The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration Marketing Department held the 22^nd annual Robert Mittelstaedt Doctoral Symposium from March 28-30, 2013. Each year the symposium brings together doctoral research programs from across the country to give students the chance to present, discuss and network with some of the nation’s top marketing scholars.
 
This year the presentations began with UNL doctoral Jeff Johnson presenting his Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) award winning dissertation, “The Implementation of New Marketing Strategies by Business-to-Business Salespeople: The Constraining Factor Model.”
 
Dr. Ravi Sohi, Steinhart Foundation Distinguished Professor of Business, is Johnson’s dissertation chair and believes the award is particularly significant because of the scope of the research.
 
“For a doctoral student doing research in the business-to-business area, the ISBM award is the most prestigious dissertation award competition to win,” Sohi said. “Jeff’s dissertation spans sales and business-to-business marketing. He was able to compete for and win the most prestigious dissertation awards in both areas. I think this reflects on the quality of our doctoral program, and the training and mentoring we provide students.”
 
Johnson, who will graduate later this spring, is honored to be presenting at the Mittelstaedt symposium in his final year of studies at Nebraska.  
“This is a fantastic event that brings in colleagues from all over to cross-pollinate ideas,” Johnson said. “It gives us exposure to a wide breadth of cutting-edge research, and the marketing faculty and staff at CBA do an amazing job making this a memorable experience for everyone.”
 
Johnson was named an ISBM Business Marketing Doctoral Fellow for winning the award and received $7,500 to support his research.
 
“I defended my dissertation earlier in the week and as such I’ve completed my program of study,” Johnson said. “I will be editing the paper and preparing it for journal submission during the next couple months.”
 
Johnson also plans on attending the 2013 American Marketing Association Faculty Consortium: New Horizons in Selling & Sales at TCU this summer before beginning a teaching appointment at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the fall.
 
In all, 36 graduate students and 30 faculty members participated in this year’s Mittelstaedt symposium.

Visiting schools to this year’s symposium were Big Ten members the Ohio State University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Other schools attending included the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Arkansas, Iowa State University, University of Wyoming, University of Oklahoma, University of Cincinnati and the University of Texas at El Paso. Published: March 29, 2013