An heretical consumer research perspective on music,culture and heritage

ABSTRACT

This special issue presents both empirical and conceptual papers on music, culture, and heritage as a discursive site of human action and social interaction. The theme of this special issue of music, culture, and heritage are aspects symbolically embedded throughout the market, as well as within cultural and ritualistic practice. The work featured in this special issue captures the essence of the 2015 Heretical Consumer Research Revival conference held 28–30 September in New Orleans, LA (partially funded by Association of Consumer Research). This diverse gathering of critical thinkers and consumer researchers considered various avenues to enrich future directions for consumer culture research. In line with that conference, this special issue is oriented towards generating innovative, radical, and even heretical schools of thought in consumer culture research surrounding markets, music, culture, and heritage in a nonconventional, nonconformist manner.     

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities,challenges, and risks

There has been a marked increase in the internationalization activities of African firms over the last two decades or so, resulting in the emergence of regional challenger firms that are aggressively competing with foreign multinationals in terrains historically dominated by the latter. However, our understanding of this phenomenon is limited, as empirical research examining the nature of internationalization of African firms is scarce, and research directly investigating drivers, outcomes, and boundary conditions of the internationalization of African firms is lacking. The goal of this special issue, therefore, is to contribute to the scholarly understanding of the increasingly prevalent internationalization of African firms. This guest editorial provides a summary of the six articles in this special issue, and highlights three broad thematic issues: internationalization opportunities for African firms (accelerated private‐sector development and regional integration, and ability to overcome institutional voids); internationalization challenges (global competitiveness challenges, limited management and cross‐cultural capabilities, and overcoming the liability of Africanness); and internationalization risks (losing focus on home markets and over‐internationalization).     

Editorial introduction: Advances in theory and practice of digital marketing

This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services aims to bring together a variety of disciplines and a scholarly community for the advancement of knowledge regarding practice and research related to digital and social media marketing. Accordingly, the special issue includes papers using a variety of theories, research methods, contexts, and conceptualizations to enrich our understanding of digital and social media marketing from consumer and practitioner perspectives. The thirteen articles accepted for inclusion in this special issue are summarised in this editorial introduction.     

Moving from multi-channel to Omni-channel retailing: Special issue introduction

In this special issue “Moving from Multi-Channel to Omni-Channel Retailing”, the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services presents a series of papers covering topics to gain a better understanding of research and practices in the move toward Omni-channel retailing. The aim of the special issue is to gain a better understanding of marketing theory and practice in multi-channel and Omni-channel retailing. The topics for the special issue include, but are not limited to (1) The impact of channel integration on consumers’ channel preferences; (2) Service integration in Omni-channel retailing; (3) Customer touchpoint in the context of Omni-channel retailing; (4) Consumer behaviour in Omni-channel retailing; and (5) Building and maintaining customer relationships via Omni-channel retailing.     

International issues in entrepreneurship

In recent decades, there has been a substantial increase in private and public investment in entrepreneurship. This trend has important managerial, financial, and public policy implications. There is also considerable interest in understanding the financial practices of early stage companies. The recent global resurgence of leveraged buyouts and the concomitant rise of “private equity” markets have also heightened interest in entrepreneurship (e.g., Cumming et al. 2007). In this essay, we provide focused summaries of the papers in this special issue, which address these issues.      

Guest editorial: perspectives on sustainable consumption

The typical guest editorial within a special issue of a journal will explain the theme of the special issue, introduce the different contributions that follow, outline the contributions that each makes and identify the common threads that connect them. By contrast, this editorial article seeks to provide an overview which explores the broader context for the challenges that are presented by the pursuit of ‘sustainable consumption’ as a field of scholarship, a form of behaviour and a public policy goal. It explores some of the complexities involved in understanding sustainable consumption, and the ways in which conventional approaches to understanding consumption and consumer behaviour may be insufficient to understand and promote sustainable consumption.     

The global recession issue: Introduction—Part I

This special issue concentrates on the global economic downturn that reached its lowest point in late 2008. Signals of an impending crisis started in 2007 with a wave of insolvent subprime mortgages in the United States, but the seeds were planted years earlier. In its scope, length, and countries affected, this downturn is the worst in over 70 years. It is changing and will continue to change local and global business and economic environments. This issue aims to learn from past mistakes and better understand the new environment. Each part contains five articles and an introduction. Part I has a global perspective; Part II focuses on specific national economies. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises,Technology, and Globalization: Introduction to a special issue on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Global Economy

This paper is an introduction to the special issue on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Global Economy. The paper gives a broad outline of globalization, the role of technology, and examines the role that small and medium-sized enterprises play in the global economy. We focus on foreign direct investment of small technology based firms and how their innovations diffuse into the global economy.     

Communicating identity/consuming difference

This article provides an editorial introduction to the special issue of Consumption Markets & Culture on “Communication Identity/Consuming Difference.” The issue brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines and approaches to share research about how identities are presented and performed in consumer culture, and why it matters. Together, the papers showcase interdisciplinary perspectives that discuss and theorize how identity is communicated, constructed, and consumed in contemporary and historical consumer culture.     

Understanding subsistence marketplaces: Toward sustainable consumption and commerce for a better world

This article provides the background and the events leading up to this special issue, and the composition of articles that follow. This special issue includes articles that take a bottom-up approach in understanding and explaining subsistence marketplaces, focusing on individual, communal, and cultural factors that influence consumers and entrepreneurs who live at or near subsistence, and who comprise a majority of the world's population. This bottom-up focus is distinct and complementary to the macro-level economic development and mid-level business strategy (e.g., base of the pyramid) approaches to the role of business in poverty alleviation. This special issue consists largely of papers based on presentations at the second subsistence marketplace conference held in Chicago in 2008, with articles and essays reflecting a healthy commingling of disciplinary perspectives that cuts across social and commercial enterprises.     

Entrepreneurial activity and regional competitiveness: an introduction to the special issue

An important goal of this special issue is to gain a better understanding of the linkage between the entrepreneurial activity of a region and its level of competitiveness. Comparative studies across countries abound in the literature, but much still remains to be investigated on the role played by entrepreneurship in transforming local economies. The set of papers included in this special issue aims to fill this conceptual and empirical gap. In general, besides acknowledging the existence of a bi-directional relationship between entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness, the papers shed some light on the endogenous process of wealth creation in local economies.     

Entrepreneurship as a solution to poverty

Individuals living in poverty remain a critical issue. This special issue focuses on how entrepreneurship can help to solve such poverty. Rather than viewing those in poverty as a market for goods, the solution lies in understanding how to help those living in poverty create their own businesses. Ultimately, entrepreneurship among those in poverty will create a long lasting solution to their poverty. Herein, we initially examine the extant knowledge about entrepreneurship. We then examine where future research on this important topic should move. Finally, we introduce the five articles that make up this special issue. These five articles came from the initial 71 submissions and enhance our knowledge about entrepreneurship as a pathway to reducing poverty.     

Recent developments in the economics of entrepreneurship

This paper serves as an introduction to the special issue of JBV on the economics of entrepreneurship. Since the beginning of the 18th century, economics has recognized the importance of entrepreneurship at both the microeconomic and macroeconomic levels. This paper reviews recent developments in the economics of entrepreneurship, discusses the principles behind the emergence of a new heterodoxy in economics, and how these new principles provide fertile grounds to further our understanding of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior. Finally, the paper reviews the contributions included in this special issue and puts them in the context of recent developments in entrepreneurship research.     

Deans’ Forum on the Globalization of Business Education and Development: Reflections and Directions for the Future

In this special issue of the Journal of Teaching in International Business, a number of deans reflect on the growth and development in global business education and development. The objective of the special issue is to provide insight into where the field originated and where it needs to move to continue advancement. Seven articles, written by current and former business school deans and their colleagues, are presented from a strategic perspective that cover the curricular, research, and business community outreach issues as they relate to international business academic and professional development programs. Through the presentation and discussion of these related issues, a dialogue will be started to set the agenda for continued advancement and sustainability of international business education across the globe.     

Introduction to the Special Issue - The Brave New World: How shopping and consumption is evolving with technology

This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences features four articles using various methodologies to explore the interplay of technology and consumption. Through an exploration of identity expression in virtual reality to the consumption of fashion media and culture to inspiring the use of wearables, we learn that although new technologies may change traditional consumption patterns, fundamental human needs persist. From this special issue, it is evident the so-called brave new world will require companies, and marketers especially, to not lose sight of the human when using and experimenting with technologies to streamline and enhance consumption and marketplace experiences.     

Gender after gender: fragmentation,intersectionality, and stereotyping

ABSTRACT

This special issue on gender, markets, and consumption follows another special issue on gender and identity that appeared in 2003 in CMC. Fifteen years later, gender still represents a spirited field of confrontation. Seven articles emerged from the reviewing process, and contribute to three main themes: (1) refined representations of gender, which are fine-tuned to contemporary market and societal changes; (2) transformative contributions sharpening understanding of what gender inequalities are and how to contrast them through consumption and markets; and, (3) critical perspectives on gender, which stimulate societal as well as subjective undoing of gender.     

The economics of sustainability in the context of climate change: An overview

The emerging field of sustainable business has its roots in both science and economics—in particular the fields of environmental science and the economics of sustainability. This article provides an overview to the latter field with application to environmental damage due to climate change. The aim is to provide an economic context for the papers in this special issue. The article outlines four essential elements in what has become a vast literature in the economics of sustainability in the context of climate change. First is the dilemma in valuing the distant future which concerns the vexed issue of discounting outcomes that are expected to occur over a very long time horizon. The second is the related characteristics of uncertainty and irreversibility that create an option value in taking action. The third element is the peculiarities of natural capital (arising from the natural environment) compared with reproducible capital (things we make that are used to produce goods and services). The post-neoclassical notions of social capital and knowledge capital are also briefly mentioned. The fourth element is how to manage the global “commons”, the prime example of which is the climate. This article is written for the general business reader with an understanding of basic economic concepts and therefore avoids mathematics. References to more technical treatments are provided.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems

International business fundamentally is about creating an ecosystem environment conducive to entrepreneurship. This means fostering actions and behavior that provide a systemic interaction with multiple entities. In this editorial for the special journal issue, the historical background and origins of the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept is discussed with the view to connected different strands of literature. This provides an optimal way to understand the way entrepreneurship develops through an ecosystem logic. The theoretical perspectives for understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems are discussed that lead to a discussion on each of the articles included in the special journal issue. Themes emerging from these articles are then stated that include a focus on value co‐creation, stakeholder collaboration and entrepreneurial networks. This enables a holistic way to understand the linkages international business has with entrepreneurial ecosystems.     

物流工程专业人才培养模式探讨

随着全国的物流建设高潮的掀起,物流人才作为物流复合型产业的特殊部分,其培养模式是一个比较复杂的问题。如何能培养出能全面参与全球化竞争推动我国经济发展的物流工程人才,不断提高从业人员的素质,使其适应社会和经济的发展需要,需要对人才培养模式进行深入的研究探讨。     

International diversity of authorship in advertising research

Although advertising is a global discipline, several of the world's regions remain under-represented in the leading advertising journals, with North American dominance of review boards and authorship in these journals. Introducing this special issue of the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA), this paper assesses the international diversity of authorship in advertising research by looking at the nationalities of author teams of articles published in the leading advertising journals over the last 10 years. Among advertising journals, international diversity of authorship is clearly greatest in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), and the even greater international diversity of this ICORIA special issue highlights the Journal's international orientation. The fact that diversity of authorship also relates to article citations and therefore to research performance further emphasizes the need for more international diversity of authorship in advertising research.