Dr. Manish Kacker is a tenured Associate Professor (Marketing) at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. He has earned a B.A. (Hons) from St. Stephen’s College (University of Delhi), a PGDM (MBA equivalent) from Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and a PhD from Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University).
Dr. Kacker's research interests revolve around the domains of marketing strategy, distribution channels, business marketing, retailing/franchising, salesforce management, entrepreneurship/small business, and corporate social policy. An area of focus is in addressing substantive and methodological questions pertaining to the design and management of downstream vertical interfirm exchange relationships in marketing, with a particular interest in sales and distribution channels as well as franchising. Other research areas of focus include the marketing-finance interface, organizational and consumer adoption/use of new products and technologies, corporate social policy, and organizational transgressions.
Dr. Kacker's research has been published in leading scholarly journals, including current FT-50 journals (e.g., Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science) and other ABDC A*/A journals (e.g., International Journal of Research in Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Small Business Management, and Small Business Economics). He has presented his research at prominent conferences and institutions across Canada and the US, as well as in England, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Austria, India and Singapore.
Dr. Kacker has received research funding from multiple external sources, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) and the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Pennsylvania State University. He has served as an Area Chair at the DeGroote School of Business. He currently serves on multiple editorial boards and as a reviewer for prominent peer-reviewed marketing journals.
Dr. Kacker works closely with doctoral students, with two of his doctoral students winning ISBM Doctoral Dissertation Awards from the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Pennsylvania State University. He has also served as a doctoral committee member and as an external examiner for multiple doctoral dissertations.
Dr. Kacker is an award-winning instructor who has previously taught at Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management), Pennsylvania State University (Smeal College of Business), Tulane University (Freeman School of Business), and the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore). Dr. Kacker has taught at the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels. At the DeGroote School of Business, he has recently taught/currently teaches Marketing Research in the undergraduate Commerce program, Strategic Marketing Analysis in the MBA program, Strategic Marketing in the Executive MBA in Digital Transformation program and Marketing Models and Modeling as well as Special Topics in Marketing Strategy: Marketing-Finance Interface in the doctoral program. Other undergraduate and MBA courses he has previously taught include Research Methods in Marketing, Marketing Channels, International Marketing Channels, Business Marketing, Franchising Strategy, Applied Marketing Management, and Marketing Management Policies and Programs. Other doctoral courses he has previously taught include Math for Models, Inter-Organizational Research in Marketing, and Special Topics in Marketing Strategy: Distribution Channels and Franchising.
Dr. Kacker has been a frequent contributor in the media – his research has been featured in the Globe and Mail and he has appeared on CBC, Global News, CTV news as well as in Bloomberg Businessweek, Toronto Star, Financial Post, New Orleans Time-Picayune and Inc. magazine.
