Academics, industry, government, and individuals are confronted with an explosion of data. The data increasingly are emerging from sources such as Web traffic, social networking interactions, search behavior, sensors that track suppliers, customers and shipments, and GPS systems that monitor traffic, to name only some of the more visible sources. This trend, often referred to as the age of big data, is pushing the world toward data-driven discovery and decision making. This abundance of data presents both opportunities and chal¬lenges.

To solve some of the analysis issues with todays data, this one-day workshop provides an introduction to PLS Path Modeling. Participants will learn how to apply PLS Path Modeling by means of the SmartPLS software. The seminar contains several SmartPLS examples and exercises. We suggest you download the free SmartPLS software (www.smartpls.de) and install it on your computer, and then bring the computer to the workshop to participate in running the sample problems.The workshop is designed for faculty scholars, doctoral students, and marketing research professionals who are engaged in, or interested in, current techniques to perform Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using PLS Path Modeling. Christian Ringle and Marko Sarstedt will lead the workshop, authors of the recent Sage book on PLS. Ringle is also the lead creator of the SmartPLS software (which is used by more than 45,000 professionals worldwide).