Report 2002: Department of Marketing
Solbjerg Plads 3
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Telefon: +45 3815 2100
Fax: +45 3815 2101
E-mail: pk.marktg@cbs.dk
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Telefon: +45 3815 2100
Fax: +45 3815 2101
E-mail: pk.marktg@cbs.dk
Highlights of 2002
- The Department of Marketing repeated its high level of research productivity this year. In concrete figures, the 16 researchers on the Department staff produced 101 publications, of which 14 were published in international scientific journals.
- In terms of business partnerships, etc., the Department (represented by its Distribution and Transport Group and the Research Group for Consumer Behaviour and Retailing) was in charge of E-bizz Øresund comprising the structure and design of the BTC e-commerce systems of the future. Furthermore, the Center for Marketing Communication made several competence contributions to its member enterprises.
- The Center for Marketing Communication published a book entitled "Børns opvækst som forbrugere" (Children growing up as consumers) which got a lot of media attention.
- The Department and its research groups held several conferences for the business community and researchers, including the two-day Danish Marketing Conference 2002 sponsored by the Danish Marketing Association and FUHU with the participation of approx. 100 researchers and businessmen.
- The Center for Marketing Communication held the "First International Conference on Advertising Research" with 170 participants.
Academic profile (and objective)
Background
The concept of marketing is to serve the purpose of the organisation by being better at meeting and considering customer needs than the competition. Against this background, Department research activities focus on the structures and processes within which customers/consumers, producers and distributors make their decisions. This is done to extend our understanding and knowledge of assumptions, contexts and consequences of human experiences and actions related to areas of consumption, production and distribution as well as to develop and formulate normative decision support in this field.
The concept of marketing is to serve the purpose of the organisation by being better at meeting and considering customer needs than the competition. Against this background, Department research activities focus on the structures and processes within which customers/consumers, producers and distributors make their decisions. This is done to extend our understanding and knowledge of assumptions, contexts and consequences of human experiences and actions related to areas of consumption, production and distribution as well as to develop and formulate normative decision support in this field.
Research activities make allowance for a number of changes in the conditions of enterprises to operate successfully. Significant changes include factors such as growing internationalisation and globalisation, increasing fragmentation and differentiation of customer wants and requirements, additional focus on ethics and social adjustment and finally information technology development.
Overall, the marketing and distribution system is becoming ever more complex while the time available to make the right decision is being steadily reduced. Firstly, this leads to a growing demand for organisational and geographical coordination of all marketing and distribution activities concerning product design, market introduction, distribution, customer retention and phasing out of products. Secondly, a rapidly growing need for understanding and increased knowledge with a view to foreseeing patterns of reaction and constantly redeveloping the understanding of the complex relationships and situations of interaction setting in when enterprises have to develop their own resources and competencies, including creating partnerships in vertical marketing systems based on those competencies. Thirdly, to an increasing degree, social considerations, including environmental and ethical considerations, form part of the restructuring mentioned and of the decision-making universe of the enterprise. For one thing, the enterprise must be capable of interpreting and handling customer demand for products meeting certain ethical or environmental requirements; for another, those products must be distributed through an increasingly complex and transport-intensive system. In general, the reputation on an enterprise is therefore of growing significance.
The mission statement of the Department in terms of research is to analyse and evaluate the structures and processes that link customer and consumer demands with intraorganisational and interorganisational processes in the marketing channel implemented to accommodate those customer/consumer demands by taking the profit potential and social requirements of the enterprises involved into account. This marked profile is an expression of the Department's research mission to contribute actively to the development of international marketing knowledge in accordance with the needs of the business sector and the Danish society. (For the objective of the Department's teaching activities, see its website.)
In terms of theory, based on analyses of interorganisational relations, the common focus is on networking theory, marketing channel - the politico-economic paradigm, transaction cost theory, industrial economics, resource-based theory and management theory. Analyses of intraorganisational and interpersonal relations show an intersection between the main disciplines of sociology, psychology and anthropology as well as communication theory. In the light of these analyses, Department research achievements in linking analyses of interorganisational relations with analyses of intraorganisational and interpersonal relations, or in other words linking up the micro, meso and macro levels with a view to creating less fragmented models of explanation and a more coherent understanding of the marketing phenomena analysed, should also be highlighted as one of its positions of strength. Thus, there is synergy across the research groups.
In terms of methodology, the Department also has a position of strength with regard to both qualitative and quantitative methods. The former includes competencies such as: depth interviews, focus groups, text analysis and scenario methods. The latter includes competencies in terms of various types of survey, experimental design and econometric and statistical methods. Triangulating is common to both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Research strategy
In order to meet the above challenges, the Marketing Department operates on the basis of three general objects:
Research strategy
In order to meet the above challenges, the Marketing Department operates on the basis of three general objects:
- consumer behaviour and retailing,
- organisational (buying) behaviour, B2B (including distribution and transport), and
- communication. For the purpose of undertaking object research, research-based teaching and presentation of results to the public, the Department is organised in working groups.
The primary working groups are responsible for concrete objects: The Center for Marketing Communication (object 3), the Distribution and Transport Group (primarily object 2), B2B Marketing (primarily object 2), the Research Group for Consumer Behaviour and Retailing (object 1). The Group for Business Development and Design is being re-established. It is intended to be an anchor point for the Department's contribution to the innovation field. Furthermore, there are secondary temporary ad hoc working groups, set up spontaneously or planned, across the primary groups. This is particularly relevant when working with B2C issues and e-commerce issues in general.
Research results
The research production of the Department over the last 5 years appears from the below Figure.
The research production of the Department over the last 5 years appears from the below Figure.
Attention should be drawn to two issues in particular:
Firstly, a centre (Resources and Scientific Staff) was separated from the Department in the year 2000, which should have been reflected in falling curves in 2001. Notably, the remaining part of the Department succeeded in keeping the research wheels turning with positive results in terms of total production.
Secondly, the Department has a particular interest in pointing out that the inclusion in international conference proceedings is calculated under the 'Proceedings and WP's' category on a par with working papers (which do not have to be subjected to any form of scientific editing or review). In the field of marketing, it is traditional and a matter of prestige to have articles included in proceedings at reputable conferences based on a double-blind review where the rejection rate is often much more than 50%. In 2002, the Department of Marketing produced 26 articles which were published in internationally reviewed proceedings, and this is indeed the reason why the 'Proceedings and WP's' category is so high.
In terms of development, statistics also paint a highly satisfactory picture. In full accordance with the objectives of the Faculty, foreign-language articles account for an increasing share of Department production. As previously mentioned, production has reached a relatively high level and looks stable.
Research relations to practice
In 2002, the Department was involved in several working relationships and partnerships with the business community.
E-bizz Øresund (represented by the Department Distribution and Transport Group) comprising the structure and design of the BTC e-commerce systems of the future, receives support from the Danish Agency for Development of Trade and Industry, among others, and is implemented in cooperation with a number of Danish and Swedish enterprises. The Research Group for Consumer Behaviour and Retailing participated in the implementation of the consumer behaviour section of E-bizz Øresund.
In 2002, the Center for Marketing Communication strengthened its relations to the business community through new projects and memberships. Among the most significant projects are: "Tilbudsavisers annonce index" (Advertising index in shoppers) in cooperation with the Danish Association of Industries of Consumer Products (DLF), Taylor Nelson, COOP, Post Danmark and Forbruger-Kontakt (Consumer Contact); "Måling af brand equity" (Measuring brand equity) in cooperation with Danish daily Berlingske Tidende, Taylor Nelson and DDB; "Print annoncers effektivitet" (Efficiency of printed advertising) in cooperation with Danske Magasiners Udgiverforening (Association of Danish Music Publishers - DMU) and Danish daily Politiken; "Markedskommunikation i praksis" (Market communication in practice) in cooperation with DRRB and Børsen A/S; "Børns opvækst som forbrugere" (Children growing up as consumers) in cooperation with Gallup and presented to Tuborg, Nordisk Film/Egmont, Carat, Initiative Universal Media, Børnekulturrådet (Council for children's culture), among others; "Analysefunktionen under forandring" (The changing function of analysis) in cooperation with Gallup; "Estimation af outdoor eksponering" (Estimation of outdoor exposure) in cooperation with AFA and Clear Channel; and finally "Kundeloyalitet, medarbejderloyalitet og lønsomhed" (Customer loyalty, employee loyalty and profitability) in cooperation with Radisson SAS and Stig Jørgensen & Partners.
With support from the Center for Design and Corporate Development, the Center for Marketing Communication was the main contributor of competencies to member enterprises.
Furthermore, plans have been launched to strengthen partnerships in the Center for Design and Corporate Development and the Research Group for Consumer Behaviour and Retailing, respectively. The latter concerns cooperation with the Danish retail trade in particular. Finally, the Department is involved in course activities aimed at the business community in the field of 'Complaint Management'.
Last updated by Anders Krag 09/02/2005
