• Define, characterize and compare customer experiences, as well as their components, drivers, and outcomes.
• Define, characterize and compare business models, as well as their components, drivers, and types.
• Generate, characterize and contrast business model innovations, and discuss their enablers and consequences.
• Discuss and critically reflect upon the alignment between customer experiences and business model innovations.
• Apply the theoretical knowledge to real brand cases, and discuss the practical implications and limitations.
• Interrelate the theories, models and frameworks from the course, and critically reflect upon them.

Recently, many brands have enhanced their equity and established unique positions in the marketplace by improving customer experience and generating diverse types of business model innovations – from resource-driven to customer-driven. In the current business environment - saturated with similar and largely interchangeable product and service offerings - products and services are becoming increasingly perceived as vehicles for experience provision. This emphasizes the importance of effective experience management throughout the customer journey and of effective integration of experience within the business model. However, not all brands should manage customer experience and integrate it into their business model in the same way. Intangible brand assets, such as identity, personality, culture, mission and vision, play a key role in shaping the experience orchestration process. In addition, despite the fact that brands can influence customer experience, the latter is also largely influenced by organizational outsiders on diverse online and offline platforms. On this background, this course aims to provide students with knowledge on how to manage customer experience throughout the customer journey considering internal and external contingencies, and how to generate relevant business model innovations considering customer experience. Accordingly, this course focuses on, yet is not limited to, the following topics:

• Drivers, components, and consequences of customer experience,
• Intangible brand assets influencing customer experience,
• External factors affecting customer experience,
• Co-creation of experience between internal and external stakeholders,
• Customer journey design and brand touchpoints,
• Business model generation and innovation, considering customer experience and the internal assets and external factors influencing them, as well as their outcomes,
• Alignment of customer experience and business model innovation oriented toward boosting brand equity and achieving competitive advantage.

• Classic and basic theory
• Methodology

• Development of research questions
• Data collection
• Analysis
• Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
• Peer review including Peer-to-peer
• Activities that contribute to new or existing research projects
• Students conduct independent research-like activities under supervision

This course is part of the Minor in Marketing and Innovation, but can also be taken independently. 
  

Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2017). Liquid consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(3): 582-597.

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.

Ertz, M., Sun, S., Boily, E., Kubiat, P., & Quenum, G. G. Y. (2022). How transitioning to Industry 4.0 promotes circular product lifetimes. Industrial Marketing Management, 101: 125-140.

Hatch, M. J., & Schultz, M. (2001). Are the strategic stars aligned for your corporate brand. Harvard Business Review, 79(2): 128-134.

Iglesias, O., Landgraf, P., Ind, N., Markovic, S., & Koporcic, N. (2020). Corporate brand identity co-creation in business-to-business contexts. Industrial Marketing Management, 85: 32-43.

Iglesias, O., Markovic, S., & Rialp, J. (2019). How does sensory brand experience influence brand equity? Considering the roles of customer satisfaction, customer affective commitment, and employee empathy. Journal of Business Research, 96: 343-354.

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.

Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6): 69-96.

Morhart, F., Malär, L., Guèvremont, A., Girardin, F., & Grohmann, B. (2015). Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2): 200-218.

Morris, M., Schindehutte, M., & Allen, J. (2005). The entrepreneur’s business model: Toward a unified perspective. Journal of Business Research, 58(6): 726-735.

Nunes, J. C., Ordanini, A., & Giambastiani, G. (2021). The concept of authenticity: What it means to consumers. Journal of Marketing, 85(4): 1-20.

Spring, M & L. Araujo (2017). Product biographies in servitization and the circular economy. Industrial Marketing Management, 60: 126-137.

Stein, A., & Ramaseshan, B. (2016). Towards the identification of customer experience touch point elements. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 30: 8-19.

Taran, Y., Boer, H., & Lindgren, P. (2015). A business model innovation typology. Decision Sciences, 46(2): 301-331.

Trujillo-Torres, L., Anlamlier, E., Mimoun, L., Chatterjee, L., & Dion, D. (2024). Access-based customer journeys. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(1): 24-43.