Since January 2024, Harald Pol has been appointed professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the corresponding professorship. The Marketing and Entrepreneurship professorship aims to strengthen the knowledge of organizations in the northern region and (student) entrepreneurs at Hanze through practice-based research into socially relevant marketing issues. These include topics such as sustainability, digitalization, business models, and value systems. The professorship collaborates closely with the programs within the Institute for Business, Marketing and Finance of Hanze.
Contributing to a more sustainable society
One of the major challenges for organizations in both the private and public sectors is figuring out how they can contribute to a more sustainable society. Marketing and customer experience can play a key role in this, not only in terms of making products, services, and processes more sustainable, but also in understanding and influencing consumer behavior. The relationship between organizations and their customers is crucial in achieving changes in this behavior. An interesting question is also what role digitalization plays in this transition and how digital transformation can contribute to sustainability.
About Harald Pol
Harald Pol studied Business Administration and Marketing at the University of Groningen. After graduating, he worked for over ten years as a management consultant, project manager, and commercial manager for various service-oriented organizations. Since 1998, Harald has worked as an independent consultant and interim manager in the fields of marketing, communication, and customer relations. He is the founder of The Customer Connection and the Institute for Service Leadership. In this capacity, he has helped many companies, both profit and non-profit, increase their market and customer orientation.
In June 2017, Harald earned his PhD from the University of Twente after a challenging seven-year research period. The title of his dissertation was "Mastering Meaningful Customer Connections." The central question of his research was how organizations can build sustainable relationships with their customers and what role customer experience plays in this. He also examined the impact of digitalization on customer relationships and how a personal approach influences these relationships. Since 2017, Harald has worked part-time at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. He has authored several books and academic articles on customer-oriented entrepreneurship and customer experience.
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Dr. Harald Pol
Professor Marketing and Entrepreneurship
