Andrea C. Beetles and Lloyd C. Harris
Relationship marketing is now commonly acknowledged as an alternative marketing paradigm. However, despite the use of the relationship metaphor in marketing contexts for many…
Abstract
Purpose
Relationship marketing is now commonly acknowledged as an alternative marketing paradigm. However, despite the use of the relationship metaphor in marketing contexts for many years, recently there have been criticisms of this cross‐fertilization of theory into consumer marketing contexts. The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, it attempts to explore and elucidate how consumers' assessments of the extent of intimacy between themselves and their service providers affect their interpretation of relational ties. A second aim is that it will generate insights into consumer attitudes towards relationship marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking an exploratory approach and using qualitative methods to allow for depth of research, this paper uses 30 semi‐structured interviews with consumers to investigate the role of intimacy in service relationships.
Findings
The findings reveal five forms of intimacy; no relationship, social intimacy, physical intimacy, emotional/psychological intimacy and sexual intimacy.
Research limitations/implications
This is a qualitative study, now that some insight of the relevance of intimacy in relationship marketing has been gained, testing a model of the framework using quantitative analysis in order to make wider assertions would be beneficial.
Practical implications
This paper demonstrates that organizations need to be able to facilitate multiple approaches to customers. They need to be able to allow customers to engage with them, should the customers wish to do so but also allow the customers to opt out of relational interactions.
Originality/value
Scant research has explored the role of intimacy in service relationships; this study addresses that gap in the literature.
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Abstract
Purpose
Entomology is a useful tool when applied to engineering challenges that have been solved in nature. Especially when these special abilities of olfactory sensation, vision, auditory perception, fly, jump, navigation, chemical synthesis, exquisite structure and others were connected with mechanization, informationization and intelligentization of modern science and technology, and produced innumerable classical bionic products. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
All kinds of special abilities of insects and application status have been described and discussed in order to summarize the advanced research examples and supply bibliographic reference to the latters. Future perspectives and challenges in the use of insect bionics were also given.
Findings
In the period of life sciences and information sciences, insect bionics not only promoted the development of modern science and technology on the sides of mechanics, molecule, energy, information and control greatly but also provided new ideas and technologies for the crisis of science and technology, food, environment and ecosystem.
Originality/value
It may provide strategies to solve the problems and be a source of good ideas for researchers.
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The London County Council has now passed into history. Often accused of being an overloaded bureaucracy, which it probably was, and a stage for demagogues, of political bias and…
Abstract
The London County Council has now passed into history. Often accused of being an overloaded bureaucracy, which it probably was, and a stage for demagogues, of political bias and Socialist waste, it may go unmourned by many, but because of its great influence on local government development in this country and its achievements, it should not be allowed to go unsung. When created by the Local Government Act, 1888, from parts of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent, it must have seemed at the time something of an administrative anachronism, just as the welding of the remnants of power of the Council with that of Middlesex into a Greater London Council seems so now. Its powers were much greater than those of other county councils and its relations with metropolitan borough councils, constituted by the Local Government Act, 1899, more powerful, the division of functions and authority strongly favouring the L.C.C., especially since 1948 when the National Health Service Act, 1946, transferred the personal health services from the Boroughs. Decentralisation was practised, the area of the L.C.C. being divided into nine divisions, but Greater London long ago outgrew its administrative boundaries, outside which were densely populated areas indistinguishable from London itself, so that re‐organisation was inevitable.
The volume and range of food law enforcement in the field of purity and quality control has grown dramatically in recent times. Only those able to recall the subject from upwards…
Abstract
The volume and range of food law enforcement in the field of purity and quality control has grown dramatically in recent times. Only those able to recall the subject from upwards of half a century ago can really appreciate the changes. Compositional control now appears as more of a closely knit field of its own, keeping pace with the advances of food processing, new methods and raw materials. It has its problems but enforcement agencies appear well able to cope with them, e.g. the restructuring of meat, excess water content, fat content, the application of compositional standards to new products, especially meat products, but the most difficult of all areas is that of securing and maintaining acceptable standards of food hygiene. This is one of the most important duties of environmental health officers, with a considerable impact on health and public concern; and one of the most intractible problems, comparable in its results with the insidious onslaught of the ever‐growing problem of noise, another area dependent on the reactions of people; to use an oft repeated cliche — “the human element”.
Both Bolivia and Uruguay broke ranks with the global drug prohibition regime by introducing novel drug policies. State control of the production and supply of coca and cannabis…
Abstract
Both Bolivia and Uruguay broke ranks with the global drug prohibition regime by introducing novel drug policies. State control of the production and supply of coca and cannabis represents a clear departure from both the spirit and the letter of the international drug conventions. Although, the rationale, processes and outcomes of policy change were distinctive in many regards, this chapter posits that there are conceptual resemblances. In both countries, the leadership of a charismatic and idiosyncratic president has to be considered. Furthermore, in both countries, mobilisation and activism were also decisive. Lastly, in both countries novel drug policy responded to specific problems that decision-makers faced. Approaching drug policy reforms in Bolivia and Uruguay in terms of personal leadership, mobilisation and policy problems provides a useful analytical first-cut to assess the continuity and change in drug policy observable elsewhere. Additionally, scrutinising the reasons and motivations for undertaking drug policy reform also allows to better understand each country’s behaviour on the international stage.
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Andreas Beckmann, Uthayasankar Sivarajah and Zahir Irani
Circular economy is presented as an approach to economic growth that is in line with sustainable development. However, the recent literature has highlighted the limits of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Circular economy is presented as an approach to economic growth that is in line with sustainable development. However, the recent literature has highlighted the limits of the concept in terms of environmental sustainability. The study examines the relationship between circular economy and conservation of ecosystems, using a case study on the implications of a circular economy for Slovak forests and forest sector.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a qualitative methodology through a focused review of the relevant literature on circular economy and sustainable development and primary data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts and practitioners in the forest sector, forest conservation and circular economy context, both from within as well as outside of Slovakia.
Findings
The study finds that the forestry sector has an important role to play in a shift to a circular economy in Slovakia, with significant opportunities for improved efficiency as well as substitution of wood for non-renewable resources. There is also growing potential for ecosystem stewardship and restoration. However, the increased application of biomass could crowd out other needs, including for biodiversity. Safeguarding these services depends ultimately on good governance.
Originality/value
The study highlights that circular economy taken in a narrow focus on resource efficiency is insufficient to ensure environmental sustainability but rather needs to be set within the broader environmental and social context.
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Valerie Gannon and Andrea Prothero
Discussion around authenticity has grown in marketing and consumption discourse in the last two decades. Consumers are viewed as seeking authenticity, and brands have responded to…
Abstract
Discussion around authenticity has grown in marketing and consumption discourse in the last two decades. Consumers are viewed as seeking authenticity, and brands have responded to this. This chapter identifies three foundational categories of authenticity: personal, expressive and material. The main elements of each category are outlined. Key tensions are identified between authenticity as experienced by consumers and authenticity as leveraged for instrumental purposes by the marketplace.
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This chapter focuses on the intersections between culinary tourism and adventure tourism. Based on sociocultural and sensory perspectives, it discusses the drivers of food…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the intersections between culinary tourism and adventure tourism. Based on sociocultural and sensory perspectives, it discusses the drivers of food adventure trends on the global tourism market and presents a contemporary commercial concept targeting adventurous food tourists, the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö, Sweden. The chapter concludes with addressing the controversial ethical aspects of commodifying ‘other’ food cultures as an adventure in international tourism.
Valerie Gannon and Andrea Prothero
The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of beauty blogging selfies in conveying consumer authenticity. The authors used an under-researched consumer-based authenticity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of beauty blogging selfies in conveying consumer authenticity. The authors used an under-researched consumer-based authenticity approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a practice theory approach to selfies as both objects and practices. The study combines depth-interviews with a review of the participants’ blogs and selfies.
Findings
This research shows that bloggers use selfies as records of product trial, success and failure via specific sub-types. These selfies function as authenticating consumer acts, intertwined with key life narratives and as records of communal events, where bloggers identify as a community.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to beauty bloggers. Further research on consumer authenticity could be extended to other product categories and other media channels. The widened definition of selfies proposed enables further research on self-representational practices in consumption contexts. Likewise, the practice theory approach could be extended to other online contexts.
Practical implications
As social media and peer endorsement become ever more important to marketers, brands are seeking to leverage bloggers as brand ambassadors as well as the authenticity they convey. Maintaining this authenticity and credibility among peer networks and audiences is crucial for influencers and for marketers.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of consumer-based authenticity, self-representational practices using selfies and beauty blogging communities. Practice theories are applied in an online context, suggesting an opening for further research into mediated practices.