Professor Rohit Varman

Professor Rohit Varman

Department of Marketing
Professor of Marketing and Consumption

Contact details

Address
Birmingham Business School
University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Rohit Varman is Professor of Marketing and Consumption at BBS. His current inter-disciplinary research focuses on corporate violence, exploitation, unfree labour, and resistance to corporatization and marketization.

He has published in leading journals that include Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Organization Science, Human Relations, Organization Studies, Journal of Service Research, and Marketing Theory. Rohit’s research was awarded Emerald Citation of Excellence in 2015. He is also former President of the International Society of Markets & Development.

He is currently a co-editor-in-chief of Marketing Theory and an associate editor of Consumption, Markets & Culture. Rohit serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Macro Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, and Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. He has guest edited special issues of Marketing Theory, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Macro Marketing, and Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. He has also co-edited books published by Cambridge University Press on alternative organizations in India and on critical marketing published by Routledge.

He is interested in supervising PhDs in the following areas:

  • Critical Theory
  • Marketing and Society
  • Consumer Culture
  • History of Marketing
  • Subaltern Consumption
  • Resistance and Consumer Movements
  • Colonialism, Consumption, and Markets

Qualifications

  • Ph.D, University of Utah
  • MBA, McGill University

Biography

Rohit Varman has a master’s degree in Business from McGill University. His PhD in Marketing is from University of Utah.  He started his academic career in India at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur before moving to Indian Institute of Management Calcutta where he spent 13 years. He also taught at Deakin University from 2015-2017. Rohit joined University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡ in 2019 as Professor in Marketing.  At University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡, Rohit held a range of leadership roles such as Doctoral lead for the Department of Marketing and Head of the Department of Marketing. 

Rohit contributes widely to the academic community.  He serves on the board of the International Society of Markets and Development (ISMD) and is a past President of ISMD.  He is on the editorial board of journals such as Journal of Macro Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management and Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. He is co-editor-in-chief of Marketing Theory and an Associate Editor for Consumption Markets and Culture. Rohit has been a visiting researcher at Karlstad University, New School, and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Past Positions:

2017 – 2019 - Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
2015 – 2017 - Professor, Deakin University
2012 – 2015 - Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
2010 –2012 - Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
2009 – 2010 - Senior Lecturer, Henley Business School, University of Reading
2006 – 2008 - Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
2002 – 2006 - Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur                

Teaching

  • Social Marketing and Societal Issues
    BSc Programme in Singapore
  • Cross Cultural Communication
    MSc Programme

Postgraduate supervision

  • Four Successful PhD Supervisions
  • Served on Supervisory Committees for Several PhD Students

Research

Research interests

Rohit’s broad areas of research are critical management/marketing and consumer culture.  His current inter-disciplinary research focuses on corporate violence, exploitation, unfree labour, consumer ethics, and resistance to corporatization and marketization. He is also interested in history of marketing and impact of colonialism on consumer culture. 

Other activities

  • Co-Editor-in-Chief, Marketing Theory
  • Associate Editor, Consumption, Markets and Culture
  • Member, Editorial Review Board of Journal of Macromarketing
  • Member, Editorial Review Board of Journal of Historical Research in Marketing
  • Member, Editorial board of Journal of Marketing Management
  • Guest Co-Editor (with Olga Kravets) Special Issue on Hierarchies of Knowledge of Marketing Theory, 2022
  • Guest Co-Editor (with Nikhilesh Dholakia) Special Issue on India of International Journal of Historical Research, 2018
  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Markets, Marketing and Violence of Journal of Marketing Management, 2018
  • Guest Co-Editor (with Giana Eckhardt and Nikhilesh Dholakia) Special Issue on Globalization of Marketing Ideology of Journal of Macromarketing, 2013
  • Editor, Decision (Journal published by Indian Institute of Management Calcutta), 2008-10
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer
    Marketing Theory
    Journal of Consumer Research
    Journal of Service Research
    Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
    Journal of Business Ethics
    Human Relations
    Organization Studies

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Varman, R & Vijay, D (eds) 2022, . Cambridge University Press.

Article

Varman, R, Belk, RW & Sreekumar, H 2024, '', Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 51, no. 2, ucad063, pp. 362–382.

Varman, R & Meshram, K 2024, '', Marketing Theory, pp. 1-19.

Varman, R & Srinivas, N 2023, '', Organization.

Varman, R, Al-Amoudi, I & Skålén, P 2023, '', Organization Studies.

Eckhardt, GM, Belk, RW, Bradford, T, Dobscha, S, Ger, G & Varman, R 2022, '', Consumption Markets and Culture, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 176–186.

Varman, R, Sreekumar, H & Belk, RW 2022, '', Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 657–677.

Varman, R, Vijay, D & Skålén, P 2022, '', Journal of Service Research, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 86-107.

Chatzidakis, A, Maclaren, P & Varman, R 2021, '', Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 289–308.

Chapter

Varman, R 2023, . in Researching Poverty and Austerity: Theoretical Approaches, Methodologies and Policy Applications. Taylor and Francis, pp. 71-88.

Varman, R & Vijay, D 2022, . in R Varman & D Vijay (eds), Organizing Resistance and Imagining Alternatives in India. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-40.

Varman, R & Vijay, D 2021, . in Y Minowa & R Belk (eds), Consumer Culture Theory in Asia: History and Contemporary Issues. 1st edn, Routledge Frontiers in the Development of International Business, Management and Marketing, Routledge, New York.

Editorial

Varman, R, Kerrigan, F & Chatzidakis, A 2024, '', Marketing Theory, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 547-553.

Chatzidakis, A, Kerrigan, F & Varman, R 2023, '', Marketing Theory, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 557-560.

Kravets, O & Varman, R 2022, '', Marketing Theory, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 127–133.