2026 George John Symposium on Marketing Strategy— Conference Schedule

Thursday, April 30 — Arrival Day

3:00p–5:30p Arrivals & hotel check-in

6:30p–8:00p Dinner on own

Friday, May 1 — Conference Day 1

8:00a–9:00a Breakfast Abrahm Claude room

9:00a–9:15a George John (University of Minnesota) + Kelli Frias (American University), Welcome remarks & introductions

9:15a–10:15a George John (University of Minnesota), Keynote: Research journey & opportunities for young researchers

10:15a–10:30a Coffee break

10:30a–11:10a Zuhui Xiao (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), AI-Human Collaboration: Analytical Approach

11:10a–11:50a Yuanchen Su (University of Delaware), The Effect of Natural Disaster on Misconduct Behaviors

12:00p–1:00p Lunch Abrahm Claude room

1:00p–1:40p Liuyi Wang (University of Arizona), Policy Type Matters: Diversity in Consumer Reactions to Government-Backed Healthcare Initiatives

1:40p–2:20p TBD

2:20p–2:35p Coffee break

2:35p–3:15p Arash Roghani (Bucknell University), Product Comparison Tools: Marketing a Competitor's Product

3:15p–3:55p Coffee Break

3:55p–4:10p TBD

4:10p–4:50p Alok Kumar (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), TBD

4:50p–5:30p Andreas Kraft (University of Chicago Booth), Loss Leaders

5:30p–6:00p Personal time

6:00p–10:00p Dinner on own

Saturday, May 2 — Conference Day 2

7:30a–8:30a Breakfast Jonas Green room

8:30a–8:45a Kelli Frias (American University) + George John (University of Minnesota), Setting agenda for Day 2

8:45a–9:25a Vishal Kashyap (University of Graz), TBD

9:25a–10:05a Rehan Khan (McMaster University), Digitally Mediated Commerce Technologies in Structurally Marginalized Contexts

10:05a–10:20a Coffee break

10:20a–11:00a Madhu Viswanathan (Indian School of Business), TBD

11:00a–11:40a Bella Yoon (University of Minnesota), When Joint Effort Pays: Mitigating Customer Churn Through Sales Collaboration in B2B Markets

12:00p–1:00p Lunch Jonas Green room

1:00p–1:40p Xiaolin Li (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), AI-Human Collaboration in Sequential Sales Funnels

1:40p–2:20p Raghu Rao (University of Texas at Austin), Organizing for Sales: Impact of Artificial Intelligence Tools

2:20p–2:35p Coffee break

3:00p–3:40p Bharat Vaishnav (Cape Breton University), Accelerating into a Quagmire? Theory and Evidence on the Speed of Omnichannel Integration

3:45p–4:25p Ruitong Wang (Tongji University), Impact of Digitalized Procurement on Buyer-Supplier Relationship

4:25p–5:00p Sourav Ray (University of Guelph), TBD

5:00p–6:00p Personal Time

6:00p Conference Dinner

Sunday, May 3 — Departure Day

7:30a–8:30a Continental closing breakfast

8:30a–11:00a Informal conversations & departures