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Professor Nima Heirati

Professor of Marketing Strategy

Deputy director - The Henley Centre for Customer Management (HCCM)

Nima H Web profile

Specialisms

  • Marketing strategy, 
  • Servitization strategy, 
  • Customer-centric digitalisation, 
  • Business relationships, 
  • Customer experience

Location

Whiteknights Campus

Nima Heirati is the Professor of Marketing Strategy in the Department of Digitalisation, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

Prof. Heirati previously held academic appointments at Surrey Business School, Queen Mary University of London, and Newcastle University Business School, and served as Director of Executive Education at Surrey Business School. Prior to joining academia, he worked as a marketing manager and business development manager in several manufacturing firms.

His research relates predominantly to the field of marketing strategy, servitization strategy, customer-centric digitalisation, business relationships, customer experience, and the impact of artificial intelligence on consumer well-being. His research vision is to make managers, consumers, and policymakers aware of the bright and dark sides of business practices (e.g., interorganizational trust) and technologies (e.g., AI, service robots). He is committed to impactful, collaborative research that brings together academics and practitioners to address complex business challenges and support the responsible use of emerging technologies.

His work has been published in leading journals, such as the Journal of Service Research, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and International Marketing Review among others. His research has received international Best Article awards and nominations. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals.

Taught modules:
MM335 International Marketing

In the media:
https://www.servsig.org/wordpr...


PhD Students

Prof. Nima Heirati welcomes inquiries from prospective PhD students who wish to conduct research in service marketing or business to business marketing. For an informal discussion, please send your resume and a research proposal to nima.heirati@henley.ac.uk. The proposal should not exceed 3000 words and must outline your research idea, rationale, questions or objectives, methodology, and potential data sources. Current research interests include:

Service Research

  • Customer participation (value co-creation)
  • Customer experience with smart products/services
  • Psychological implications of Artificial Intelligence and service robots

Business-to-Business Marketing

  • Service innovation and servitization
  • Business model innovation
  • Digitalization strategy
  • Business relationships and account management

Reference: Samadilashkariani, S., Ahmed, T., McCullough, A., Durán López, E., Tóth, Z. and Heirati, N. (2026) Digitalization strategy in service ecosystems: managing the interplay of tensions and empowerment. Journal of Service Management, 37 (6). pp. 50-77. ISSN 1757-5826 doi: 10.1108/JOSM-03-2025-0151
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Schoefer, K., Wäppling, A., Heirati, N. and Blut, M. (2025) An investigation of culture’s influence on new technology adoption: the case of mobile payment. International Marketing Review, 42 (2-3). pp. 283-308. ISSN 0265-1335 doi: 10.1108/IMR-09-2023-0223
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , Thornton, S. C., Leischnig, A. and Henneberg, S. C. (2025) Capability configurations for successful advanced servitization. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 45 (2). pp. 329-354. ISSN 1758-6593 doi: 10.1108/IJOPM-03-2023-0226
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , Pitardi, V., Wirtz, J., Jayawardhena, C., Kunz, W. and Paluch, S. (2025) Unintended consequences of service robots – recent progress and future research directions. Journal of Business Research, 194. 115366. ISSN 1873-7978 doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115366
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Wünderlich, N. V., Blut, M., Brock, C., Heirati, N. , Jensen, M., Paluch, S., Rötzmeier-Keuper, J. and Tóth, Z. (2025) How to use emerging service technologies to enhance customer centricity in business-to-business contexts: a conceptual framework and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 192. 115284. ISSN 1873-7978 doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115284
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , Pitardi, V. and Sobhy Temerak, M. (2024) When the recipe is more important than the ingredients: Unveiling the complexity of consumer use of voice assistants. Psychology & Marketing, 41 (7). pp. 1489-1501. ISSN 1520-6793 doi: 10.1002/mar.21992
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , Leischnig, A. and Henneberg, S. C. (2024) Organization architecture configurations for successful servitization. Journal of Service Research, 27 (3). pp. 307-326. ISSN 1552-7379 doi: 10.1177/10946705231180368
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Zhang, Y., Leischnig, A., Heirati, N. and Henneberg, S. C. (2021) Dark-side-effect contagion in business relationships. Journal of Business Research, 130. pp. 260-270. ISSN 1873-7978 doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.047
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Siahtiri, V., Heirati, N. and O'Cass, A. (2020) Unlocking solution provision competence in knowledge-intensive business service firms. Industrial Marketing Management, 87. pp. 117-127. ISSN 0019-8501 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.02.010
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Blut, M., Heirati, N. and Schoefer, K. (2020) The dark side of customer participation: when customer participation in service co-development leads to role stress. Journal of Service Research, 23 (2). ISSN 1552-7379 doi: 10.1177/1094670519894643
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Schoefer, K., Wäppling, A., Heirati, N. and Blut, M. (2019) The moderating effect of cultural value orientations on behavioral responses to dissatisfactory service experiences. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 48. pp. 247-256. ISSN 1873-1384 doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.02.009
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , Henneberg, S. C., Richter, A. and Harste, R. (2019) Differential importance of social and economic determinants of relationship performance in professional services. Industrial Marketing Management, 76. pp. 23-35. ISSN 1873-2062 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.07.009
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Bahreini, M. A., Mobini Dehkordi, A., Heirati, N. and Meigounpoory, M. R. (2019) The evolution of business relationships between technology-intensive new ventures and incumbents during the new product development process. International Journal of Innovation Management, 23 (6). 1950052. ISSN 1757-5877 doi: 10.1142/S136391961950052X
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. and Siahtiri, V. (2019) Driving service innovativeness via collaboration with customers and suppliers: Evidence from business-to-business services. Industrial Marketing Management, 78. pp. 6-16. ISSN 1873-2062 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.09.008
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , O'Cass, A. and Sok, P. (2017) Identifying the resource conditions that maximize the relationship between ambidexterity and new product performance. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32 (8). pp. 1038-1050. ISSN 2052-1189 doi: 10.1108/JBIM-08-2016-0191
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , O'Cass, A., Schoefer, K. and Siahtiri, V. (2016) Do professional service firms benefit from customer and supplier collaborations in competitive, turbulent environments? Industrial Marketing Management, 55. pp. 50-58. ISSN 1873-2062 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.02.011
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. and O'Cass, A. (2016) Supporting new product commercialization through managerial social ties and market knowledge development in an emerging economy. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 33. pp. 411-433. ISSN 1572-9958 doi: 10.1007/s10490-015-9437-9
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: O'Cass, A. and Heirati, N. (2015) Mastering the complementarity between marketing mix, brand management, customer relationship management capabilities to enhance new product performance. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 30 (1). pp. 60-71. ISSN 2052-1189 doi: 10.1108/JBIM-07-2012-0124
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: O'Cass, A., Heirati, N. and Ngo, L. V. (2014) Achieving new product success via the synchronization of exploration and exploitation across multiple levels and functional areas. Industrial Marketing Management, 43 (5). pp. 862-872. ISSN 1873-2062 doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.04.015
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: Heirati, N. , O'Cass, A. and Ngo, L. V. (2013) The contingent value of marketing and social networking capabilities in firm performance. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21 (1). pp. 82-98. ISSN 1466-4488 doi: 10.1080/0965254X.2012.742130
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati
Reference: O'Cass, A., Ngo, L. V. and Heirati, N. (2012) Examining market entry mode strategies via resource-based and institutional influences: Empirical evidence from a region-within-country economy context. Australasian Marketing Journal, 20 (3). pp. 224-233. ISSN 1441-3582 doi: 10.1016/j.ausmj.2012.03.001
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Nima Heirati