CERS

CERS is a research and competence centre at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. The centre specialises in research on service marketing. There are currently about 50 senior researchers and doctoral students associated with CERS.

WWW hanken.fi/en/departments-...𝕏 CERS_Hanken

History

CERS was founded in 1994 by professor Christian Grönroos and set up in cooperation with professors Martin Lindell, Sören Kock, Tore Strandvik, and Kaj Storbacka. Tore Strandvik was selected as the board's first chair. In 2007, CERS founder Christian Grönroos was considered Finland's most cited business professor. The centre was founded to do frontline academic research on relationship marketing and service management and to uphold the Nordic School of Marketing research traditions.
In 2023, CERS elected Johanna Gummerus as Chair. The board members are Peter Björk, Johanna Gummerus, Kristina Heinonen, Maria Holmlund-Rytkönen, Carlos Diaz Ruiz, Stefan Burggraf, and Eva Adlercreutz Carrero.

Activity

By 2024, 75 doctoral theses have been defended and published at CERS. CERS maintains active co-operation with the business community and arranges workshops for its partner companies.

The Grönroos Service Research Award

Established in 2010, CERS introduced a yearly award in honour of its founder, Christian Grönroos, and his pioneering contributions to service research. The goal of this award is to inspire service marketing researchers to pioneering and innovative research that challenges and expands existing knowledge and theories in the service discipline. The award was paused between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.