The Customer Information Management Center at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing is organizing its inaugural conference in Marketing. The main purpose of this conference is to present cutting-edge research topics and methodologies to research communities within China so that Chinese academics can learn about what marketing science can bring to the practice of marketing. It also serves as a forum to generate discussions on research issues related to emerging markets and learn about the potential for the application of marketing science in China. The conference provides a platform for professional networking and exchange of ideas, learning and knowledge.

Conference attendees will include both academicians and industry practitioners. If someone would like to present his/her research in the conference, he/she needs to submit a research paper to the conference by a deadline, and the conference committee will select a subset of the submissions for presentation. In order to attend the conference, attendees must register. The registration fees are:

i.     Presenters                         $0 (covered by the conference)

ii.    Academic participants      $250 (register before May 1, 2012)

$300 (register after May 1, 2012)

iii.  Industry participants         $400 (register before May 1, 2012)

$500 (register after May 1, 2012)

Note that Industry participants are the people who work for companies.

Explain the following in details:

(a) Why does the conference charge the industry participants more than academic participants?

(b) Why is the registration fee lower for early registration?

Why does the conference decide NOT to charge presenters anything?