Search results

This study aims to explore surprising gifts received and given by close relations to identify the variables involved in creating surprising gifts. The analysis of the viewpoints of the giver and the recipient, reflecting their profiles, leads to recommendations for retailers.

An exploratory, small-scale, open-ended questionnaire (48 respondents) produces 43 (38) accounts of surprising gifts given (received), informed further by in-depth interviews (eight informants, both givers and recipients of surprising gifts).

This study identifies and elaborates on the variables (why, when, what, where, who and how, and their combinations) that define surprising gift giving, from both giver and recipient perspectives. The findings indicate a paradox: even if givers or recipients prefer a surprising gift, they might give or wish for an unsurprising gift to avoid disappointment.

Further research should confirm the findings using representative samples. Moreover, gender differences in surprising gift giving should be investigated further. Finally, the exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.

The discussion has relevant implications for manufacturers and retailers. For example, if recipients are surprised, happy and satisfied, they likely exhibit higher brand recall. The recipient’s (happy versus not happy) emotions also have spillover effects on the giver’s. Thus, retailers should provide assistance in the store and advertise their salespeople as experts who can offer advice about selecting appropriate gifts. The exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.

The systematic account of all six variables, not previously analyzed in the literature, provides rich insights into surprising gift giving. The discussion of the study of givers and recipients supplements these insights.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the material nature of legacy technology makes its users passionately prefer it over its digital alternatives.

This ethnographic study uses data from 26 in-depth interviews with vinyl collectors, augmented with longitudinal participant–observation of vinyl collecting and music store events.

The findings reveal how the physicality of vinyl facilitates the passionate relationships (with music, the vinyl as performative object and other people) that make vinyl so significant in vinyl users’ lives.

As this study examines a single research context (vinyl) from the perspective of participants from three developed, Anglophone nations, its key theoretical contributions should be examined in other technological contexts and other cultures.

The findings imply that miniturisation and automation have lower limits for some products, material attributes should be added to digitised products and that legacy technology products could be usually be reframed as tools of authentic self-expression.

This study explains what can happen beyond the top of the “S” curve in the Technology Acceptance Model, furthering our understanding of consumers’ reactions to the proliferation of digital technology in their lives.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Followers of popular music still marvel at Madonna's reinvention after 20 years of changing musical styles, personas and even fan bases. Every new album (if that word still has currency in musical circles) brought a new look and a new sound embracing some emerging trend not yet in the mainstream. In the process, the “material girl” has embraced spirituality, the American icon become an English country lady – well almost!

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

Despite the important role of salespeople in forming relationships with customers, little research has been carried out in this area. Based upon a series of interviews and a large‐scale survey of salespeople in the New Zealand wine industry this paper argues that the role of salespeople is vital in forming long‐term relationships with retailers and distributors. The paper examines, in detail, strategies used by salespeople to create and maintain relationships, avoid the loss of key accounts and the support that an organisation can provide to assist salespeople in this area. Results highlight the importance of constant calls, communication, product support and partnering in forming relationships with customers.

The paper seeks to provide a framework identifying key attributes that business marketers can use to build a strong brand identity.

The article is theoretical with case examples.

Drawing upon the business marketing offer, five potential strategies for building brands in business markets are outlined.

The paper identifies a contingent approach to brand identity in business markets.

This is the first paper to identify a relationship between positioning, the buying process and brand identity in business markets.

Despite the necessity of close integration between marketing and sales, managers report less than satisfactory results in this area. This paper aims to examine what keeps the two functions apart. It proposes going beyond surface level behavior to examine the different sub‐cultural mental frames that characterize the two functions.

A total of 44 salespeople and marketers across four different organizations in different industries were interviewed.

The research finds that conflicts between marketing and sales are driven by differences in beliefs about the valid scope and focus of activity, time focus, valid sources of knowledge, differences in perceived status, and the relationship to the business environment.

Managers need to focus on removing implied status barriers between sales and marketing, provide sales with a strategic voice, and attend to structural issues that drive the two functions apart.

Research on the sales‐marketing interface remains scarce. The paper examines this from a cultural point of view and identifies a number of basic cultural frames that explain behavioral differences between the two functions. Critically, it also identifies significant points of difference on which to build greater understanding between the two functions.

Wine tourism has gained increased coverage in the last 4–5 years. Recognised as an effective aid to distribution and brand building, both industry and academia have developed research and strategies for increasing the effectiveness of how wineries manage wine tourism. This paper synthesises the findings from two recent conferences and argues that in order to be successful wineries will need to pay more attention to strategies that attract repeat visitors. This requires a relationship marketing strategy.

Consecration is the process by which producers in creative fields become canonized as “greats.” However, is this the end of the story? Research on consecration focuses on the drivers of consecration but pays little attention to the post-consecration period. Furthermore, the research ignores the dynamics of consecration. To address these gaps, we examine the changing fortunes of a consecrated artist – the musician Phil Collins. We identify the ways in which three actors (fans, critics, and peers) assemble for consecration, disassemble for deconsecration, and reassemble for reconsecration. Examining the changing public image and commercial fortunes of Collins as a solo artist between 1980 and 2020, we identify an N-shaped process of rise-fall-rise that we call the Phil Collins Effect. This effect offers a new way of thinking about how cultural producers gain, lose and regain status in their fields.

Faced with the prospect of over supply, wine exporters are increasingly focused on establishing new markets, particularly in Asia. Recent papers have suggested that relationship‐marketing approaches may be the most successful for establishing wine sales in these markets. Despite many models, evidence on the content and implementation of relationship marketing remains scarce. This research reports on the experience of one firm in Asia, and identifies the link between cultural values and the need for relationship based strategies for wine exporters to Asia. Tactical implications for wine markets are also explored.