Riko Ooijevaar wins Leeflang Thesis Prize 2010

With his thesis “Social networks - The search for social capital”, Riko Ooijevaar has won the Leeflang Thesis Prize awarded by the department of Marketing of the Faculty of Economics and Business. This prize for the best marketing thesis written by a University of Groningen student has been awarded annually since 2002. The winner receives 1000 euros.

 

Riko was awarded the prize by jury chairman professor Verhoef on 25 March, at the MARUG congress, the Marketing Association of the University of Groningen. The thesis, written in cooperation with KPN, will be the Groningen entry for the National Marketing thesis prize.

 

The jury report recounts: “In his thesis, Riko adds interactions in social networks as a new dimension to customer segmentation models and thus creates a bridge between science and practice. From both an academic and a practical point of view, this thesis is highly innovative and at the same time very applicable in practice. A high-level thesis, with regard to content, approach and implementation.”

The jury consisted of Peter C. Verhoef (jury chairman and head of department), Tom Wilms (Grolsch), Edwin Kooge (Micompany), Tammo H.A. Bijmolt (professor FEB), Jenny van Doorn (jury secretary and lecturer at FEB).

 

Leeflang prize

The thesis prize was established in 2002, in honour of the 25-year jubilee of Prof. dr. P.S.H. Leeflang, Frank M. Bass professor of Marketing at FEB.

 

This year, 10 theses were nominated as candidates and according to the jury, the level of this year’s entries was extremely high. The second place was for Yory Wollerich, who together with Riko stood out above the others. His thesis was entitled: Return on Advertising. Market-Response Study About the Effect of Advertising Expenses per Media Channel on Sales. The third place was for Michelle Belt with her thesis “How to Drive Your Customer Metrics?”.