A professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Business has been awarded two grants to fund her ongoing research on culture in the marketplace.
Lisa N. Pe帽aloza, an associate professor of marketing, has won a total of $25,000 from the Marketing Science Institute.
Pe帽aloza researches the way consumers and marketers express and produce culture in such venues as ethnic markets, retail concept stores and the Denver Stock Show. Her research is of particular interest to marketing companies and practitioners because it addresses issues they face in solving real-world marketing problems.
MSI is a not-for-profit organization that matches leading-edge academic research with corporate marketing practitioners. Pe帽aloza's recent awards include:
* A $20,000 grant to study the consumption behavior of Mexican Americans based on her paper "Still Crossing Borders: Mexican American Consumer Socialization."
* A $5,000 grant awarded to her and her advisee, doctoral student Julien Cayla, for his proposed dissertation titled "A Passage to India: An Ethnographic Study of the Advertising Agency's Role in Mediating the Cultural Learning and Adaptation of Multinational Corporations."
Cayla also won the 2000 Alden G. Clayton Doctoral Dissertation Competition, also sponsored by MSI. The competition selects the best proposals that address one of MSI's research priorities. Cayla was one of four winners selected from among 57 entries.
Pe帽aloza uses an ethnographic approach to research, which consists of extensive observation, interaction and in-depth interviews with people as they live in their normal environment.
"While this approach is common in anthropology and sociology, it is making an increasing impact in marketing research," Pe帽aloza said. "It provides in-depth understanding of cultural exchanges, which are vital in an increasingly global market."