Laurent is Associate Professor in Marketing, Department of Business, IUT of Tarbes, Toulouse III University, France. Laurent’s research interests are in the areas of business to business marketing, brand management, sales force management, fair trade and more recently corporate social responsibility. His PhD dealt with Key Account Mangers (KAM) performance. The thesis discussed the different dimensions and conceptualization of KAMs’ performance as well as the behavioral determinants of this performance. KAMs’ conflict resolution strategies, negotiation strategies, communication behaviors as well as coordination practices were studied in the context of industrial relationships. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in: consumer behavior, market research, business strategy, business to business marketing, key account management and statistics.
Laurent’s recent research focuses on Fair Trade brands (World Wild Fund and Max Havelaar) and co-branding strategies that might be developed with corporate brands.
Laurent is open to any research project dealing with surfers, surf tourism and the surf industry. Possible research subjects might be:
- The Corporate Social Responsibility of surf resorts: perceptions of local populations.
- Conceptualization and measure of the service quality in the surf resorts industry.
- Segmentation of surfers world-wide: what are the different groups of consumers in terms of behaviors, preferences and social characteristics?
Laurent’s background is linked to business. Before being an Associate Professor in Toulouse University, he was working for the Invest in France Agency in Los Angeles, CA. At the time, he was in charge of helping California based companies to do business and locate in France.
Laurent is a surfer and has traveled the world seeking for the perfect waves in places like: Portugal, Mexico, Hawaii, Indonesia, Morocco and the Maldives. He lives in Hossegor on the West Coast of France with his wife and daughter.