CERS

CERS - Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management is a research and competence centre at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. The centre operates in conjunction with the department of marketing, and specialises in research on service management and relationship marketing. There are currently about 50 senior researchers and doctoral students associated to CERS.

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 first chair of the board (1994-2001). In 2007, CERS founder Christian Grönroos was considered the most cited business professor in Finland. The centre was founded to do frontline academic research on relationship marketing and service management and to uphold the research traditions of the Nordic School of marketing.

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 Camila Wardi.

Activity
By 2023, 72 doctoral theses have been defended and published at CERS. CERS maintains an 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 named after its founder Christian Grönroos. The award recognizes academic research contributions to service management. The award was paused between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.