Reading ‘the marketing revolution’ through the prism of the FBI

Abstract

This paper details the rebranding process undertaken by the UK co-operative movement and provides an understanding of the strategic issues involved in maintaining a coherent brand identity across a group of autonomous, independent societies. The methodology uses previously unpublished and archive material from across the movement. This is followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with Board Directors, senior management and individuals responsible for implementing the rebranding strategy. The rebranding exercise took almost ten years and the research identifies nine (non-discrete) overlapping stages. The paper argues that while many parallels can be drawn with the corporate rebranding literature, the need to achieve compromise and consensus combined with the independence of those participating creates issues not detailed in previous academic studies.     

‘Murketing’ and the rhetoric of the new sincerity

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that marketing scholars should be paying a lot more attention to the rhetorical form which the economic historian Philip Mirowski – following the novelist David Foster Wallace – calls murketing. Combining philosophical, historical, economic and fictional resources, the paper first produces a synthetic account of what murketing is. Blurring calculated dishonesty with impassioned sincerity, murketing operationalises a double-truth dialectic which treats consumers as both subjects and objects within the process of their own persuasion. In order to indicate how murketing works, the paper then considers recent examples from murketing practice where allusions are made which are both cynical and gnostic, both conceited and intimate, and both earnest and ironic. The paper closes by indicating how its account of the theory and practice of murketing might inform the future study, consumption and regulation of advertising and marketing communications.     

Gibrat’s law and the learning process

This paper discusses the speed of convergence of small firms in the context of Gibrat’s law for manufacturing and service industries. We analyze unbalanced panel data from 139,922 firms belonging to the Spanish manufacturing and service industries between 1994 and 2002. The results show that small firms grow faster than large firms. The evidence supports the proposition that market structure affects the capacity of firms to grow. In particular, small firms in service industries do not grow as quickly as small firms in manufacturing industries. This is mainly due to the lower medium efficient size (MES) in the service industries diminishing the incentives to grow and the positive effect of MES on the speed of convergence.     

Triage? Assessing the EU’s Modernisation Proposals for the WTO

According to the European Commission (EC), the WTO is struggling to credibly remain the go-to place for trade negotiations.1 Indeed, after the Commission stated its concerns, EU-Ambassador to the WTO Marc Vanheukelen commented that if the organisation does not take measures to move forward, the result would be “the demise of the rules-based trading system”.     

China’s growing conflict with the WTO

China is the leading exporter of rare earths, elements which are crucial to the development of high-tech products and new green technologies. In recent years, however, China has begun imposing export restraints on these elements in order to benefit its domestic economic development. This reduces global supply and thus artificially leads to higher prices for importing countries. The EU, the US and Japan have launched a formal complaint in the WTO against China’s export restrictions. China claims that these restrictions are aimed at environmental protection. This paper examines China’s rare earth policy and its compliance with WTO rules.     

‘Size revolution’: the industrial foundations of the Italian clothing business

From the beginning of the 1950s, how to size clothing became an issue debated within national and international organisations which were committed to the standardisation of the technical specifications of industrial products, clothing included. At the time the Gruppo Finanziario Tessile (GFT), which would later act as the industrial springboard for the Italian fashion, introduced a new system of sizes in Italy. Drawing on the company's extensive historical records, the article deals with the technical, organisational, and cultural nature of the process of standardisation of the sizing of clothing. The research provides new evidence about the emergence of a new competitor within a mature industry.     

How Greece’s Systemic Weaknesses Limited the Effectiveness of the Adjustment Programmes

This paper examines the main systemic weaknesses of the Greek economy — structural, institutional and political — and assesses whether they were taken effectively into account in the design and implementation of the three adjustment programmes. We conclude that the economic policy mix that has been implemented through the memorandums focused mainly on treating the symptoms of the crisis instead of decisively dealing with its deeper causes.     

Investigating the unobserved heterogeneity in consumers’ sensitivity to the price of gasoline

We empirically examined how gasoline prices impact consumers’ shopping behaviors. Using individual panel data on gasoline transactions, we found that gasoline prices generally have a statistically and economically significant impact. However, our disaggregate analysis indicated that, across consumers, considerable heterogeneity was present in the underlying sensitivity to the price of gasoline and in the income effect, resulting from fluctuating gasoline prices. More interestingly, the significant effect of gasoline prices was largely driven by the consumers with large purchase volume, and consumers with the highest level of gasoline consumption remained almost perfectly insensitive to the price of gasoline. Such heterogeneity is also present in the effect of gasoline prices on grocery expenditures, and notably, consumers with the largest purchase volume were not associated with statistically significant changes in grocery expenditures. Theoretical background suggests that the financial constraints of consumers and primary vehicle use may explain about the differences in responses to gasoline prices. Results based on individual-level data allowed for a comprehensive understanding of how and how much gasoline prices affect consumer behaviors and showed that inelastic gasoline demand and the considerable income effect due to gasoline prices may not best describe the effect of gasoline prices.     

Rethinking the Employees’ Perceptions of Corporate Citizenship Dimensionalization

The article suggests that the four-factor model of corporate citizenship (CC: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary responsibilities) does not fairly represent all pertinent dimensions of employees’ CC perceptions. Based on an empirical study with a sample of 316 employees, we show that, at least in some contexts, individuals distinguish seven CC dimensions: (1) economic responsibilities toward customers; (2) economic responsibilities toward owners; (3) legal responsibilities; (4) ethical responsibilities; (5) discretionary responsibilities toward employees; (6) discretionary responsibilities toward the community; and (7) discretionary responsibilities toward the natural environment. We do not suggest that this seven-factor model represents all of the (more) relevant CC dimensions in the employees’ minds. We aim to share evidence showing that the four-factor model proposed by Maignan et al. (Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 27(4):455–469, 1999) may be refined, at least when the employees are the stakeholders in question.     

Exploring the Boundaries of Human Resource Managers’ Responsibilities

This article addresses two longstanding challenges for human resource (HR) managers; how far they can and should represent the interests of both management and workers and how they can gain the power to do so. Adopting a Kantian perspective, it is argued that to pursue an ethical human resource management (HRM), HR managers need to go some way to resolving both. Three possible avenues are considered. Contemporary approaches to organisation of the HR role associated with the work of Ulrich are explored as a means of enhancing power, but rejected on the basis of research evidence as unlikely to succeed. Promotion of worker outcomes in the context of developing the link between HRM and performance offers the potential for a more ethical HRM but has not been seized by most HR managers. Finally, implementation of legislative and moral requirements to promote quality of working life is explored through the case of bullying at work. This highlights the boundaries of the HR role in a context of limited power and leads to the conclusion that it is unrealistic to look to HR managers, or at least HR managers alone, to achieve an ethical HRM.     

Step-Change: Micro-Entrepreneurs’ Entry into the Middle-Class Market

ABSTRACT

With upcoming middle classes in Africa, micro-entrepreneurs witness new opportunities that can potentially lift them out of poverty. Exploiting these opportunities requires entrepreneurs to make a ‘step-change’ away from the bottom of the pyramid to middle-class markets. This process hosts potential conflicts between informal-sector and formal-sector stakeholders as it requires both new resources and continued access to existing resources. By taking a strategic marketing perspective, this study labels and defines the phenomenon of step-change and offers an explanatory conceptual framework for it. The article draws implications for business development, the gender debate, as well as academic research.     

Leveraging the Diaspora for Africa’s Economic Development

ABSTRACT

African countries need to engage their diasporas in industrialized countries to provide much needed human, social, and financial capital to help with their economic development. For Africa’s economies to successfully transition from their current state of commodity-dominated production to high value-added production, governments in the continent must design and implement strategies to harness their grossly underutilized diaspora in developed countries. For the most part, the diaspora’s contribution to development has been viewed only in terms of remittances that go primarily to support families. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of some of the diaspora friendly policies that can help engage the African diaspora in the economic development of their respective countries of origin (COOs). Governments in the COOs need to move beyond seeing the diaspora as simply a source for remittances, and engage them in a meaningful way to provide them with a sustainable competitive advantage in the global battle for talent. There needs to be a move beyond simple calls to patriotism, and into engagement that leads to a mutually beneficial relationship between the diaspora and its COO. We conclude by pointing out some of the steps that can be taken in this regard to engage with the diaspora in a mutually beneficial relationship.     

Consumers’ Intent: In the Organic Food Market

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the determinants that influence consumers' intention to purchase organic products. Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) provides the conceptual framework of the research and the appropriateness of the theory is tested. A survey of 144 consumers was used to determine the beliefs which determine consumers’ intent to purchase organic food. Furthermore, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were examined to determine whether they affect consumers’ intention to make organic products purchases. The findings offer considerable support for the robustness of the TPB in explaining intention in the sample. In addition, empirical evidence suggest that price, availability of organic products, product information and the subjective opinions of others are important determinants of consumers intent to buy organic products. The results are consistent with previous research.     

It’s never the same: the role of homogeneity in online services

This research aims to study the differences between services sold on the Internet, based on their degree of homogeneity. While travel services are mostly sold online, other customizable services do not enjoy the same success. We carry out an empirical study based on declared intentions, risk perceptions, and actual purchasing behavior. The main findings show that: the degree of homogeneity is an adequate segmentation variable for online services; homogeneous services seem more suited to e-commerce than non-homogeneous services; a relation exists between perceived risk and intention to buy services online; and the scope of some traditional classification variables needs narrowing.     

Learning from own and others’ previous experience: the contribution of the venture capital firm to the likelihood of a portfolio company’s trade sale

The objective of this paper is to examine to what extent different venture capital firms contribute to the likelihood that the portfolio company in which they invested will realize a trade sale. We use arguments from learning theory to hypothesize the relationship between vicarious, experiential and congenital learning of the venture capital (VC) firm and the trade sale hazard of its portfolio companies. Based on our analysis of 206 VC-backed UK start-ups, we find that both trade sale experience of the VC and learning from syndicate partners with trade sale experience significantly increase the trade sale hazard. The routines and procedures learned from experienced syndicate partners complement experience accumulated through trial and error. Congenital trade sale experience of the investment managers on the contrary has no significant influence on the acquisition hazard.     

Regulation and the Promotion of Audit Ethics: Analysis of the Content of the EU’s Policy

Accounting literature has commonly judged the impact of regulation on auditors’ ethical commitment by studying daily audit practice. We argue that the content of the regulations themselves is an important determinant of such an impact. This paper evaluates the capacity of the content of regulation to promote audit ethics by reference to the European Union’s (EU) audit policy. Anchored in the extant conceptual perspectives on ethics, our analysis of relevant policy documents shows that the EU’s approach to audit ethics relates most strongly to the deontological perspectives on ethics and leaves largely unexplored other means of promoting auditors’ ethical stance, such as by stimulating virtue ethics. We find that it is the EU regulators’ restricted view of the conceptual foundations of audit ethics that limits the capacity of their policy to effectively stimulate auditors’ ethical commitment. The paper also discusses the potential implications of our analysis for the design of future audit policy.     

From the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ to ‘unstoppable India’: has the services sector played a role?

India shifted from an import substitution growth strategy (ISS) to an export-led-growth strategy (ELGS) in July 1991. Consequently, liberalisation was promulgated not only in the industrial sector but in the services sector too in the post-1991 period. ‘services-led-growth strategy’ – a concomitant of ELGS – has led to an improvement in the revealed comparative advantage in the export of commercial services during the period 1990–2005. Furthermore, the openness of services and foreign direct investment in services have emerged as important determinants of gross domestic product growth during the period 1995–2005. The author therefore argues that if ISS led to the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ in the first three decades of planning, it is the services-led growth which has made ‘India unstoppable’ on the economic front.     

Hey DJ,don’t stop the music: Institutional work and record pooling practices in the United States’ music industry

Abstract

Heeding calls to generate a creative synthesis between business history and organisation studies, this article analyses the emergence, institutionalisation and digitalisation of record pooling practices through the lens of institutional work. By developing an ‘analytically structured history’, this article contributes to the field of business history by demonstrating the value of practice and boundary work as organising categories. Practice and boundary work capture the continuous, recursive relations between structure and agency when constructing narrative explanations. It also contributes to neo-institutionalist history by demonstrating the embeddedness of institutional work – the everyday motivations and actions to revise practices and boundaries are shown to be intimately shaped by the conditions and affordances of historically-situated technologies.     

Changes in Polish Farmers’ Attitudes Toward Risk After Poland’s Accession to the EU

This article presents the econometric estimation of the risk attitudes of Polish farmers. For that purpose, a model of production under risk has been employed. The research is based on data from the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), from the years 2004–2010. For the Polish farming sector, risk-related considerations became increasingly important after Poland’s EU accession in 2004. After the accession, Polish agriculture was affected by market liberalization, which was somewhat mitigated by CAP support. To examine the risk aversion of Polish farmers, an estimation procedure based on Antle’s (1987) approach has been applied. This study suggests that, as was the case in other countries, risk aversion decreased following EU accession, that is, the Arrow-Pratt measure of absolute risk aversion based on producers specializing in field crops systematically decreased over the analyzed period.     

Research on the influencing factors of consumers’ green purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era

The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world has caused consumers to think about environmental issues. Although green products are very important to environmental sustainability, the factors that influence consumers' purchase behavior of green products is unclear. This study aims to explore the impact mechanism of social media marketing on consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study constructs an extended TPB model to understand the influencing factors of Chinese consumers' green product purchase behavior in the post-pandemic era. The empirical results of 489 questionnaires show that social media marketing, product knowledge and crisis awareness have a direct or indirect positive influence on purchase intentions. Perceived behavioral control and intentions have positive effects on behavior. The attribution of responsibility facilitates the relationship between intentions and behaviors. The results have important implications for enterprises’ sustainability strategies and provide a framework for investigating green buying behaviors in Chinese culture in the post-pandemic era.