Report 2003: Department of Marketing (AØ)
Department of Marketing (AØ): Research Report 2003
Highlights 2003
- The Department of Marketing repeated its high level of research productivity this year. In concrete figures, the 15 researchers on the Department staff produced 91 publications, of which 13 were published in international scientific journals. 12 articles were included in international conference proceedings with blind review. 2 were elected among the ’best conference papers’. In addition, 2 conference papers were published in a ’best papers’ anthology.
- Guest professors Larry Percy, Judy Zaichkowsky, Kjell Grønhaug and John Phillip Jones visited the Department.
- In terms of business partnerships, etc., again this year 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.
- CMC received support from the Danish Research Council for the Humanities for a study of the media consumption and consumer socialisation of Tweens (10-12 years of age).
- CMC also developed a diagnostic model to determine and forecast the mental brand equity of a brand. The Brand Strength Index model and measuring instrument attracted attention among practicians and is supported by the Danish Association of Advertising and Relationship Agencies.
- In 2003, the Department completed the greater part of a self-evaluation to be the basis of an external evaluation in 2004.
Academic profile
Background
The terms ”market creation” and ”marketing management” are descriptive of the academic focus of the Department.
The crucial element of ”market creation” is the demand of enterprises. Market creation is analogous to the creation of organisations. As a rule, all existing markets have appeared as social structures, e.g. through segmentation of an existing market; through the creation of new distribution channels, market places, shops; through new media of communication such as the Internet; through development of new products and brands; and through influence on demand by way of market communication. Markets are created by influencing the cognitive and emotional conditions of consumers through their senses. This is called consumer marketing. They are also created by establishing physical and virtual structures constituting business to business trade. This is called ”business to business marketing”.
The approach is both descriptive and analytic and to a wide extent aims at utilising knowledge by way of strategic and operative theories used by various enterprises in their practical marketing efforts. Contrary to the other management disciplines this is an ”inward” approach, as the external context (markets) of the enterprises create challenges and opportunities in order to add value. Knowledge of external conditions is turned into outward-looking activities through ”marketing management”.
The Department’s 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 of 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 into account the profit potential and social requirements of the enterprises involved. 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 objectives 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 holds 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.
In terms of methodology, the Department also holds 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
The Department is loosely organised as a network of researcher groupings and research centres meeting the current challenges faced by the Department. The groupings often straddle the target fields and academic focus areas. Today, the academic groupings/fields of interest are centred round 1) consumer behaviour, 2) B2B/organisational (buying) behaviour, 3) market communication, 4) retailing and 5) innovation/design. For the purposes of external funding a centre for marketing communication was established in 1999. The Department expects to establish a similar retailing centre in 2004. Research productivity is distributed fairly evenly between research groupings and target fields, although B2B will be incorporated in the other areas until it is strengthened in 2004 by the expected employment of a professor.
All Department researchers are involved in common activities and working relationships with internationally recognised researchers outside the Department. Wherever possible, members of the Department staff participate in relevant international conferences for networking purposes, to get inspiration and to get feedback on new research projects. The Department researchers regularly visit research departments in other countries while also trying to attract internationally recognised guest professors. Department incentives are structured with a view to achieving and presenting research results, mainly through recognised scientific media, but also to the business community, etc. The Department aims to create a good internal environment in order to retain qualified staff, but also to attract potential employees.
Research results
The research production of the Department over the last 5 years appears from the below Figure.
Attention should be drawn to the following issues in particular:
The high number of proceedings and working papers include 12 articles in recognised internationally reviewed proceedings. In the field of marketing, it is traditional and a matter of prestige to have articles included in proceedings at recognised conferences based on a double-blind review where the rejection rate is often much more than 50%. In 2003, the Department of Marketing produced 12 articles which were published in internationally reviewed proceedings, and this is also the reason why the ’Working papers and proceedings’ category is high.
The quantitative reduction of working papers and proceedings and Nordic-language journals is mainly due to the fact that working papers and Nordic-language journals are deliberately given lower priority. On the other hand, the increase in ’Other publications’ reflects the deliberate focus on presenting knowledge to the business community and the public. The increase in research funds over the last couple of years is closely connected with the latter activity.
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 high and stable level.
Research relations to practice
In 2003, the Department was involved in several working relationships and partnerships with the business community.
E-bizz Øresund (represented by the Department’s 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 2003, the Center for Marketing Communication strengthened its relations to the business community through new projects and memberships. It had 38 paying members in 2003. The focus was mainly on the following projects: Brand Styrke Indeks (Brand Strength Index) – continues in 2004; Educaunet: Tweens – mellem medier og forbrug (Tweens – between media and consumption); Brøndby projektet (the Brøndby project): Mediearbejde i skolen og lærernes kompetenceudvikling (Media work in schools and the competence development of teachers); Detailhandelsreklameaviser som media (Advertising folders as media in Retailing); Share of Voice/Share of Market; Effekten af sponsering (Sponsoring effect); Emotionelle effekter af reklamen (Emotional advertising effects); and Analysefunktionen under forandring (The changing function of analysis). In addition, the Center arranged a number of project and research seminars and the conference entitled ”Children and Adolescents as Innovators in relation to Consumption and New Media”.
Furthermore, plans have been launched to strengthen partnerships in the Retailing Group. 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 Webmaster 19/11/2004
