This presentation was my talk to fellow research colleagues on my research journey.

1. Reflections on &
Lessons from:
My Research Journey
Anandan Pillai
FPM (2009) - Marketing

2. Initial sparks!
• Sept' 05 - Nov'06,
Icfai Research
Centre, Ahd
• May'07 - Apr'09,
IIM-Ahmedabad

3. What to Research?
The topic which:
• Has Future Potential
• I have Read About it
• I have Work Experience about it
• My Faculty suggested
• My Colleague works on an allied
topic
• I am Interested in
No matter what, I am ready to slog for it!

4. My Initial Research topic
Corporate Rebranding
• Buzzword in Indian business
environment!
• Very few research.
• Got connected to Prof. Laurent
Muzellec, who coined the term.
• Completed extensive literature
review.
• Prepared proposal document,
which was submitted for my FPM
selection!
• Worked on complete proposal as
part of my Term – I core course!
Left It!!
…..And????

5. Why did I leave it?
Realized later that:
• Phenomenon occurs once-in-a-while!
• Doesn't match with my personality of “being
agile”!
• My “specific inclination” (bias!) to study brand's
perspective ~ Methodological hurdles!
• Phenomenon won't die down soon. I “can
revisit” it anytime in my career, with enough
opportunities left!
• “Felt” that I am getting carried away by the
current affairs!

6. What made me choose my new research
pasture?
• Has Future Potential - Yes
• I have Read About it - Yes
• I have Work Experience
about it - No
• My Faculty suggested - No
• My Colleague works on an
allied topic - No
• I am Interested in - Yes
Am I am ready to slog for it – Yes!

7. What specific topic within Social Media?
• My personal inhibitions to interact with unknown
people.
• Where should I begin conversation?
• Extended the argument to “content strategy” in
social media vs. other traditional media.
• Zeroed on “Understanding Content Generation
Process for Customer Engagement on Social
Media”.

8. Choose a topic from within phenomenon
or “extend the phenomenon”
•Constituents of brand community
•Who joins brand community?
•What is the motivation to join a brand
community?
•How does brand community benefit users
& brands?
•What incentives to be given to users?
•Dynamics of brand community on an
offline & online context.
Content Strategy

9. Methodological Issues
• Respondents, i.e. community managers of brands
weren’t easily approachable!
• Brand managers, Agency heads acted as “gate-keepers”.
• Faced utmost difficulty till March, 2012.
• In April, 2012 Facebook brought a feature change, which
allowed me to reach community managers. Lucky!
• Tough to do a research from organization perspective,
with respect to data collection hurdles.
• Used my social networking skills to get on board Prof.
Robert Kozinets, pioneer of Netnography.

10. People believe only what they know!
• Educate audience about new research topics and
methodology.
• Facts matter to arm yourself!
• “Convince yourself”, before you convince others.

11. Publications
• Quantity vs. Quality
• Portfolio Depth vs. Breadth

12. Key learning!

13. anandan1982@gmail.com
Twitter: @anandan22