This collaboration will explore theoretical foundations of Customer Salience, advancing academic knowledge while strengthening the tools that can be applied to business practice.

FlexMR, a market leader in customer insight technology and consultancy, has announced a new partnership with Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) to fund a doctoral research project exploring the academic underpinnings of Customer Salience. The initiative marks a significant step toward deepening theoretical understanding of how organisational decision-making, and how customers are represented in complex managerial processes.

The project is the start of a long-term collaboration, which is currently funded until 2028. It will be co-supervised by Dr Alan Gilchrist and Professor Stefanos Mouzas. Dr Gilchrist is the Head of Department for Marketing at LUMS. He employs ethnographic approaches and action research to understand dynamic organisational strategising and change management. Professor Mouzas is currently engaged in research which aims to understand the drivers of business transformation, managerial cognition and performance. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Research.

From a competitive process that attracted over 30 applications, Natalie Moyce has been selected to lead this project. Natalie holds a Master’s in Marketing Leadership (CIM) and in Entrepreneurial Studies. As a Spinout Wales Scholar at Lampeter University, she has led a graduate team delivering web solutions to SMEs and lectured in Hypermedia & Multimedia. Natalie previously coauthored the book ‘Women Starting Businesses’ and has held strategic roles as a Chartered Marketer, specialising in digital transformation, audience segmentation, and user experience.

Commenting on the appointment, Natalie said: “Many organisations say customers are their northstar, but in my experience, the reality is far more complex. Currently, there’s been very little research on the mechanics of how customer knowledge is operationalised. During my time as a Chartered Marketer, leading on digital transformation projects, I have seen first-hand how actionable insights make all the difference.

This research offers a rare opportunity to comprehensively explore the dynamics of organisational decision-making. By measuring the extent to which businesses prioritise customers, identifying practices that lead to profitable outcomes, and developing a robust measurement framework, I hope to meaningfully contribute both to academic theory and practical application.”

Customer Salience refers to the likelihood that customers are considered in an organisation’s internal decision-making process. Building Customer Salience requires consideration of both structural factors and the individual agency of managers. Whilst the concept has begun to influence how organisations think about embedding insight into strategy, its academic foundations remain relatively underexplored. This project seeks to address that gap by developing a stronger theoretical basis while also examining the implications for organisational practice.

Paul Hudson, CEO of FlexMR, added: “For more than ten years, a cornerstone of our mission at FlexMR has been to ensure customer insight is used directly within decision-making processes. All too often, businesses make decisions without consideration or real understanding of customers. This doctoral project is an important step toward addressing that issue and building the theoretical rigour that will underpin the future of Customer Salience. We believe that by interrogating the relationship between customer insight, organisational culture and commercial value - we can give research and marketing the confidence they need to elevate customer voices to the strategic status they deserve.

Moreover, I’m particularly excited to be working with LUMS, as it’s an opportunity to further the connection I have maintained with the school since graduating from it over 20 years ago.”

By grounding Customer Salience in established academic traditions, the research aims to create a shared language and robust set of principles that can guide both scholars and business leaders. The partnership between FlexMR and LUMS underlines a shared commitment to ensuring that organisations are fully equipped to make better, more informed, and more customer-conscious decisions.

About LUMS

Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) is a world-ranked, triple-accredited business school recognised for excellence in research, teaching, and industry engagement. Bringing together academic expertise and practical relevance, LUMS addresses global challenges through impactful scholarship and collaboration. Delivering on commitments to innovation, sustainability, and leadership development, LUMS prepares the next generation of thinkers and practitioners to shape a more responsible and resilient future.

About FlexMR

FlexMR is a market leading research technology and services firm that helps organisations embed customer insight into everyday decision-making. Through its InsightHub platform and consultancy services, FlexMR empowers brands to understand audiences, engage stakeholders, and advance evidence-based strategies. With a focus on Customer Salience, FlexMR works globally across industries to ensure businesses make informed, customer-centric decisions that deliver lasting commercial and social impact.