Center for Excellence in Service | Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Center for Excellence in Service (CES) is an academic research center with a network of Smith faculty members who are thought leaders in service marketing and management. The mission of the CES is to create and disseminate knowledge of best practices in service marketing and management to improve service quality, foster service innovation, and enhance service productivity.

Rockbridge research was quoted in Mary Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report. Meeker notes that 56 million consumers participate in the On-Demand Economy, according to the National Technology Readiness Survey sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service and Rockbridge Associates.

2026 Frontiers in Service Conference

Date: June 29–July 2, 2026
Location: Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland

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The Frontiers in Service Conference, the world’s leading annual event for service research, will bring together scholars, practitioners and industry leaders from more than 40 countries to explore advances in service innovation and impact.

Founded in 1992 by Roland Rust, Distinguished University Professor and David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the University of Maryland, the conference has grown into a multidisciplinary forum for research spanning technology-enabled service, customer experience, service management and sustainability.

The 2026 theme, “Serving with SISU: Sustainability, Inclusion, and Societal Uplift,” highlights how service can address complex global challenges and support more sustainable, inclusive and human-centered futures. The program includes research presentations, workshops and a doctoral consortium for emerging scholars.