Wendy Ritz, DBA

Academic Specialty: Marketing

Degree:

• Doctorate of Business Administration, Kennesaw State University,
• Michael J. Coles College of Business
• M.B.A., University of West Florida,
• B.S., M.I.S., University of West Florida

Areas of Expertise:

• Sales
• Digital Marketing
• International Marketing

Wendy Ritz draws on more than 20 years of international sales and marketing experience to introduce college students to a more applied learning environment. She strives to use projects which promote community engagement to expose students to real world business dilemmas both domestically and abroad. In the summer, 2019, she served as a faculty member with Florida State University’s International Programs in Valencia Spain. Wendy continues to remain current in industry and is a Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) Fellow.  She is working with the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship [Wendy Plant], to host a DSEF event on both Tallahassee and Panama City campuses. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family.

Selected Published Research

Wolf, Marco Ritz, Wendy, and McQuitty, Shaun. (2022). "The Role of Affinity for Prosumption Experiences and Values." The Journal of Consumer Behavior,  (November). https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.2105

Whiting, Anita, Ritz, Wendy, and Joie S. Hain. (2021). "Exploring the effects on students from converting on-campus classes to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 29 (1), 13-24.

Steward, Michelle, Narus, James, Roehm, Michelle, and Ritz, Wendy, “From Transactions to Journeys and Beyond: The Evolution of B2B Buying Process Modeling,” Journal of Industrial Marketing Management, Accepted May 2, 2019.

Hain, Joie. S. and Ritz, Wendy. (2020). “Skills development through experiential learning: A case for the application of the enterprise marketing variation model.” Marketing Education Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2020.1830704 

Wolf, Marco, Ritz, Wendy, and McQuitty, Shaun, (2020), “Prosumers Who Home Brew: A Study of Motivations and Outcomes,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2020.1801321

Steward, Michelle, Narus, James, Roehm, Michelle, and Ritz, Wendy. (2019). “From transactions to journeys and beyond: The evolution of B2B buying process modeling,” Journal of Industrial Marketing Management, 83 (Nov), 288-300. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850118305959?via%3Dihub

Wendy Ritz, Marco Wolf, and Shaun McQuitty (2018), “Digital Marketing Adoption and Success for Small Businesses,” Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.

Wendy Ritz, Michelle D. Steward, Felicia N. Morgan, and Joseph F. Hair Jr., “When Sales and Marketing Aren’t Aligned, Both Suffer,” Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2018.

Peter Rhea, Alan Kolp, Wendy Ritz, and Michelle D. Steward, “Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance,” Harvard Business Review, April 29, 2016. 

Export Award

On April 20, 2013, Dr. Wendy Ritz, was presented the U. S. Department of Commerce’s Export Achievement Certificate by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D). An additional presenter was Miguel Olivares, Senior International Trade Specialist for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center. 

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION
D.B.A. Doctor of Business Administration, Coles College of Business,
Kennesaw State University (AACSB Accredited), Kennesaw, GA
July 2013
Concentration: Marketing

M.B.A. University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, 2007
B.S. University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, Management Information  Systems with minor in Management, 2005

RESEARCH
Research Interests

• Personal selling and sales management: the optimal marketing strategies for sales force when matched with the firm’s pricing strategies.
• Digital marketing strategy: the use of websites, blogs, mobile, and data analytics to optimize sales growth and a competitive advantage.
• Business ethics: the need for a balanced focus on the virtues and compliance to change corporate cultures and improve business growth.
• International marketing: the intersection of international cultural pressures and marketing management strategies.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Wendy Ritz, Marco Wolf, and Shaun McQuitty, “Digital Marketing Adoption and Success for Small Businesses,” Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Accepted December 9, 2018. In print March 2019.
• Wendy Ritz, Michelle D. Steward, Felicia N. Morgan, and Joseph F. Hair Jr., “When Sales and Marketing Aren’t Aligned, Both Suffer,” Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2018. https://hbr.org/2018/06/when-sales-and-marketing-arent-aligned-both-suffer
• Peter Rhea, Alan Kolp, Wendy Ritz, and Michelle D. Steward, “Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance,” Harvard Business Review, April 29, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/04/corporate-ethics-cant-be-reduced-to-compliance
   

Peer Reviewed Book Chapter
Marco Wolf, Wendy Ritz, (2018). When Sharing Was a Necessity: A Historical Perspective of Collaborative Consumption in East Germany. In Pia Albinsson and Yasanthi Perera, The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Challenges and Consumption Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishing.

Refereed Conference Presentations and Proceedings
Marco Wolf and Wendy Ritz, “From Beer to Business: Prosumer Activities Fueling Thoughts of Going Pro,” Society for Marketing Advances Conference, October 31 – November 3, 2018, West Palm Beach, FL. Best Paper in Entrepreneurship Track; Best Conference Paper.
L. Joie Hain and Wendy Ritz, “Enterprise Marketing Variation Model: Scalable Project Resulting in High Student and Community Impact,” Society for Marketing Advances Conference, October 31 – November 3, 2018, West Palm Beach, FL.
L. Joie Hain, Wendy Ritz, “Growing Technology Expertise through Team Teaching,” Society for Marketing Advances Conference, November 1-4, 2017, Louisville, KY.
Beth Hogan, Wendy Ritz, Nick Acord, “Improving Healthcare Quality via Push and Pull Strategies for Patient Education,” Association for Marketing & Health Care Research Conference, February 24-26, 2016, Crested Butte, CO.
Marco Wolf, Wendy Ritz, “Digital Marketing Strategy Adoption and Success for Small Businesses: An Examination of DIY Behaviors,” Society for Marketing Advances Conference, November 4-7, 2015, San Antonio, TX. Best Paper Award for Marketing Technology Track
Beth Hogan, Justin Keeling, and Wendy Ritz, “A Logo Development in Healthcare: Is There a Standard?” Association for Marketing & Health Care Research Conference, February 25-28, 2015, Steamboat Springs, CO.

Work in Progress

• “Masked Profit Loss? When B2B Sales Compensation and Pricing Goals Collide,” with Michelle D. Steward, Felicia N. Morgan, and Joseph F. Hair, Jr. Two particular goals of marketing strategy—the goals of the pricing strategy and the goals of the salesforce compensation strategy—are often designed in different areas of the company. This research focuses on the impact of the goal combinations of these strategies on B2B salespeople. In particular, misaligned goals are scrutinized. An often divided focus of marketing on products and services versus sales’ concentration on customers and competition is exacerbated in B2B markets which include varying channels, regions, and industries. This research presents a multi-method approach to understanding the interplay of pricing and sales force strategies through an experiment with salespeople, and interviews before and after the experiment. Submitted May 2018 to Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. Revised and Resubmitted January 2, 2019.
• “From Transactions to Journeys: The Evolution of B2B Buying Process Modeling,” with Michelle D. Steward, James A. Narus, Michelle L. Roehm. Consultants and pundits assert that the business-to-business (B2B) buying process has changed markedly in recent years due to the emergence of online, digital applications and software. Recognizing that impactful, and truly innovative future research is perhaps best created when built on the foundation of past science, we review the arc of B2B buying process modeling from 1956 to the present. Our goals with this research are to: 1. capture the genealogy and evolution of thinking across the years in terms of foundation theories, reasoning approach, types of models, factors researched, and journals in which articles were published, 2. identify the thematic inflection points in the research stream that have led to the current conceptualizations, and 3. suggest a research agenda for the future. Revised and resubmitted to Industrial Marketing Management, February 28, 2019.
• “Bay County Growth and Capacity Report,” with Eren Ozgen, Savannah Hatcher and other FSUPC baccalaureate candidates. An independent report compiled for the Bay County Florida’s Bay Defense Alliance, and Bay Economic Development Alliance which includes pre and post Hurricane Michael situational analysis, SWOT analysis, and recommendations for future growth pertaining to specific subsectors. Specific subsectors include employment, housing, transportation, infrastructure, military presence, education, healthcare, and quality of life; all of which have implications for businesses in search of new operation sites. August 2018- report due May 2019.
   

Awards and Recognitions

• Steven J. Shaw Best Paper in Conference Award. Society of Marketing Advances Conference, West Palm Beach, FL, November 2018.
• Fayetteville State University, School of Business and Economic’ Outstanding Researcher Award. November 30, 2016.
• Export Achievement Certificate, United States Department of Commerce, award presented for achievements in the global marketplace. Award presented by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Florida), April 20, 2013.
• Finalist, Business Marketing Doctoral Support Award Competition, Institute for the Study of Business Markets, Pennsylvania State University, October 2011.

TEACHING
Teaching Experience
Assistant Teaching Professor of Marketing, Florida State University Panama City, July 2017- Present. Undergraduate courses: Sales and Personal Selling, Sales Management, International Marketing, Consumer Analytics, Entrepreneurial Marketing.
Assistant Professor of Marketing, Fayetteville State University, August 2013 – May 2017. Undergraduate courses: Sales and Personal Selling, Sales Management, International Marketing, Entrepreneurial Marketing (hybrid), Principles of Marketing. Graduate courses: Digital-Modern Marketing (Online and Face-to-Face), Marketing Management (Online and Face-to-Face), Fundamentals of Marketing (Online and Face-to-Face).
Assistant Director of Global Internship Program- Auburn University, April 2015- July 2015
Faculty advisor for 41 students (eight student teams) working on sales and marketing programs
for six different Italian companies. On site for two months in Rome, Italy.
Quality Matters Rubric Standards for Online Teaching and Course Construction (includes training and certificate from Quality Matters (QM) Rubric through Kennesaw State University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Center. Course facilitates a QM
standard for design, development, and delivery of online courses. August 2012 

Proficiencies
-Netsuites
-Oracle
-SEO AdWords Certificate
-Learning management systems (Canvas, Blackboard, NC-Sara Certified, Quality Matters (Online) Certification.
-Skilled in data collection from Capital IQ as well as data analysis using multivariate statistical techniques in SPSS, Amos, SmartPLS, and ATLAS.ti

Teaching Evaluations
Florida State University Term Section New Prep Average Score
MAR 3023 Basic Mar Spring 2019 14396 No
MAR 4156 Intl Marketing Spring 2019 14398 No
MAR 4403 Sales Mgmt Spring 2019 14400 No
MAN 3600 Intl Business Fall 2018 12920 No 4.25
MAR 3400 Prof. Selling Fall 2018 14349 No 4.60
MAR 4939/HFT 4502 Ent Mar Fall 2018 12917 Yes Cross listed
MAR 4905 DIS Fall 2018 16618 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAR 3023 Basic Mar Sum 2018 5245 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAR 4156 Intl Marketing Spring 2018 13274 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAR 4403 Sales Mgmt Spring 2018 13283 Yes 4.60
MAR 4524 Analytics/Big Data Spring 2018 13277 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAN 3600 Intl Business Fall 2017 12920 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAR 3400 Prof. Selling Fall 2017 14349 Yes Students ≤ 5
MAR 4939 Marketing Seminar Fall 2017 12917 Yes Students ≤ 5
Fayetteville State University Term Section New Prep Average Score*
International Marketing Fall 2013 7203 Yes 4.57
Sales & Personal Selling Fall 2013 7201 Yes 4.85
Entrepreneurial Marketing Fall 2013 7199 Yes 4.69
Sales & Personal Selling Spring 2014 2695 No 4.82
Sales Management Spring 2014 2698 Yes 4.67
Principles of Marketing Spring 2014 3305 Yes 5.00
Sales and Personal Selling Fall 2014 7240 No 4.89
Entrepreneurial Marketing Fall 2014 6460 No 4.50
Principles of Marketing Fall 2014 6456 No 4.87
MBA- Digital Marketing Spring 2015 2463 Yes 5.00
MBA- Digital Marketing Spring 2015 2465 Yes 4.46
Principles of Marketing Spring 2015 2731 No 4.90
Sales Management Spring 2015 2911 No 4.60
MBA- Foundations in Marketing Fall 2015 6498 Yes 4.93
MBA- Foundations in Marketing Fall 2015 6502 Yes 4.11
Entrepreneurial Marketing Fall 2015 6311 No 4.54
Principles of Marketing Fall 2015 6308 No 4.63
MBA- Digital Marketing Spring 2016 2808 No 4.54
MBA- Digital Marketing Spring 2016 2803 No 4.68
Sales and Personal Selling Spring 2016 2953 No 4.72
Sales Management Spring 2016 2955 No 4.75
Entrepreneurial Marketing Fall 2016 6499 No 4.73
International Marketing Fall 2016 7243 No 4.75
MBA Foundations Marketing Fall 2016 6106 Yes 4.39
MBA Foundations Marketing Fall 2016 6707 Yes 4.54
Sales and Personal Selling Spring 2017 2746 No 4.47
MBA Modern Marketing Spring 2017 2154 No 4.48
MBA Modern Marketing Spring 2017 2178 No 4.77
*Fayetteville State University summary score based on a five point scale anchored by 5= Really helped learning, 1 =Did not help learning. Fayetteville State University considers 3.75 as satisfactory for tenure and promotion.
Received the highest teaching evaluation scores across all faculty in Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship for both, my first and second academic year.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Service to the Profession
• Direct Selling Education Foundation Fellow- Serving as a judge at the Direct Selling Association National Conference, San Diego, CA June 17-19.
o Serving as a DSEF Fellow from 2017 to current. Participation in DSEF event at Rollins College, October, 12 2018.
o Invited to attend Direct Selling Association Annual Conference in Austin, TX June 2-4, 2019. Serving as Judge for company pitch competition.
• Associate Editor for Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science November 2016 – November 2021. Global journal on ABDC Journal Listing. Personal Selling and Sales Management. Five reviewing editors
• Track Chair, Personal Selling & Sales Management, Society for Marketing Advances Conference 2016, Buckhead/Atlanta, GA
• Program Committee member, Session Chair- 19th AMS World Marketing Congress, Paris, France July 2016
• Reviewer, Selling Strategy Track, for National Conference in Sales Management 2016
• Session Chair, Branding: Emotion and Management Track, Society for Marketing Advances Conference 2015, San Antonio, TX.
• Reviewer, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 2015-present
• Reviewer, Selling Strategy Track, for National Conference in Sales Management 2014
• Reviewer, Sales Track, Society for Marketing Advances Conference 2014
• Session Chair, Profitable Selling Track, Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Conference 2012
• Discussant, The Role of Satisfaction in Travel and Tourism Track, Society for Marketing Advances Conference 2011

Professional Memberships
• Society for Marketing Advances
• Direct Selling Education Foundation (Fellow)
• Beta Gamma Sigma

Service to Community
• Bay County Chamber of Commerce- Military Affairs Committee – FSUPC representative September 2018- current
• Coauthor of Bay County Growth and Capacity report – Bay Defense Alliance August 2018-curent. Worked with Dr. Eren Ozgen and student Savannah Hatcher to create an assessment of the county’s growth opportunities for the purposes of attracting businesses
and additional tenants for the local military bases.

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
University of West Florida- Small Business Development Center, Pensacola, Florida
How to Use Social Media to Enhance Brand/Company Engagement, January 16, 2013
Social Media: Managing Your Content and Your Time, June 11, 2013
Seal Aftermarket Products- Bassano del Grappa, Italy
This seminar introduced brand strategies and inventory processes that may facilitate profit maximization. 68 participants.
Seal Aftermarket Products-Pembroke Park, Florida
Five day sales management program included: 1) reviewing key account history; 2) developing appropriate sales strategies for different market and channel customers for the following year and forecasting methods; 3) explaining new product offering and target markets; 4) creating intrapreneurial linkages. 6 attendees; December 2010. 8 attendees; December 2009.
Automechanika Dubai- First free instructional seminar held at the trade show. Attendees were schooled on performance characteristics of various rubber compounds. Some problem and solution scenarios were discussed. 27 participants; May, 2009.
Parker Hannifin Corp, Seal Aftermarket Products Division- Pembroke Park, FL and Rossford, Ohio.
Division Trainer for customer service relationship development initiative. Course objectives: Understand path to developing customer loyalty through overall experience building, benchmarking, and knowledge building. Be capable of creating customer surveys that measure
customer satisfaction, needs identification, and the provision of effective solutions. Improve employee awareness of the daily opportunities to create or enable a positive customer experience. 6 seminars; 104 total participants; May and June, 2008.
Seal Aftermarket Products, Venezuela (Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, Caracas)
Through the solicitation of corporate sponsors, I was able to create an educational program which provided the foundation to enable learners to get a job in the field of automatic transmission repair. Since 2002, this program has logged more than 7,500 participants.
 

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Assistant Teaching Professor
Florida State University Panama City, FL
July 2017- current. Taught sales and marketing to undergraduate students.

Assistant Professor
Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC
August 2013- May 2017. Taught marketing to undergraduates and graduate students (Courses listed below). MBA courses involved teaching and guiding more than 200 students, 30 businesses through digital marketing strategies which included SEO, social media, content marketing, and event marketing.

Assistant Director of International Internships
Auburn University, Auburn, AL/ Rome, Italy
May 2015- August 2015. Worked with 90 students and 8 local companies in the creation, implementation and evaluation of marketing strategies.

Sales Consultant
GFX Corporation, Miami, FL
June 1, 2014- November, 2018. Report directly to the General Manager and Owner. Responsible for identifying international sales growth opportunities. Evaluating marketing strategies and goals.
• Integrated Engineering, Sales, Production Departments to reduce order processing time
• Sales training to improve stable book of business and achieve 20% increase in sales
• Rationalization of inventory to improve resource allocation

12 years in international sales management
International Sales Manager
Seal Aftermarket Products, Distributor of Parker Hannifin, Fortune-250, Miami, FL
July 2010- July 2013. Report directly to the General Manager. Responsible for growing all international sales, managing a five-member global sales staff and the strategic pricing manager, coordinating all international advertising, content marketing, and trade shows, and producing and launching all new product development campaigns.

Regional Sales Manager
Seal Aftermarket Products, Division of Parker Hannifin, Fortune-250, Miami, FL
Sept 2005-July 2010. Reported directly to the General Manager. Global responsibility for all customers in the Automotive Aftermarket that purchase products relating to automatic transmissions and engines. The customer base extends from distributor, production rebuilders, and retail market channels. I managed a global team of six whose members were in Germany, Venezuela, Alabama, California, and Florida.

Aftermarket Sales Manager
SPX Corporation, Filtran Division, Fortune-500, Miami, FL
Oct 2000-Sept 2005. Reported directly to the General Manager. Responsible for the global Automotive Aftermarket customers that purchase products relating to automatic and manual transmissions and engines. The customer base extends from distributor, production rebuilders, and retail market channels. I managed a global team of eight whose members were located in Germany, California, and Florida.