Recently, the "2025 Academic Annual Conference and Doctoral Forum of Chinese Marketing Association of Universities" was successfully held in Jinan. Hosted by the Chinese Marketing Association of Universities and organized by the School of Management, Shandong University, the conference attracted over 1,000 experts, scholars, master's and doctoral students, as well as enterprise representatives from more than 242 universities and institutions at home and abroad. The event focused on the theme of "Large Models and Marketing Innovation" for in-depth discussions.

The conference consisted of multiple sessions, including an opening ceremony, keynote speeches, a doctoral forum, a research method improvement workshop, 7 special committee forums, featured forums, and 56 parallel forums. More than 10 faculty members and students from the School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), including JING Fengjie, FEI Hongping, SHEN Zhengyu, and XIANG Weilin, were invited to attend. A total of 4 papers were accepted and presented on-site. Among them, the paper written by Professor XIANG Weilin won the "Outstanding Conference Paper Award", demonstrating the solid accumulation and innovative capabilities of the School in the field of marketing research.

On July 20th, the sub-forum themed "Breaking the Dilemma · Integration · Co-creation — Paths of Marketing Innovation for Sci-Tech Startups Under the Wave of Technology" was held at the Central Campus of Shandong University. Initiated and hosted by Professor FEI Hongping from the School, this forum achieved the first three-party dialogue among the investment community, academic circles, and sci-tech startups, providing new ideas for solving the problems of technological achievement transformation.

Professor FEI Hongping delivered a speech titled "Paradigm Shift in Sci-Tech Marketing: Exploration of Sci-Tech Marketing Based on EBV Value". Combining ECUST's science and engineering background with practical experience in innovation and entrepreneurship education, she analyzed the unique challenges faced by sci-tech startups in technology-driven markets and proposed the "Engineering-Business Validation (EBV)" framework, offering a systematic solution for sci-tech startups to cross the "Valley of Death".

The conference set up 56 parallel forums, where authors of 346 selected papers discussed topics such as consumer psychology and behavior, marketing strategy, service marketing, and marketing innovation with large models. Faculty and students from the School presented 4 papers. Professors SHEN Zhengyu and XIANG Weilin were also invited to serve as reviewers for relevant special topics, conducting in-depth exchanges with participating scholars.

The 4 presented papers covered three themes: consumer psychology and behavior, service marketing, and marketing innovation with large models. During the conference, many graduate and undergraduate students from the Business School showcased their research results, demonstrating solid scientific research training and innovative thinking.

ZHANG Junhui (2024-level graduate student of the Business School) presented the research "The Impact of Brand Anthropomorphism on Impulsive Consumption — From the Perspective of Loneliness Moderation" under the guidance of her supervisor. Starting from the psychological perspective of "loneliness", the research explored how brands can become "social beings" for consumers, providing new ideas for brand emotional connection and precision marketing through empirical research.

DONG Luyao (2022 intake undergraduate student of the School), as one of the few undergraduate participants, focused on cutting-edge issues in the digital intelligence era. Together with her supervisor, she presented the qualitative analysis results based on Maxqda with the title "The Mechanism of AI Summaries in Users' Hotel Booking Process", revealing the key role of artificial intelligence technology in consumer decision-making. With innovative research and a confident presentation, she demonstrated the academic potential of ECUST undergraduates.

FEI Yixin (2023-level graduate student of the Business School) completed the research "The Impact of Infectious Disease Cues on Consumers' Preference for Service Robots" under the guidance of Professor WU Xiaoyue. Focusing on the field of infectious diseases that consumers often encounter in daily life, the research explored the impact of infectious disease cues on consumers' preference for service robots, enriched relevant research on infectious disease cues and service robots, and provided empirical evidence for the promotion and practice of service robots by enterprises.

MA Yunxiang (2023-level graduate student of the Business School) completed the research "Collaboration vs. Substitution: The Impact of Service Provider Type on Consumers' Service Acceptance in the Digital Intelligence Context" under the guidance of his supervisor. Based on the stereotype theory, the research gradually explored the impact of changes in intelligent service provider types on consumers' service acceptance and its mechanism through three experiments, providing targeted strategic suggestions for better promoting consumers' acceptance of intelligent services in the digital intelligence era.

This participation has further enhanced the visibility and influence of the School in the marketing academic circle. In the future, the Business School will continue to uphold the school motto of "Diligence, Pragmatism, Aspiration, and Virtue", continuously promote theoretical innovation and practical exploration in the field of marketing, and contribute more to discipline construction and talent training.