Prof Rachel Barker from the Department of Communication Science won a prestigious award at the 5th Biennial Academy of World Business, Marketing and Management Development (AWBMAMD) Conference, which was hosted by the University Of Budapest Business School in Hungary. The conference took place from 16-19 July 2012 and representatives from 31 countries attended the conference. The Programme Chair of the Conference was Prof Gabriel Ogonkumon from Monarch University, Australia who is also the President and Executive Conference Director.
“The theme for this year was Managing, Marketing and Financing Organizations in an Era of Economic Uncertainty was chosen for this conference because managers of today are functioning in an increasingly complex, competitive, unpredictable and dynamic global environment that requires effective planning and the utilization of an array of interdisciplinary skills vital for successfully managing and marketing organizations in this current environment,” said Prof Barker.
The conference covers many important topics including business, finance, marketing management, information technology, e-business, sustainable management, health care, tourism and corporate strategy related areas that are of national and international significance.
“This 5th biennial conference attracted 301 papers from scholars around the world. All papers in these proceedings have been accepted after a double blind peer review process. Out of the 301 papers submitted for the conference, just over one third of the papers survived the refereeing process and in most cases referees asked for some modification to the papers. Papers that failed to fully address reviewers’ comments were also rejected. The proceedings are supplied to all conference participants and are available for sale to the general public,” added Prof Barker.
Not only was Prof Barker’s paper selected in a blind refereed process to receive a certificate of recommendation, but she was also elected 2012 Executive Fellow of the Academy and she also received a track chair award. “I have been a track chair of the conference since the first conference in 2004. The track chair award is presented to those who are actively involved in the coordination of the double blind peer review of papers, who assist in the review and acceptance process and who chair the relevant sections during the conference. The paper presented was selected as one of four papers during the refereed blind review process for this certificate which means that one of the evaluators nominated it for best paper award and that the revised paper will be published in one of the International Journals of the Academy,” said Prof
Barker.
Prof Barker has been an active member of the Academy since its inception in 2004 and has held positions such as Executive of Marketing (Africa), has been appointed as member of the Executive Board in 2008. “This is really an indication of my commitment to the Academy and I can only thank the members of the board for their confidence in and acknowledgement of my contributions. I will continue to be an active member of this prestigious event to contribute to the stature of academics of Unisa in reaching its objective of becoming one of the leading research institutions on the continent through excellence and leadership at international level by example,” said Prof Barker.
By Mercy Bvuma
