CERS

Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management
Parent institutionHanken School of Economics
Established1994; 31 years ago (1994)
ChairJohanna Gummerus
Staff50>
AddressArkadiankatu 22, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Location
Helsinki
,
Finland
Websitewww.hanken.fi/en/departments-and-centres/department-marketing/cers

CERS (Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management) is a research and competence centre at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. The centre operates with the marketing department and specialises in research on service management and relationship marketing. There are currently about 50 senior researchers and doctoral students associated with CERS.

History

CERS was founded in 1994 by professor Christian Grönroos and set up in cooperation with professors Martin Lindell, Sören Kock, Tore Strandvik, and Kaj Storbacka.[1]: 7  Tore Strandvik was selected as the board's first chair (1994-2001).[1] In 2007,[2] CERS founder Christian Grönroos was considered Finland's most cited business professor. The centre was founded to do frontline academic research on relationship marketing and service management and to uphold the Nordic School of Marketing research traditions.[3]

In 2023, CERS elected Johanna Gummerus as Chair. The board members are Peter Björk, Johanna Gummerus, Kristina Heinonen, Maria Holmlund-Rytkönen, Carlos Diaz Ruiz, Stefan Burggraf, and Camila Wardi.[4]

Activity

By 2023, 72 doctoral theses have been defended and published at CERS.[1][5] CERS maintains active co-operation with the business community and arranges workshops for its partner companies.

The Grönroos Service Research Award

Established in 2010, CERS introduced a yearly award named after its founder, Christian Grönroos.[6] The award recognizes academic research contributions to service management. The award was paused between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recipients of the Grönroos Service Research Award
Year Recipient Institution
2023 Jochen Wirtz[7] National University of Singapore
2019 Suvi Nenonen and Kaj Storbacka University of Auckland
2017 Mary Jo Bitner and Stephen Brown[8] Arizona State University
2016 Tore Strandvik[9] Hanken School of Economics
2015 Pierre Eiglier Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management
2014 Bo Edvardsson Karlstad University
2013 Javier Reynoso[10] EGADE Business School
2012 Ray Fisk[11] Texas State University
2011 Evert Gummesson Stockholm University School of Business

References

  1. ^ a b c Gummerus, Johanna; Koskull von, Catharina (2015). THE NORDIC SCHOOL - Service Marketing and Management for the Future. Helsinki, Finland: Hanken School of Economics. pp. 7–9. ISBN 978-952-232-284-5.
  2. ^ Björkman, Ingmar and Björk, Bo-Christer (2007). ”Estimating the Research Impact of Finnish Business Studies Professors Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine”, Finnish Journal of Business Economics, 1
  3. ^ Grönroos, Christian (2000). “Relationship Marketing: The Nordic School Perspective”, Handbook of Relationship Marketing, Eds. Sheth Jagdish N, Parvatiyar Atul; Thousand Oaks, CA (95-118)
  4. ^ "CERS's Announces New Board Members". CERS - Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  5. ^ "CERS Research | Hanken". www.hanken.fi. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  6. ^ "The Grönroos Service Research Award". Hanken School of Economics. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  7. ^ "The Grönroos Service Research Award | Hanken". www.hanken.fi. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  8. ^ "Mary Jo Bitner and Stephen Brown Receive Grönroos Award 2017". Arizona State University: W.P. Carey School of Business. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  9. ^ "Grönroos Service Research Award". Haris - Hanken’s Research Portal. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  10. ^ "Javier Reynoso". EGADE. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  11. ^ "Dr. Ray Fisk Awarded the Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair in Business & Economics". Texas State. McCoy College of Business. 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2023-11-10.