CIM Sri Lanka 16th Annual Conference on June 28, 29

The 16th Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka is scheduled to be held on the 28th and 29th June 2016 under the theme ‘Disruptive Innovation”. The conference will be inaugurated on Tuesday, 28th June at 6.30 pm and the technical sessions will be held on Wednesday, 29th June 2016 from 9 am -5pm at Waters Edge Battaramulla. 
This annual event featured eminent speakers over the past years such as Prof: Al Ries, who’s known to be the father of Branding and Positioning, Laura Ries, ProfJochenWirtz and Prof. Malcolm McDonald. Each year the conference takes place under different themes. 
The purpose of the CIM Sri Lanka Annual Conference is to congregate the professional  and business community of Sri Lanka to one forum in order to share current / topical themes in marketing through a panel of International and local experts whilst providing a networking opportunity and highlighting the important role of marketing as a profession that drives business success. 
Under the overarching theme of disruptive innovation, Dr. Prafulla Agnihotri will be the Keynote speaker of the event. Dr. PrafullaAgnihotri holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies (M.M.S.) and Ph.D. in International Marketing Strategy area from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. 
He has about ten years of experience in the industry- in sales, marketing and training, and over fifteen years of experience in academics. He is the  founder director of IIM Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India. Before taking over the current post, he was a Professor in marketing group at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta.
He teaches courses in Marketing Management, International Marketing, Services Marketing and Strategic Brand Management. His major research interests are in Brand / Marketing Audit, International Marketing Strategy and Global Competitiveness areas. Currently, he is researching on the role of home country government in promoting the global competitiveness of the firms emerging from that country. He has over twenty research papers published in several refereed reputed journals and magazines at national and international levels.
He has co-authored a book titled Principles of Marketing, with Philip Kotler, Northwestern University, USA; Gary Armstrong, University of North Carolina, USA and EhsanUlHaq, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan which has been published by Pearson Education (Prentice Hall).
Commenting on the initiative, Sanjika Perera, Chairman of CIM Sri Lanka stated that “It is important for marketers and businesses to be inspired and be guided on how to be innovative in gaining competitive edge. They need to question the fundamentals of the traditional business models and think out of the box. Therefore the topic Disruptive Innovation will add immense value to the decision makers of any organization.” 
The Chairman of the Unilever Sri Lanka Carl Cruz will be the Chief Guest at the event and the Guest of Honour would be Chris Daly, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.