Management and Organisation

Marketing

Sandeep Salunke

Professor and Associate Dean, Amrut Mody School of Management

PhD (University of Queensland)

+91.79.61911351

sandeep.salunke@ahduni.edu.in

Research Interests: Dynamic Capabilities, Service Innovation, Servitisation, Social Innovation, Internationalisation, Business Model Innovation, Digital Transformation

Profile

Sandeep Salunke is Professor of Innovation and Competitive Strategy and Associate Dean at the Amrut Mody School of Management. He began his academic journey with a degree in science, followed by an MBA in Bangalore, India. After gaining industry experience, he completed a Master of Marketing Management (Hons I) at Griffith University and later earned his PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia. He also maintains an affiliation with Queensland University of Technology, Australia, where he has worked for several years and continues to supervise multiple doctoral researchers.

His work draws on nearly two decades of combined experience in research, teaching, and industry practice. He examines how organisations build sustainable competitive advantage through innovation amid shifting business environments. His research explores how firms develop superior capabilities that drive long-term value creation, with contributions spanning service innovation, servitisation, social innovation, internationalisation, business model innovation, and digital transformation. Grounded in the dynamic capabilities view (DCV) and organisational learning perspectives, his work addresses substantive questions in innovation and strategic management. He has collaborated with internationally recognised scholars on major research projects, and his publications appear in several leading academic outlets.

Research

Professor Sandeep Salunke has secured and led an impressive portfolio of research grants across international and domestic contexts.

Professor Salunke collaborated with Professor Jay Weerawardena and others on a $110,000 project titled "Building Resilient Social Enterprises in Queensland," funded by the Department of Youth Justice, Employment, Small Business and Training from 2023 to 2025.

Between 2016 and 2019, he served as a researcher on a $4.2 million RnD4Profit project (14-01-044), "A Profitable Future for Australian Agriculture: Biorefineries for Higher-Value Animal Feeds, Chemicals, and Fuels," alongside Professor Rachel Parker, Professor Ian O'Hara, and Dr. Stephen Cox.

He led a $110,000 internal High Performance Research Group (HPRG) grant from 2017 to 2018, focused on extending innovation measurement to capture servitization and business model innovation, working with Dr Henri Burgers and Dr Shane Mathews.

He served as the project leader for a $60,000 VIED-funded study by the Vietnamese Government, exploring the role of creative imitation in competitive strategy, in collaboration with Dr Gia Ninh Nguyen and Dr Kavoos Mohannak from 2015 to 2018.

Between 2016 and 2019, he led a $55,830 project funded by the Sri Lankan Government (NCAS) that examined the role of customer heterogeneity in innovation-based competitive strategy, alongside Dr Amali Wijekoon and Dr Kavoos Mohannak.

In 2017, he participated in a $903,264 TEKES-funded applied project with Finnish collaborators from Lappeenranta Business School to develop a sustainable agro-ecological approach for animal waste rendering plants and organic co-creative ecosystems.

In 2015, he worked with international collaborators Professor Syrjä and Associate Professor Sjögren from Lappeenranta Business School on a $952,482 research initiative focused on social innovation and entrepreneurship in value creation.

Publications

Articles Published in Refereed Academic Journals

Saeedikiya, M., Salunke, S., and Kowalkiewicz, M. (2025). The nexus of digital transformation and innovation: a multilevel framework and research agenda. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 10(1), 100640.
Nguyen, G. N., and Salunke, S. (2024). The role of servitization in turbulent markets: evidence from Malaysian manufacturing companies. Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 1-45.
Saeedikiya, M., Salunke, S., and Kowalkiewicz, M. (2024). Toward a dynamic capability perspective of digital transformation in SMEs: a study of the mobility sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 439.
Wijekoon, A., Salunke, S., and Athaide, G.A. (2021). Customer heterogeneity and innovation-based competitive strategy: a review, synthesis and research agenda. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 38(3), 315-333.
Weerawardena, J., Mort, G.S., Salunke, S., and Haigh, N. (2021). Editorial and research agenda: JBR special issue on business model innovation in social purpose organizations. Journal of Business Research, 125, 592-596
Weerawardena, J., Salunke, S., Mort, G.S., and Haigh, N. (2021). Business model innovation in social purpose organizations. Journal of Business Research, 125, 762-771.
Weerawardena, J., Salunke, S., Knight, G., Mort, G.S., and Leisch, P. (2020). The learning subsystem interplay in service innovation in born global service firm internationalization. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, 181- 195.
Salunke, S., Weerawardena, J., and McColl-Kennedy, J. (2019). The central role of knowledge integration capability in service innovation-based competitive strategy. Industrial Marketing Management, 76, 144-156.
Weerawardena, J., Mort, G.S., Salunke, S., Knight, G., and Leisch, P. (2015). The role of market sub-system and the socio-technical sub-system in innovation and firm performance: a dynamic capabilities approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 221-239.
Salunke, S., Weerawardena, J., and McColl-Kennedy, J. (2013). Competing through service innovation: the role of bricolage and service innovation in project-oriented firms. Journal of Business Research, 66(8), 1085-1097.
Mlozi, S., Pesamma, O., and Salunke, S. (2012). Determinants of place identity and dependence. Tourism, Culture & Communication, 12(2), 97-114.
Salunke, S., Weerawardena, J., and McColl-Kennedy, J. (2011). Towards a model of dynamic capabilities in innovation-based competitive strategy: insights from project-oriented service firms. Industrial Marketing Management, 76, 144-156.

Conference presentations | Proceedings (selected, most recent)

Rezvani, O., Fazlelahi, F., and Salunke, S. (Forthcoming, under revision) From broker to advisee: how investor network position shapes AI startup innovation. DRUID (Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics), Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 08 June to 10 June 2026.
Weerasinghe, S., and Salunke, S. (Forthcoming, under revision) Theorising involuntary resources and advancing a framework for consumer-firm resource co-integration. Academy of Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, from 31 July to 4 August 2026.
Weerasinghe, S., and Salunke, S. From interactions to innovation: a design-based perspective of consumer resource co-integration. JPIM (Journal of Product Innovation Management) Research Forum, Chicago, USA September 2025.
Saeedikiya, M., Salunke, S., Burgers, H., and Mathew, S. The role of digital innovation in SME Internationalization. JPIM (journal of product innovation management) Research Forum, Chicago, USA, September 2025.
Nguyen, G.N., and Salunke, S. (2024). The dynamics of strategic imitation in emerging economies: an exploratory case study analysis of low and medium tech (LMT) firms in Vietnam. Academy of Marketing Science – World Marketing Congress, Mauritius, August 2024.
Wijekoon, A., Salunke, S., and Athaide, G.A. (2024). Exploring the nature and types of customer-based knowledge integration capabilities (KICs) in service innovation. Academy of Marketing Science – World Marketing Congress, Mauritius, August 2024.
Athaide, G.A., Salunke, S., and Wijekoon, A. (2024). Towards an Integrative Theory of Innovation Failure. Academy of Marketing Science – World Marketing Congress, Mauritius, August 2024.
Wijekoon, A., and Salunke, S. (2021). Uncovering the link from customer heterogeneity to innovation-based competitive strategy. Academy of Management Proceedings, Arizona (online), July-Aug 2021.
Athaide, G.A., and Salunke, S. (2020). Successful relationship approaches during new product development in technology-based industrial markets. Academy of Marketing Science – World Marketing Congress, Porto, August 2019.
Wijekoon, A., and Salunke, S. (2019). A typology of integrative capabilities for service innovation: a demand-based perspective. Academy of Management Proceedings, July-Aug 2019.

Reports | Monographs (selected)

Davidsson, P., James, N., Salunke, S., and Tonelli, M. (2010). ACE research briefing paper 002: learning and adaptation in the business creation process. (ACE Research Briefing Paper). Queensland University of Technology.
Davidsson, P., James, N., Salunke, S., and Tonelli, M. (2010). Learning and adaptation in the business creation process. The Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, QUT.
Davidsson, P., Salunke, S., and Tonelli, M. (2010). The role of family in new business start-ups. (ACE Research Briefing Paper). The Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, QUT. http://www.qut.edu.au/business/ace