About Aurrigo
Aurrigo was established in 1993 to design and manufacture high-end engineering and electronic components for the automotive industry. Since 2016, the company has been developing autonomous vehicles, for use in short distance transportation in shopping malls, science parks, airports and university campuses. Aurrigo’s aviation technology division was launched in 2018, to develop autonomous airport cargo and baggage handling systems. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) in 2022.
The challenge that the KTP was set up to address
Aurrigo is one of the first companies to develop autonomous baggage handling systems and vehicles for use in airports, and has successfully trialled its initial vehicles at Changi Airport in Singapore. Further models are in development.
This puts Aurrigo in a unique position to partner with other airports worldwide, to provide this transformational technology that can enhance efficiency, save time and money and reduce emissions.
To achieve this, Aurrigo needs to differentiate and segment customers and develop bespoke approaches; create a value proposition that can overcome potential resistance to new technology; and design an economic model to help communicate the financial benefits of the initial investment for customers in the technology.
Why a KTP was the ideal route
The skills required by Aurrigo span expertise in operational management, technology acceptance and international strategic marketing. The company worked with Aston University on a previous engineering KTP to enhance its autonomous vehicle technology and understands the value of this type of project. Through a management KTP, working with Aston Business School, the company will gain access to the latest thinking in these areas and benefit from the work of the KTP Associate within the company to ensure this expertise is embedded within its sales and marketing team.
Aston Business School is one of the UK’s leading business schools for support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It ranked in the top ten in the UK and 66th in the world in the 2024 QS World Rankings by Subject for Business and Management Studies. The Aston Centre for Growth, one of the School’s research centres, is helping to transform the regional economy by working intensively with high-potential entrepreneurs and SMEs – strengthening leadership and management skills, boosting productivity, and promoting genuine inclusive growth.
The research team
Leading the KTP from Aston University will be Associate Professor in Marketing and Strategy at Aston Business School, Dr Geoff Parkes. Dr Parkes has a background as a marketing practitioner, having worked as Sales and Marketing Director at Aga Cookers and Armitage Shanks. His research focuses on entrepreneurship and international marketing and he brings specific expertise in customer analysis and the importance of working closely with customers through an account management structure, which will help Aurrigo in sales forecasting and customer relations.
He is joined by two colleagues from Aston Business School, Dr Krishna Balthu and Dr Arezoo Fakhimi.
Dr Balthu is Lecturer in Operations Management and Systems Thinking. His research is grounded in a career as a consultant and change manager in knowledge-intensive organisations before transitioning into academia. Dr Balthu looks at the intricacies of organisational structures and processes, to uncover systemic factors that impede or facilitate change.
Dr Fakhimi, Lecturer in Marketing and Strategy, brings expertise in technology acceptance, having completed her PhD in Marketing Management, which looked at the customer service experience of AI technologies, in terms of technology acceptance, perceived value and relationship marketing.
From Aurrigo, the KTP will be supported by Sales and Marketing Director, Miles Garner and Public Relations and Communications Director, Tenille Houston.
What the research will involve
The first stage of the project will involve a sales and marketing review, to examine the current customer journey and analyse demand creation and business-to-business (B2B) buyer behaviour.
This will be followed by an analysis of reactive and proactive B2B advertising techniques, incorporating research from B2B customer behaviour, international marketing and entrepreneurship to identify key areas for improvement including potential use of virtual reality to market Aurrigo’s products.
The team will also develop a decision support tool that can use data on potential markets and customers, to identify where best to allocate resources. The tool will help the sales and marketing team at Aurrigo to develop bespoke product packages for each individual customer. It will also help the company to identify future opportunities, linked to long term infrastructure projects such as construction of new airports.
Drawing on the insights gained from these three stages, the team will develop a new sales strategy for the aviation sector, incorporating new tactical and operational processes. These changes will then be fully implemented and the new practices embedded in the company.
Finally, the team will review the outcomes and impact from these changes, to ensure that a consolidated portfolio of all models, tools and frameworks developed in the project are embedded and final project outcomes disseminated within the company and through academic outputs.
The potential benefits of the research
The KTP team will provide the company with a strategy for entering a new market with a transformational technology, including how to enable technology acceptance in a B2B context; how to showcase to each potential customer the value and benefits of the new technology operationally, in terms of efficiency, reliability and sustainability; and how to develop a marketing offer, drawing on different product lines that are relevant to each customer.
The project will build internal capacity for sales and marketing drawing on the latest research in the field of innovative B2B technology marketing. Aurrigo will gain the skills and expertise to articulate their value proposition to customers more clearly and so grow their business in the aviation sector.
What the partners say
Dr Geoff Parkes, Associate Professor in Marketing and Strategy at Aston Business School, said:
“Our role is to work with Aurrigo to help develop what is called a ‘service concept’, which is a shared understanding within the company and its customers about the products they are selling and their value proposition.”
Dr Krishna Balthu, Associate Professor in Operations Management and Systems Thinking, said:
“We will be looking at the whole customer journey to see clearly what happens from a prospect, to a lead, through to a customer coming on board and then the post-purchase service. We want to map the entire customer journey so that’s visible to Aurrigo and helps to form the basis of their marketing strategy and management processes.”
Miles Garner, Sales and Marketing Director at Aurrigo said:
“As one of the first companies to develop autonomous vehicles for aviation, we’re carving out a whole technological niche which currently doesn’t exist. There’s currently no blueprint for how to develop the sales and marketing processes to bring new customers on board with this kind of technology. The KTP with Aston University will help to develop that blueprint and so give us a competitive advantage over others seeking to enter this sector.”