Commentary on Schembri and Boyle (2013): From representation towards expression in videographic consumer research

In this commentary on Schembri and Boyle (2013) we offer an alternative perspective on the use of video in consumer research. The dominant modus operandi for visual research, as recently demonstrated by Schembri and Boyle in the pages of this journal, follows a paradigm typical of anthropological tradition. We propose an alternative approach: an expressive imperative in consumer videography emerging from theory on cinematography and experimental filmmaking, which emphasizes the evocative power of moving images.     

Balancing acts: Managing employees and reputation in social media

Abstract

Although previous studies have shown that social-media platforms offer companies new ways to gain business value, they have also identified fundamental brand-related challenges in social media. The purpose of this paper is to complement the extant literature by addressing the ways in which companies manage their reputation in social media, focusing on the role of employees. We first illustrate how social-media environments amplify the need for distinct corporate reputation-management practices and, second, how challenges and solutions vary across companies in different sectors and businesses. We contribute to prior research by conceptualising corporate reputation management in social media as balancing acts, which take place in relation to different, contradictory, and sometimes paradoxical priorities related to branding and managing employees.     

Environmental dialogue in online communities: negotiating ecological citizenship among global travellers

The aim of this paper is to investigate how web‐based online communities bring about new forms of environmental dialogue. We suggest that these online sites play an important role in setting the stage for new forms of cultural production, dissemination of environmental knowledge and environmental dialogue, through which particular forms of ecological citizenship and consumer culture are being created and sustained. Based on an empirical study of an online community of ‘global travelers’ carried out using netnographic methods, the study shows how environmental knowledge is being disseminated, negotiated and made sense of in the online environments of the global marketplace. Our findings illustrate, in particular, how online communities may work out an agenda for sustainable consumption practices and lifestyles, and create new forms of consumer citizenship. Regarding the environmental policy implications of our study, we argue that there is a need to facilitate the creation of online environments where consumers can participate in the construction of active consumer citizenship.     

The fall and the fragmentation of national clusters: Cluster evolution in the paper and pulp industry

A common expectation in evolutionary cluster studies is that national clusters engage in competitive interactions that lead to a continuous stream of changes in global dominance. Our fuzzy-set analysis on the evolution of the paper and pulp industry demonstrates that globalization has dramatically changed this situation. National clusters have largely faded away; the value chain dominance is now held by technology suppliers who are global hubs in majority of identifiable business activities in the focal industry. Our results imply that when industrial decline is accentuated by industrial concentration in some part of the value chain the national clusters may lose their importance.     

Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices – Do consumers care?

In this paper, consumer environmental choice is studied by analysing the relative importance of green packaging when compared with other relevant product attributes. The empirical study is based on a choice‐based conjoint analysis of preferences for functional drink products of a sample of 330 consumers using these products. Our choice‐based approach on environmental behaviour brings new insights to previous research, which predominantly relies on attitude models. Results indicate that consumers differ in their preferences for packaging, brand, price and convenience of use of daily products. In addition, various distinctive consumer segments can be identified on the market. Contrary to several previous studies, we found that the largest consumer segment, one‐third of consumers, favoured environmentally labelled packaging as the most important criteria in their choice. The findings emphasize the increasing importance of ethical and environmental dimension in product choices. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices.     

Champagne: marketplace icon

What makes a simple wine, grown in a rather mediocre wine-growing region, one of the most famous and magical marketplace icons of today? How did champagne establish such a unique position, against all the odds, and become the global symbol of celebration? In seeking answers to these questions, this marketplace icon contribution elaborates on what 250 years of avant-garde champagne marketing can tell us about champagne’s ever-shifting image and role in consumer culture. I argue that the “imperishable fame” of champagne stems primarily from four epic myth-making moments that not only came to shape a national identity but also modern consumption ideologies in important ways.