Webinars
MSI Webinar: Innovative New Products and the Bicultural Consumer: Strategic Insights for Market Growth
This webinar presents a concise overview of recent research examining how innovative new products resonate with bicultural consumers. Our findings indicate that individuals exposed to multiple cultural influences exhibit a heightened need for uniqueness, which in turn drives their favorable evaluations and adoption of products that break conventional molds. Rather than delving into technical design details, the presentation emphasizes managerial implications by offering an actionable framework for understanding and targeting this influential consumer segment. Attendees will gain strategic insights on leveraging cultural diversity to foster innovation and drive growth, along with clear, practical takeaways for enhancing product development and marketing strategies.
speaker
Maria Rodas is a marketing professor at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she teaches Marketing Management and Multiculturalism in the Marketplace. Her research explores branding, cross-cultural, and multicultural consumer behavior, and her work has been published in leading marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She has received numerous awards, including the 2023 MSI Young Scholar Award, the 2018 AMA’s Matthew Joseph Emerging Scholar Award, and most recently, the inaugural Gies Advanced Study Scholar appointment for 2024-2025. Prior to joining UIUC, she was a marketing professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business and received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Additionally, Maria received an MBA from Columbia University and an AB from Harvard University. She spent a decade working in management consulting and in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Her industry experience is predominantly in brand management, having worked with brands such as Yoplait, Old El Paso, Wrigley’s Extra Gum, and Palmolive.