College of Business: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professor of Business Administration

Ph.D., Business Administration (Marketing) (Psychology), University of Minnesota, 1990
B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology at Madras, 1985

Professor of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 - Present
Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Illinois, 1998-2009
Assistant Professor of Business Administration, University of Illinois, 1990-1998

Chaturvedi, A., Chiu, C., Viswanathan, M. Forthcoming. Bounded Agency and Analytical Thinking amoung Low Literate Indian Women. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Viswanathan, M., Gau, R. , Hastak, M. Forthcoming. Enabling Processing of Nutritional Labels Among Low-Literate Consumers. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing

Viswanathan, M., Clarke, J. , Ali, Y. Forthcoming. Sustainable Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Creating Educational Initiatives in Radically Challenging Contexts. Journal of Product Innovation Management

Viswanathan, M., Sridharan, S. Forthcoming. From Subsistence Marketplaces to Sustainable Marketplaces: A Bottom-Up Perspective of the Role of Business in Poverty Alleviation. Ivey Business Journal

Viswanathan, M., Sridharan, S., Gau, R. , Ritchie, R. Forthcoming. Designing Marketplace Literacy Education in Resource-Constrained Contexts: Implications for Public Policy and Marketing. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing

Viswanathan, M., Torelli, C., Gau, R. , Xia, L. Forthcoming. Literacy and Consumer Memory. Journal of Consumer Psychology

Weidner, K., Rosa, J., Viswanathan, M. Forthcoming. Marketing to Subsistence Consumers: Lessons From Practice. Journal of Business Research

Viswanathan, M., Ritchie, R., Sridharan, S. Forthcoming. Understanding Consumption and Entrepreneurship in Subsistence Marketplaces. Journal of Business Research

Viswanathan, M. Forthcoming. Understanding Measurement Error. In Handbook of Measurement

Sridharan, S., Viswanathan, M. Forthcoming. Marketing in Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship in a South Indian Context. Journal of Consumer Marketing

Tucker, E., Viswanathan, M., Walford, G. Forthcoming. Introduction: How Social Scientists Generate, Modify, and Validate Indicators and Scales. In Eric Tucker, Madhubalan Viswanathan, Geoffrey Walford (Ed.), Handbook of Measurement

Tucker, E., Viswanathan, M., Walford, G. Forthcoming. Handbook of Measurement

Gau, R. , Viswanathan, M. 2008. The Retail Shopping Experience for Low-Literate Consumers. Journal of Research for Consumers

Viswanathan, M. 2008. Measurement Error in Experimental Designs in Consumer Psychology. In Handbook of Consumer Psychology, Haugtvedt, Herr, and Kardes eds., Erlbaum, 1133-1159

Viswanathan, M., Gau, R. , Chaturvedi, A. 2008. Research Methods for Subsistence Marketplaces. In Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base-of-the-Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor

Viswanathan, M., Rosa, J. , Ruth, J. 2008. Emerging Lessons - For multinational companies, understanding the needs of poorer consumers can be profitable and socially responsible. Wall Street Journal Online

Viswanathan, M., Gajendiran, S., Venkatesan, R. 2008. Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces, Springer

Viswanathan, M., Gajendiran, S., Venkatesan, R. 2008. Understanding and Enabling Marketplace Literacy in Subsistence Contexts: The Development of a Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Educational Program in South India. International Journal of Educational Development, 3: 300-319

Viswanathan, M., Ritchie, R., Sridharan, S. 2008. Marketing in Subsistence Marketplaces. In Charles Wankel, Palgrave Macmillian (Ed.), Alleviating Poverty Through Business Strategy, 209-231

Rosa, J., Viswanathan, M. 2007. Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy and Resource Barriers, Advances in International Management Series, Elsevier

Viswanathan, M. 2007. Understanding Product and Market Interactions in Subsistence Marketplaces: A Study in South India . In Jose Rosa and Madhu Viswanathan (Ed.), Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy and Resource Barriers, Elsevier

Viswanathan, M., Rosa, J. 2007. Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy and Resource Barriers . In Jose Rosa and Madhu Viswanathan (Ed.), Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy, Advances in International Management Series, Elsevier, 1-17

Champaign-Urbana International Humanitarian Award, Cities of Champaign and Urbana, 2008
Social Entrepreneurship Award, Innovation Celebration, University of Illinois and Champaign County Economic Development, 2008
Faculty Fellow, Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, University of Illinois, 2006
Excellent Instructor, Incomplete List of Excellent Instructors, University of Illinois, 1993, 1997-1999, 2001-2002, 2004-2005

Conference Chair, Transformative Consumer Research Conference, 2009
Editorial Review Board, Journal of Macromarketing, 2007-Present
Editorial Review Board, TPM - Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 2007-Present
Editorial Review Board, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1999-Present
Editorial Review Board, Psychology and Marketing, 1999-Present
Conference Chair, Second Subsistence Marketplaces Conference: Sustainable Consumption and Commerce for a Better World, 2008
Session Organizer, Asking the Right Questions: Moving Base of the Pyramid Research and Practive Forward, Academy of Management Conference, 2008
Session Organizer, Consumption and Commerce in Subsistence Marketplaces: On the Mutual Influence of Marketing and the Social Fabric, American Marketing Association Summer Marketing Educators' Conference, 2008
Session Organizer, Innovative Public-Private Partnerships Around the Globe: Implications for Public Policy and Marketing, Marketing and Public Policy Conference, 2008
Session Organizer (with Srinivas Sridharan and Robin Ritchie), Understanding the Psychology of Subsistence Consumers, Annual Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology, 2008
Track Chair, Subsistence Markets, Joint International Society for Marketing and Development and Macromarketing Conference, 2007
Session Organizer, Understanding Subsistence Marketplaces or the Bottom of the Pyramid: Implications for Public Policy and Marketing, Public Policy and Marketing Conference, 2007
Conference Chair, Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces: Consumption and Entrepreneurship Beyond Literacy and Resource Barriers, 2006
Session Organizer, Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces, International Conference on Innovation and New Product Development, 2006
Session Organizer, Marketplace Behavior, Materialism and Happiness, Advertising, and Consumer and Psychology Conference, 2005
Session Chair, Ad Processing, La Londe Conference on Communications and Consumer Behavior, 2005
Editorial Review Board, Journal of Consumer Research, 2002-2005

Teaches courses in marketing research, measurement and research design, sustainable product and market development for subsistence marketplaces, and sustainable marketing enterprises.

Research focuses on literacy, poverty, and subsistence marketplace behavior, and measurement and research design. Director of the Marketplace Literacy Project (www.marketplaceliteracy.org) which aims to improve practices of businesses, policy-makers, and educators in serving the needs of low-literate consumers.