Dr Alessandro Bigi profile

Dr Alessandro Bigi

Deputy Head of Department (Innovation and Management)

Senior Lecturer

Department of Strategy and Leadership , Royal Docks School Of Business And Law

Dr Alessandro Bigi joined the University of East London in 2020 first as a Lecturer in Marketing and subsequently became Senior Lecturer and finally deputy head of department. He owns the "innovation manager" qualification for the Italian Ministry of economic development. His main research interests include digital marketing, artificial intelligence, strategy and tourism. Dr Bigi has published many refereed conference and journal papers.

Qualifications

  • PhD - Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
  • MBA - Rotterdam School Of Management, Erasmus University. Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Areas Of Interest

  • Digital Marketing
  • Marketing
  • Artificial intelligence and strategy
  • Tourism marketing
  • Wine marketing
Dr Alessandro Bigi profile

OVERVIEW

Dr Alessandro Bigi was born in Italy. He received an MSc degree in Business Economics from Bocconi University in Italy. He worked for seven years as a senior consultant for Atos managing several international BPR (Business Process Reengineering) projects driven by digital transformation both in the defence and automotive sectors.

He later moved to Rotterdam to get his MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) in 2005. He then started up his own business working at the digital transformation and began a collaboration with the University of Brescia, teaching at the executive level. In 2013 moved to Stockholm (Sweden) where he received his PhD in Industrial Marketing from KTH - Royal Institute of Technology in 2017.

From 2017 to 2020, he was an Adjunct Professor for the Digital Marketing Module and Researcher at the University of Verona. For Verona University, Dr Bigi managed one of the biggest Italian digital transformation projects led by a University, managing a team of 37 students and leading 100 digital transformation consulting projects. In 2019 and 2020 He was Adjunct Professor in Marketing and Branding at Franklin University Switzerland.

He joined the University of East London in 2020 first as a Lecturer in Marketing and subsequently became Senior Lecturer and finally Deputy Head of the department. He owns the "innovation manager" qualification for the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and is a Certified Management and Business Educator by the Chartered Association of Business Schools. His main research interests include digital marketing, artificial intelligence, strategy and tourism. Dr Bigi has published many refereed conference and journal papers.

External roles

Visiting Professor - Università degli Studi di Verona

CURRENT RESEARCH

Dr Bigi researches marketing and digital marketing topics as well tourism and wine marketing. His primary focus is on marketing digital transformation, artificial intelligence and strategy, and tourism marketing.

  • Bigi, A., Cassia, F. Ugolini, M. (2021) "Who killed food tourism? Unaware cannibalism in online conversations about travelling in Italy", British Food Journal
  • Eriksson, T., Bigi, A., Bonera, M. (2020) "Think with me, or think for me? On the future role of artificial intelligence in marketing strategy formulation", The TQM Journal
  • Bigi, A., Bonera, M., and Corvi, E. (2020). "Technical and Hedonistic Variables of Online Visual Merchandising: Do They Influence Apparel Website Popularity and Attractiveness?". In Handbook of Research on Retailing Techniques for Optimal Consumer Engagement and Experiences (pp. 380-398). IGI Global.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Bigi, A., Cassia, F. Ugolini, M. (2021) "Who killed food tourism? Unaware cannibalism in online conversations about travelling in Italy", British Food Journal
  • Eriksson, T., Bigi, A., Bonera, M. (2020) "Think with me, or think for me? On the future role of artificial intelligence in marketing strategy formulation", The TQM Journal
  • Bigi, A., Bonera, M., and Corvi, E. (2020). "Technical and Hedonistic Variables of Online Visual Merchandising: Do They Influence Apparel Website Popularity and Attractiveness?". In Handbook of Research on Retailing Techniques for Optimal Consumer Engagement and Experiences (pp. 380-398). IGI Global.
  • Lord Ferguson, S.T., Ewing, L., Bigi, A., and Diba, H. (2019). "Clustering of Influential Wine Bloggers Using Automated Content Analysis Techniques", Journal of Wine Research,30 (1).
  • Bigi, A., (2016). Political Marketing: understanding and managing stance and brand positioning. Doctoral Thesis. Cod. ISBN 978-91-7729-203-6
  • Bigi, A. & Bonera, M. (2016) "A proposed Benchmark Analysis of the connection Between wine production and destination perception." Rediscovering the Essentials of Marketing, pp. 963-968. Springer International Publishing.
  • Bigi, A., Treen, E., & Bal, A. (2016) "How customer and product orientations shape political brands." Journal of Product & Brand Management Vol. 25 Iss: 4, pp. 365-372.
  • Bigi, A., Bonera, M., & Bal, A. (2016). "Evaluating political party positioning over time: A proposed methodology." Journal of Public Affairs, 16: 128-139. DOI: 10.1002/pa.1561.
  • Boon, E., Bonera, M., & Bigi, A. (2013). "Measuring Hotel Service Quality from Online Consumer Reviews: A Proposed Method." Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 367-379. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-03972-5.
  • Bigi, A. (2013). Viral political communication and readability: An analysis of an Italian political blog. Journal of Public Affairs, 13: 209–217. DOI: 10.1002/pa.1476.
  • Bigi, A., Plangger, K., Bonera, M., & Campbell, C. L. (2011). "When satire is serious: How political cartoons impact a country’s brand", Journal of Public Affairs, 11, 148–155. DOI: 10.1002/pa.403.
  • Corvi, E., Bigi, A., & Ng, G., (2007). "The European Millennials Versus the US Millennials: Similarities and Differences", Working Paper, Business Management Department, Brescia University, n. 68, 2007.

Book Chapters

F Cassia, A Bigi, M Ugolini, 'The Perspective of Digital Ecosystems for Accessible Tourism: Conceptual and Operational Issues', Accessible Tourism in the Digital Ecosystem, 31-43].

Conference Papers

  • Bigi, A., Bonera, M. and Tuncay, I., 2023, May. Has the Metaverse a Strategic or Operative Role in Luxury Fashion Brands’ Marketing?. In Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference (pp. 1-9). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. 
  • Bertoli G., Bonera M., Bigi A., & Corvi E., (2017), Analisi del posizionamento esperienziale di un format recettivo, Conference proceedings, SIM Conference 2017, 26-27 Ottobre, Bergamo, Italy.
  • Bigi A., Bonera M., & Corvi E. (2014). The Effects of Consumer Self-Confidence Dimensions on Environmental Attitudes. Refereed Proceedings of the Business Systems Laboratory - 2nd International Symposium: "SYSTEMS THINKING FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY: Advancements in Economic and Managerial Theory and Practice." January 23-24, 2014, Rome. ISBN 9788890824203.
  • Bigi A. & Bonera M., (2013). Political party brand identity and brand image: An empirical assessment. Conference proceedings, Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference, Monterrey, California USA. May 15-18. ISBN 0-939783-40-1, ISSN 0149-7421.
  • Corvi E., Bigi A., & Bonera M. (2007). "Are the Italian Millennials similar or different from the US Millennials?" Seventh International Business Research Conference. Sydney, Australia. December 3-6, 2007. Cod. ISBN: 578.0.9804557.0.0.
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Conference Presentations

  • Bigi, A., Bonera, M. and Ghanavat, A., 2023. Luxury Brand Metaverse Runway Shows: relevant themes. In Società Italiana Marketing (SIM) Conference 2023. Italian Marketing Society.
  • "Monitoring the Experiential Content of a Touristic Service". Academy of Marketing Science. WMC 2018. Porto, Portugal. June 27 - 29, 2018.
  • "Exploring the critical incident technique as a method for the analysis of online customer reviews (EA)" Convegno Sinergie-SIMA 2018 Conference "Transformative business strategies and new patterns for value creation", Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy. June 14-15, 2018.
  • "Reverse Country of Origin Effect: Measuring the Impact of Local Products on Tourism Perception" The t-Forum 2018 Global Conference. Palma de Mallorca, Spain. March 11 - 14, 2018.
  • "Wine Marketing" Wine and Tourism conference "La bella estate" - EXPO 2015, Milan, Italy. July 22, 2015.
  • "Political party brand identity and brand image: An empirical assessment." 2013 American Marketing Society Annual Conference, Monterey, California. May 15, 2013.
  • "Emerging and established wine districts' tourists perceptions." 2013 Wine Marketing Conference - Dominican University of California, San Rafael, California. May 13, 2013.
  • "Best practices in digital communication in the food & wine industry." CSMT University Seminar, Brescia, Italy. October 23, 2012.
  • "E-commerce strategies for SME." Confartigianato Brescia, Italy. May 10, 2012.
  • "Advertising and Marketing for SME." Confartigianato Brescia, Italy. April 28, 2011.
  • "Why do we buy online?" Smau ICT Fair, Rome, Italy. March 25, 2010.
  • "E-commerce and SME". Aicel Annual Conference, Desenzano, Italy. May 15, 2009.
  • "The European Millennials versus the US Millennials: Similarities and Differences." Società Italiana di Marketing IV Conference, Rome, Italy. October 5-6, 2007.
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TEACHING

BSc (Hons) Marketing

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MBA - Digital Marketing

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MBA Master of Business Administration

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Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository