Research Overview
Stefanos Mouzas is Professor of Marketing and Strategy. His expertise is in Contracting in Networks. Specifically, the aim of his work is to advance our knowledge on how companies conduct negotiations, craft contracts and perform in business networks. Professor Mouzas is Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Research.
Three structural pillars underpin his research work:
- Business Negotiations
- Business Contracts
- Business Performance
Research Interests
Research on Negotiations, Contracts and Performance cuts across the inter-disciplinary boundaries of Management (Business-to-business Marketing), Law (Contract Law), and Economics (Behavioral Economics). The work is policy-relevant, develops industry-led research perspectives and places emphasis on resources, innovation, and sustainable value creation in the business landacape. The research includes financial institutions, manufacturers and retailers and service providers.
Conducting research on Negotiations, Contracts and Performance, Professor Mouzas is involved in the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group which has carried out international studies into the management of large-scale, complex business networks. The group’s interaction approach is based on the importance for both managers and researchers of understanding the inherent resources and connectivity between active buyers and sellers in business networks. For an overview, see the 2016 paper A Network Perspective on Negotiation: What is New and Why it Matters?
Please see papers published in Harvard Business Review, Organization Studies, Cambridge Law Journal, Journal of Contract Law, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Negotiation Journal, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Journal of Business Market Management, Thexis, Die Betriebswirtschaft - Business Administration Review (BARev)-, Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing,Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing.
Current Research
Current research concerns corporate responses to the following contemporary challenges:
Innovative Responses to Climate Change
Climate change represents a significant challenge for our society, one in which businesses will need to play a more active role. Research findings highlight significant discrepancies between the way that CO2 markets are designed and the way that markets actually operate. See the study on "Market-based Responses to Climate Change" published in Organization Studies (with Gareth Veal). Underpinning research demonstrates that organisations and individuals typicaly focus upon specific, local rules of the game, in terms of remit and time, and tend to elaborate responses to climate change which impact on the creastion of new rules. See our study "Changing the rules of the game".
Negotiating Deals that Foster Innovation
Empirical research has been conducted on how companies negotiate deals in global business networks. This includes achieving innovation as a process of leveraging resources within international business relationships to achieve differentiation and create sustainable value. See recent study on Innovation in Business Networks:The Role of Leveraging Resources. Business contracts are a critical part in the innovation process; contracts may enable or prevent companies from moving quickly to leveraging their resources.
Research work on contracts is related to 'A Proposed Taxonomy of Contracts' (with Michael Furmston) published in the Journal of Contract Law and a review of 'Contract Research Today: Where do we Stand?' (with Keith Blois) published in Industrial Marketing Management. The need to secure contracts with other firms may lead many companies to dysfunctional deals which limit their ability to differentiate and innovate in the future. This empirical observation prompted me to investigate a range of international deals, often called umbrella agreements, that foster innovation, see Harvard Business Review. International organizations recognize the importance of umbrella agreements because they optimize the required level of reliance and flexibility in complex business networks. For more details of this work, see 'From Contract to Umbrella Agreement' published in the Cambridge Law Journal (with Michael Furmston, at Singapore Management University). See also ‘Negotiating Umbrella Agreements’ published in the Negotiation Journal. Empirical findings about the role of Umbrella Agreements in negotiation and dealmaking appear in the Journal of Business Research (with David Ford, at Euromed School of Management, Marseille France).
Furthermore, see commentary on Hugh Collins' (Oxford) article 'Legal Aspects of Network Architecture of Supply Chains'. Both commentary and article appear in a recent volume on "Networks: Legal Issues of Multilateral Cooperation", edited by G. Teubner and M. Amstutz, Hart Publications.
Managerial Cognition and Innovation
Based on empirical research in consumer goods companies, pharmaceutical companies, producers of semiconductors and telecommunication and utility service providers, we suggest that managers which develop network insight are able to mobilize their resources in business networks and create a competitive advantage for their organizations that is crucial for innovation and growth (see the article on 'Developing Network Insight' as well as the article on 'Changing Network Pictures: Evidence from Mergers and Acquisitions' both published in the Industrial Marketing Management.
See Special Issue (edited with Pete Naudé and Stephan Henneberg) on ‘Cognition and Management in Networks’ published in Industrial Marketing Management. Moreover, see recent research on 'Inter-cognitive Representations in Business Networks' that aims at conceptualizing different outcomes, such as manifestations of agreements between business actors, legally binding contracts, industry standards, and regulations which are critical in negotiating international trade deals.
Effectiveness versus Efficiency in Business Networks
Empirical research in this area indicates that in periods of low growth, many companies focus on issues of competitive advantage through value appropriation rather than on innovation and the creation of new sustainable growth opportunities. They are solely addressing their operational efficiency and they are neglecting market effectiveness. Research on companies' performance emphasizes the importance of linking efficiency and effectiveness. For details of this work, see the study on Efficiency versus Effectiveness published in the Journal of Business Research.
Trust & Reliance in Business Networks
One of the particularities of trust is its inherent anthropocentricity. As a concept, trust appears to be more applicable at the level of inter-personal relationships than to inter-organizational relationships. As business relationships involve both inter-personal and inter-organizational relationships, our research demonstrates the need to look at reliance as an incremental intellectual lens on business relationships, see the study on Trust and Reliance in Business Relationships.
The Constitution of Networks
The idea of a constitution of networks is a useful addition to our ways of understanding what happens within the business landscape.Research in this area looks at the constitution of networks as a system of values, norms, rules and other conventions that are shared by actors in business networks. Whether by intention or not, the constitution of networks provides a framework within which interaction among actors takes place. See empirical insights on The Constitution of Networks published in the Industrial Marketing Management.
Research involving financial institutions indicates that banks may come to act in a similar way to each other over time without coordination (see, Die Betriebswirtschaft -Business Administration Review (BARev)-. Current research delivers new transformative insights on 1) the connectivity between financial institutions, and 2) the sources of systemic risk by offering accurate knowledge on the nature of exchange between financial institutions.
Ph.D Supervision
PhD applications are welcomed from prospective students interested in the following areas:
-Negotiations & and Sustainable Deals
-Resources, Innovation and Value Creation
-Innovative Responses to Climate Change
-Resources and Property Rights
-Business Opportunity and Valuation
-Strategy and Business Marketing
-Assessing Business Performance
Research Grants
Co-investigator in the Catalyst project (2011-2014); funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPRSC), and brings together academics and communities to jointly imagine and build the next generation of innovative technologies for social change. ESRC Grant (2005); KTP Grant-Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Energy for Sustainable Development Ltd and the University of Bath-(2006); ISBM Fund -Institute for the Study of Business Markets- (2006); Global Innovative Marketing (2006); Pump Priming Grant (2007). KTP Grant-Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Energy Efficiency Company and Lancaster University (in cooperation with Lancaster Environment Centre (J. Faulconbridge) with the objective to investigate carbon trading, offsetting and verifying (2010).
External Roles
Associate Editor:
-Journal of Business Research
Editorial Board Member:
-Journal of Business Research
-International Marketing Review
-Industrial Marketing Management
-Journal of Business and Market Management
Visiting Positions:
-Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Program on Negotiation, Cambridge, MA, USA (Full-time in the academic Year 2013-2014)
-Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden (Summer Term 2014, Lent Term 2017)
-Vienna University of Economics and Business| WU, Austria (Michaelmas and Lent Term 2013, 2014,2015, 2017)
-Bocconi University, Italy (Lent Term, 2009)
-University of Duesseldorf, Germany (Summer Term 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Profile
Before joining the academe in 2002, Professor Mouzas worked at Kellogg as Head of Brand Management for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He held also Senior Management positions at R. J. R. International/ JT International.
PhD Supervision Interests
PhD applications are welcomed from prospective students interested in the following areas: International Trade Deals, Innovation and Value Creation, Innovative Responses to Climate Change, Resources and Property Rights, Business Opportunity and Valuation, Negotiation and Deal-making, Strategy and Marketing Management, Assessing Business Performance
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