In partnership with the new digital media publication Luxury Tribune, Professor Felicitas Morhart from the Department of Marketing at HEC Lausanne (UNIL), launched the Swiss Center for Luxury Research (SCLR), a research center that aims to develop thinking on the future of management in the luxury sector, in May. The launch of the new centre coincides with the publication of a new book, a “Research Handbook on Luxury Branding” by Professor Morhart and her co-authors.
A brand-new research centre on the luxury sector in Switzerland
While a few decades ago, luxury was synonymous with a highly capital-intensive, material consumer good, it is now being redefined in more intangible terms. As a result, luxury is no longer about things but experiences, time, mobility, freedom, appreciation, popularity, health, beauty, well-being and even happiness. As a consequence, some of the fundamental pillars of traditional management and marketing in the luxury sector are being called into question, particularly by start-ups that are disrupting the veterans’ game in the luxury industry.
The Swiss Center for Luxury Research (SCLR) at HEC Lausanne was launched in May against this background, led by Professor Felicitas Morhart. The center brings together experts in the luxury sector from top academic institutions in Switzerland to create a hub for thinking about how the luxury sector will be managed in the future. Switzerland is the ideal place for the center, as a traditional repository of wealth for people from all over the world, and thanks to its role as a leader in the luxury watchmaking and hotel sector, and its geographical location. "My vision for the creation of the center is to bring together the magnificent academic expertise in the luxury sector right across Switzerland and beyond, to promote the luxury area as a strand of research in its own right," comments Prof. Felicitas Morhart.
Collaboration with Luxury Tribune
The Swiss Center for Luxury Research has formed a close relationship with Luxury Tribune, the new pureplayer online publication that is acting as the center’s official media platform. Bringing together journalists from Switzerland, France, Italy, the United States and Hong Kong, Luxury Tribune aims to become the world’s leading media outlet in the luxury industry, with content for both the general public and the business world.
Publication of the "Research Handbook on Luxury Branding"
The launch of the center coincides with the new "Research Handbook on Luxury Branding", published by Prof. Morhart and her colleagues as a research manual on the management of luxury brands. The book both explores the current state of knowledge and sets out possible avenues and directions for research and management in the sector.
The book features contributions by leading international researchers and analyses the profound socioeconomic, psychological, technological and political changes that are affecting the luxury industry and will continue to shape its future.
"The book is aimed both at researchers working in the luxury sector, students and executives in the luxury industry, and aims to be an essential reference work on the state of the art in branding, consumption and management of the luxury sector. It is a source of inspiration for young researchers and professionals in the sector who want to explore and shape the future of the world of luxury," comments Prof. Felicitas Morhart.
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