Appointed as the First "VIP" by the University of Münster (Germany)

I had the privilege of being named the first "Visiting International Professor" (VIP) at the end of my stay at the University of Münster.  As I understand it, this is a new program being implemented by the School of Business and Economics.  This program is something the Marketing & Media Department and Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau have been working on for some time to make happen.

Dean Theresia Theurl, new VIP Dwayne, and Thorsten Hennig-Thurau

Interestingly, during our meeting and the presentation of this award, I learned that Dean Theurl and I both have family roots in Tyrol, Austria!  I really enjoyed getting to meet her...a very nice lady.

The primary administration building (Schloss) at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Dining at Rick's Cafe with Christof (Muenster, Germany)

Christof Backhaus joined me for dinner at Rick's Cafe for my last evening in Muenster.  I met Christof in 2014, and we have been able to meet every time I visit Muenster.  Christof is a marketing professor at Aston Business School in Birmingham, UK, but lives in Germany and commutes.

Dwayne and Christof in the "garden" at Rick's Cafe

Interestingly, this restaurant was right across the street from my hotel...I had been thinking I should have a meal there, but never did until Wednesday evening.

My room at Stadthotel Muenster was just to  the right of the red roof in the upper left part of the picture.

Final "Field Trip" for Service Management Course (Muenster, Germany)

We finished the face-to-face portion of the Service Management course today at the University of Muenster.  As is my tradition, I treated the class (at least those interested and available) to a treat at Extra Blatt Cafe...everyone selected some form of dessert with ice cream!

The students are happy to be done with the lectures!

As part of our field trip, students pointed out that should the customer have any concerns or complaints, the company's complaint department is ready to go to work...see below...note the employee assigned to the task of handling customer complaints!

Lunch in Maastricht (The Netherlands)

As I left (in my rental car) from Liege, Belgium, the most direct route back to Muenster is thru Maastricht.  So, I stopped off there for a couple of hours and Jos and Marian Lemmink treated me to lunch at the Cafe Local (right next to the Market, which was taking place today, too).  Sigrid Kasper joined us...she is the daughter of another Maastricht marketing professor (Hans Kasper) whom I shared an office with 12 years ago when I was teaching in Maastricht.  Sigrid also studied at BGSU for a semester (in 2011) and once came to our house (in Perrysburg) for dinner.

Marian, Dwayne, Sigrid, and Jos at Cafe Local in Maastricht

"Jury Duty" for Simon Hazée's PhD Defense at HEC-Liège Management School (Liege, Belgium)

I drove a rental car from Muenster to Liege, Belgium, to participate in Simon Hazée's PhD dissertation defense.  I have known Simon for nearly 12 years, but really got to know him when I was a visiting professor at the HEC-Liège Management School during my sabbatical a couple of years ago.  He also helped to coordinate bring a group of Belgian students to BGSU in 2014 and joined them for dinner at our house in April of that year.

The "Jury" for Simon's Defense: François Pichault, Zelal Ates, Cécile Delcourt, Simon, Yves Van Vaerenbergh, Dwayne, Sabine Benoit, and Bart Larivière

Simon with his academic parents and "grandparents": Dwayne (a supervisor for Cecile's PhD), Cecile (Simon's co-advisor), Simon, Yves (Simon's other co-advisor), and Bart (Yves' supervisor for his PhD) 

Developing Service Blueprint Skills in Service Management Course (Muenster, Germany)

Students today formed 5-person teams and developed a service blueprint for "Revive," a hydration clinic in Chicago. After reading a story about it and viewing a video, students went to work.  There was much good discussion about how to depict the firm's service delivery process.  Now that they have learned how to use this tool, they will have a team assignment next week that builds upon this knowledge.

First Day of the 2018 Service Management Course at WWU (Muenster, Germany)

Today was the first day of this year's Service Management Course at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (University of Muenster).  This is the fourth time I have taught this course at WWU in the past 3.5 years, and the fifth time I have taught a course here since 2012.  We had a good first class, with 20 very sharp and engaged students.  I anticipate this being a good experience for all over the next 10 days.

19.5 students in the class (my photo didn't quite capture everyone)

I am told that the students made an entry about this course on their Facebook page.  Click here to see it.

There are four teams of five students.  See their pictures below...

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

Snacks with "THT" in Muenster (Germany)

After a three-hour train ride from Koblenz, I made it to my hotel (the Stadthotel Muenster), got checked in, and relaxed for a while.  My primary contact in Muenster is Thorsten Hennig-Thurau (a.k.a. "THT"), whom I have known for almost 20 years now.  He was teaching an executive course that ended at 6:00 p.m. (18:00), so then we had a "light snack" and talked for about 3 hours.

THT and Dwayne, with St. Lambert's Church in the Background

If you zoom in this photo (above) and carefully inspect the tower, you will see three man-sized cages hanging from the.  Click here for his is a very interesting story to learn about a key part of the history of Muenster.

Thorsten wanted a picture of the place we had dinner...on Prinzipalmarkt Street.

Learning to Celebrate (Research) Success Properly (Vallendar, Germany)

As has become a ritual at the conclusion of my "Publishing Scholarly Research" seminars, I offer to buy a treat (usually it is a beverage) for all attendees.  Unfortunately, at 14:45 (2:45 p.m.) there were not many places open in Vallendar to get a beverage, so we "settled" for ice cream instead.  (No one seemed to complain.)  We had some final publishing discussions while enjoying a variety of different ice creams!

From the left: Dwayne, Jasper (hidden), Markus, Christopher, Carmen, Christina, Florian, Christopher, and Fabian. 

"Three Recommendations" on Publishing Provided to Doctoral Colloquium at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management (Koblenz, Germany)

As I understand it, WHU has around 200 PhD students.  Most of these students could not attend the "Publishing Scholarly Research" seminar, so I was given the opportunity (in one hour) to share some thoughts on publishing to a larger group of PhD students.

How much do I look like the guy depicted on the slide?  (Scary, isn't it?)

About 50 PhD students were in attendance to hear me discuss being synergistic, being opportunistic, and persevering when it comes to publishing scholarly research.

Some of the audience at the Doctoral Colloquium

The announcement of the presentation (it is always cool to see your name in the hallway of a foreign institution):

"Publishing Scholarly Research" Seminar at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar, Germany)

Today I returned to WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management to deliver my "Publishing Scholarly Research" seminar to a new generation of PhD students.  (I delivered this seminar at WHU in November, 2015, too.)  Eleven PhD students from WHU (and one from Belgium) were in attendance.

The next generation of great scholars looking to gain insight into the publishing process.

This week we will spend about 24 hours together discussing various topics.  On Wednesday attendees also had the opportunity to identify reasons why my primary dissertation paper did NOT get published in the Journal of Marketing.  (They seemed to enjoy that activity...perhaps more than they should have!)

Identifying (many) reasons why my paper was rejected at the Journal of Marketing.

On the Road Again...in Koblenz, Germany

It has been a while since I was in Europe...almost 11 months.  I left Detroit on May 19, and after a plane, a train, and a taxi I arrived the next morning at my hotel in Koblenz, Germany.  I walked around during the day on Sunday, forcing myself to stay awake until evening.  (I then slept well!)  On Sunday evening I was treated to dinner by Christian Troebs (left), his wife Nadine, and a friend.

Christian, a friend, Nadine, and I at Buffalo Steak House in Koblenz

Earlier in the day I rented a bicycle from my hotel and rode along the Rhein River for three hours.  I went past the "German Corner" (Deutsches Eck) and all the way out to Vallendar (where I will be at for the rest of the week).

At the "German Corner" where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers meet.

If you look closely at the photo above, just next to my left hip you can see the monument for German Emperor William I.  (A better shot is included below.)  By the end of the day, my (left) knee was sore...I had knee surgery about 2.5 weeks ago.