Christian Grönroos (born 16 January 1947) is a Finnish academic known for his foundational contributions to the fields of

service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

and

relationship marketing Relationship marketing is a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns that emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction rather than sales transactions. It differentiates from other forms of marketing in that it ...

. His research interest is to "develop marketing based on a service logic: promise management and marketing; transforming manufacturing into service business." Christian Grönroos is '' finlandssvensk'' ('Finland's-Swede'). In January 1979, he defended is doctoral dissertation entitled "Marketing of services: A study of the marketing function in service firms." The official opponent was Clas Wahlbin who would become a professor at

Linköping University Linköping University (LiU; ) is a public university, public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions. T ...

, and rector of

Jönköping University Jönköping University (JU), formerly Högskolan i Jönköping, is a private Swedish university college located in Jönköping, Sweden. The college has approximately 832 employees and 10,992 students. Jönköping University is a young profession ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1984, Christian Grönroos was appointed Professor of International and Industrial Marketing at

Hanken School of Economics Hanken School of Economics (, also known as Hanken) is a business school in Finland with two campuses, Helsinki and Vaasa. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest business school in Finland, and one of the oldest in the Nordic countries. Its programme ...

in Finland, (Svenska handelshögskolan). In 1999, he became Professor of Service and Relationship Marketing. He founded the research and knowledge centre CERS-Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management. He is an Honorary Professor at

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Nankai University was establ ...

and Tianjin Normal University, P.R.China as well as at

Oslo School of Management Kristiania University College is an educational institution in Norway organized through the Ernst G. Mortensen foundation. As of 2022, Kristiania has approximately 19 000 students and provides higher education in Oslo, Bergen and online. Krist ...

, Norway. Between 2001 and 2007 he served as Guest Professor of Service Management at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

Sweden.

Professor in Marketing

Christian Grönroos has been selected as a "Legend in Marketing" – the first one outside North America – and his research work was compiled and featured in the "Legends in Marketing" Series, edited by Dr. Jagdish Sheth (Series Editor) and published by the Sage Publications. Other marketing scholars featured as Legends include Richard Bagozzi, Shelby Hunt,

Philip Kotler Philip Kotler (born May 27, 1931) is an American marketing author, consultant, and professor emeritus; the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University ( ...

, V. Kumar, Naresh Malhotra, Jagdish Sheth, Yoram Wind, and Gerald Zaltman.

Definitions and models

Service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

: "A service is a process that consist of activities that are more or less tangible. The activities are usually but not necessarily always taking place in the interaction between a customer and service personnel, and/or physical resources or products and/or the system of the service provider. The service is a solution to a customer's problem." (2002) *Total perceived quality (2002)

His last definition of marketing (2006)

"Marketing is a customer focus that permeates organizational functions and processes and is geared towards making promises through value proposition, enabling the fulfilment of individual expectations created by such promises and fulfilling such expectations through support to customers' value-generating processes, thereby supporting value creation in the firm's as well as its customers' and other stakeholders' processes."

References

External links

Christian Grönroos Official Home Page at Hanken School of Economics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gronroos, Christian 1947 births Living people Academic staff of the Hanken School of Economics