... you have spent two months in New Zealand, what did you do there?
"I spent two wonderful months as a visiting researcher at the University of Auckland Business School working with a large group of people including: Suvi Nenonen, Julia Fehrer, Rod Brodie, Charlotta Windahl and Kaj Storbacka at the University of Auckland, and Jonathan Baker at the Auckland University of Technology. I had met everyone before at various conferences and other academic events over the years. Now, I can say that I really got to know these amazing people well after spending extensive time with them, both inside and outside the university, and sharing the experience of New Zealand going into a “lockdown” mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic."
What was the purpose of the visit?
"My visit was partially funded through the Wallander Scholarship, and the main aim of the visit was to strengthen my research network, gain new ideas, initiate new collaboration projects, and work with ongoing paper projects. One of the projects, that I am working on with Suvi and a team of other scholars, quite topically deals with the concept of emergence and the implications of embracing the emergent and unpredictable nature of phenomena for the marketing discipline. I also had the opportunity to present and receive feedback on a project about the connection of service design and reflexivity that I am working on with Josina Vink, researcher at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) in Norway and former PhD student at CTF. I also attended a post-graduate course as a visiting lecturer."
Do you have any special takeaways from the visit?
"I found New Zealanders, or ‘Kiwis’, to be extremely friendly and never to lose their can-do attitude even when faced with extreme situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak. Their immense love for the great outdoors was also very apparent, and I hope that I am bringing home a little bit of all of these qualities."
What are you working on right now?
"Right now, Steve Vargo, Professor at University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Ander Visiting Professor at CTF, and I are putting the final touches to a special section “Advancing Conceptual, Theoretical Articles in Marketing: Importance, Writing, and Reviewing” that will be published in the June issue of the AMS Review. I am also working on multiple paper projects in relation to the research theme “Service System Transformation” which, arguably, is gaining more and more importance due to the turbulent times we are living in."
