Liang‐Chieh (Victor) Cheng, Michael L. Gibson, Edward E. Carrillo and Grayson Fitch
This paper seeks to explore the necessity to incorporate technology as a key component in studying business operations of industrial entities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore the necessity to incorporate technology as a key component in studying business operations of industrial entities.
Design/methodology/approach
Reviews of key management theories that shaped organization‐centric and process‐centric views in industrial management research are conducted. The paper then identifies the limitations of these two schools of thinking and develops a technology‐centric framework that integrates technology, organization, and process in general. A series of case studies that apply the framework at multiple levels of observations are presented. The research concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.
Findings
This paper presents a “trinity” framework that includes three core constructs that can simultaneously develop into variants. Technology as a holistic concept must be taken into consideration when researchers or practitioners take a dynamic view to study business entities. A multi‐dimensional, technology‐centric framework acknowledges technology as the transformational resource and helps the practitioners and researchers to examine technology as potential facilitators for organizational operations.
Originality/value
A review of the cases found that technology, organizational structures, and business processes impact one another. Firms' actions are indicative that in today's technology‐intensive environment, organizational structures and business processes need to be developed or modified in coordination with technological development. In doing so, organizations will gain the potential to harvest benefits from technology‐organization‐process integration.
Details
Keywords
Jean-Baptiste Welte, Olivier Badot and Patrick Hetzel
The purpose of this study is to understand how narratives are generated in stores.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how narratives are generated in stores.
Design/methodology/approach
The study design is based on ethnographies documented in 10 sports stores in the Paris region. The ethnographic method enables a precise and in situ observation of how narratives are structured. Narrative structures develop from the accommodation of the narratives specific to retailers and narratives specific to the customer.
Findings
The findings of this study identified four main narratives in retail spaces (the serial, the tale, the epic, the legend), each of which is distinguished by the commercial/non-commercial orientation of the narratives and by a superficial/in-depth modification of the narratives produced outside the store. These four narratives are characterized by the vendors’ roles and by the distinct interactions between customers and retail stores.
Research limitations/implications
The originality of this study is to propose a narrative framework for retail structures. It illustrates the fact that the narrative is not solely a product of experiential marketing, but that it may be found in any retail store. From a practical point of view, it highlights other less costly experiential narrative strategies.
Practical implications
From a practical point of view, it highlights other less costly experiential narrative strategies.
Originality/value
The original value of this study is to apply structural semiotics to analyse narratives in the store.
Details
Keywords
Jennifer Edson Escalas and James R. Bettman
We explore how marketers can manage brand meaning through the use of celebrity endorsements. We theorize that consumers look to celebrity endorsements for brand symbolism, which…
Abstract
Purpose
We explore how marketers can manage brand meaning through the use of celebrity endorsements. We theorize that consumers look to celebrity endorsements for brand symbolism, which they appropriate to construct and communicate their self-concepts by forming self-brand connections (SBC).
Methodology
This research employs an experimental paradigm, with two empirical studies examining whether marketers can create meaning for their brands through the use of celebrity endorsements.
Findings
Study 1 finds that celebrity endorsement enhances SBC when consumers aspire to be like the celebrity, but harms them when consumers do not; furthermore, this effect is more pronounced when the brand image is congruent with the celebrity’s image. The effect is further moderated by the degree to which a brand communicates something about the user, with more symbolic brands having stronger effects than less symbolic brands. Study 2 finds that the effect of celebrity endorsement on SBC is augmented when consumers’ self-esteem is threatened. Consumers self-enhance by building connections to celebrities with favorable images or distancing themselves from those with unfavorable images.
Practical implications
These findings can help marketers’ decisions regarding when and whom to use as a celebrity endorsers by taking into account how consumers use meaning appropriated from celebrities when constructing the self.
Details
Keywords
THIS is the time of the year when, with the strong opening of the Spring publishing season, librarians take a review of matters which definitely concern books. There is a cant…
Abstract
THIS is the time of the year when, with the strong opening of the Spring publishing season, librarians take a review of matters which definitely concern books. There is a cant saying amongst certain eager librarians that their colleagues are too concerned with technical matters and too little, if at all, concerned with books. There may have been isolated cases of this kind, but it is merely untrue to say that the average librarian is not concerned, deeply and continuously, with the literary activity of his day. It is well that men should live in their own time and be thoroughly interested in the work of new writers. There is danger that exclusive occupation with them may lead to an unbalanced view of the book world. If one judged from the criticisms that occasionally appear in our contemporaries, one would suppose that the only books that mattered were the authentic fiction of the day, and by authentic is meant the books which go beyond average contemporary thought and conventions. Librarianship, however, is concerned with all books of all subjects and of all time. This note is merely a prelude to a number of THE LIBRARY WORLD which deals mainly with literature and with reading. Here we return again to the perennial fiction question.
To determine the new responsibility and new form of CSR required in an evolving ecosystem, this chapter covers the historical evolution of CSR including the various additional…
Abstract
To determine the new responsibility and new form of CSR required in an evolving ecosystem, this chapter covers the historical evolution of CSR including the various additional labels CSR has attracted, and its many surrogate, complementary, and alternative terms and themes. Some parties still view CSR as just a form of Philanthropy; however, current definitions for CSR involve many components, which have adapted over time. The new CSR definition provided by the European Commission in 2011, for example, mirrors some of the changes created by the inclusion of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2015. The creation of shared and integrated value and the ongoing development of the social enterprise industry are further developments, alongside the growing trend toward B-Corp registration, the increasing emphasis on ‘business-for-purpose’ and the rise of the ‘be the change’ movement. This chapter discusses this journey and reveals how CSR has followed a cycle of social movements through several industrial revolutions. As we head toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution and usher in the new era for Globalization 4.0, this requires new business models, new labels, and new adaptations of CSR. These concepts are introduced in this chapter and developed further in later chapters.
Bryane Michael and Randy Gross
Principal‐agent problems are largely responsible for poor corporate governance. Much work on private sector corporate governance reform seeks to address transparency…
Abstract
Principal‐agent problems are largely responsible for poor corporate governance. Much work on private sector corporate governance reform seeks to address transparency, accountability and responsiveness to stakeholder interests under the new category of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Yet, these issues are not new. The public sector has been working on these issues for many years – especially in looking at ways of reducing malfeasance and also optimizing use of resources for the benefit of principals. Some lessons from public sector reform include promoting information dissemination, participation, and balancing powers between a corporation’s executive and supervisory entities. While firms should not necessarily be administered like governmental bodies, there are many lessons from public sector organizational reform and institutional governance that may be applicable to large‐scale public corporations.
Details
Keywords
Anthony Beudaert, Hélène Gorge and Maud Herbert
The purpose of this study is both to explore how people with “hidden” auditory disorders experience exclusion in servicescapes and to unfold the coping strategies they set up to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is both to explore how people with “hidden” auditory disorders experience exclusion in servicescapes and to unfold the coping strategies they set up to deal with it.
Design/methodology/approach
Findings from 15 semi-structured interviews and participant observations with individuals suffering from auditory disorders are presented through the paper.
Findings
The findings indicate that individuals with auditory disorders deploy three types of coping strategies when exposed to sensory overload in servicescapes: choosing between physical servicescapes, opting for electronic devices and e-servicescapes and delegating shopping to relatives.
Practical implications
The study underlines how, through temporary or permanent modifications of servicescape cues, service providers give consumers opportunities to bypass situations involving sensory overload. Implications for e-servicescapes and public policy are also raised.
Originality/value
The findings reveal how the coping strategies used by individuals with auditory disorders contribute to their exclusion from the marketplace on the basis of both individual characteristics and types of servicescapes.
Details
Keywords
Jenniina Sihvonen and Linda Lisa Maria Turunen
Brand management and marketing have focused on brand-new goods, thus largely neglecting the emergence of markets for used products. This study sheds light on how consumers…
Abstract
Purpose
Brand management and marketing have focused on brand-new goods, thus largely neglecting the emergence of markets for used products. This study sheds light on how consumers determine the perceived value of fashion brands in online flea markets. In addition, this study aims to illustrate how fashion brands are perceived when sold second-hand in Facebook flea markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data, consisting of internet discussions, were collected for this study from seven Facebook flea market forums between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015. The discussions were analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis.
Findings
In the context of flea markets, the perceived value is negotiated and evaluated through six antecedents: perceived quality, price, design, origin, authenticity and brand availability. Not surprisingly, price and quality appear as focal aspects when determining the value of a used brand in second-hand markets. However, the aspects of availability, origin and design complicate the considerations of the perceived value and can distinguish between different flea markets for fashion brands. In online second-hand markets for fashion brands, the passing of time appears to be an important factor grounding the consumers’ considerations of the perceived value.
Originality/value
This study brings forward novel viewpoints to brand marketing by discussing the formation of the consumer-perceived value in the growing field of online second-hand sales of fashion brands.