Prof Martin Liu

Martin J. Liu is the Interim Dean and Professor in Marketing and Innovation at the Nottingham University Business School China (NUBS China). Before this appointment, he served in many administrative roles including the Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange, the Head of the Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Management System Department, the Director of Executive Education, and the Undergradute Programme Director at NUBS China. His research interest relates to how firms achieve their marketing goals with digital innovation mechanisms and digital channels. He is a visiting professor at The University of Aberdeen (UK), The University of Warwick (UK), The University of Northern Iowa (USA) and serves external expert for many government agencies in China.

Martin completes his PhD at Warwick Business School (WBS), The University of Warwick. Before joining UNNC, he had taught at The University of Warwick and The University of Portsmouth. He regularly publishes in world-leading journals, and research works have been sponsored by funding bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council of European Union (ESRC), The Royal Society (UK), The National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), The Academy of Social Science in China, and The Provincial Government of Zhejiang in China. To foster research impacts, Martin has led the development for the Zhejiang Provincial Branding Academy, a research and education platform co-founded by UNNC and Zhejiang Provincial Government in China, where he contributes e to the dialogues of strengthening the innovative branding capabilities of Zhejiang Made brands, specifically in the application of the digital transformation of firms, the education of next-generation branding specialist in the digital world, and in branding consultation to government and enterprises. He is also the chief expert to lead the Ningbo Social Science Academy's “Dual Circulation and Economic Development Research Base” and “The Zhejiang Soft Science Research Base on Innovation Policy” to contribute to the policy and economic development of Zhejiang and Ningbo.

In teaching and student engagement, Martin believes that research informs teaching and teaching also informs research. He has been a strong advocate in disseminating his research findings and bringing impacts to all classes he teaches, including UG, PG, MBA, Ph.D., and Executive Educations. For that, he has received recognition twice for his contributions in teaching and learning excellence, including the most prestigious "China National First-Class UG Module (2020)", "the Lord Dearing Award (2014 & 2019)", "Ningbo Municipal Excellent Teacher Award (2012 & 2106)", "The Staff Oscar Award (2017)", "The Knowledge Exchange and Impact Award (2016)", and "The Vice-Chancellor Achievement Medal (2013)" since he joined the University of Nottingham.

Before his academic career, he had worked in Procter and Gamble (P&G) in Canada and Unison Marketing Inc. in the United States in the area of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and marketing research and the external expert for Saatchi and Saatchi between 2013-2015. Martin also has extensive teaching experiences in executive education EMBA and consultancy work in the UK, USA, Mainland China, and Taiwan.

Martin's research interests can be divided into two main areas. The first area investigates the links between the firm's digital innovation capabilities marketing capabilities for digital ventures. Specifically, His research interest relates to how firms achieving their marketing goals with digital innovation mechanisms and digital channels. Specifically, he focuses on the transformative potential of digital innovation strategy that influences on consumer behavior and marketing/branding capabilities of firms. Research Works in this area has been published in MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Journal of Business Research (JBR), International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM), International Journal of Production Research (IJPR), and Production Planning & Control. The second area focuses on the production method of product and service in the streams of consumer behavior, e-marketing and brand strategy. Specifically, he particularly interests in the area of how authenticity is created and communicated to creating better value propositions to consumers, corporate reputation strategies that enhanced brand value and marketing strategies that are utilizing social media. Research Works in this area has been published in Journal of Business Research (JBR), Business History, International Journal of Production Economics (IJPE), Industrial Management and Data Systems (IMDS), and Advances in Consumer Research.

• Marketing Management (UG)
• Marketing for Services (UG)
• E-Business (PG)
• Marketing for Entrepreneurial Firms (PG)
• PhD Programme
• Executive Education