Collaboration Groups

Dear EMAC members,

This year, EMAC has introduced a new format to the conference: Collaboration Groups.

Collaboration Groups offer a platform for researchers to propose a new research idea or extensions of previously conducted research, which require or would benefit from intercultural or inter-university collaborations, exchange of methodological skills, sharing of (research) infra-structure, resources, and/ or of data (access). The purpose of the Collaboration Groups is to support existing collaborations, as well as to encourage new collaborations and research synergies. Collaboration Groups will be taking place as closed sessions (with pre-conference registration of participants) at the EMAC conference and will have the format of brainstorming sessions.

Out of all applications, three collaboration groups were chosen for participation at this year’s conference at Leuven, which you can find below. If you believe that you can add expertise and want to join one of the collaboration groups, please register your participation via e-mail addressed to the collaboration organizer prior to the conference. Participants are asked to do so by briefly explaining their interest and expertise in the session and refer to the collaborative benefit they can offer. As the room size is restricted and collaboration needs a manageable number of people, we will leave it up to the collaboration group organizers to select the people allowed to participate.

Collaboration Group EMAC 2015

     1.  A stakeholder marketing perspective on innovation in business ecosystems

Organiser(s)
Bas Hillebrand, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Primary Collaborator(s)
Leena Aarikka-Stenroos, University of Turku, Finland
Paul H. Driessen, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Ann Højbjerg Clarke, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Elina Jaakkola, University of Turku, Finland
Majbritt Rostgaard Evald, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

The goal of this collaboration group is to develop a joint research project on innovation in business ecosystems. Innovation increasingly transcends the boundaries of individual organizations and takes place in business ecosystems consisting of diverse stakeholders, including both business (such as SMEs, large corporations) and public actors (governments, NGOs, local communities). This implies that value creation, and thus marketing of innovations, changes in nature. Previous special interest group sessions at EMAC conferences have yielded a stakeholder marketing perspective that is able to describe and analyze such complex value creation processes. Stakeholder marketing describes business ecosystems in terms of complex value exchange, tension between stakeholders’ interests, and dispersion of control. The stakeholder marketing perspective is now used to examine how innovation emerges in dynamic interaction between diverse stakeholders in various layers of the business ecosystem.

Please contact Bas Hillebrand (b.hillebrand@fm.ru.nl ) to apply for this collaboration group.

     2.  Research Agenda for Customer Engagement

Organiser(s)
Roderick J. Brodie, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Primary Collaborator(s)
Jodie Conduit, University of Adelaide, Australia
Linda D. Hollebeek, University of Waikato, New Zealand

The initiative to be undertaken by this collaborative group is part of a broader initiative in advancing research in the emerging area of customer engagement. This will involve bringing together a group of leading international researchers to develop and refine a research agenda for advancing the research about customer engagement. The article will be published in 2015 as the lead article a Special Issue of the Journal of Marketing Management “Strategic Drivers, Anticipated & Unanticipated Outcomes of Customer Engagement” that is being edited by the organizers and primary collaborators. In the next month 4-5 leading international researchers will be invited to join the collaboration group. Prior to meeting at EMAC a structured interactive process will be used to develop the agenda. The meeting at EMAC aims to refine this work and finalize the article.

Please contact Roderick J. Brodie (r.brodie@auckland.ac.nz) to apply for this collaboration group.

     3.  Transforming Energy Consumption (TRECO): Customer Value-Based Solutions for Stimulating Consumer Acceptance of Sustainable Energy Innovations

Organiser(s)
Arto Rajala, University of Vaasa, Finland
Petra Berg, University of Vaasa, Finland

Primary Collaborator(s)
Johan Janson, Umeå School of Business and Economics
Carmen Rodriquez-Santos, University of Leon, Spain
Brian Vad Mathiesen, Aalborg University, Denmark
Mika Westerlund, Carleton University, Canada

One of the biggest societal challenges is to increase the use of sustainable energy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Previous studies on consumer behavior indicate that consumers have favorable attitudes towards sustainable consumption, but their actions do not reflect these good intentions. This ‘green-gap’ seems to concern consumers’ energy behavior, too. Influencing consumers’ energy choices is not an easy task, especially when launching renewable emission-free energy solutions and, at the same time, striving to promote a resource and system-efficient economy. We contend that the changes in consumers’ energy choices and consumption, such as energy efficiency and purchasing renewable-energy based electricity, cannot simply be estimated by studying consumers’ attitudes, motives and intentions towards sustainability. We need a deeper understanding on factors resisting the shift to buy renewable energy, and incentives that initiate the behavioral change. We suggest a multi-discipline approach that combines cutting edge research from (i) consumer behavior, (ii) innovation management, and (iii) customer value creation domains. 

Please contact Arto Rajala (arto.rajala@uva.fi ) to apply for this collaboration group.