The purpose of this paper is to unlock positions regarding the goods/services dichotomy in service marketing and to offer an argument that treats goods and services on an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to unlock positions regarding the goods/services dichotomy in service marketing and to offer an argument that treats goods and services on an ontologically equal basis.
Design/methodology/approach
A close reading of influential texts that argue in favor of a service‐dominant logic (SDL) and new paradigms in service marketing.
Findings
Both the SDL proposal and calls for new service paradigms can be understood as ad hoc solutions that serve to reproduce and even strengthen the asymmetry between goods and services. A post‐paradigmatic analysis opens up new possibilities for service marketing research and practice.
Research limitations/implications
By showing how goods and services can be positioned equally, hitherto invisible sites of value creation become potential subjects for analyses in service marketing.
Practical implications
Service marketing practices are situated so as to explain the value creating interactions between service providers and customers in a more transparent way than is usual.
Originality/value
An ontologically grounded critique of the ad hoc nature of contemporary service marketing theory.
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Hervé Corvellec and Johan Hultman
The purpose of this paper is to show that organizational change depends on societal narratives – narratives about the character, history, or envisioned future of societies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that organizational change depends on societal narratives – narratives about the character, history, or envisioned future of societies.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of a Swedish municipal waste management company serves as an illustration.
Findings
Swedish waste governance is powered by two main narratives: “less landfilling” and “wasting less”. Less landfilling has been the dominant narrative for several decades, but wasting less is gaining momentum, and a new narrative order is establishing itself. This new narrative order significantly redefines the socio‐material status of waste and imposes major changes on waste management organizations.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the case of waste governance in Sweden, the authors conclude that organizations should be aware that societal narrative affects the legitimacy and nature of their operations; therefore, they must integrate a watch for narrative change in their strategic reflections.
Originality/value
This paper establishes the relevance of the notion of societal narrative to understand organizational change.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue on the subject of the rhetoric and narratives in management research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue on the subject of the rhetoric and narratives in management research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews selected contributions to the 4th Conference on Rhetoric and Narratives in Management Research held on March 24‐26, 2011 at the ESADE campus in Barcelona.
Findings
The paper reveals various views of rhetoric and narratives in management research including plagiarism, individual (personal) narratives , material and spiritual narratives and deception in storytelling.
Originality/value
The paper provides a useful introduction to the various papers on rhetoric and narratives in management research.
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In this article the important contributions in marketing made by Nordic researchers and its applicability to studies of the marketing/entrepreneurship interface will be discussed…
Abstract
In this article the important contributions in marketing made by Nordic researchers and its applicability to studies of the marketing/entrepreneurship interface will be discussed. It is argued that much of the contemporary Nordic research in marketing, for example, networks, relationship marketing and recent phenomena such as strategic alliances and imaginary organisations, is important for the understanding of marketing behaviour in entrepreneurial.
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Johan F. Lundin and Andreas Norrman
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for describing and analyzing misalignments in supply chain management related to changes in supply chain structures, processes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for describing and analyzing misalignments in supply chain management related to changes in supply chain structures, processes and management components.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the systems approach, a single‐case study including several embedded cases from the same supply chain was deployed. This was done according to the abductive research approach, which is favourable when extending existing and developing new theory. Data were collected through observations, interviews and workshops, and later analyzed through pattern matching. The case studied was the Swedish cash supply chain, which was appropriate since it has gone through several changes in its supply chain structure and management.
Findings
A framework to describe and analyze misalignments in the supply chain was developed. The framework consists of three steps: first, identify changes in the supply chain, second, Identify Misalignments, and third, identify symptoms. For each step, a specific and more detailed framework was developed in order to facilitate the identification processes.
Originality/value
Using the framework described in this paper a researcher or practitioner acquires a structured approach to mapping the management of a supply chain so that its current misalignments can be identified.
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Girish Kumar Agarwal, Johan Simonsson, Mats Magnusson, Kim Sundtoft Hald and Anders Johanson
Digital capabilities in operations and delivery through constant data acquisition and future predictions have accelerated digital servitization through reduced uncertainty. New…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital capabilities in operations and delivery through constant data acquisition and future predictions have accelerated digital servitization through reduced uncertainty. New flexibility in value-capture concepts like dynamic and value-based pricing is introduced, which was impossible before. This paper explores two things. Firstly, how embracing contractual flexibility of price-variance and contract lengths influences customer perceived value in artificial intelligence (AI) enabled digital offerings. Secondly, the role transparency plays in the perceived value of such offerings.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an experiment-based survey and quantitative assessment within a business-to-business setup with 137 respondents across a couple of industrial manufacturers in the Nordic region.
Findings
The authors observations indicate that value-capture-related flexibilities introduced by digital offerings, namely price fluctuations and longer contract lengths, are perceived to deliver more value to customers than standard offerings with known conditions. The authors findings indicate that introduced flexibilities are perceived as opportunities rather than uncertainties leading to higher perceived value by customers. The increased value perception can be explained by the transparency of these offerings provided by data-driven digital technologies'.
Originality/value
The paper is an original work to understand the value-capture implication of digital servitization. The authors discuss the possibilities of different value-capture strategies that companies can adopt within digital business models.
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Johan Hagberg and Anna Jonsson
The paper aims to clarify how an incumbent retail organisation explores digitalisation for its existing business.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to clarify how an incumbent retail organisation explores digitalisation for its existing business.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws from an in-depth case study of home-furnishing retail giant, IKEA conducted with semi-structured interviews, participant observations and document analyses.
Findings
In the exploration phase of digitalisation, three major activities – interpreting, interrelating and integrating – illuminate how the exploration process can be organised in practice.
Originality/value
Although digitalisation ranks amongst the most significant ongoing transformations in retail businesses, research on how incumbent retail organisations have engaged in exploring digitalisation in practice has remained scarce. The paper contributes insights into digitalisation processes in retail businesses that may also apply to other trends affecting the retail industry.
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Retail has evolved over the past century alongside megatrends such as urbanization, consumerism and digitalization. To contribute to existing knowledge on patterns of retail form…
Abstract
Purpose
Retail has evolved over the past century alongside megatrends such as urbanization, consumerism and digitalization. To contribute to existing knowledge on patterns of retail form evolution, the purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how novel retail forms have evolved in the Swedish sporting goods market.
Design/methodology/approach
An evolutionary approach that encompasses population thinking is used to interpret the history of sporting goods retailing in Sweden from the interwar era onwards. Drawing on archival data and interviews, the focus in the historical analysis is on the evolution of retail form variation in terms of size, strategy, product range and retail channel (online/offline).
Findings
The paper suggests that evolutionary mechanisms cumulatively have changed the sports retail population from a rather homogenous set of smaller generalist stores toward a larger variety and specialization in mainly two directions: one trajectory toward small and service-focused niche specialists and the other toward high-volume sales outlets.
Originality/value
The paper provides a detailed empirical account of sports retail history in Sweden and an application of theoretical concepts contributing to an integrated investigation of empirical issues and theoretical positions. It concludes that being able to attain “closures” – finding ways to close off a section of the market and avoid direct competition – has historically been a crucial capability for individual retailers to thrive.
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Johan Hagberg and Ulrika Holmberg
Although the movement of goods by consumers represents a large proportion of the economic and environmental impact of the distribution chain, this topic has been insufficiently…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the movement of goods by consumers represents a large proportion of the economic and environmental impact of the distribution chain, this topic has been insufficiently explored in the retailing literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of shopping travel-mode choice in the context of grocery shopping.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents findings from a Swedish national survey of 1,694 respondents that included questions regarding travel-mode choices and consumer characteristics, mobility conditions, shopping behaviours and environmental interests and engagements.
Findings
This paper shows how travel modes interrelate and how various consumer characteristics, shopping behaviours, mobility conditions and environmental interests and engagements relate to and affect travel-mode choice in grocery shopping. General travel patterns and distance to store are shown to be the most important factors in explaining the mode of transport for grocery shopping.
Originality/value
This paper presents data from a national representative survey and provides novel analyses of travel-mode choices in grocery shopping and the interrelationships among those choices, in addition to the interrelationship between travel-mode choice and the use of home delivery. This paper contributes to a further understanding of consumer mobility in the context of grocery shopping.