A description of the role public relations has played in “selling” Northampton and leading it through the recession into a thriving and commercially desirable regional centre.
Abstract
A description of the role public relations has played in “selling” Northampton and leading it through the recession into a thriving and commercially desirable regional centre.
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The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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Isaac Akintoyese Oyekola and Oluyinka Olutola Olajire
This study aims to investigate the historical antecedent of baranda practice, marketing strategies of Onibaranda, as well as the benefits and challenges associated with baranda…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the historical antecedent of baranda practice, marketing strategies of Onibaranda, as well as the benefits and challenges associated with baranda practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using exploratory research design, primary data were collected from 27 interviewees in two purposively selected markets in Ibadan. Responses were audio-taped, transcribed, proofread, categorized into themes and, finally, content analyzed to decrypt the underlying thought patterns and processes.
Findings
The findings showed that the origin of the age-long practice of baranda was unknown. It was also discovered that Onibaranda used various, dynamic and situational marketing strategies to carve a niche for themselves, in response to the demand of the markets in which they operate. Lastly, the results showed that while some stakeholders see Onibaranda as useful and necessary marketing agents that uniquely connect sellers and buyers, others outline the ignoble role that Onibaranda play in their bid to create valuable exchanges between sellers and buyers.
Practical implications
Knowledge of this study is germane to informal market stakeholders both in Yorubaland and across the globe.
Social implications
Unless baranda practice is properly regulated, various ills associated with it might discredit the numerous benefits inherent in the practice. Concerted effort by all market stakeholders is, therefore, highly imperative so as to provide rules and regulations that will guide and check the excess practices of Onibaranda in the study locations, as this will enhance customer satisfaction, sellers’ profits and smooth continued operation of Onibaranda.
Originality/value
This empirical study represents the first attempt to examine the structure and praxis of Onibaranda in Ibadan.
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The aim of this paper is to characterize adaptation processes in business relationships. The nature of adaptive behavior is described by outlining activities and events in these…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to characterize adaptation processes in business relationships. The nature of adaptive behavior is described by outlining activities and events in these relationships. The role of perceived product importance and complexity in the character of the adaptations processes is sought.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach is adopted and two long-term relationships between buyers and sellers of capital equipment in the mining industry are investigated. Perspectives from both sides of the dyad (buyer and seller) were attained through in-depth interviews.
Findings
Findings show that supplier-based adaptations occur more frequently than customer-based adaptations. The market antecedents of concentration and resource dependency are identified as drivers of adaptive behavior. Furthermore, product importance and complexity are key drivers to adaptation processes and the development of long-term relationships. Supplier's brand name and the choice of a direct channel strategy are identified as indicators of long-term commitment to the market. Moreover, two-task related factors were extremely relevant as selection criteria for capital equipment: the functional suitability and the degree of standardization/customization of the equipment.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are specific to the market environment and recommendations are given for the realm of the mining industry. Multi-case studies in multi-contexts should be conducted to enable generalization and potential theory-building.
Practical implications
A number of important managerial implications for buyers and sellers of capital equipment in the mining industry are given.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to knowledge by providing rich descriptions of adaptation processes. This real life evidence enables the identification of major drivers of adaptive behavior and, consequently, the development of long-term successful relationships.
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Marta Massi, Michel Rod and Daniela Corsaro
This paper aims to deal with the concepts of “institutions” and “institutional logics” in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing systems and uses institutional theory…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deal with the concepts of “institutions” and “institutional logics” in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing systems and uses institutional theory as a framework to look at value co-creation.
Design/methodology/approach
By integrating the literature on value co-creation, institutional theory and institutional entrepreneurship, the paper argues that the boundaries of B2B marketing systems are continuously reshaped through legitimation processes occurring through actors’ institutional work, thus making co-created value the only legitimate value.
Findings
The paper proposes a conceptual framework and furthers the conceptual development of value co-creation and augments the literature on service-dominant logic and the notion of co-created value by assuming a legitimacy-based B2B market systems perspective.
Practical implications
This paper presents a number of propositions that serve to illustrate several managerial implications. These arise from organizations co-creating value by conforming to the various institutional logics that maximize their legitimacy.
Originality/value
The paper makes a contribution by developing a critical theoretical framework based on the application of institutional theoretical constructs/concepts (e.g. ceremonial conformity, decoupling, considerations of face, confidence and good faith).
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Discusses marketing strategy of a future steelworks and its product choice by use of a theoretical framework based on the nature of relationship between sellers and customers…
Abstract
Discusses marketing strategy of a future steelworks and its product choice by use of a theoretical framework based on the nature of relationship between sellers and customers. Identifies certain key factors which must be incorporated in strategy development to enable competitive strength to the seller. Describes marketing as a competitive strategy problem — it is a question of the seller dividing its resources in an optimal way between a number of competitive means. Proposes that buying firms often develop relationships with a limited number of suppliers — these are then utilised in various ways. States that industrial marketing is primarily a technological and organisational problem. Says that the research project was the result of collaboration between researchers in the technical, social and economics fields with the aim to create a business entity to establish a secure position in the steel market. Further discusses in depth the strategies involved. Summarises that a theoretical framework for marketing strategies in industry has been presented and illustrated through a case about a future steelworks — though similar frameworks have been used in existing companies — test results have been promising.
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This chapter starts with the phenomenon of CRM systems being sometimes more considered as a burden than a support by salespeople. The main argument is that CRM tools do barely fit…
Abstract
This chapter starts with the phenomenon of CRM systems being sometimes more considered as a burden than a support by salespeople. The main argument is that CRM tools do barely fit the needs of salespeople as their functions, most of all, are administrative, which leads to a resistance for using them.
The author shows how this kind of shortcomings are manifested in “real-life” operations and finds out that much of the problems seem to be due to the very architecture of extant CRM systems. Indeed, creative offerings and business development imply advanced cognitive processes for which there are no functions in traditional CRM tools.
Therefore, the core part of the chapter leads to a discussion on how genuine supportive CRM systems architecture should be designed. The sales process is made of three phases beyond the administration one, namely, a sense-making, a sense-giving, and a sense-acting phase. An adequate architectural design would take into consideration functions that support the whole process, which also includes informative links and a much more visual design to process information instantly.
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Michael Kleinaltenkamp, Michael Rudolph and Matthias Classen
Customers in business-to-business markets are sellers of goods and services on their own. Thus, business-to-business suppliers may exert an influence on their customers’ buying…
Abstract
Customers in business-to-business markets are sellers of goods and services on their own. Thus, business-to-business suppliers may exert an influence on their customers’ buying decisions when performing marketing activities toward the customers of the customers by employing the concept of “multistage marketing”. Multi-stage marketing involves all sales-related measures which are aimed at the subsequent market stages (“customers of the customer”) which follow one or several primary customers in order to influence the buying behavior of these primary customers. Although the positive impacts of such activities are known, business-to-business companies often exclude the customers further along in the downstream supply chain from their marketing plans. But in a business-to-business context, the demand is always derived from buying decisions made further down the supply chain. The primary customers buy products or services because they want to use them – directly or indirectly – for either the production or the sale of other goods and services. Hence, derived demand, which can be traced to the end-user's primary demand, can be seen as the basis of multistage marketing.
The most common form of multistage marketing is ingredient (co-)branding, which occurs when a marketer providing an ingredient or component to an OEM advertises the ingredient to the customer of the assembled product. In addition to ingredient branding, this chapter identifies several other forms of multistage marketing and examines the underlying dimensions and processes of the phenomenon. The design of a marketing strategy using the concept of multistage marketing and its preconditions are discussed on a theoretical basis and are illustrated through concrete examples. The chapter provides a number of best practice examples in order to elucidate the issues concerning multistage marketing and its application in a company's marketing strategy serving business-to-business markets.
This article presents a history of the visual merchandising of American firearms from the mid-19th century until the present day. Although the scholarly literature has…
Abstract
Purpose
This article presents a history of the visual merchandising of American firearms from the mid-19th century until the present day. Although the scholarly literature has investigated visual representations of guns in advertising and popular media, it has paid far less attention to how sellers have displayed these objects at or near the point of purchase.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary sources include frescoes, engravings and photographs, plus papers, advertising and illustrations in popular newspapers and trade magazines. These and other period visual data are supplemented by secondary sources from a variety of fields, especially retailing and firearms history.
Findings
Evidence shows that American firearms were merchandised visually by Samuel Colt at three world expositions in the 1850s, by gunmakers and retailers in the latter 19th century, by Winchester and Remington dealers in the 1920s and 1930s, by high- and low-end retailers in New York in the first half of the 20th century and by gun stores, auctions and shows up to the present day.
Originality/value
The history of visual merchandising generally has focused upon major department stores, their alluring street-front windows and their fancy interior displays. This research explores past and present visual merchandising of firearms by manufacturers and smaller retailers. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first such history of the subject.