Management - ECON-07/A

The Research Group in Management brings together two specialized sub-groups focused on advancing knowledge in Strategy and Marketing. The strategy sub-group explores key business success factors like competitive analysis, decision-making processes, and business model innovation, while the marketing sub-group conducts pioneering research in areas such as consumer behavior, data-driven marketing analytics, and marketing strategy. Together, these teams publish widely in top journals, offering insights that benefit both academia and industry.

Marketing Group

At the Department of Management, we strive for excellence in marketing research by conducting cutting-edge studies on topics that are significant and relevant to both industry and the academic community. Our research has been published in leading international journals in the field, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, and Journal of Services Research. Our main research contribution focuses on three main areas of inquiry: Consumer Behavior, Data-Driven Marketing, and Marketing Strategy.

Consumer Behavior
This research area explores the firm-customer relationship from a customer-centric perspective, focusing on psychological and perceptual mechanisms and their effects on judgments, decision-making, and behaviors in product, service, and distribution contexts. Four primary topics are investigated: perceptual mechanisms, judgment and decision-making, well-being and responsible consumption, and consumer-technology interaction. In terms of perceptual mechanisms, the research examines context effects and the influence of temporal and psychological distance on consumers’ mental representations, categorization, and choices. Judgment and decision-making analysis, on the other hand, focuses on consumer perceptions and the management of waiting times in services, service quality, longitudinal customer satisfaction, complaint handling, and service recovery. Research on public service engagement also provides insights to enhance customer involvement and satisfaction.
Researchers then analyze how subjective well-being drives responsible consumer behavior and anti-consumption actions, such as boycotts. Finally, in consumer-technology interactions, studies focus on consumer interactions with digital tools such as chatbots and virtual retail spaces. Methodologically, this area employs a wide range of approaches to capture consumer perceptions and responses, effectively using both qualitative methods (e.g., text mining, interviews) and quantitative methods (e.g., experiments).

Data-Driven Marketing and Marketing Analytics
Today, the availability of data and advanced computational and analytical techniques (marketing analytics) is transforming the way we measure and quantify the effectiveness of marketing actions. The abundance of large-scale individual data (consumer, customer, company), advancements in analytical methods and digitalization, along with management's demand for more effective and reliable marketing tools, are driving and continuing to drive this change. The DiSA marketing group is experienced in this field of research. Specifically, faculty members in the group are actively involved in these specific research areas: measuring and analyzing the effectiveness of marketing tools throughout the customer journey; digital marketing and social media; text analysis for marketing research; channel and touchpoint selection; customer acquisition funnel, customer loyalty, and profitability; privacy management; and consumers’ willingness to disclose personal information.

Marketing Management and Strategy
DiSA faculty working in this area focus on understanding the effectiveness of various marketing strategies and developing theoretical frameworks to support the design of innovative, efficient, and effective strategies. Specifically, the group investigates these main research topics (among others): managing marketing activities in international contexts; managing sales channels, multi- and omni-channel strategies; effective use of communication in digital contexts, utilizing multimodal approaches to promote prosocial behaviors; the use of new technologies and virtual reality in sales and digital communication; the use of influencers as a communication tool; assortment management; and, finally, the adoption of prosocial and CSR-based policies by companies.

Strategy Group

The research group explores diverse topics crucial for firm success across various industries, including competitive analysis, decision-making processes, knowledge management, business model innovation, inter-organizational relationships, and growth and change strategies. The focus is on three core themes to provide unique, empirically based insights into contemporary strategic and managerial thought.

Strategy and Competitive Dynamics

This area examines the relationship between firms’ competitive and growth strategies and their environments. Research spans low- to high-tech firms, both in product and service industries. Competitive strategies in large, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as well as local and multinational companies, are investigated with an emphasis on the drivers of performance and the analysis of decision-making dynamics. The role of strategy in managing digital transformation in both mature and emerging industries is also explored. This research stream also examines competitive dynamics in creative industries. Additionally, the tourism industry is studied to uncover the effects of strategic orientation on hotel performance, cultural events, and destination management.

Strategy and Innovation

This stream focuses on strategic choices of firms pursuing innovative actions, such as disruptive innovations, new business models, social innovations, and open innovation. It investigates how firms’ innovations evolve with technological advancements in their industries. Additionally, this research stream examines the analysis of platforms and ecosystems, focusing on how digital platforms shape business strategies, influence market structures, and create value through network effects. The role of ecosystems in fostering innovation and collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including startups, established firms, entrepreneurial support organizations, and academic institutions, is also studied. Other areas of interest include the role of women in management, the circular economy, and university-industry technology transfer.

Strategy, Networks, and Entrepreneurship

This research stream examines the impact of social networks on performance outcomes, such as knowledge transfer, discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, survival, and firm growth. The dynamics of inter-organizational social capital in vertical business networks and its effect on innovation and knowledge transfer processes are studied. Specific topics related to entrepreneurship include new venture creation, development, growth, the characteristics and behaviors of entrepreneurs, international entrepreneurship, migrant and woman entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial teams, and the institutional and policy mechanisms supporting entrepreneurship. There is also a focus on the origins of exceptional entrepreneurial outcomes and innovations in cultural production.