What is a market?
Ask yourself if you know what a market is. Of course, you will immediately have an image of a specific product market. But what are the core elements that make a market? Now you might say, there has to be a form of exchange. And I do not disagree with you. But does an exchange between two people already constitute a market? And what or who defines the market? The object of exchange or the actors. Spotify normalized streaming music and shaped the music market towards a streaming-based exchange market. But did Spotify shape the market or was it already shaped by consumer behavior?
Thus, companies and research must rethink the concepts of markets and consider that markets are social constructions shaped by a wide variety of influences. Therefore, to understand markets and provide answers to the aforementioned questions, my research aims to uncover the very core of markets.
How do you shape a market?
If current market strategies are based on an outdated market view, what are the new strategies to succeed on markets? Instead of trying to anticipate and outmaneuver competitors and minimize the role of consumers to merely money grabs, new strategies have to consider all market actors and influence them to adapt a market image beneficial to the shaping firm. In other words, whereas in the past market strategies were focused on outcompeting, market strategies now have to make competitors beneficial to the focal firm. As such, my interest revolves around identifying and developing strategies that allow companies to shape markets to their benefit.
Teaching more than markets
Apart from my research I teach marketing, strategy and international management. Influenced by my research I try to sow ideas motivating students to critically think about established theories and demonstrate that there is no such thing as one ideal solution.
Courses:
- Strategy – Classic and Contemporary Views
- Contemporary International Management Paradoxes
- Marketing and Consumer Behavior
