John Branch

Professor John Branch is a Visiting Fellow at Magdalene.

Professor John Branch currently teaches a variety of marketing, strategy, and international business courses at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive levels at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (USA). Previously, he was Co-Director of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative, and Academic Director of the School’s weekend and evening MBA programmes; earlier, he was Director of Educational Outreach at the University’s William Davidson Institute. John also holds Faculty Associate positions at both the University’s Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies, and the University’s Center for Middle East and North African Studies. He maintains a Research Fellowship at the William Davidson Institute.

Prior to joining Michigan Ross, John was on the faculty of the Olin Business School at Washington University in Saint Louis (USA) for five years. He began his academic career in 1993, however, as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at École Supérieure de Commerce de Rennes in France. Since then, he has also served as an adjunct or visiting professor at more than 40 business schools throughout world, including the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (Croatia), ESAN (Peru), and the Sasin Graduate Institute of Administration (Thailand). He is currently an Associate Fellow at Homerton College, and a Member of the Knowledge, Power, and Politics research group of the Faculty of Education, both of the University of Cambridge (England). He was a visiting scholar at Queen Elizabeth House of the University of Oxford (England), at Wolfson College of the University of Cambridge (England), and at the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University (USA).

John has been involved in a variety of European Union and other government-funded development projects, most notably in the republics of the former USSR, including Kyrghyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, and in those of Eastern and Central Europe. He has also conducted management training and consulting in numerous international companies, including Anheuser-Busch, British Telecom, Saudi Telecom Company, GE, Mercedes Benz, Mirvac, Oracle, Coca-Cola, Michelin, Ericsson, and Nestlé.

John is originally from Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science in electronics from the University of Western Ontario (Canada), a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick (Canada), a Master of Arts in education from Washington University in Saint Louis (USA), a Doctor of Philosophy in marketing from the University of Cambridge (England), a Doctor of Education from the University of Michigan (USA), and a Doctor of Professional Studies from Middlesex University (England).

Research Interests

John 's scholarly interests span three broad streams. The first stream focuses on the use of cultural research methods to understand the meanings which people ascribe to their consumption lives. The second research stream parallels his international experience, especially in emerging economies. And his third research stream centres on issues of educational policy and pedagogy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Engineering Science (BESc), University of Western Ontario (1990)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of New Brunswick (1993)
• Master of Arts in Education (MAEd), Washington University in Saint Louis (2003)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Cambridge (2004)
• Doctor of Education (EdD), University of Michigan (2017)
• Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf), Middlesex University (2021)

Career/Research Highlights

• Best Paper in Reconceptualising Marketing Track, SMA Annual Conference (2022)
• Best Paper in Product and Brand Management Track, SMA Annual Conference (2017)
• Doctoral Honors, University of Michigan (2017)
• Neary Teaching Award, University of Michigan ( 2024, 2023, 2019, 2017, 2015)
• Arnie Ludwig Outstanding Professor, University of Notre Dame (2021)
• Sherwin-Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, SMA (2011)
• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Marketing (2009)
• Reid Teaching Award, Washington University in Saint Louis (2006)
• Cambridge Half Blue Athlete for Ice Hockey (1998)
• Captain, Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club (1997/1998)

Professional Affiliations

• Chartered Institute of Marketing
• Academy of International Business