Consumer Behaviour
Brand Management
- ruppal.sharma@spjimr.org
Ruppal Walia Sharma
Professor, MarketingChairperson, Post Graduate Programme in General Management
Head, Delhi Centre
Ruppal Walia Sharma is a faculty of Marketing and Design Thinking. She holds a Ph.D. from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, with a doctoral research focus on brand management. She has completed a master’s in international business management from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, and graduated in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.
She has worked in brand management profiles across diverse industries in the consumer goods space for over eight years prior to joining academics. In her academic career spanning over two decades, she has taught at leading business schools in India. Her areas of interest include marketing strategy, brand management, consumer behaviour and design thinking. She has designed and delivered several customised management development programmes for mid- to senior-level executives across diverse industries. In addition, she has also provided consultancy to start-ups on their marketing and branding strategies.
Her research work is anchored largely in the area of consumer behaviour and brand management and has been published in reputed international journals. She has presented her intellectual contributions at select conferences and has many case publications to her credit. She also reviews research papers for highly ranked international journals. She has received awards for teaching and publication, including Best Faculty Recognition at IIFT. Her case studies were selected among the Top 10 at the ISB Ivey Global Case Study Competition for two consecutive years.
She has handled diverse academic and administrative assignments in the past and is currently Chairperson for the Post Graduate Programme in General Management for working executives and the Head of the Delhi Centre at SPJIMR.
Education
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
Ph.D., 2013
Focus: Brand Management
India Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi
MBA, 1995
Major: International Business
Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi
BA (Hons), 1993
Major: Economics
-
Research interests
-
Selected publications
Jain, S., Banerjee, R., and Sharma, R. W. (2023). Meaning-oriented consumption: A systematic review and research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 1– 30. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12927
Sharma, R. W., Kamath, R. (2022). MTR Foods – Redesigning Brand Identity and Brand Architecture. Asian Journal of Management Cases,1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/09728201221126776
Sharma, R. W. (2022). IndiGo Airlines Brand Crisis: Assault on Passenger Goes Viral. Asian Journal of Management Cases, 19(1) 54–63, published online 2020 https://doi.org/10.1177/0972820120918968
Mishra, M.S and Sharma, R. W. (2019). Brand Crisis-Sentiment Analysis of User-Generated Comments About @ Maggi on Facebook. Corporate Reputation Review, 22(2), 48–60. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41299-018-0057-4
Sharma, R. W., Srivastava, D. (2017). Measuring Customer’s Response to a Word-of-Mouth Message on the Social Media: Development of a Multi-Item Journal of Creative Communications, 12(3), 185-204. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0973258617722004
Srivastava, Deepti and Sharma Ruppal W.(2017). Developing a Model for Studying the Antecedents and Effects of Word of Mouth (WoM) and e-WoM Marketing. Jindal Journal of Business Research, 6(1), 1-19. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2278682117700307
Iyer R, Eastman, J.K and Sharma, R.W. (2017). The Impact of Cognitive Age on Materialism, Status Consumption and Loyalty Proneness on the Indian Elderly. Marketing Management Journal, 27(1), 48-62. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317542219_The_Impact_of_Cognitive_Age_on_Materialism_Status_Consumption_and_Loyalty_Proneness_on_the_Indian_Elderly
Sharma, R. W. (2015). Communicating across age-groups: variance in consumer attitudes from tweenagers to adults. Young Consumers, 16(3), 348 – 362. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282462136_Communicating_across_age-groups_Variance_in_consumer_attitudes_from_tweenagers_to_adults
Sharma, R. W., Dasgupta, P. (2011). Impact of Model Imagery and Product Information on Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention across Age Groups. Journal of Marketing Trends, 1, 71-77. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353127973_Impact_of_Model_Imagery_and_product_information_on_Brand_Attitude_and_Purchase_Intention_Across_Age_Groups
Sharma, R. W., Dasgupta, P. (2009). Marketing to Children: a planning framework. Young Consumers, 10(3), 180-187. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235268658_Marketing_to_Children_A_Planning_Framework
-
Case studies
Sharma, R. W., and Kandaswamy, J. (2025, January 22). ITC Mangaldeep: Restructuring the brand portfolio for growth. Ivey Publishing. Product No.: W40186.
Sharma, R.W., Kamath, R., Bansal, A., Singh, A.K., (2024). Air India-Vistara brand merger: On the right path? Product number: W37029.
Sharma, R.W., and Saxena, S., 2023. Advantage Legrand: Building a B2B brand. Ivey Publishing. Product Number: W33763.
Mishra, M.S and Sharma, R.W (2018), Greenco Enterprises India Pvt. Ltd.: Market Strategy for Frozen Snacks, Ivey Publishing, Case Study and Teaching Note ref no.- 9B18A063 and 8B18A063 (selected in the top 10 case studies in the ISB-Ivey Global Case Study Competition 2017).
Sharma, Ruppal Walia (2017), “Rays Culinary Delights: Building a Startup Brand“, Ivey Publishing, Case Study and Teaching Note ref no.-9B17A002 and 8B17A002 (selected in top 10 case studies in the ISB-Ivey Global Case Study Competition 2016).
Sharma, Ruppal Walia (2009), “Rekindling Brand Growth: 3 Brand Stories” ECCH, case ref no. 509-080-1 and Teaching Note”, ECCH, Case Ref No 509-080-8.
-
Conferences
Sharma, R., and Kandaswamy, J., Designing a new brand portfolio for ITC Mangaldeep. Case study paper presented at the North American Case Research Association (NACRA 2024) Conference, Orlando, Florida (October 17–19, 2024).
Tawde, S., Sharma, R. W., Kamath, R., HusainS., R. V., Exploring green consumers’ skepticism –perceived value association: What lowers green consumers’ negative evaluations?’, 17th Great Lakes NASMEI Marketing Conference at Chennai (December 2023).
Jain, S., Sharma, R.W., Meaningful stories – how brand stories give meaning-in-life, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC 2023), The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand (December 2023).
Sharma, R. W. NACRA 2022 Annual Conference. B2B Branding: Strengthening the Legrand Advantage. (October 8, 2022).
Jain S, Banerjee, R and Sharma, R. W. (2021). What hurts more – I don’t perform or I don’t behave: Competence and Integrity Violations and Role of Integrity-Perceptions about Human Brands, FORE International Marketing Conference, New Delhi. (26-27th November, 2021).
Mishra, M. S and Sharma, R.W., Brand Crisis – Sentiment Analysis of User Generated Comments about @Maggi on Facebook, IIT Delhi. (April 16, 2016).
Sharma, R. W and Srivastava D., Conference on Brand Management, Developing Multi-Item Scales for Measuring E-WoM Effectiveness, IIT Delhi. (April 16, 2016).
Iyer R., Eastman, J. and Sharma, R.W, Exploring the Indian Senior Market: Understanding the Impact of Self Confidence and Social Involvement, 2015 AMA Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference: Improving Business Practice Through Marketing Insight, Chicago. (August 14, 2015).
Sharma, R. W., A study of variance in Attitude towards Ad across tweenagers to adults, 4th IIMA Conference on Marketing in Emerging Economies, Ahmedabad. (January 7, 2011).
Sharma, R. W., Dasgupta, P., Impact of communication cues on Brand Attitude and Association with Brand across Age groups: an experimental analysis, 9th International Marketing Trends Conference 2010, Paris-Venice Marketing Trends Association, Venice (January 2010).
Udgata, J, Sharma, R.W and Dasgupta, P., Country of Origin Branding Approach: The story of the Indian Tiger Prawn, Eleventh International Business Horizon Conference- INBUSH 2009, Noida. (February 25, 2009).
Udgata, J, Sharma, R.W and Dasgupta, P., Enhancing Indian Tiger Prawn Exports: A branding approach, Conference on Empirical Issues in International Trade and Finance, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata. (December 23, 2008).
-
Books/Book chapter
Sharma, R. W. (2022). Chapter: Managing brands over time and geographies. IGNOU. E-Learning Material
Sharma, R. W. (2022). Chapter: Enhancing Brand Equity. IGNOU. E-Learning Material
Sharma, R. W. (2022). Chapter: Measuring Brand Equity. IGNOU. E-Learning Material
-
Periodicals
Sharma, R. W. (2025). The strategy of less: What Zepto can learn from DMart. Forbes India.
Sharma, R. W. (2025). Revving up auto sales – finding new sources of value. Autocar Professional.
Sharma, R. W. (2024). Startup advertising: Caught between agility and compliance. Forbes India.
Sharma, R. W. (2024). From ‘nudge’ to ‘sludge’: Becoming conscious of consumer behaviour manipulations. Financial Express.
Sharma, R. W. (2023). The NMC prescription: A bitter pill or new opportunity. ET Pharma.com.
Sharma, R. W. (2023). Going circular- Scripting a new reduce, reuse and recycle story. Outlook Planet.
Sharma, R. W. (2020). Is your brand a ‘Friend in Need’ in the pandemic pandemonium? ET Brand Equity.
Sharma, R. W. (2019). Marketing mantras in the Eco-System era. Forbes India.
Sharma, R. W. (2019). Thomas Cook India’s guilt-by-association moment. Live Mint.
Sharma, R. W. (2018). Gatecrashing the Marketplace. The Economic Times.
Sharma, R. W. (2018). The mirage of consumer anger and brand punishment. Fortune India.
Sharma, R. W. (Jan 2, 2018). How perceptions of fairness affect prices. MINT.
-
Courses
Strategic Marketing
Strategic Brand Management
Marketing Management
Design Thinking
-
Awards and honours
Scholarship/Research
Case study selected in top 10 cases of the ISB Ivey Global Case Study Competition 2017, ISB- Ivey. (August 24, 2017).
Case study selected in top 10 cases of the ISB Ivey Global Case Study Competition 2016, ISB Ivey. (August 20, 2016).
Teaching
Best Faculty Award (top 3), IIFT. (May 2, 2014).
-
Teaching interest
Brand Management
Strategic Marketing
Design Thinking
-
Work experience
S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (November 2017 – present)
Professor—Marketing and Design Thinking
Administrative assignments
Chairperson, PGPGM, SPJIMR (June 1, 2021 – present)
Head, Delhi Centre, SPJIMR (November 2, 2017 – present)
Lead, Faculty Development, SPJIMR (October 1, 2020 – June 2022)
Head, Institute Advisory Board (January 2019 – March 2021)
India Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi (December 2007 – October 2017)
Associate Professor – Marketing
Programme Director, Executive Post Graduate Diploma in International Business (2009 – 2017)
Marketing Discipline Group Co-ordinator (2014 – 2017)
Chairperson Admission Committee (2013 – 14)
S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (December 2003 – December 2007)
Assistant Professor, Marketing
Head, Marketing Area (2003 – 2007)
Avon Beauty Products Ltd. (2000 – 2002)
Category Manager-Skincare and Personal Care
Caltex Lubricants India Ltd. (1997 – 2000)
Assistant Manager-Brand
United Breweries (UB Global). (1995 – 1997)
Executive Exports
-
Consulting
For Profit Organisation, Legrand India, Mumbai. (January-July 2018)
For Profit Organisation, Greenco Enterprises, New Delhi. (October 1, 2016 – February 1, 2017).
-
MDPS/FDPS
Management/Executive Development for GSK, SPJIMR (September 2020- January 2021)
Management/Executive Development for Pidilite, SPJIMR (2022, 2021, 2018)
Management/Executive Development for Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, SPJIMR (2021, 2022)
Management/Executive Development for Kellogg’s, SPJIMR (August 2020)
Management/Executive Development for Abbott, SPJIMR (October 2020)
Management/Executive Development for DCM Shriram, SPJIMR, Delhi (November 2019), (October 2019) and (August 2019)
Management/Executive Development for AstraZeneca, SPJIMR, Delhi (September 2019)
Management/Executive Development for Mobileum Technologies, Bangalore (August 2019), (July 2019) and (April 2019)
Faculty Development Programme for Shivaji University, Kolhapur (February 2019)
Faculty Development Programme for BULMIM, Delhi (January 24, 2019)
Management/Executive Development for Xerox India, SPJIMR, Delhi (December 2018)
Faculty Development Programme(Open), SPJIMR, Delhi, (September 2018)
Management/Executive Development for Philips Lighting India Ltd., SPJIMR, Delhi (April 2018 – July 2018).
Management/Executive Development for MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., SPJIMR, Mumbai, (June 2018 ) and (June 2020)
Management/Executive Development for Maruti Suzuki at IIFT Delhi. (November 2016)
Management/Executive Development, Open Programme, at IIFT Delhi (December 2015 – March 2016)
Management/Executive Development for ITI colleges, at IIFT Delhi (2015)
Management/Executive Development for Maruti Suzuki, at IIFT Delhi (2015)
Management/Executive Development for Higher Institute for International Relations (ISRI)
Management/Executive Development for Powergrid Corporation of India (December 2013)
Mozambique (March 2015)
Management/Executive Management/Executive Development, for IFS Probationers, For Ministry of External Affairs, at IIFT Delhi (2014,2013,2012,2011 and 2010)
Management/Executive Development for Education New Zealand, at IIFT Delhi (April 2014)
Management/Executive Development for Castrol India, Mumbai (October 2010)
Management/Executive Development for Council for Leather Exporters, Kanpur (2009)
Management/Executive Development for Pfizer, at SPJIMR Mumbai (December 2006)
Management/Executive Development for German Remedies, at SPJIMR Mumbai (March 2005)
Management/Executive Development for GSK, at SPJIMR Mumbai (2004)
Management/Executive Development Open Programme, at SPJIMR Mumbai (2002, 2005)
Management/Executive Development for ACC, at SPJIMR Mumbai (October 2005)
Management/Executive Development for Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., at Gurgaon (May 2004)
Management/Executive Development for Mahindra and Mahindra FES, at SPJIMR Mumbai (March 2004)
-
Reviewer experience
International Journal of Consumer Studies
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
Asian Journal of Management Cases
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Studies
Asian Academy of Management Journal
Journal of Creative Communications
International Journal of Emerging markets
Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies
-
Professional memberships
Member Academic Advisory Council, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Usha and Lakshmi Mittal School of Management. (January 2019 – present).
-
Contracts, grants and sponsored research
Consulting assignment on remodelling brand architecture for a multinational company in the electrical industry (2018)
Government, Handloom Export Promotion Council, Chennai, New Delhi – Strategy for enhancing India’s Handloom Exports (April 2017 – October 2017)
Government, Ministry of Commerce (Centre for WTO Studies), New Delhi – Branding and Marketing of Indian GI products (May 2015 – October 2015)
Government, Ministry of Commerce-FDDI, New Delhi – Prospective Expansion Plan (January 2015 – March 2015)