Marketing and Communication
EBS Knowledge Team
The Marketing and Communication knowledge team brings together teaching, research and development activities in marketing, communication, media, consumer behaviour and business languages. The team is responsible for a broad and diverse teaching portfolio across bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral studies. The team also contributes to programme and course development, quality assurance, student supervision and the advancement of academic research in its fields.
The team’s research and practice-oriented activities are interdisciplinary and reflect the changing role of marketing and communication in business and society. The team also participates in research and development projects, linking academic expertise with practical and societal challenges.
Focus areas
Marketing education
The team delivers courses across marketing strategy, consumer behaviour, digital marketing, branding, advertising, sales, negotiation, public relations, media communication, business English and elective languages. The teaching portfolio combines conceptual foundations with applied professional skills and supports students across different levels of study.
Pogramme development
The team contributes to the development and continuous improvement of programmes and courses in marketing, communication, media and language studies. This includes updating course content, aligning learning outcomes with programme objectives, developing assessment approaches, supporting curriculum renewal and contributing to quality assurance processes within the department’s fields of responsibility.
Research
The team conducts interdisciplinary research connected to marketing, communication and their wider social and organisational contexts. Key research streams include business and management education, responsible marketing and sustainable behaviours, visual ethics and digital representation in marketing, and media management, journalism and corruption. These areas reflect the team’s interest in both organisational practice and broader societal questions.
Knowledge team members & doctoral students
Anu Lehing
Head of Languages Focus Group, Lecturer in English & Communication
Teaching activities
The teaching portfolio of the knowledge team covers marketing, communication and consumer-oriented management, combining core marketing strategy with digital and data-driven marketing, branding, advertising, sales, negotiation, media communication and behavioural insight. The courses balance conceptual foundations with applied professional skills, preparing students to analyse markets, understand consumers, design communication and sales activities, and work with contemporary digital, media and service contexts.
Our teaching activities cover the following broad areas:
- Marketing foundations and strategy
- Core marketing principles, market orientation, consumer value, positioning and strategic marketing decision-making.
- Digital, data-driven and AI-supported marketing
- Digital channels, marketing technologies, analytics, search, social media, paid advertising and AI-supported growth.
- Marketing communication, branding and advertising
- Brand building, creative marketing, advertising and persuasive communication across public-facing channels.
- Sales, negotiations and business markets
- Professional selling, negotiation, client relationships and business-to-business marketing.
- Services, event and sector-specific marketing
- Marketing in service, event, tourism and other applied contexts where experience and sector knowledge matter.
- Media, public relations and crisis contexts
- Media literacy, public relations, crisis communication and responsible organisational communication.
- Business languages and professional communication
- Business English, speaking and presentation skills, with Spanish offered as an elective language.
- Behavioural and social science foundations
- Social psychology, sociology, consumer behaviour and decision-making as foundations for marketing and communication.
Publications
Recent publications of Marketing and Communication Knowledge Team.
- Örtenblad, A., Koris, R., & Kerem, K. (2026). The much-discussed gap between employers’ demands and business school graduates’ competence: An intriguing finding. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 19(5), 1–20.
- Kerem, K. (2025). Generative AI as an enabler for educators: Practical tips for generative AI usage in teaching. In Generative AI in higher education (pp. 73–88). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Koris, R., & Pulk, K. (2025). Introduction: Setting the scene. In K. Pulk & R. Koris (Eds.), Generative AI in higher education: The good, the bad and the ugly (pp. 1–14). Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Örtenblad, A., & Koris, R. (2025). Toward a sustainable academic publishing system at university business schools. Management in Education.
- Kerem, K. (2024). The responsible marketing mix: Aligning the 4Ps with sustainability dimensions. In Performance challenges in organizational sustainability (pp. 61–85). Springer Nature.
- Koris, R., & Pello, R. (2023). We cannot agree to disagree: Ensuring consistency, transparency and fairness across bachelor thesis writing, supervision and evaluation. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 48(5), 736–747.
- Örtenblad, A., & Koris, R. (2023). Introducing the debate on the legitimacy of business schools. In A. Örtenblad & R. Koris (Eds.), Debating business school legitimacy: Attacking, rocking, and defending the status quo (pp. 3–46). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Örtenblad, A., & Koris, R. (Eds.). (2023). Debating business school legitimacy: Attacking, rocking, and defending the status quo. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Kollinger, I., & Koris, R. (2022). I’m difficult, but not impossible: How millennials view international assignments and the implications for human resource management (HRM). Personnel Review, 51(6), 1707–1726. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2021-0042
- Koris, R., & Kollinger, I. (2022). The taming of the scoundrel: How to tempt European millennials to engage in international work-related mobility. Development in Learning Organizations: An International Journal, 36(2), 8–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-03-2021-0055
- Hasaan, A., Kerem, K., Biscaia, R., & Agyemang, K. (2018). A conceptual framework to understand the creation of athlete brand and its implications. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 18(3), 169–198.
Research & projects
The team leads and participates in externally financed research, development and practice-oriented projects. These activities connect academic expertise with the needs of organisations, public institutions and wider society, supporting knowledge exchange in areas such as marketing, sustainability, communication, media, education and responsible business practice.
The research activities of the Marketing and Communication knowledge team are interdisciplinary. The key research streams include:
Business and Management Education in a Changing Society
The research area focuses on business and management education, particularly the purpose, legitimacy and societal role of business schools, the development and assessment of student and graduate competences, and the alignment between higher education and labour market expectations. It also includes work on student and stakeholder perspectives in higher education, thesis supervision and evaluation, sustainable academic publishing, the use of generative AI in universities, and selected issues in human resource management and consumer behaviour.
Responsible Marketing and Sustainable Behaviours
This research area examines how marketing can contribute to sustainability through more responsible strategic choices and more inclusive approaches to behaviour change. It focuses on sustainability as a practical, socially embedded process, linking organisational marketing decisions with everyday low-impact practices and communication that supports agency rather than guilt.
Visual Ethics and Digital Representation in Marketing
This research area examines visual ethics in marketing, with a particular focus on digitally altered imagery, beauty norms and young consumers’ interpretation of idealised visual content. It explores how filtered and unfiltered images shape perceptions of beauty, self-presentation and posting intentions among early adolescent girls, contributing to a more critical understanding of ethical representation in digital and social media contexts.
Media Management, Journalism and Corruption
This research area examines journalistic practices and the organisational, political and social conditions that shape news production, particularly in post-Soviet contexts. It also addresses innovation and management in media organisations, with recent work extending to the intersection of media and corruption, including how anti-corruption norms, institutional settings and everyday legal cultures influence public communication and governance.