• Identify and define relevant ethical perspectives to brand co-creation processes and outputs and critically discuss their implications
• Identify and discuss practical and ethical implications and limitations of brand co-creation processes
• Apply the theoretical knowledge of brand co-creation processes and their ethicality to real brand cases

This advanced course confronts students with and prepares them for a complex branding reality in which customers and other stakeholders are every day more involved in various brand co-creation processes (i.e., co-creation of brand value, identity, experience, knowledge, meaning, products and services). Nowadays, brands face a socioeconomic scenario that is characterized by online communities, decentralized organizations, fast and flexible new production facilities, and a rapid evolution of information technologies. This evolution has led to an improved brand-stakeholder interconnectivity, which has provided brands with the opportunity of involving their key stakeholders in brand co-creation processes. The management potential is enormous as evidenced by the emergence of new business models that integrate customers (e.g., AirBnB & Uber) and the rest of stakeholders (e.g., Amazon) into their core business processes. However, the current enhanced brand-stakeholder interconnectivity has also turned the environment into a more transparent one, giving rise to ethical concerns in business. In such environment, a host of ethical issues arise that are not always well considered. For example, who owns intellectual property rights of the co-created outputs? What about the processes? Where does responsibility lie when things go wrong? Who is culpable? What is the proper division of labour? Can we talk of “working consumers” or is this just free labour? What reward systems are equitable and relevant? Should there be limits of involving vulnerable stakeholders? Furthermore, what are the expectations on brands involved in co-creation? Are they different from brands not involved in co-creation?

In this course students will be confronted with the most renowned theoretical brand co-creation perspectives and will learn how brands ought to be managed in an ever more interconnected environment where ethical brand behaviours are a must. The theoretical discussion will be complemented with input from brand academics and practitioners as well as with hands-on applications of different brand co-creation approaches to actual brand cases. The course will prepare students who want to work in brand-building projects in different contexts in their future career. It provides the basis for development of knowledge and understanding of how brands are co-created and maintained in relation to multiple stakeholders in dynamic environments where ethicality is every day more demanded, and thereby prepares students for a challenging career in branding.

This course is designed for students from a range of Masters’ programmes in branding, communication, innovation and business ethics.

Indicative reference list:

Aaker, D. A. (1996). Measuring brand equity across products and markets. California Management Review, 38(3), 102-120.

Brakus, J. J., Schmitt, B. H., & Zarantonello, L. (2009). Brand experience: what is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?. Journal of Marketing, 73(3), 52-68.

Da Silveira, C., Lages, C., & Simões, C. (2013). Reconceptualizing brand identity in a dynamic environment. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 28-36.

Edvardsson, B., Tronvoll, B., & Gruber, T. (2011). Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: a social construction approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(2), 327-339.

Grönroos, C., & Voima, P. (2013). Critical service logic: making sense of value creation and co-creation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(2), 133-150.

Iglesias, O., Markovic, S., & Rialp, J. (2018). How does sensory brand experience influence brand equity? Considering the roles of customer satisfaction, customer affective commitment, and employee empathy. Journal of Business Research (online first).

Iglesias, O., Markovic, S., Bagherzadeh, M., & Singh, J. J. (2018). Co-creation: A Key Link Between Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Trust, and Customer Loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics(online first).

Ind, N., Iglesias, O., & Markovic, S. (2017). The co-creation continuum: from tactical market research tool to strategic collaborative innovation method. Journal of Brand Management, 24(4), 310-321.

Kornum, N., Gyrd-Jones, R., Al Zagir, N., & Brandis, K. A. (2017). Interplay between intended brand identity and identities in a Nike related brand community: Co-existing synergies and tensions in a nested system. Journal of Business Research, 70, 432-440.

Lindfelt, L. L., & Törnroos, J. Å. (2006). Ethics and value creation in business research: comparing two approaches. European Journal of Marketing, 40(3/4), 328-351.

Markovic, S., & Bagherzadeh, M. (2018). How does breadth of external stakeholder co-creation influence innovation performance? Analyzing the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and product innovation. Journal of Business Research, 88, 173-186.

Markovic, S., Iglesias, O., Singh, J. J., & Sierra, V. (2018). How does the perceived ethicality of corporate services brands influence loyalty and positive word-of-mouth? Analyzing the roles of empathy, affective commitment, and perceived quality. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(4), 721-740.

Merz, M. A., He, Y., & Vargo, S. L. (2009). The evolving brand logic: a service-dominant logic perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37(3), 328-344.

Stanislawski, S. (2011). The Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing and the Ethics of Co-Creation. The Bulletin of the Graduate School of Commerce - Waseda University,73, 109-133.

Vallaster, C., & von Wallpach, S. (2013). An online discursive inquiry into the social dynamics of multi-stakeholder brand meaning co-creation. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1505-1515.

Williams, J., & Aitken, R. (2011). The service-dominant logic of marketing and marketing ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(3), 439-454.