The Center for Business Marketing & Purchasing (BMP) covers the following topics, among others:

Relationship Value Assessment: No business maintains relationships without reason – relationships either create value or they are not interesting. We have developed models to capture business relationships’ value potential.

Relationship Quality Measures: We have developed models for describing business relationships in order to gain insights into business interactions and in order to develop strategic options for customer relationship management (CRM) and supplier relationship management (SRM).

Market Segmentation and Strategy: Customers are different, suppliers are different, relationships are different – and thus, relationship strategies must be different. This is why we actively develop new approaches to customer and supplier segmentation in order to provide solid strategy foundations.

Market Management Organization: Firms need efficient and effective execution – thus, firms need insights into sales and marketing management as well as purchasing and procurement management. Over the years, we have developed models for general marketing and purchasing management as well as on relationship management approaches.

BMP is strongly rooted in the idea that brain power is crucial for conducting business in today’s knowledge society. We research and educate students at all levels and at all stages in their careers in close cooperation with the business community. We constantly create visible results together with companies, business organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and a network of national and international researchers.

Building knowledge: Rigorous academic models are rarely the result of desk research. We openly and constantly work with business people on research projects to inspire new projects, to develop models, to test theories, and to develop implementation strategies.

Sharing knowledge: BMP helps building relevant business knowledge through research-based education in the area of customer-supplier relationships, business-to-business (B2B) networks, and innovation, among others. We use different formats, from short update meetings to full conferences, from short courses to longer programs. BMP provides access to knowledge that helps companies improve their understanding of the challenges and the strategic options available to them. BMP functions as a bridge head for firms to researchers and knowledge resources nationally as well as internationally.

We are a very active research group – so please contact us to suggest new topics, to become case study partner, and to hear about our currently ongoing projects.