Dr Michael Harker

Lecturer

Marketing

Contact

Personal statement

I joined Strathclyde in 2004 after some years in London.

I have two main themes in my research activity. The first of these concerns the relationships between organisations and consumers and how they learn about each other as these relationships are initiated, developed and maintained - but also how and why they end. These are issues that concern all of us. It is far more likely than not that you will be transferring vast amounts of personal information to private enterprises via your 'loyalty cards' and/or your social media activities. A recent focus in my research has been to try and draw connections between concepts and theory in relationally based marketing and elements of human resource management - to better comprehend the humans in these relationships inside and outside the organisation.

The second theme is research into the who, what, how and why of business education with a particular focus on marketing. I recently completed a nationwide project with the support of the Higher Education Academy on current undergraduate teaching provision at British universities.

If my name is familiar to you, it is most likely as one of the names from the cover of our best-selling textbook - 'Marketing: An Introduction'. The third edition of this will appear in Spring 2015.

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Area of Expertise

Loyalty schemes

Relationship management

Digital and social media marketing

Curriculum design

 

Prize And Awards

Nominated - Teaching Excellence Awards
Recipient
5/2020
Nominated - Teaching Excellence Awards
Recipient
5/2019
Nominated - Teaching Excellence Awards
Recipient
5/2018
Nominated - Teaching Excellence Awards
Recipient
5/2017
Teaching Excellence Award - Best Teacher - Business School
Recipient
2016
Shortlisted - Best Teacher at Business School
Recipient
2015

More prizes and awards

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Publications

The marketing curriculum
Harker Michael John, Paddison Andrew
Teaching Marketing (2021) (2021)
Signature Pedagogies in marketing
Paddison Andrew, Harker Michael, Gill-Simmen Lucy, Kelley Neil
52nd Academy of Marketing Conference (2019)
Marketing : An Introduction
Armstrong Gary, Kotler Philip, Harker Michael, Brennan Ross
(2019)
International market entry mode : a systematic literature review
Schellenberg Michael, Harker Michael, Jafari Aliakbar
Journal of Strategic Marketing Vol 26, pp. 601-627 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2017.1339114
Appraising research methods training for marketing
Gibbs Juliette, Harker Michael, Murdy Samantha, Evanschitzky Heiner, Stringfellow Lindsay
51st Academy of Marketing Conference (2018)
Appraising research methods for training for marketing
Harker Michael, Wilson Juliette, Murdy Samantha, Evanschitzky Heiner, Stringfellow Lindsay
EMAC 2018 (2018)

More publications

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Teaching

I am the class leader for MK111: Introduction to Marketing. This is the introductory class in marketing taken by a very high proportion of students in their first year at Strathclyde Business School. Given the size of the class, about one in eight of all undergraduate students at the institution are either in that class or have been in previous years.

I also make teaching contributions on more specialised subjects - especially digital marketing and social media - on both undergraduate and postgraduate classes.

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Professional Activities

Academy of Marketing Conference
Participant
2/7/2024
Senate Appeals Committee (Event)
Advisor
1/7/2022
University Senate (Event)
Advisor
1/7/2022
External Examiner - University of Hertfordshire
External Examiner
1/11/2012
Marketing Intelligence and Planning (Journal)
Editor
2007
External Examiner - UG Marketing Component- Nottingham Trent University
External Examiner
2006

More professional activities

Projects

Effective use of digital technologies and pedagogies to support marketing education: An evidence based case study of current 3rd year Marketing Students and their experience of online/hybrid learning 2020-2023.
Fisher, Michelle (Principal Investigator) Harker, Michael John (Co-investigator) McKee, Elizabeth (Co-investigator)
01-Oct-2023 - 30-Sep-2024
The Role of Parallel and Supporting Staff in Delivering Marketing Programmes (Academy of Marketing funding proposal, 2023)
Harker, Michael John (Principal Investigator) Fisher, Michelle (Co-investigator) McNally, Lorna (Co-investigator)
A pervasive and unhelpful issue across much research into educational provision in the HE sector is the persistence of antiquated and simplistic conceptions of scope, scale and structure of university departments last accurate decades ago. A fairly standardised [and homogeneous] academic group supported by an administrator or two, delivering one or two programmes to a relatively small number of [homogeneous] students. Decisions made on that basis are at best ineffective, and at worst damaging. It is an obsolete view of the HE sector as a cottage industry, rather than as the industrialised mass production that in reality exists. Given the scale and complexity of marketing programmes with huge classes and complex class portfolios, they are very far away from this outdated conception. To maintain and improve quality of delivery, marketing teaching groups need to know more about how to usefully incorporate the skills and resources provided by colleagues outside their own structures, but within those of their institution. Equally, colleagues in those roles would benefit from insight into the how/what/why of marketing teacher imperatives, in order that they may educate and provide to them means and methods to improve quality and efficiency. Help is available, but we – academic staff and students - aren’t making as much of it as we could. This project – allowed by the unique nature of these grants – would begin to rectify that and allow better directed and sustained attempts at improving delivery by organisation and technology.
01-Jul-2023 - 04-Jul-2024
Investigating Smartphone App SMEs
Harker, Michael John (Principal Investigator) Zhang, Ying (Co-investigator)
The creation and marketing of software applications for smartphones – Apps – is an already significant element of the modern digitalised and services based economy. The small size and temporally amorphous nature of such companies, twinned with little to no sector wide organising and representing organisation means that the working practices of these SMEs is concealed. This multi-disciplinary project would seek to gain insight into the three main aspects of their operations and aspects of work.

1. The development and improvement of technical, coding related skills and knowledge
2. The development and improvement of internal management/Human Resources skills and knowledge
3. The development and improvement of market facing skills and knowledge
15-Jun-2023 - 13-Jun-2024
Exploring Signature Pedagogies in Marketing
Paddison, Andrew (Principal Investigator) Harker, Michael John (Co-investigator) Gill-Simmen, Lucy (Co-investigator) Kelley, Neil (Co-investigator)
This project will explore signature pedagogies (SPs) within marketing. Shulman (2005) defined SPs as characterising teaching forms distinct to that discipline with Abel (2009) viewing them as the means through which the text, thought and practice of the respective profession is conveyed. As such, SPs hinge on how disciplinary knowledge translates into professional education.

In seeking to understand this, the interplay across teaching forms that are emblematic of marketing together with the professional preparedness that is integral to this will be explored through interviewing marketing academics. Significantly, this will involve two stages. Firstly, the current situation, as understood by the interviewees, will be explored with this progressing thereafter to exploring amongst these interviewees how SPs could be advanced. The second stage will entail focus groups amongst marketing academics that unpacks their thoughts on the emergent findings with this incorporating pointers for future SP practice within marketing.
15-Aug-2018 - 01-Sep-2019
External Examining for Marketing
Harker, Michael John (Principal Investigator) Murdy, Samantha (Co-investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Co-investigator) Brennan, Ross (Co-investigator) Ward, Janet (Co-investigator)
This project is collecting and disseminating views on the processes and practices of programme external examination for marketing programmes at UK institutions.
14-Jul-2017 - 16-Nov-2018
Postgraduate Research Methods Training for Marketing
Harker, Michael John (Co-investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Principal Investigator) Murdy, Samantha (Principal Investigator) Evanschitzky, Heiner (Co-investigator) Stringfellow, Lyndsey (Co-investigator)
This project is examining the past and present of research methods training for postgraduate research students in marketing in respect of historical and current trends and provision of training within doctoral programmes.
07-Jul-2017 - 16-Nov-2018

More projects

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Contact

Dr Michael Harker
Lecturer
Marketing

Email: michael.harker@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3242