Page 198 - Bruno Grbac Autoportret_12_3_listbook

... Dr. sc. jameS H. martin, Professor emeritus
Former Head of Faculty at john carroll University

REKLI SU I

first met Bruno while he was a Fulbright Scholar in 1995 at John Carroll University
(JCU) in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He had come to JCU to broaden his perspective on
marketing and market development. Little did I know at the time how much wor-
king with Bruno would broaden my own perspective on marketing and international
market development.

We began our friendship having conversations about pedagogy including using case
studies. Bruno attended my Marketing Management (MBA) class to see how cases
might be used in an MBA program. Each week we would meet over coffee (or wine)
and food to talk about the value of the case teaching method. In addition, we began
meeting over coffee (or wine) and food to talk about how to use statistics and quanti-
tative modeling in research and teaching. We also attended many dinners organized
by the president of the university for donors and for faculty where we interacted
with many professional people from the community over coffee (or wine) and food.
As we continued to have these conversations, we began talking about research ideas
which stimulated a research program that ended up being very productive over seve-
ral years. I don’t know if it was the myriad academic and intellectual discussions
or the coffee (or wine) and food, but we became good friends during his time as a
Fulbright Scholar at JCU.

The next year Bruno invited me to come to Croatia for a few weeks in the spring of
1996 to conduct a comparative research study looking at market orientation in firms
across multiple countries. Interviewing managers across Croatia, Slovenia, and in
198 the Fruilli region in Italy, we began learning about how market orientation develops

in firms in transitioning economies. I remember very well the conversations we
had while enjoying a coffee (or wine) and food at many outdoor cafés. I especially
remember sitting in a café in the Italian Alps having a very long discussion over
coffee (or wine) and food about the role of ethical marketing in improving the quality
Bruno Grbac - Autoportret I remember it very fondly.
of life for consumers. These few weeks were my first international experience and

Bruno invited me to come back to Croatia and so I applied for and received a Fulbright
award for the spring of 1998. Based on what we had learned from our first studies,
we continued interviewing managers across Croatia and Slovenia, but this time
added interviews in Bratislava, Graz, Vienna, and Salzburg. The research was very