural approach to business research will be introduced by the faculty who are working at the interface of cultural analysis and business. Examples of how those concepts are fruitful to contemporary business research will be given. Participants will be helped by the faculty to perceive the cultural dimension of their own research projects. Furthermore, many a contemporary research project cannot fully be captured by a single conventional discipline or method. A cross-cultural and interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological perspective is, therefore, at the core of this seminar. Among other approaches, emphasis is placed - depending on faculty participation - on the relevance that theories encountered in anthropology, cultural analysis, ethnomethodology, ethnology, epistemology, hermeneutics, history of ideas, literary criticism, phenomenology, psychology, semiotics, social psychology, sociology, and systems theory have for business research. Keywords are: complexity, content analysis, creativity, culture, exoticism, globalism, legitimacy, localization, meaning myths, norms, relativism, rituals, roles, the sacred, status, symbols, values, and Weltanschauung. There will be an emphasis on each participant's own research project, since the main purpose of this course is to enable the researchers to reconsider their research project from perspectives different from conventional business research in order to generate more meaningful questions and alternative hypotheses, as well as theoretical insights into their own research, resulting in a more up-to-date, interdisciplinary, reflexive research. The seminar will achieve these objectives not only through the exposure to the cultural context of business research as a whole, but also through relying on the diversity of cultural backgrounds and research traditions that the doctoral students will bring with them. Therefore, the students will be requested to present their research problems and research perspectives at the beginning of the seminar. Active participation during the seminar is a must. Readings before and after the seminar will be required. --