Madhu Viswanathan

Madhu Viswanathan is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research programs concentrate on two areas; measurement and research methodology, and literacy, poverty, and subsistence marketplace behaviors. His published works include Measurement Error and Research Design (Sage, 2005), and Enabling Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy in Subsistence Marketplaces (Springer, 2008, in alliance with UNESCO). He directs the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative, and has created unique synergies between research, teaching, and social initiatives. He has organized conferences in the area of subsistence marketplaces, bringing together researchers and practitioners to advance nascent research in this area. He designs and teaches courses on research methods and on subsistence and sustainability, including a yearlong, interdisciplinary graduate-level program on sustainable product and market development for subsistence marketplaces. He also founded and directs the Marketplace Literacy Project, a non-profit organization, which—after many years of successful operation in India—is currently being scaled, and drawing up plans to expand to other countries and contexts. He has received several awards, including the Bharat Gaurav (India Pride) Award from the India International Friendship Society in Delhi, India, in 2010, given to people of Indian origin around the world for outstanding leadership in their fields.