Christopher Lovelock (12 July 1940 – 24 February 2008) was born in the town of
Saltash, Cornwall
Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to C ...
in
the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. He was best known as a pioneer in the field of
Services Marketing
Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing which emerged as a separate field of study in the early 1980s, following the recognition that the unique characteristics of services required different strategies compared with the marketi ...
among other titles such as author, professor, and consultant. Lovelock was also known for his excellent
case studies
A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular ...
.
Christopher Lovelock attained a Ph.D. from
Stanford University, publishing his thesis on the topic of "Marketing Public Transportation". Lovelock had earlier graduated with an MBA from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
after arriving in the US in 1967. Lovelock had also obtained a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...
in Economics and a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in Communications from the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, during which time he appeared on the first series of ''
University Challenge
''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...
''.
Lovelock embarked on his academic career serving, most significantly, on the faculty of the
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...
(USA) for 11 years in addition to other academic appointments at distinguished institutions including
the University of California Berkeley (USA),
Stanford University (USA) and the
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, a ...
(USA). Lovelock’s other visiting appointments include those at
IMD (Switzerland),
INSEAD
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East ( Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (Sa ...
(France), and
the University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = Br ...
(Australia). In total, Lovelock had taught in over 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Besides his teaching appointments, Christopher Lovelock was also an author or co-author of numerous books, articles, and teaching cases. Lovelock’s last
academic publication
Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally pub ...
, "Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy 6th edition," co-authored together with Jochen Wirtz, has been translated into ten languages. Other books include "Product Plus", "Marketing Challenges" and "Public and Nonprofit Marketing" (the latter two co-authored with Charles Weinberg).
Lovelock’s 60-odd articles were also internationally acclaimed. His paper, "Whither Services Marketing? In Search of a New Paradigm and Fresh Perspectives" co-written with Evert Gummesson won the Best Services Article Award in the
American Marketing Association
The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a professional association for marketing professionals with 30,000 members as of 2012. It has 76 professional chapters and 250 collegiate chapters across the United States.
The AMA was formed in from th ...
and was a finalist for the IBM award for the best article in the Journal of Service Research. For that and other recognitions, Christopher Lovelock was honored with the prestigious American Marketing Association’s Award for Career Contributions in the Services Discipline.
The 100 or more teaching cases he wrote were also much heralded. Twice, he won top honors in the
BusinessWeek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York Cit ...
"European Case of The Year" awards. Famous series include
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the ...
and
FedEx. The latter, written in the 1970s, gained FedEx wide exposure to potential clients, indirectly contributing to FedEx’s success today. His teaching cases, revered for their acute insights into marketing challenges, retain their positions on bestsellers’ lists more than a quarter of a century after they were published, displaying a strong relevance even in today’s context. Moving to Eastham,
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...
, in 1990, Christopher Lovelock became actively involved with his adopted community. Lending his expertise in areas like education,
health care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health ...
,
environmental conservation
*Environmental protection
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, ...
, and regional transportation, he became an advocate for a variety of issues such as summer traffic to underground utility lines. Most of these can be traced back to pieces found in the Cape Cod Times for which he was an
Op-Ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...
or his advisory position for various local organizations.
Awards
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelock, Christopher
1940 births
2008 deaths
People from Saltash
Marketing people
Marketing theorists
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
MIT Sloan School of Management faculty
Harvard Business School alumni
American business theorists
Stanford University alumni
Contestants on University Challenge