Chair of
International Marketing

Prof. Dr. Robert Wilken, Chair Owner of the International Marketing Chair, Berlin campus, ESCPWe investigate concepts and methods that support marketing-related decisions in international companies. Our research projects consider both the internal and the external perspective: Concerning the internal dimension, our key area of interest is to assess the efficiency of marketing activities. The external perspective includes customer-related aspects (e.g., willingness-to-pay) and competitors (e.g., benchmarking). Our focus in business-to-business research is the analysis of marketing negotiations (i.e., direct interactions with the customers). All research projects are based on state-of-the art statistical methods and try to gather data for cross-cultural analyses. Our teaching activities emphasize and strongly promote statistical applications as well, but we also ensure a strong link to the business world, employing case studies and inviting practitioners from different fields.

- Prof. Dr. Robert Wilken

The team

From left to right: David Bürgin, Dr. Véronique Slomski, Simon Rabaa, Prof. Dr. Robert Wilken
Teams in International Business

The Granted Research Center on Teams in International Business (TIB) combines two important observations from business practice: Companies often operate internationally (e.g., they have foreign suppliers and/or subsidiaries on countries outside their home country; they serve clients in various country markets; etc.). And these companies regularly employ teams to perform various tasks (e.g., sales teams conduct negotiations with their clients; marketing managers of subsidiaries meet to coordinate the company’s marketing activities on a global scale; various positions combine in a company’s recruiting department; etc.).

As such, our Granted Research Center tackles issues that belong to the daily routine of companies that recruit our students, with methods of high scientific standards, producing research that is published in internationally renowned journals. It aims at linking different audiences (researchers; students; managers), to encourage these audiences for a more fruitful and more elaborate exchange. The topics that we tackle should be equally important to progress an academic discussion, to enrich our teaching programs, and to provide new ideas for application in managerial practice.

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Teaching
We offer the following courses:

Bachelor in
Management (BSc)

  • behavioural Economics (with Prof. Dr. S. Geisendorf)
Go to the programme

Master in
Management

  • International Marketing Decisions (core course, M1)
  • Pricing (elective, M2)
Go to the programme

SALES 4.0
MSc in International Sales Management

  • Pricing (compulsory)
Go to the programme

MBA in
International Management

  • Marketing Analytics (from 2019)
Go to the programme

EMBA
Executive MBA

  • International Marketing (elective)
Go to the programme

PhD
Programme

  • Publication Seminar
  • Publication Seminar
  • Writing Workshop
See more

Research

Research approach

According to Backhaus, we define marketing as the “management of comparative competitive advantages”. In our research projects, we mainly adopt the perspective of a selling company. We analyse marketing-related problems in a manner that is theoretically sound and allows for empirical investigation. Recent research projects have adopted a behavioural perspective, emphasizing psychological foundations to understand human actions (e.g., consumers’ responses to marketing stimuli; sales people in business negotiations).

Most of our projects seek to empirically test hypotheses and are hence quantitative in nature. Our goal is to provide companies with decision support that is scientifically substantiated, and to significantly contribute to the field of marketing research.

Research topics

International marketing

Companies are more and more operating on an international level. The biggest challenge they face is to coordinate their marketing activities across countries. We analyse opportunities and risks that go along with a more or less standardized (“the same for all”) or a more or less differentiated (“for all something different”) marketing approach. A recent project extends this investigation to business schools.

Pricing

Pricing decisions are crucial for the economic success of companies. We analyse how short-term and long-term pricing decisions shape consumers' reactions to prices, and how these reactions in turn affect a company’s economic goals. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding and measuring consumers’ willingness-to-pay.

Business negotiations

On business markets, a negotiation is the most prominent way to handle transactions. We analyse contextual factors (in particular, those that relate to intercultural settings) and strategies that create favorable negotiation outcomes and hence offer support for improving sales productivity.

Quantitative methods

This research topic is about improving extant (mathematical, statistical) instruments to analyse marketing-related decision problems. We are particularly interested in contributing to willingness-to-pay (WTP) elicitation. Another field relates to the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to industrial services.

Focus on:
Last Publications

Monographs

Backhaus, K., Herbst, U., Voeth, M., Wilken, R. (2010): Allgemeine Betriebswirtschaftslehre – Koordination betrieblicher Entscheidungen. Springer-Verlag

Articles in peer-reviewed Journals

Nagler, H., Wilken, R., de Jong, A., Schmitz, C. (2018): A multilevel approach to the process of concession-making in price negotiations. In: Die Unternehmung, forthcoming.

Contributions to edited volumes

Wilken, R., Jacob, F. (2015): Vom Produkt- zum Lösungsanbieter, in: Backhaus, K., Voeth, M. (Eds.): Handbuch Business-to-Business Marketing, 2nd edition, SpringerGabler, pp. 147-164.

Working papers

Eisenbeiss, M., Wilken, R., Skiera, B., Cornelissen, M. (2015): What Makes Deal-of-the-Day Promotions Really Effective? The Interplay of Discount and Time Constraint with Product Type. SSRN Working Paper, available at papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2608404, 2015.

Publications
Find an overview

Display:
71 publications

Academic Articles

2024

WILKEN, R., S. RABAA, S. GEISENDORF

Does recalling energy efficiency measures reduce subsequent climate-friendly behavior? An experimental study of moral licensing rebound effects

ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, vol. 217, 108051

Academic Articles

2024

WILKEN, R., J. SCHMITT, F. DOST, D. BÜRGIN

Does the presentation of true costs at the point of purchase nudge consumers toward sustainable product options?

MARKETING LETTERS

Academic Articles

2023

LODERER, A., K. MUEHLFELD-KERSTAN, R. WILKEN

Implications of Foreign Language Use for Creative Self-Evaluation Bias and Creative Performance

MANAGEMENT REVUE, 34(3), 219-248

Chapters

2023

WILKEN, R., N. PRIME

Reflections on Frank Jacob’s Contributions to the Literature on Intercultural Business Negotiations

In: Serving the Customer: The Role of Selling and Sales, Aichner, Thomas Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

Academic Articles

2022

RABAA, S., S. GEISENDORF, R. WILKEN

Why change does (not) happen: Understanding and overcoming status quo biases in climate change mitigation

ZEITSCHRIFT FUR UMWELTPOLITIK UND UMWELTRECHT, 2022(1), 100-134

Academic Articles

2022

WILKEN, R., E. STIMMER, D. BÜRGIN

Should retailers encourage couples to shop together?

JOURNAL OF RETAILING AND CONSUMER SERVICES, 69 (November), 1-16

Academic Articles

2022

BÜRGIN, D., R. WILKEN

Increasing Consumers’ Purchase Intentions Toward Fair‑Trade Products Through Partitioned Pricing

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, 181 (4), 1015-1040

Chapters

2022

DOST, F., R. WILKEN

A Behavioral Approach to Pricing in Commodity Markets: Dual Processing of Prices within and around Willingness-to-Pay Ranges

In: Commodity Marketing: Strategies, Concepts, and Cases., Enke, M., Geigenmüller, A., & Leischnig, A. Springer, 105-117

Academic Articles

2021

AICHNER, T., R. WILKEN, P. COLETTI

Country Image at Risk: Spillover Effects of Product-Harm Crises and the Role of Trust

JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING, 34 (2), 73-89

Academic Articles

2021

AICHNER, T., P. COLETTI, F. JACOB, R. WILKEN

Did the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Harm the “Made in Germany” Image? A Cross-Cultural, Cross-Products, Cross-Time Study

CORPORATE REPUTATION REVIEW, 24, 179-190

Team and contact

Prof. Dr. Robert Wilken, Chair owner, Chair International Marketing, Berlin Campus, ESCP

Prof. Dr. Robert Wilken

Chair Owner
rwilken@escpeurope.eu
David Bürgin, M.Sc, Research Assistant, Chair International Marketing, Berlin Campus, ESCP

Dr. David Bürgin

Consultant and Lecturer
dbuergin@escp.eu
Veronica Cacean - Research Department - External Research Grants & Programmes _ Berlin Campus, ESCP

Veronica Cacean

Research Department
External Research Grants & Programmes
vcacean@escp.eu
Simon Rabaa, Research, Research assistant, Berlin Campus, ESCP

Simon Rabaa, M.Sc, MPP

Research assistant / PhD student
srabaa@escp.eu
Dr. Christian Muennich, Lecturer Digital Marketing, Chair International Marketing, Berlin Campus, ESCP

Dr. Christian Muennich

Lecturer Digital Marketing
cmuennich@escp.eu
 

Alumni

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Research center
International Marketing

 Logo, research center, Teams on International BusinessThe Granted Research Center on Teams in International Business (TIB) combines two important observations from business practice: Companies often operate internationally (e.g., they have foreign suppliers and/or subsidiaries on countries outside their home country; they serve clients in various country markets; etc.). And these companies regularly employ teams to perform various tasks (e.g., sales teams conduct negotiations with their clients; marketing managers of subsidiaries meet to coordinate the company’s marketing activities on a global scale; various positions combine in a company’s recruiting department; etc.).

As such, our Granted Research Center tackles issues that belong to the daily routine of companies that recruit our students, with methods of high scientific standards, producing research that is published in internationally renowned journals. It aims at linking different audiences (researchers; students; managers), to encourage these audiences for a more fruitful and more elaborate exchange. The topics that we tackle should be equally important to progress an academic discussion, to enrich our teaching programs, and to provide new ideas for application in managerial practice.

Know More