Can academia contribute to business thought?

One of the questions that Mercatus is interested in asking is NICE TO KNOW, BUT HOW DOES IT MATTER? Have academics been of use in the cut-throat field of marketing? A little search revealed an article with answers to the following questions.

• How do I innovate?
• Innovation done, how do I understand entry into a market?
• Fine. But how do I understand my consumers?
• Hey, now I want to create a brand, you know, THE brand, any ideas?
• I want to create more brands, how to do it best?
• I think my marketing team is overbudgeting, can I budget effectively?
• All this is fine, but are the customers actually benefiting?
• How do I make my employees proceed towards a change in line with the vision?
• Can I measure their performance to improve results?
• Now I am hungry for more markets, any fundae?

If you are interested, read the mast article on Ten Marketing Ideas from Academia.

But I still haven't made much headway in my search for literature/ ideas on the elusive "business model"...if I had money I did probably undertake a trip around the world documenting the world's whackiest business models! If you are really interested in understanding the fundae of a business model, i think the article Role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: evidence from Xerox Corporation's technology spin-off companies should help a bit.