I am pleased to provide a report on the second joint EMAC/ANZMAC (BigMac2) symposium which was held in conjunction with the 2005 EMAC Conference in Milan. The theme of the one-day symposium was “Innovation in Marketing: Implications for Theory, Techniques and Measurements”, encompassing three tracks: Marketing Theory (Chairs: Robin Wensley and Rod Brodie); Techniques (Chairs: Peter Leeflang and Jordan Louviere); and Measurements & Metric (Chairs: Lutz Hildebrandt and Peter Danaher).

An important objective of BigMac is to foster research networking and interaction between members of EMAC and ANZMAC, and to encourage scholars and researchers from the Asia Pacific region, who join these networks to promote new ideas and insights arising from their own research.

To a large extent this year’s BigMac2 event has achieved this goal. The event attracted some one hundred delegates, including EMAC and ANZMAC authors/presenters and supporters, who participated in lively discussions of latest research findings, and stimulating debates, on the advancement and application of marketing theories/paradigms, methods and measurements. Moreover, as can be seen from the Symposium programme provided below, the Track Chairs are to be commended for doing an excellent job in attracting some outstanding presenters, authors and panel members alike, to this event.

In the case of the Theory Track, the Chairs constructed 2 panel sessions that focused on leading edge issues. Out of 10 proposals submitted, 2 provided the basis for the panel sessions and one (Nick Lee and John Cadogan), combined with John Rossiter’s proposal to give a combined Theory/Measurement session. The 10 panelist's for the 2 sessions were selected from among those who submitted proposals (4) and senior ANZMAC and EMAC researchers who are experts in the areas (5), giving an equal balance between ANZAC and EMAC participants.

As for the Techniques/Models and Metrics/Measurement Tracks, a total of 17 abstracts were received by Track Chairs. Following review by the Track Chairs, the unanimous decision was to accept all submitted abstracts for the Symposium.

Overall, the Track Chairs were pleased with the quality of the submitted abstracts and found that they grouped naturally into themes that ended up in the final Symposium programme.

Summaries of the Symposium abstracts and discussions for each of the three tracks will be available on the EMAC and ANZMAC websites in due course.

Both Mark Gabbot and I, as the Symposium Chairs, would like to take this opportunity to thank the EMAC/ANZMAC Track Chairs for their coordinated efforts and support, and, not least, for taking the lead in shaping the agenda for BigMac 2.