Drawing on the organization's web site: "The Society for Marketing Advances (SMA) is a premier marketing association that hosts an annual conference that brings together marketing educators and professionals from the United States and abroad. SMA is founded to foster service, research, and education in all phases of marketing and to encourage the exchange of ideas among members with similar interest. SMA endeavors to promote the growth of intellectual leadership in the field of marketing on the part of teachers, researchers, and students in universities and executive business and government."