“Special SERVSIG Award for Extraordinary Service to the Service Research Field” for Professor Pierre Eiglier
At the recently-concluded “14th International Research Conference” (May 31st – June, 3rd) in La Londe, France, SERVSIG bestowed a special, one-time award upon Pierre Eiglier at the opening session with a plaque that read: “In honor of 25 years of leadership of the International Research Conference in Service Management in La Londe, France, SERVSIG expresses its gratitude to Professor Pierre Eiglier. From its beginning in 1990, the Conference has remained true to the founding vision of Pierre (with Eric Langeard) to overcome the traditional boundaries between disciplines in the study of service and to do so in a uniquely intimate and reflective seminar style“.
It was a joyful moment for all, and also a very surprising one for Pierre, who had not been notified of this in-advance. The announcement was made during the panel in which the Conference Chairs (John Bateson, Marketing; David Bowen, Organizational Behavior/HRM; Pierre Eiglier, Strategy and Economics; and Rohit Verma, Service Operations) shared some opening perspectives. David spoke last, with final words about how the field attempts to honor those who have made truly impactful and ongoing contributions. After mentioning Bob Johnston, a long time presence at La Londe, as an example, now-honored with his name on the Journal of Service Management “Article of the Year Award”, David announced that SERVSIG wanted to honor another individual, now, actually in the room attending the conference—–Pierre!! A very-surprised Professor Eiglier then came forward to receive his Award accompanied by a standing ovation.
The award acknowledges the ability of Pierre Eiglier (and Eric Langeard) to foresee that the study of services requires scholars from different disciplines to expose their views and take the time to discuss with each other. This intuition has taken shape in La Londe Conference since its very beginning through two simple ingredients. First, there are only two parallel sessions. Hence, diverse participants attend sessions in which service issues are tackled by different disciplines and different theoretical perspectives. Second, papers are not simply presented. At la Londe participants spend far more time talking about papers instead of just listening to papers in the sessions.
Over the years, these two ingredients – multidisciplinarity and dialogue – have made La Londe a truly unique place for service researchers.
