International trade intermediaries and the transfer of marketing knowledge in transition economies

The process of market reform that characterizes the move away from regimes of central planning in transition economies creates a need for managers to acquire the techniques and skills of marketing. In contrast with an extant emphasis on inward direct investment, this study examines the role played by international trade intermediaries in the transfer of marketing knowledge across borders. Data collected from manufacturers in central China reveal that the value of marketing knowledge transferred is contingent upon intermediary performance of export marketing services and the likelihood of intermediary replacement.     

Advertising effectiveness from a consumer perspective

Communication effectiveness research is moving away from investigations of advertising’s forms, content and the degree and type of consumer involvement, to a greater focus on the process of reception and the social and cultural roles that advertising plays in society and in individual lives. This shift in emphasis has been influenced by communication and media studies, which have prioritised the psychological, social and cultural contexts within which consumers relate to commercial information and the roles that advertising media play in their lives. The focus on the ‘receiver’ as the key actor in the advertising communication process has also coincided with increasing interest in consumer culture theory, brand communities and the new service dominant logic of marketing. This paper provides a useful perspective from which to view contemporary developments in advertising effectiveness research, and has important implications for future studies.     

The increasing importance of public relations in fast moving consumer goods firms

An interesting phenomenon in recent years is the apparent growth in spending and activity on public relations work in fast moving consumer goods firms. This paper attempts to show that in the first instance there has been a shift away from more traditional forms of marketing communications towards public relations. Secondly, it tries to account for this shift in emphasis. The comparative cost‐effectiveness of public relations is highlighted, as is its changing role. The interface and overlap with the more traditional corporate public relations is discussed.     

Marketing and the competitive performance of British industry: Areas for research

The author suggests that inadequate marketing has been an important factor in the decline of Britain's competitive market position. He argues that instead of investigating macro economic factors as a cause of the UK's poor performance, the emphasis should be on the examination of factors within individual firms, for example the lack of commitment to marketing. The author comments on the relative dearth of qualitative studies into marketing effectiveness in the UK, and makes some specific suggestions for further research.     

Economic Crisis and its Impact on Promotion and Media in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The economic crisis has redounded sharply upon marketing communications and media vehicles in Cyprus. In recession periods, communication and marketing budgets can contract while companies seek to obtain the best communication outcomes with more limited resources, both the size and the distribution of the communication mix can alter rapidly. This qualitative paper reveals that Cypriot advertising agencies now place greater emphasis upon marketing public relations (MPR) as it is perceived to be cost effective and efficient in achieving campaign objectives. The empirical data also indicates a shift towards the use of internet marketing and social media as more and more businesses are realizing the importance of consumer generated marketing and word-of-mouth/mouse marketing (WOMm).     

Relationship marketing: Back to basics?

Relationship marketing, however defined, has received considerable attention recently. To its advocates, relational exchange between buyer and seller represents a paradigm shift away from the traditional focus on individual transactional exchanges. Critics of relationship marketing argue that the concept is poorly defined and is merely a new way of describing what businesses have been doing for a long time.

This paper recognizes that the need to develop long‐term relationships between an organization and its customers is becoming greater. It is however questioned whether marketing educators are providing students with the abilities to take a mature approach to relationship marketing issues, in line with the changing nature of employers' business. Suggestions for introducing relationship marketing to the undergraduate syllabus are made at a number of levels, from an additional module for an introductory “principles of marketing course” to a multi‐disciplinary degree majoring in relationship marketing.     

Gender Differences in Ethics Judgment of Marketing Professionals in the United States

This empirical investigation reexamines the impact of gender on ethics judgment of marketing professionals in a cross-section of firms in the United States. In the study, gender differences in ethics judgment focus on decisions in the context of marketing-mix elements (product, promotion, pricing, and distribution). The results of statistical analyses indicate that men and women marketing professionals differ significantly in their ethics judgment. Overall, female marketing professionals evinced significantly higher ethics judgment than their male counterparts. Given the changing demographics of corporate America, it is conceivable that ethical decision-making in organizations stands to improve as the ratio of women in executive positions increases. The finding also bodes well with the recent emphasis of moving away from transaction-based in favor of relationship-focused conceptualization of marketing.     

The nature and dynamics of counter-implementation in strategic marketing: a propositional inventory

This paper highlights the idea that a broader perspective is needed in research into barriers to marketing implementation. It is suggested that this broader perspective should take account of contextual and behavioural issues along with an acknowledgement of implementation as a process. The nature and dynamics of counter-implementation are introduced and a propositional inventory that explicates such behaviour as encompassing actions that may be both intentional and unintentional in nature is developed.These actions may occur at the individual and group level as they evolve over the implementation process and may be both constructive and destructive to organizational performance. Particular emphasis is given to intentional counter-implementation behaviour in terms of how it initiates, manifests and develops, gaining momentum through the transition from individual level action to collective action and, therefore,greater potential leverage for successfully sabotaging implementation efforts. The paper offers implications for management and a research agenda is proposed that highlights content, context and process perspectives for future research in this area, as well as potential methodologies for future research.     

What if your owners also own other firms in your industry? The relationship between institutional common ownership,marketing, and firm performance

The growth in institutional holdings of public firms has led to increased interest in the concept of common ownership, in which the same investor owns stakes in multiple firms within the same industry. Economic theory suggests that common ownership could affect firm performance, but little empirical research has examined the nature of this effect or how a firm’s extant marketing potentially relates to this effect. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a relationship between common ownership and firm performance that is moderated by the firm’s extant marketing capabilities and its relative marketing strategic emphasis. Our empirical approach employs data from over 43 million institutional holdings to develop a measure of common ownership and accounts for empirical issues like endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity. The results document a positive relationship between common ownership and firm performance and provide some evidence that this effect is stronger for firms with lower marketing capabilities and a relative strategic emphasis towards R&D spending. These results suggest that public policymakers should consider the firms’ extant strategic marketing when assessing regulations on common ownership.     

Engaging the commodified face: the use of marketing in the child adoption process

This paper evaluates the ethical consequences of the use of marketing techniques in the child adoption process within England and Wales. Since 1995 the political climate in the UK has seen a reassessment of the manner in which the state organises care for children who are within its legal guardianship. Successive UK governments have acknowledged the under‐utilisation of child adoption as a moral and efficient means of child‐care. However, the presentation of child adoption in a more active fashion involves concerns about the manner in which child adoption has been organised. Increasingly child adoption organisations and social work professionals are being made accountable through the language of customer service and performance measurements. The use of commercial techniques such as marketing is justified on utilitarian grounds. However, any utilisation of marketing within the child adoption process is forced to ensure that the child is not de‐centred. Legislation requires that the needs and welfare of the child are the first consideration for the adoption agency. Here we begin to see tensions between the humanitarian project that is child adoption, and the unease produced by viewing the child as human ‘product’. This invites analysis via critical theory. The use of marketing in child adoption raises issues related to the objectification and commodification of the child and prospective adopters. Within child adoption it is assumed that we must engage with the child as ‘face’ (Bauman, 1995). But will these assumptions stand the encroachment of marketing techniques into this very sensitive area?     

Transformative green marketing: Impediments and opportunities

Green marketing is not achieving its potential for improving the quality of life of consumers, while improving the natural ecosystem. The failure is the result of the inability of consumers, firms and governments to adopt systems thinking, in which macro-marketing perspectives are integrated into their respective micro-decisions, that is, the anthropocentric view of the natural world is disregarded. The paper discusses why the three groups above have had difficulties in embracing environmental issues, thus impeding real transformative green marketing from occurring. To address the difficulties three proposed actions need to be undertaken: (1) Marketers need to look for new ways of calculating and communicating value that integrates environmental value, thereby moving away from financial measures which have no real environmental meaning. (2) Change the discourse regarding the environment, highlighting the importance of action and inaction, which needs to be based on increased education about the human–environment interface. (3) Marketing needs to refocus its emphasis on want satisfaction, shifting away from the acquisition of goods, thereby enhancing how marketers create value. Making these changes will allow marketers to operationalize transformative green marketing so the human condition and the natural system that humans operate within are both improved and bring about transformative green marketing.     

Spread or stacked? Vertical versus horizontal food presentation,portion size perceptions,and consumption

This research investigates the unexplored consequences of food presentation on consumers' portion size perceptions and consumption. The findings show that consumers perceive portions as smaller and eat more when foods are presented vertically (i.e., stacked on the plate) versus horizontally (i.e., spread across the plate). The effect of presentation on portion size perceptions occurs because consumers use the surface area of the portion as a heuristic for overall portion size and, for equal volumes of food, portions presented vertically have a smaller surface area. Surface area is used as a heuristic for overall portion size presumably because (1) when looking down at a plate of food on a dining table, the surface area of the portion is more salient than the height and (2) through experience consumers learn that the surface area of the portion is often positively correlated with overall portion size. The results of this research underscore the importance of food presentation and identify viewing angle as a factor to consider when evaluating portion size.     

NSPCC: Marketing the “solution” not the “problem”

In private sector companies, marketing philosophy and their accompanying portfolio of tools and techniques have long had a strong and shaping role in the creation of a market‐led corporate strategy. This is because in most cases there is an obvious and direct link in the economic transaction which takes place, between the consumers of the product and the suppliers of the product. In such a relationship, consumer preference and consumer sovereignty are meaningful and explanatory concepts. In contrast, in the Charitable Sector, the situation arises where a consumer receives a product or service which is supplied by a charity, but paid for by a third party, which may be a private sector organisation, a public sector organisation or a private individual. This arrangement has often meant that charities have only selectively applied those marketing techniques which are primarily concerned with attracting income from funders to the organisation. Thus a marketing philosophy and all that it implies for the development of an interactive and consumer responsive marketing system, has not been significantly developed.

This paper will argue through use of the illustrative example of the NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children), that charitable organisations can enjoy substantial benefits through the wider application of marketing principles to their activities.

It will show through its narrow emphasis upon its relationship with the funders, that the NSPCC has created a brand image based upon the problems encountered by the NSPCC, rather than upon the “solutions “ to those problems. This has had the further consequence that the resource allocation and resource attraction systems within the NSPCC has remained separate. A simple model is presented which facilitates examination of this relationship.

It will be suggested that this dichotomy within the NSPCC can be bridged through the Introduction of a marketing orientation which will enhance understanding of the relationship between the NSPCC and its funders, and which above all will provide the stimulus to the creation of a communication system between the funders and the children who are beneficiaries of the NSPCC activity.     

The sublime and consumer behavior: Consumption as defense against the infinite

The latest financial crisis has aroused public discussion about the moral aspects of financial speculation and the rights and responsibilities of different market actors, including private consumers of financial products. Shifting the focus away from the level of individual morals and choices, this paper sets out to trace the discursive “conditions of possibility” for reflective and responsible financial consumption. Through a critical discourse analysis of media and marketing texts, the paper identifies and examines four conventionalized discourses of stock market investing: market mechanics, market psychology, market participation, and market expertise. The paper shows how each of these widely normalized discourses articulates investing as an individual enterprise of wealth management, devoid of broader social or political relevance. It is argued that the prevalence of such representations is likely to discourage social awareness with regard to financial consumption and to impede the establishment of fair and sustainable market practices.     

In-store Marketing as a Mode of Discipline

Although the idea of the self-governing consumer has been widely disputed, modern shopping spaces and supermarkets are considered as the key arenas of the sovereign and empowered consumer. Yet, purchasing patterns, which seem predictable over time, can be explained as resulting from consumer routines and habits. Inspired by Foucault’s general thesis that the emergence of individual freedom coincides with new techniques of discipline, this paper explores consumer routines as an outcome of governance structures embedded in modern retail marketing techniques. First, the term embodiment of consumer choice is introduced to describe how shopping in modern supermarkets hinges on various techniques of bodily discipline. Second, by relying on a study of in-store marketing in Norwegian retailing, these promotional activities are examined as techniques normalizing purchasing behaviour. We conclude by saying that power and discipline are underestimated as explanations to the formation of shopping behaviour and consumer routines.     

Textile marketing: a status report

This exploratory study investigated the status of textile marketing in the United States by (a) examining the textile industry's use of effective marketing techniques, and (b) identifying common problems and needed improvements in textile marketing. The procedure followed these steps: (a) effective marketing techniques were identified, (b) interviews were conducted with nine textile executives and four individuals representing the United States textile industry at large, and (c) the respondents' statements about textile marketing practices were analysed for evidence of effective marketing techniques, common textile marketing problems and needed inprovements in textile marketing. The results indicated that only five of the thirteen respondents described textile firms that were using effective marketing techniques, but some textile firms were using effective marketing techniques and this should be an incentive for other textile firms. Several common problems and needed improvements in textile marketing were also identified. Because of the small sample size, the open-ended questions, and the subjective analysis of the respondents' statements, this study must be regarded as exploratory. However, representative statements from the respondents are presented and these statements are informative about textile marketing practices.     

全球化营销的风险与防范

全球化营销是将全球看成一个统一的大市场,在对其进行市场调研的基础上,进行市场细分并选择自己的目标市场,实施营销策略组合。它强调企业应在全球范围内寻求竞争优势和最佳市场。全球化的趋势得益于正在降低的各国贸易壁垒和交通、信息技术的迅猛发展。全球化营销的巨大经济效益和市场前景对企业有很强的吸引力,但也不可避免地存在风险,因此,如何防范这些风险则是全球化营销要着重解决的课题。     

Innovation and the management of marketing in high technology small firms

This paper initially attempts conceptually to integrate marketing into the total innovation process within high technology small firms. It is argued that an understanding of marketing problems can only be achieved when viewed in terms of other preceding stages in the innovation cycle, of which marketing is a key final act. The subsequent presentation of evidence from two recent research studies indicates that marketing has been neglected in a surprising number of the high technology small firms studied, in which there was a considerable reliance on unsolicited orders as a reactive form of selling. It is argued that this lack of marketing vigour is partly caused by a shortage of human and financial resources which frequently stem from expensive earlier stages in the innovation cycle (e.g. R&D). It is concluded that vigorous marketing would increase output and growth in several of the currently reactive instances. Thus, the paper concludes with suggestions for a more pro‐active policy on the part of government agencies towards the promotion of sales growth in these currently inactive high technology small enterprises.     

Dimensions of marketplace exclusion: representations,resistances and responses

ABSTRACT

This positioning paper explains and develops the concept of marketplace exclusion, which has received little attention to date in the field of marketing and consumer research. Essentially the concept refers to the mechanisms through which certain individuals and communities are barred from the resources and opportunities provided by the market. Participation in the market and the accompanying rights and responsibilities that allow individuals to act as legitimate consumers is essential for social cohesion and social relations. However, one consequence of consumer culture has been a shift away from values of community and citizenship towards those of materialism and competition. Marketplace exclusion encompasses big questions of poverty, sexism and racism to individual consequences such as isolation and alienation. The paper examines various causes and types of exclusion and discusses key research questions and methodological issues in studying this topic. Finally, it introduces the papers included in this special issue of CMC.     

广告比稿模拟在市场营销专业广告学教改中的应用研究

广告比稿是广告主选择广告公司及广告公司获取业务的重要方式。市场营销专业的广告学课程,应使学生具备从企业角度判断广告提案是否适合企业所需的能力,以及从广告公司角度做出能解决企业现实问题的广告提案的能力。广告学的实践教学采用比稿模拟的形式,有利于学生促进学生全面掌握广告学理论,也更符合市场营销专业的培养目标。