Sundar Bharadwaj is the Coca Cola Chair Professor of Marketing at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia and Senior Research Scholar at the Indian School of Business. Prior to that, he served as a Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University for 18 years. He has held visiting faculty positions at the Wharton School, Cornell University, HEC (Paris), Indian School of Business, Singapore Management University and BI (Norway). He teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA and doctoral programs.
His research focuses on business problems relating to current and long-term returns and risks to marketing investments in brands, customers, innovation, and marketing strategy. He was listed among the 50 most productive researchers worldwide in the AMA journals for the decade 2007-2016 and in the top 4 marketing journals for the period 2008-2013 by the AMA DocSig. In 2017, his research on customer solutions received the Sheth Long-term impact award. He has received an Early Career Award from the Marketing Strategy Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association. His work on cross-functional processes and manufacturing performance published in the Information Systems Research received the Runner-up award for Best Paper published in the journal. His research that introduces a relational process-oriented approach to customer solutions published in the Journal of Marketing was a finalist for the Maynard Award for theoretical contributions in 2007. His research on the process of marketing strategy making published in the Journal of Marketing was awarded the Marketing Science Institute/Paul Root Award for contribution to the Practice of Marketing in 1999 by the American Marketing Association. His framework for assessing a service firm’s competitive advantage in a global market has been awarded for best research in services in 1993 by the American Marketing Association. Similarly, his research on the role of functional conflict in marketing strategy quality and creativity was awarded by the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science in 1996. His doctoral research on core competencies of a firm and brand equity was awarded by the American Marketing Association.
Professor Bharadwaj has held brand management and sales management positions in multinational corporations (such as SmithKline Beechams and AMUL) where he developed branding strategies and channel strategies for new and existing product. He has executive education and consulting experience in areas related to brand strategy, customer/Key account management, marketing strategy, pricing strategy, new product management and sustainable marketing with U.S., European and Asian firms ranging from Abbot Labs, BMS, Coca Cola, CISCO, IBM, INTEL, 3M, Microsoft, KPMG, Norinco, Nokia, NOL, Siemens, Rock-Tenn, Schneider Electric, Synovate, Singhealth, TATA Motors, and TCS. He has also conducted executive education programs for the Indian Public Sector organizations such as the Indian Railways, LIC, IRS, IIS, and the Comptroller and Auditor Generals of India.