New dissertations
We are glad to present two new dissertations in our dissertation section. Firstly, it is Wendy van der Valk from The Netherlands who presented her dissertation in December. Secondly, it is a dissertation of Harri Terho from Finland who defended his thesis in June this year.
Håkan Håkansson

What’s going on at the IMP Doctoral Consortium?

When the first IMP Doctoral Consortium was arranged five years ago no one knew if the interest for such a forum for deep, informal discussions between PhD students and more experienced IMP researchers would last. The 5th IMP Doctoral Consortium, which will take place immediately prior to the main conference in Uppsala, Sweden, has nonetheless attracted yet another group of PhD students with a wide and interesting variety of research projects.

This years’ consortium, which is co-ordinated by Debbie Harrison, BI, Oslo, involves twelve PhD students and six members of faculty, as well as a number of eminent guest speakers. The 12 PhD students are: Ricardo Correia and Francisco Lemos, both based in Portugal and working with such varied research projects as the co-operation effect in the internationalisation of the firm (Francisco) and ‘Industrial Networks and Territorial Dynamics’ (Ricardo). From the host country Sweden, Stefan Karlsson and Mikael Lovblad are researching interactive product development and the impact of psychological contracts upon relationship commitment respectively. Helen Li, Isaac Ngugi and Daisy Tan from the UK are studying topics as varied as managing relationships in HE marketing, capabilities building and B2B e-commerce adoption. Aniko Schubert (Hungary) is investigating buyer-supplier relationships in the Hungarian FMCG sector, while Gwenaelle Oruezabala (France) is working with the role of boundary spanners in international B2B relationships. Olli Pekkarinen (Finland) is researching ‘Services in the Marketing of Customer Solutions’ while Mads Mortensen (Denmark) is working with the ‘Development of Attractiveness towards strategically important partners’. Mirjam Kibbeling from the Netherlands is studying value from supply management.

The members of the faculty this year includes professors Anna Dubois (Chalmers, Sweden), Geoff Easton (Lancaster University, UK), Håkan Håkansson (BI, Norway), Peter Naude (University of Manchester, UK) and Alexandra Waluszewski (Uppsala University, Sweden); along with Dr Debbie Harrison (BI, Norway). With this group of faculty, are mixture of research interests and countries are represented. In keeping with previous events, we will also have a number of plenary sessions taking place, with renowned researchers as guest speakers: Prof. M. Cunningham (Founding member of IMP), Prof. J. Johanson (Uppsala University, Sweden) and Prof. Peter LaPlaca, Editor-in-chief of Industrial Marketing Management (University of Hartford, USA).

Welcome to this – or to a future – IMP Doctoral Consortium!


Alexandra, Amjad and Enrico
The IMP 2008 Organizing Team

New Dissertation: Svein Minde defended his dissertation dealing with the development and procurement of an advanced space system at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology earlier this month. The thesis is now available on our webpage under the dissertation heading.

PhD Studentship – Business-to-Business Services

Department of Management Science
Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) In association with the ESRC

Applications are invited for a three-year full-time PhD studentship, funded LUMS, to commence October 2008. The focus of study will be Business-to-Business Services, and is to complement an ESRC AIM Fellowship on this subject to be undertaken by Dr Martin Spring, who will supervise the Ph.D. The precise research question and method has yet to be defined and will be determined in collaboration with the successful applicant. The studentship covers tuition fees and a maintenance grant of £12,500 per annum for three years.
» More information

New issue of IMP Journal!
A new special issue concerning interaction processes from a purchasing point of view is now available. The issue consists of three articles all building on extensive empirical investigations. The first is by van der Valk, Wynstra and Axelsson and takes up the purchasing of business services. The second is by Bocconcelli and Håkansson and is investigating the role of purchasing in a major turnaround by Ducati. The third and final article is by Pedersen, Torvatn and Holmen and deals with the interplay between buyers and suppliers in the construction industry. Together the three articles give a good picture of the potential for new insights in purchasing applying an interactive approach.
Håkan Håkansson
Editor for the special issue