Managing innovation networks: Exploratory evidence from ICT, biotechnology and nanotechnology networks

This study examines the management of innovation networks which has enjoyed increased recognition in the marketing literature due to its growing prominence and relevance. By testing a causal model relating network factors to outcomes, the study contributes to theory development on managing innovation at the net level of analysis. Consequently, it contributes to the respective marketing literatures on new product development, open innovation, industrial marketing and its emerging network management sub-stream. It also offers a methodological contribution as respondents include key players from businesses, government agencies, research organizations and universities rather than from only one focal organization as studies in extant literature have predominantly done. Findings are based on 219 responses from Australian high technology networks, namely, information and communications technology and biotechnology/nanotechnology. The study offers valuable implications for marketing managers involved in new product development and innovation concerning strategies for managing their inter-organizational innovation initiatives effectively.     

What’s so Mysterious about Mystery Shoppers? Understanding the Qualifications and Selection of Mystery Shoppers

Mystery shopping are a method of quality management that is utilized often in a variety of businesses. A holistic definition of a mystery shopper is, however, unclear. Literature relating to mystery shoppers was reviewed and analyzed through content analysis, to develop criteria which can be used to define a mystery shopper. The various traits identified were divided into personal traits, training elements, company considerations. The results of the paper provide a thorough analysis of the various traits that constitute a mystery shopper.     

The Narrative of Complexity in the Crisis of Finance: Epistemological Challenge and Macroprudential Policy Response

Official accounts of the 2007–8 financial crisis have recurrently referred to ‘complexity’ in the nature of the securities transacted and in the structure of the financial industry as a way to convey difficulty to understand or apprehend, and thus to predict financial dynamics and regulate financial institutions. On the one hand, the complexity metaphor – as other crisis metaphors commonly do – naturalised turmoil and obscured agency as it subjectified complexity itself as a key driver of instability. On the other hand, it marked a departure from narratives of recent crises insofar as it has pointed explicitly to an epistemological crisis underlying financial turmoil. Such framing of the crisis yielded a powerful theoretical challenge to classical neoliberal assumptions about the exogenous nature of financial turmoil and helped shape a new consensus around the imperative of macroprudential regulation. However, the embrace of the complexity lens may remain relatively ambiguous. Though highlighting properties that render the financial system ‘complex’ and hence unpredictable, it ambitions to ‘manage’ complexity with better methodological tools.     

Urban Segregation and Metropolitics in Latin America: The Case of Bogotá, Colombia

The patterns of spatial socioeconomic segregation in Latin American cities are changing rapidly as a result of suburbanization and metropolization. However, the political consequences of these urban spatial processes are not well understood. This article uses Orfield's framework of analysis to test the hypothesis that spatial segregation at the metropolitan level is driving political polarization between Latin American cities and their suburbs. With Bogotá as a testing ground, we look for evidence that the mechanisms described by Orfield are at play. We conclude that metropolitan spatial segregation does not drive metropolitan politics in Bogotá and explore some of the theoretical implications thereof.     

Single and multiple person household shoppers: A focus on grocery store selection criteria and grocery shopping attitudes and behavior

Responses of single and multiple person household food shoppers are analyzed to determine whether the two groups differ with respect to (1) those store criteria which are important in selecting a food store, (2) attitudes and behavior concerning the grocery shopping activity, and (3) various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Even though many similarities were found between the two groups of shoppers, some differences were observed. The implications of these similarities and differences are discussed, with emphasis given to their impact on retail food store management and strategic planning.     

Rhetorical framing: examining the message structure of nonprofit organizations on Twitter

• All organizations must persuade stakeholders that they are worth supporting. Organizations need donors to give, volunteers to volunteer, consumers to purchase, and general support for public funding. Because Twitter messages are restricted to 140 characters or less, organizations' message structures must be clearer and may employ traditional rhetorical techniques such as ethos, pathos, and logos, to garner support and promote action. By using content analysis, the tweets of eight charitable organizations from diverse sectors were analyzed for rhetorical content, type of communication such as two-way symmetrical or two-way asymmetrical communication, and positive or negative message frame, for one calendar month. Results of this study found that 60% of tweets employed rhetorical strategy and the majority of tweets included a positive message frame. Moreover, each of the three broad functional areas defined by Lovejoy and Saxton (2012) used ethos, pathos, and logos to differing degrees. Based on results, proposed expansions of the functional areas are also discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Food security,obesity, and inequality: Measuring the risk of exposure to the neoliberal diet

In reviewing the so‐called obesity “epidemic”, we critique the individual‐focused explanations that also lead to interventions at this level. Instead, we suggest a different possibility: that food choices are structurally conditioned by income inequality, first; and, second, that we eat what huge oligopolistic food producers and distributors have on offer, which is in turn shaped or facilitated by neoliberal state intervention. To highlight the relevance of structural factors, we develop an index that measures the risk of exposure to what we call the “neoliberal diet” for low‐to‐middle‐income working classes. Using this index, we compare the United States and Canada, advanced capitalist countries that are also agro‐export powerhouses, with a group of countries including the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) plus Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey. We conclude that state interventions need to refocus on reducing social inequality and the social determinants of food production and distribution. Transcending individualistic and consumption approaches will help us appreciate that the state, not the individual consumer, is best positioned to implement change when it comes to food “choices” and food production.     

BRIC Agricultural Policies Through a WTO Lens

This article examines the agricultural policies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) through the prism of the disciplines on agricultural domestic support in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although the BRIC are often grouped collectively as an emerging force in the world economy, divergent agricultural interests are reflected in different approaches towards agricultural policy both through international dispute settlement and notification of their own support. We examine the support notified to the WTO for verification of compliance with their legal commitments, which under the complex WTO rules often differs significantly from measurement of support in economic terms. We note the resulting difficulties of these disciplines in establishing limits on trade‐distorting support. Implications of a Doha agreement are examined. Although the prospect of adoption of new Doha disciplines has become remote, the negotiated provisions are informative about the future policy space the BRIC sought to maintain. Russia’s domestic support commitments under its 2012 WTO accession extend the international disciplines but share the complexity of the other cases.     

From axial codes to Z-scores: Charting the diversity and scope of 25 years of nonprofit marketing research published in International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing

The International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing published practitioner and scholarly research for 25 years before it was rebranded to the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing. This research uses an emergent content analysis design to review all 629 research articles published in the first 25 volumes to document the field's marketing, theoretical, and methodological interests. This article provides important benchmark numbers to compare how the field evolves as the rebranded journal moves forward with a broader topical range.