LEONINE BRUNINK
International Business Administration student Leonine Brunink was invited to the International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing to present her Bachelor’s thesis on customer co-creation. We asked Leonine to tell us all about it.
Opportunities are there to be taken! Which is precisely what I did when I received an invitation to present my thesis on customer co-creation at the International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing.
This was my academic conference, so I did not really know what to expect. But I was still looking forward to the five-day event in Prague. In retrospect, I would describe the conference as a meeting of people from different professional backgrounds – including some PhD students and businesspeople, but especially university professors – from all over the world to examine certain topics from different angles. Every day, two or three sessions were scheduled, each session providing room for about eight speakers to introduce their research and discuss it with participants. Joint lunches, coffee breaks and an official dinner every evening allowed us to get connected to people and to exchange ideas and insights.
As one of the first International Business Administration graduates to attend this special event, I felt honoured to be able to accompany my professor, Efthymios Constantinides. The conference broadened my horizons in several ways. First, it was a great experience to present my research findings to professors and PhD students from all over the world and to see that they really value new contributions in the academic field. Second, I collected a lot of valuable food for thought from the other speeches and from participating in stimulating discussions on topics related to strategic innovative marketing. Third, the conference offered me the chance to connect with people from different universities and to benefit from worldwide networking. And, last but not least, I enjoyed the cultural experience of getting to know beautiful Prague and attending the museum night, during which all of the city´s museums open their doors free of charge until midnight.
My final advice to any students offered the possibility to attend a conference like this one: Don’t think twice, but grab the bull by the horns! It will be totally worth it!
