CERS - Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management

Welcome to CERS!

Get up to speed on CERS' work in service research. Watch the video and learn more about the cutting-edge service research done at CERS.

Services, customers, value

CERS is one of the world's leading centres for service research. The centre was created to deepen and disseminate research on services, customer relationships and value creation. Being the forum for collaboration between researchers, business and the third sector was and remains to be the centres intention.

Through long-term and purposeful collaboration with academic stakeholders and businesses the centres goal of creating new theoretical and practical business knowledge is achieved. Through the development of society as well as technology has led to the centre and its research themes has grown in significance.

Research at the forefront

Constantly being in the forefront of service research and take initiative for new perspectives is our ambition and in our research culture. The focus of the research is currently on: 

the impact of digitalization on service operations, communication and innovation, the logics of business leaders and customers, value creation in today's business environments as well as on new perspectives on brands.

Current projects

Current projects that can be mentioned are:

Ostrobothnia Tourism Roadmap 2030, aims to revitalize Ostrobothnia into a thriving tourist destination by fostering collaboration, creating networks, and cultivating a shared vision among the stakeholders in the region.

NatuReach, aims to enhance human health and well-being by creating innovative digital service models that incorporate nature elements utilizing VR/digital technology and multidisciplinary research in the context of social and healthcare settings.

Co-worker Alignment with Value Propositions aims to create a model, called Co-Val, that aligns co-worker values with the organization's corporate responsibility, sustainability, and service quality, resulting in improved performance.

Read more about the research projects here.

High-quality articles, well-visited blog

The centre’s activities are characterized by internationally influential research results and concrete research collaboration with companies in the form of research projects, workshops and seminars.

You can find articles and doctoral dissertations here.

The centre runs an active and colourful blog about research and the researcher's everyday life as an inspiration for new thinking.

You can read the blog here.

Innovative methods, commissioned research

CERS has developed new teaching methods, often in collaboration with companies, and offered opportunities for commissioned research.

Read more about our research here.

The pioneering Nordic school

The Nordic school established as a conscious brand in the early 1980s when services gained an increasingly important place within the international marketing research.

This is how one of the founders, Christian Grönroos, described the spirit of the school:

"Never limit yourself by prevailing theories, frames of references, models or concepts, or by the dominant scientific approaches and methods".

Read more about The Nordic School in CERS '20th anniversary book here.

Acknowledge companies and researchers

Over the years, CERS has acknowledged companies and researchers who have made pioneering efforts in services and customer relations. Thus, gaining visibility for CERS, creating networks nationally and internationally.

An example is The Grönroos Service Research Award. The award is presented annually to an internationally recognized researcher who has made themselves known for being an innovator within service research.

Increased financing, strengthened image

CERS 'research has attracted significant external funding and has thus benefited Hanken's entire operations. Considering the centres internationally recognized position has contributed to strengthening Hanken's positive image and brand.

CERS contacts:

You’ll find our contacts here.

You can find our researchers here.