About me

I am the Barford Professor of Marketing at the Ivey Business School, Canada. I study marketing, brands, consumer behavior, and strategy.

I work on research that that examines how consumer think about brands. I also research strategic aspects of brand equity, and market-based competitive advantage. My publications in these areas have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, M.I.T. Sloan Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Marketing Letters, and other academic and managerial outlets.

I also publish comment pieces and press articles some of which have appeared in the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Globe & Mail, Business Standard, and Business Today.

I have worked in Europe, North America and Asia and have been lucky to live in some fabulous places.

Before moving to Canada, I was on the faculty at INSEAD from 1991-1998 as Assistant, then Associate Professor. In recent years, I've also been a Visiting Professor at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France) and at the Vlerick School (Gent, Belgium), at INSEAD’s Asia campus in Singapore, at the University of Michigan Business School, and in the 1990s, at at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

I have written a number of case studies on brand and competitive strategy in global markets. These cases are taught at business schools around the world, and several have received awards from the European Foundation for Management Development.

I am an active contributor to the business press and international conferences on business and marketing issues.

I have also worked closely with the senior management teams of companies including Algorithmics, Asahi Glass, BMW (AG), Cadbury-Schweppes (Global), Debeers (South Africa), HSBC (Asia), Microsoft (C.E.E.), Sud Chemie (Mexico), S. C. Johnson (Europe), KPMG (Asia), J. Walter Thompson (International), the McCain group (Worldwide), Telus (Canada).

I have served as the program director for Microsoft, McCain, and HSBC global and regional management programs, designing and delivering programs for management teams.

Travel is a passion. When I was a kid, I spent a memorable month on an Italian ship from Mumbai to Genoa, around Africa, stopping in Mombassa, Durban, Capetown, Dakar, and Las Palmas. As a student, I traveled in Europe (on both sides of the iron curtain), as well as to Malaysia, Singapore and Madagascar. After University, I went on a magical motorcycle trip through one of India's least developed states. More recently, memorable trips include Zanzibar, Havana, and the Himalayas.

My most recent reads include The White Tiger, I.O.U, and Sea of Poppies. My all time favorite reads include Catch-22, Beloved, Autumn of the Patriarch, and The War of the End of the World. Ask me about movies if you have a few hours to spare.


Twitter: @nirajdawar