Emma Macdonald

Profile summary
Emma Macdonald is currently project manager of a multi-disciplinary research project entitled “Assessing the value created by product-service systems” at Cranfield School of Management, U.K. This study addresses the need for new measures of customer-perceived value in a marketplace where a service-dominant logic increasingly prevails. This initiative is one of several under the banner of Cranfield’s Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) which investigate integrated offers of product and related services.

Emma’s research interests centre on methods and techniques for customer insight. Emma recently submitted her PhD at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her thesis developed a new measure of consumer competency (‘savvy’) and resulted in two best-paper conference awards ("Best Paper of the Conference", Academy of Marketing Conference 2007, Aberdeen; "Best Paper in Track", ANZMAC Conference, New Zealand, 2007).

In 2008, Emma conducted post-doctoral customer insight research at London Business School. Emma previously completed a Master of Business (by Research) at the University of South Australia where she was a researcher in the Ehrenberg-Bass Marketing Science Institute. She has published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, and in professional publications and reports.

Before commencing her doctorate, Emma worked for several years in telecommunications including marketing management for professional services at Australia’s Number 2 telco. Prior to that, she was employed as a commercial researcher conducting brand, ad, and new product research for leading consumer brands. She has been teaching at university level since 1993.