Thomas Baaken

Relationship marketing and university-industry linkages: A conceptual framework

Relationship marketing (RM) is a prolific area of current marketing theory development. While RM principles are relevant to a range of business-to-consumer and business-to-business contexts, their theoretical foundations have principally emerged in reference to the private sector. By contrast, this exploratory study examines RM opportunities between entities operating in different sectors, namely university and industry in Australia. Using a qualitative approach, findings led to the development of a conceptual framework of university-industry relationships, integrating variables of organizational environment difference, relationship and value. Overall, this exploratory study broadens RM theory and application to relationships involving parties from fundamentally different organizational environments and suggest opportunities for the implementation of RM in this context. The article concludes with recommendations for academics and practitioners and provides several directions for future research.

International research customer satisfaction surveys (Germany and Australia) and research provider surveys (Germany and Europe)

Research and innovation are fundamental for success and even survival of organisations worldwide and are increasingly outsourced to specialised research institutions. Nevertheless, marketing academics and practitioners have so far neglected science as a marketable service and/or product. This paper aims at filling this gap by examining the expectations and performance evaluations of research customers and providers. First, a telephone survey of research customers is reported and an overall satisfaction level with research providers is discussed. Various criteria are examined in relation to the customers expectations and perceptions of the research providers performance. Second, a telephone survey with research providers in Germany and some leading European countries is reported, examining the providers view on customer expectations and performance assessments. The paper identifies key factors of customer demand and explores performance evaluations. It concludes with recommendations for academics and practitioners concerning research marketing and commercialisation as well as suggestions for further research.

Marketing—Making a Difference for Entrepreneurial Universities

In the knowledge economy, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are facing increasingly competitive environments. On the one side knowledge is now produced in a variety of organisations, so therefore universities are no longer the only producers or sources of knowledge. Universities are also competing with other education providers due to the growing offers of commercial education providers with a strong vocational dimension, and the emergence of new technologies in the higher education market offering virtual programs (Ferreira et al. 2007). Against this background HEIs are now operating in markets where it is imperative for them to make usage of marketing instruments if they want to succeed and remain sustainable. In this vein, the two core activities of HEIs, research and education, are addressing different markets and target groups. Consequently HEIs need to apply marketing, its toolbox and instruments to be successful in those markets, and they need to be entrepreneurial to access them. In this paper the markets for research in HEIs are examined more closely. The paper describes the particularities of a Marketing approach for science and recommends a comprehensive “Science-to-Business Marketing” approach, exhibiting and combining knowledge from different Marketing disciplines.

Developing University-Business Cooperation through Evidence-based Management: A German Case

As every new field of practice, university-business cooperation UBC is undergoing growing pains in the search for successful approaches toward linking the scientific and business world. These growing pains are often based on the lack of market-oriented thinking and acting and the focus on day-to-day operations as opposed to a critical evaluation of the actions taken in the past. In line with this, this article aims at evaluating the opportunity to advance university-business cooperation through evidence-based management. More specifically, it reflects how a scientific-analytical UBC unit might complement the strategic and operational perspective of UBC, contributing to the advancement of an institutions UBC but also knowledge on UBC in general. Taking the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre at Munster University of Applied Sciences as a case study, the article highlights how such an analytical-scientific UBC unit can generate various benefits, provided that the right setup and the acknowledgement of specific success factors are given.

Die Differenzierung des Käuferrisikos als Konzept zur Auswahl von Transferinstrumenten

Um langfristig konkurrenzfahig zu bleiben, sind Unternehmen heute gezwungen, Technologien und innovative Systeme einzusetzen. Dies liegt einerseits vielfach an gesattigten bzw. schrumpfenden Markten, andererseits an einem standig wachsenden Wettbewerb. Dieser Wettbewerbsdruck ist das Ergebnis homogener werdender Technik und sich angleichenden Kostendrucks bei allen Marktteilnehmern.