cademic research in marketing often and rightfully tends to either build on well-established past research
topics or follow well-established practices in industry. However, as technology advances, it might be possible
to foresee some more enduring trends and focus research on future issues rather than on past issues.
One approach would be to study emerging technologies with rapidly declining costs. Each of these emerging
technologies spawns myriad applications that have the potential to dramatically impact existing markets. Interesting
research topics include the study of the impact of these applications on different market participants (e.g.,
final consumers, the seller, the seller of complementary services, intermediaries, information providers, competitors,
other industries). Research topics also include the optimal structure for products and services, given these
new applications, as well as which intermediary should offer particular services. Research topics also include
the interactive ability to rapidly customize marketing strategy by identifying individuals at particular points
in time and under particular demand conditions. Five of these technologies include enhanced search services,
biometrics and smart cards, enhanced computational speed, M-commerce, and GPS tracking.
Key words: research in marketing; scholarly and academic research topics; research fads