Marketing Theory recent issues

A cinemusicaliterary analysis of the American dream as represented by biographical jazz comedepictions in the golden age of Hollywood biopics: Blow, Horatio, Blow; O, Jakie, O; Go,Tommy, Go; No, Artie, No

Holbrook, M. B. — 2009-09-03

This essay argues that our grasp of marketing theory benefits from an awareness of the rags-to-riches ethos that characterizes the paradigmatic American Dream. In this connection, the essay presents a cinemusicaliterary analysis of how this success-story ideal has shaped some artistic manifestations of the consumer culture in ways that have appeared conspicuously in various literary, cinematic, and musical creations. Thus, beginning with the literary works of Horatio Alger and their reification of the rags-to-riches prototype, the essay traces the evolution of this success-story paradigm through its cinematic embodiment in The Jazz Singer (1927) to its appearance in the underlying musical structures that characterize five comedepictions of jazz heroes during the golden age of Hollywood biopics: The Fabulous Dorseys (1947); The Glenn Miller Story (1954); The Benny Goodman Story (1955); The Five Pennies (1959); and The Gene Krupa Story (1959). The essay ends by considering an instructive counterexample based on the life and writings of a different kind of hero, Artie Shaw, who abandoned $ucce$$ as an enormously popular musician to pursue different artistic goals as an author.

Working consumers: the next step in marketing theory?

Cova, B., Dalli, D. — 2009-09-03

In marketing and consumer research, consumers have been increasingly theorized as producers. However, these theorizations do not take all facets of consumers’ productive role into account. This paper mobilizes both post-Marxist economics and post-Maussian socioeconomics to develop the concept of working consumer. This concept depicts consumers who, through their immaterial labour, add cultural and affective value to market offerings. In so doing consumers increase the value of market offerings, although they usually work at the primary level of sociality (interpersonal relationships) and are therefore beyond producers’ control. However, given certain conditions, companies capture such a value when it enters the second level of sociality (the market). The concept of the working consumer summarizes and enriches extant approaches to consumer (co)production, while challenging widespread developments, such as the service-dominant (SD) logic of marketing, which try to create/construct an ethereal marketscape in which consumers and producers live in harmony.

Marketing and the structuration of organizational learning

Peters, L. D., Gassenheimer, J. B., Johnston, W. J. — 2009-09-03

A new dominant logic for marketing has evolved, one that sees both firms and customers as resource integrators. Proponents of this new marketing logic have called for the refinement and elaboration of this resource integration concept and a more explicit connection to the interactivity and networking literature. We address this need by exploring these literatures and drawing inferences for value creation. In particular, we explore how value creation in marketing is reliant upon organizational learning. To do this we draw upon structuration theory as a means of explaining the relationship between organizational and individual learning. We then explore how this relationship helps a firm to improve its value creation capabilities. We examine three key aspects of the structuration process of organizational learning: (1) the structural properties that enable and constrain learning practices; (2) the ways in which knowledgeable individuals carry out learning practices; and (3) the social processes in which learning practices are embedded. We illustrate these processes with the example of a typical network relationship dilemma in the construction industry. We then conclude by highlighting the ways in which our framework captures the central role that marketing plays in enhancing the organization’s capacity and capability to engage in knowledge management, organizational learning, and value creation and what that means to both the customer and the organization.

Morris Holbrook's jazz and film series: an appreciation

Bradshaw, A. — 2009-09-03

A portrait of Morris Holbrook

Bradshaw, A., Brownlie, D. — 2009-09-03

Note from the Editors

Harris, P., Butler, P. — 2009-06-04

Considerations on the evolution of political marketing theory

Butler, P., Harris, P. — 2009-06-04

The significance of politics and election for societies demands the integrated engagement of researchers in politics and marketing. The natural diversity of political contexts, structures and processes complicates the process of theory development in political marketing, but continuous change in political marketplaces provides a rich ground for study. Recent considerations on the evolving dominant logic of marketing — a perspective that emphasizes intangible resources, the co-creation of value and sustainable relationships — resonate with the interests of political marketing scholars. The extension of marketing models to social and political contexts increases their contribution to societal welfare; directions for future work in the field are proposed.

Political marketing management and theories of democracy

Henneberg, S. C., Scammell, M., O'Shaughnessy, N. J. — 2009-06-04

Political marketing management is often criticized for devaluing democratic processes. However, no literature exists which outlines different concepts of democracies and systematically juxtaposes them with political marketing management in its varied conceptual and practical facets. In this article, we outline three different perspectives, i.e. a selling-oriented, an instrumentally-oriented, and a relational political marketing management, and analyse their compatibility with two different concepts of democracy, specifically competitive elitism and deliberative democracy. We discuss implications of political marketing vis-à-vis the theory of democracy as well as necessary further research. We find that while certain political marketing management perspectives are associated with different theories of democracy, the current normal paradigm of marketing theory shows the least overlap with democratic theories.

A resource-based view of the political party and value creation for the voter-citizen: an integrated framework for political marketing

O'Cass, A. — 2009-06-04

The study of marketing by political parties has been a steadily growing theme in academia over the past two decades. However, theory of marketing by political parties could be said to be in a pre-paradigmatic stage, as there is no general theory of political marketing. This is not to say a general theory is preferable or even possible, but it does present the discipline with a number of issues and raises many questions about moving political marketing to a stronger theory base. Such a stage of development presents great opportunities for those interested in political marketing to identify and debate many of the important aspects of applying marketing to political campaigns, which raises significant theoretical and practical issues. One such issue relates to the foundation of political marketing, which is being built on by theory from the commercial marketing domain. This does not lessen the discipline, but opens up opportunities to explore the nature of political marketing and debate the transition, smooth or otherwise, of commercial marketing theory into the political domain. It also provides opportunity to discuss the development by political parties of specific capabilities to deliver greater value to the voter-citizen, and what resources and capabilities are needed to do this. These two theoretical platforms highlight two major issues that if brought together offer significant opportunities to advance the discipline of political marketing — these being the resource-based view of the firm and value creation and delivery.

The political brand: A consumer perspective

Smith, G., French, A. — 2009-06-04

As there is not universal acceptance of political parties as brands, the paper justifies and theoretically supports considering them as such. It then uses a cognitive psychology perspective to explain in detail how consumers learn about political brands. From this, the interaction between the leader, the party and its policies is considered as a means by which political brand image forms in consumer memory. This is followed by an analysis of the potential benefits proffered by political brands to voters. These benefits, it is postulated, motivate consumers to learn about, interact with and eventually help decide upon a political brand. Finally, the paper considers the future of political brands, in particular through the prism of postmodern consumer behaviour.

Selling terror: The symbolization and positioning of Jihad

O'Shaughnessy, N. J., Baines, P. R. — 2009-06-04

Public speculation has turned to how terrorists are made. One increasingly attributed source is propaganda (see Powell, 1967), the `propaganda of the deed' — physical violence — but also the audio-visual. Terrorism is a language of symbolic action: in the choice of the victims, in the choice of terrorist act, the drama created and the various official responses sought. We are in a new era, when the terrorist act does not simply speak for itself via its symbolism, but is amplified through a vast constellation of modern media. We explore the symbolism inherent in the construction of selected Islamist audio-visual propaganda made available on the internet today and seek to access the `meaning' of terrorist visualities through semiotic analysis, particularly using the Positioning Triad (Baines et al., 2008) and the deconstruction technique (Derrida, 1967) to encourage a new thread of political marketing/propaganda research. We conclude that a common theme projected in our sample is that of the West as permanent aggressor, with Muslims depicted as piously aggrieved for the wrongs done unto them.

Political marketing and stakeholder engagement

Hughes, A., Dann, S. — 2009-06-04

Political marketing theory has developed and evolved in conjunction with advancements in political science and commercial marketing. Commercial marketing has been increasingly interested in developing marketing mechanisms which allows it to satisfy the core customer groups while also meeting the broader needs of the community and other stakeholders. Political marketing has the opportunity to build a marketing framework that focuses on delivering value to a core target market (voters, supporters) and addressing the needs of society at large. The paper outlines a new definition of political marketing to meet the challenges of addressing the needs of the political marketplace, political party stakeholders, and the broader social agenda.

In memoriam -- Barbara B. Stern (Co-Editor of Marketing Theory, 2000--2008)

Holbrook, M. B. — 2009-03-04

The foundations of relationship marketing: reciprocity and trade relations

Tadajewski, M. — 2009-03-04

In this paper I examine relationship marketing from an historical perspective. As a predominantly industrial marketing strategy, reciprocity was adopted by numerous organizations and discussed in detail by marketing scholars from the 1920s until the late 1970s, and these debates indicate that reciprocity was largely relationship marketing orientated in nature. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, reciprocity had fallen into disrepute. In its place arose `trade relations' and trade relations management. Reciprocity was marginalized, this paper documents, due to the focus of the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department and the Supreme Court on a number of prominent cases of anticompetitive reciprocity. From trade relations, debates pertaining to `corporate diplomacy', `diplomatic marriage brokers', `business relations' and relationship marketing developed.

Corporate branding and brand architecture: a conceptual framework

Muzellec, L., Lambkin, M. C. — 2009-03-04

This paper examines the relationships between product and corporate brands with a view to clarifying the role and function of corporate branding in the context of different brand architectures. Through the prism of rebranding decisions, brand architecture is analysed as an evolutionary strategy decision. Two broad strategies are identified: an integration strategy which seeks to achieve image alignment between corporate and product brands; and a separation strategy which seeks to shape different images for different stakeholders. Implementing these strategies within the context of the brand architecture, we introduce the concept of `ascending and descending brand extension', which leverages the strong image of the corporate brand to enhance the image and credibility of the product brand and vice versa. Based on this analysis, we propose three types of corporate branding strategy within the brand architecture framework: the `trade name', which is a basic identity over a house of brands; the `business brand', which is consciously nurtured and is aimed primarily at stakeholders other than consumers; and, finally, the `holistic corporate brand' is a fully developed corporate brand, extending across all target audiences.

Serving `The Guest': Gunther Anders at the Grand Seaside Hotel

Bunzel, D., Parker, M. — 2009-03-04

Drawing on data collected during 14 months of ethnographic research in an Australian Coastal Hotel, the paper describes the management of service encounters. Hotel staff used meetings and training sessions to simulate service scenarios, hypothesizing `customer wants and needs'. In order to do this they constructed the image of an ideal `Guest', an image that was collectively evoked in order to shape the conduct of service encounters. We claim that these imaginary service encounters mean that the `creators' of this imaginary object become increasingly subjected to its demands. The object, `The Guest', attempts to dominate its creators. The traditional demarcation between subject and object is blurred, and perhaps reversed. Drawing on the neglected work of Günther Anders, the paper inquires into the status of this object and addresses the process of its production and consumption. It demonstrates how subjects and an (imaginary) object become entangled.

Identity, consumption and narratives of socialization

Shankar, A., Elliott, R., Fitchett, J. A. — 2009-03-04

In this paper we contribute to current debates concerning the relationship between identity and consumption. We use people's past consumption of music, embodied in their old records, as an archive of their identity projects. Using a narrative approach to data collection and drawing on an interpretive orientation influenced by the work of Pierre Bourdieu, we find that the structuring influences that enable and constrain the development of identity emerge in sharper relief. In particular, we suggest that narratives of socialization have an enduring effect on how people `make up' who they want to be. Implications for consumer research theory are discussed.

Towards new conceptualizations of branding: theories of the middle range

Brodie, R. J., de Chernatony, L. — 2009-03-04

It is suggested there is a need to broaden theorizing about brands to include service, relational and social perspectives as well as the traditional managerial perspective. Rather than attempt to develop a grand theory about brands, a more productive approach is to focus on the interface between theory and practice, provided by the managerial, service, relational and social perspectives to develop a federation of theories. This paper provides nine perspectives which serve as a basis for this middle range thinking.

Towards the holy grail of defining `brand'

de Chernatony, L. — 2009-03-04

As an intangible asset, the meaning of `brand' varies between managers in the same organization striving to increase their brand's performance. This paper considers from an evolutionary perspective how brand interpretations vary and a unifying definition is postulated.

From goods to service branding: An integrative perspective

Brodie, R. J. — 2009-03-04

With a growing recognition of the importance of a service orientation to marketing, the emphasis shifts to understanding the nature of value propositions and how this leads to the creation of customer experiences and value-in-use. Within this new perspective the brand functions both as an entity and a process. A theoretical framework is developed that provides this broader integrative perspective.

Towards an identity-based branding

Burmann, C., Hegner, S., Riley, N. — 2009-03-04

While it is recognized that brands can play a pivotal role in a company's value generation, the levers which determine success have been far more difficult to identify. One of the reasons for this is that a large body of research still focuses on establishing a rather narrow definition of the brand as being only a communication vehicle. In this paper we develop a two dimensional approach towards brands: first, the brand as perceived by actual and potential buyers, i.e. the `outside-in perspective' based on the image of a brand; second, the brand as constructed and managed by the owner/manager of the brand, i.e. `the inside-out perspective' based on the identity of a brand.

Brand community in search of theory: An endless spiral of ambiguity

Gabbott, M., Jevons, C. — 2009-03-04

The term `brand' has populist interpretations, technical interpretations, and conceptual interpretations. In each case marketing researchers and practitioners are dealing with a different perspective on the same phenomenon. We attempt to show that these different perspectives are an inevitable part of understanding such a contextual and dynamic phenomenon as a brand.

The cultural codes of branding

Schroeder, J. E. — 2009-03-04

Recent research has shifted attention from brand producers and products toward consumer response and services to understand brand value creation. Often missing from these insights, however, is a focus on cultural processes that affect contemporary brands, including historical context, ethical concerns, and representational conventions. A brand culture perspective reveals how branding has opened up to include interdisciplinary research that both complements and complicates economic and managerial analysis of branding. If brands exist as cultural, ideological, and political objects, then brand researchers require tools developed to understand culture, ideology, and politics, in conjunction with more typical branding concepts, such as equity, strategy, and value.

Brands as relationship facilitators in consumer markets

Veloutsou, C. — 2009-03-04

This paper examines two types of relationships that consumers form around brands. First there are direct brand and consumer relationships, while the second are the links that a consumer develops with other consumers around brands. This includes brand communities, brand tribes and brand sub-cultures.

When brands get branded

Huber, F., Vogel, J., Meyer, F. — 2009-03-04

Recent perspectives on branding have claimed that consumers establish relationships with brands (Fournier, 1998). According to this view, one has also to consider that — similar to human relationships — transgressions may occur in such a relationship. Brand misconduct describes a brand's behaviour that consumers do not agree with, e.g. Coca-Cola's introduction of the so-called New Coke in the eighties. After an introduction and definition different forms of misconduct are distinguished. The possible consequences, how the company can react to brand misconduct and, ultimately, the implications for branding theory development are examined.

Integrating brand, retailer and end-customer perspectives

Glynn, M. — 2009-03-04

With increased retailer concentration, competition and the emphasis on private labels, it is easy to assume that manufacturers' brands are less important to retailers. Retailers manage their stores as brands and control the brand offering inside the store, coordinating the manufacturer's brand with the private label. However, manufacturers' brands are still important in determining retailer profitability and store image. This research paper seeks to clarify the value of manufacturers' brands to retailers within marketing channel relationships.

Branding in the post-internet era

Christodoulides, G. — 2009-03-04

The internet and its related e-technologies have to a large extent upset the asymmetry of information that for so many years worked in favour of brand managers. Consumers are now empowered to interact with brands and other consumers but also to create their own content on user generated content sites leading to a more participative approach to branding. Internet brands adopt a more relaxed stance on brand management, which involves the consumer in fundamental stages of the brand building process. In this context, the brand manager is no longer a `guardian' of the brand but becomes more of a brand `host'. The question is to what extent can traditional companies follow suit? Are they comfortable to cede control to consumers? Do we need a new theory of branding in an e-space?

The past is a foreign country: amnesia and marketing theory

Tadajewski, M., Saren, M. — 2008-11-27

This paper introduces the special issue. Using the work of Connerton (2008) as our prism, we examine the role of amnesia in marketing theory, stressing its positive and negative benefits. Key Words • amnesia • critical marketing studies• structuring of marketing theory

Marketing the hegemony of development: of pulp fictions and green deserts

Bohm, S., Brei, V. — 2008-11-27

In this paper we analyze the role of marketing in the construction of what can be called the hegemony of development. Through an investigation of the marketing practices of the pulp and paper industry in South America and the resistances that are articulated by a range of civil society actors against the expansion of this industry, we problematize marketing as a political and contested discourse and practice. By using Laclau and Mouffe's (1985, 2001) theoretical framework, which is centered on the concept of `hegemony', we highlight the crucial role marketing plays in the social and cultural legitimation of the highly controversial development of the pulp and paper industry — regarded as one of the most polluting industries in the world — in South America. We build on existing `critical marketing' literatures to critique marketing's role in spreading `development' practices around the world, and we introduce Laclau and Mouffe's theories to the marketing field in order to understand better the way marketing helps to produce `development' as a hegemonic discourse in a particular social and cultural field. In this way we contribute to a growing understanding that critical marketing research is not only about exposing and analyzing the discourses and practices that drive consumption. Rather, we see marketing as an ontological discourse and practice that is crucial for the cultural and social legitimation of the development of entire industries and economic spheres.

Re-inventing Wroe?

Wooliscroft, B. — 2008-11-27

Marketing is a relatively young discipline and mainstream marketing education pays little attention to the discipline's development and history. While on the sidelines of the discipline there has been some criticism of the lack of a historical understanding of marketing's development, marketing too often produces theory without appropriate regard to past marketing theory. This paper considers the case of the `most important' paper on marketing theory in 2004 with reference to a leading marketing writer from the 1950s and 1960s. It finds support for the argument that the 2004 paper brings little novelty over the 1965 book to which it is compared.

Spinning the proverbial wheel? Social class and marketing

Henry, P., Caldwell, M. — 2008-11-27

Social class is one of the most fundamental dimensions of social organization, influencing almost every aspect of our lives, including market-mediated consumption. Despite this situation, the topic has a chequered history in marketing and consumer research. Significantly, a research program initiated by W. L. Warner in the 1930s in the United States, which emphasized the multifaceted nature of social class and highlighted concepts such as status, social networks, social comparison and class distinctive attitudes, was abandoned for over 30 years. Only relatively recently, consumer researchers (Allen and Anderson, 1994; Holt, 1998) revitalized this type of approach by highlighting the usefulness of Bourdieu's (1984) theory of social class and taste in explaining consumer behaviour. Strong parallels exist between the old and newer research programs, including similar conceptual underpinnings, matters of emphasis, and empirical findings. An intriguing question arises: `Why the hiatus in the study of social class in the consumer research field?' To answer this question, we examine the history of social class in marketing and consumer research.

An introspective genealogy of my introspective genealogy

Gould, S. J. — 2008-11-27

The thought surrounding my controversial introspective paper (Gould, 1991a) has formed a critical genealogy of its own. Here, I revisit the paper's writing and then consider readers' responses, including my own. In so doing, I find that the idea of erasure adapted from Derrida (1997) best describes what has emerged, namely a process of ignoring what I said or effacing/recasting it when ignoring was not possible.

The collective amnesia of marketing scholars regarding consumers' biological and evolutionary roots

Saad, G. — 2008-11-27

Despite the extraordinary advances in biology in the 20th century, along with the infusion of Darwinian theory across countless domains of human import, marketing and consumer scholars have doggedly forgotten, rejected, or ignored that consumers are biological beings shaped by a common set of evolutionary forces. Accordingly, this collective amnesia has yielded disciplines that largely focus on the disjointed and incoherent cataloguing of empirical findings, all of which operate at the proximate level. A complete and accurate understanding of any biological organism requires that it be studied at both the proximate and ultimate (in the Darwinian adaptive sense of the term) levels. Hence, at best, marketing and consumer scholars generate incomplete accounts of Homo consumericus and at worst they provide erroneous theories that eventually fall by the epistemological wayside. Should the collective amnesia persist, marketing and consumer scholars will further contribute to the sinking of our discipline into the abyss of irrelevant sciences, disconnected from the revolutionary work that is being conducted within the natural sciences.

`Don't forget the fruit gums, chum': marketing under erasure and renewal

Patterson, A., Bradshaw, A., Brown, S. — 2008-11-27

The world's best marketers are blessed with a peculiar inventiveness that stems from experiencing the world as a novelty, which is why the marketing discipline in general has a good memory for forgetting. In this paper then, we contend that amnesia in marketing academia is perfectly healthy, and indeed functions as a key component of our creative, ideas-laden discipline. We argue that the marketer's natural inclination towards erasure and renewal, towards always wiping the slate clean, should be encouraged, not cured. In marshalling the evidence in favour of forgetting, we pull apart the dialectic of remembering and forgetting, demonstrate how forgetting is integral to the academic sensibility, and question how much of the marketing literature is worth remembering in the first place.

Final thoughts on amnesia and marketing theory

Tadajewski, M. — 2008-11-27

In this paper I selectively reflect on the contents of the special issue, focusing on the structuring of the academy and the society in which we operate. I examine the epistemological structuring of marketing in relation to what counts as a contribution to knowledge, the effects of the way we use particular theory to sensitize ourselves to the wider world, and how this theory in turn restricts how we think about marketing theory and consumer practice, especially in less `developed' countries.