Viestintä, brändi ja markkinointi

Our mission is to help citizen-consumers, business, society and the globe to flourish. We value inter-disciplinary collaboration for its innovation potential. We combine theoretical ideas from business studies, natural science and social inquiry to holistically understand real-life phenomena. This approach enables fruitful partnering with scholarly ambitious research projects.

Topically, we tackle, for instance, consumers’ senso-emotional experiences with foods, and the adoption of sustainable and well-being-promoting solutions such as personalized health services. Methodologically, we favour quantitative techniques ranging from online surveys to field experiments. We seek to publish our research results in prestigious academic journals. To maximize the impact, we favour cross-field co-writing processes.

We invite new talents to join our team. With us, they will grow into professional researchers who can find a career in academia, industry, or the public sector. We embrace energetic, witty, independent, and courageous people who want to make a difference. We offer a smooth landing to our down-to-earth team and provide socio-emotional support from day one. We guide students on their every step and turn on the path toward their PhD degree. We strive to engage students with funded projects delivering high-quality data for their dissertations.

In our program, doctoral students can tackle a broad array of pressing challenges, including: 

• What factors influence citizens’ willingness to adopt reusable fast-moving consumer goods packages?
• How can individual’s well-being be harnessed to encourage consumption curtailment?
• How can sustainable food consumption choices such as favouring meat alternatives be socio-culturally destigmatized and mainstreamed?

Our research guides organizations in the planning and execution of actions promoting sustainable consumption. We help companies and non-profit actors to design consumer-driven products and services, gain market insights, build persuasive brands, and develop marketing tools encouraging societal welfare and green transition. Continuous collaboration with diverse food, technology and packaging value chain partners across Europe sets us apart as a research service-provider. We aspire to support our partners to thrive at the forefront of innovations and new business. 

The research program is led by Professor Harri Luomala.

Contact Information
Email: harri.luomala@uwasa.fi

Our research program focuses on the rapidly evolving landscape of sustainable business practices. We strive to uncover actionable pathways for embedding sustainability into organizational behaviours, value creation relationships, and the intricate dynamics of business and innovation ecosystems.

Collaborators are invited to join us in tackling urgent and cutting-edge research questions, including: 

• How can business ecosystems effectively catalyse the development and adoption of sustainable innovations?
• What is the role of partnerships, alliances, and stakeholder collaboration in driving circular economy transitions?
• How can market-shaping activities promote the diffusion and institutionalization of sustainable business models on global and local scales? 

Through rigorous empirical research, we aim to expand the boundaries of knowledge in areas such as sustainable innovation, circular business model development, stakeholder engagement, ecosystem co-creation, and strategies for market innovation and market shaping.

We invite doctoral candidates passionate about redefining markets and shaping the future of sustainability. Our program offers a vibrant, interdisciplinary research environment that nurtures critical thinking and methodological rigor. Students are equipped with the skills to address complex challenges in sustainable business innovation, circular economy practices, and ecosystem management, drawing from marketing, business management, and innovation streams of research. 

Doctoral research in our program covers a broad array of topics, including: 

• Developing frameworks for actor engagement and sustainable value co-creation in ecosystems.
• Investigating the role of business relationships in driving sustainable market transformations.
• Exploring the convergence, scaling, and institutionalization of circular business models into market innovations.

We partner with industries such as packaging, textiles, furniture, and retail to transform sustainability challenges into opportunities for delivering customer and societal value while building a competitive advantage. Our initiatives with industry partners include: 

• Redesigning supply chains to enhance sustainability and resilience
• Supporting value chain actors in implementing and integrating circular business models across networks.
• Co-developing innovative tools for measuring, optimizing, and communicating environmental impacts within business ecosystems.

The research program is led by Professor Hannu Makkonen.

Contact Information
Email: hannu.makkonen@uwasa.fi