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Stephen L. Vargo

Shidler College of Business Marketing Professor Stephen L. Vargo was named one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds of 2014 by Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. The UH Mānoa faculty member earned the distinction by publishing the highest number of articles that were most frequently cited by researchers.

Vargo is one of eight marketing experts on the international list, whose members are identified as individuals influencing the future direction of their fields around the world.

“In the past ten years, the college has recruited outstanding faculty—great researchers and teachers—from top schools,” said Shidler Dean Vance Roley. “Since 2005, the college has added 26 faculty endowments and made substantial investments in faculty resources to attract PhDs from around the world. Steve is an exceptional researcher and is ranked in the top one percent of individuals who published the greatest number of cited papers. The college is fortunate to have him as part of its faculty.”

Service-for-service logic

For the last ten years, Vargo, along with R.F. Lusch from the University of Arizona, has been challenging the conceptual foundations of business and economics by proposing that the essence of human exchange is best characterized in terms of service-for-service. That is, service—the use of one’s abilities for another’s benefit—is the basis of exchange, and goods, when involved, are seen as service-provision mechanisms. While this “Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic” was initiated through marketing literature, it has found support in such diverse fields as human resources, information technology, business ethics and sustainability, hospitality management and various other business disciplines. It has also been suggested as a foundation for better understanding of social exchange in general.

More on Stephen L. Vargo

Vargo has published over 90 research papers, including two books. His research has been accepted in publications such as the Journal of Marketing, Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of International Marketing, and the Journal of Retailing. He also made over 175 presentations around the world, including 35 as keynote speaker for major conferences.

Vargo currently has over 17,000 citations based on his Google scholar page. He has received many awards, including the American Marketing Association’s Harold H. Maynard Award for outstanding contribution to marketing theory and thoughts, and the AMA’s Sheth Foundation Award for long-term contribution to marketing. He also has extensive experience in the private sector managing a research consulting company and a hospitality services firm.

He received a BA and MS from the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD from the Michael F. Price College of Business Administration at the University of Oklahoma.

—By Dolly Omiya

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