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This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new overseas subsidiaries and demonstrates the possibility of modifying such ceremonies to place greater emphasis on intra-organizational communications.

This is a careful study of 200 videos on 73 ribbon-cutting ceremonies in Russia between 2012 and 2018.

Under the current prevalent design, ribbon-cutting ceremonies mostly entail inter-organizational communication, i.e. communication between foreign investors and representatives of the authorities of the host country. Meanwhile, in addition to the standard ribbon-cutting ceremonies, it is observed that several videos on intra-organizational communication, i.e. pseudoformal meetings between the team from the corporate headquarters and employees of a newly built factory. During such meetings, top corporate executives express the importance of the factory vis-à-vis the future of the whole corporation, state their expectations for the further development of the factory’s production facilities, postulate the desired working atmosphere in the factory and appeal for the commitment and assistance of the employees in safeguarding the future of the investment.

The findings provide a basis for a broader discussion on the role of ribbon-cutting ceremonies as staged large-scale events organized by firms to articulate, highlight, disseminate, rationalize, as well as mobilize internal and external support for their strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the organizing practices of a Lakota Sun Dance, and to contribute to the literature on rituals and ceremonies in organizational culture.

The researcher acted as participant-as-observer during this extended ceremony. Fieldnotes capturing observations and informal interviews with Lakota elders were the source of data as recording devices were not permitted on the Sun Dance grounds. Observations were conducted for approximately 45 hours over the course of five days.

The Lakota Sun Dance can be understood through organizational theory, particularly through a unique integration of the concepts of agency, loosely coupled systems, and just-in-time organizing. The current research highlights the role of agency in organizational ceremonies.

This research offers a thick description of the organizing practices of an extended Lakota ceremony. The integration of traditional Lakota organizing principles with modern organizational theory is absent from the literature, and offers a unique perspective on organizing from a non-Western perspective.

Security ceremonies still fail despite decades of efforts by researchers and practitioners. Attacks are often a cunning amalgam of exploits for technical systems and of forms of human behaviour. For example, this is the case with the recent news headline of a large-scale attack against Electrum Bitcoin wallets, which manages to spread a malicious update of the wallet app. The author therefore sets out to look at things through a different lens.

The author makes the (metaphorical) hypothesis that humans arrived on Earth along with security ceremonies from a very far planet, the Cybersecurity planet. The author’s hypothesis continues, in that studying (by huge telescopes) the surface of Cybersecurity in combination with the logical projection on that surface of what happens on Earth is beneficial for us earthlings.

The author has spotted four cities so far on the remote planet. Democratic City features security ceremonies that allow humans to follow personal paths of practice and, for example, make errors or be driven by emotions. By contrast, security ceremonies in Dictatorial City compel to comply, hence humans here behave like programmed automata. Security ceremonies in Beautiful City are so beautiful that humans just love to follow them precisely. Invisible City has security ceremonies that are not perceivable, hence humans feel like they never encounter any. Incidentally, the words “democratic” and “dictatorial” are used without any political connotation.

A key argument the author shall develop is that all cities but Democratic City address the human factor, albeit in different ways. In the light of these findings, the author will also discuss security ceremonies of our planet, such as WhatsApp Web login and flight boarding, and explore room for improving them based upon the current understanding of Cybersecurity.

Recent discussions of value-in-use from the perspective of service dominant logic have focused on the customer’s determination of value and control of the value creation process. The purpose of this paper is to extend these discussions by exploring the value creation process in the Japanese tea ceremony and in the kaiseki ryori style of Japanese cuisine, which is based on the Japanese tea ceremony.

A historical analysis is used to describe the history of the Japanese tea ceremony in Japan and its influence on Japanese culture. key principles underlying the Japanese tea ceremony and their relationship to Zen Buddhism are summarized and the ways in which these principles are reflected in the service provided by Japanese restaurants are explored.

The two elite restaurants examined in this analysis have designed their service experience to reflect four principles of the tea ceremony: the expression of seasonal feelings, the use of everyday items, ritualized social interactions, and the equality of host and guest. Given these principles, we argue that the tea ceremony and restaurants based on this ceremony imply a co-creation process that is different in three important ways from the process discussed in the co-creation literature. First, the tea ceremony involves dual experiential-value-creation processes. Both the master and the customer experience value-in-use during the delivery of kaiseki cuisine, and the value-in-use each receives is critically dependent on that received by the other. Second, the degree to which value-in-use is created for both parties (the customer and the master) depends on the master’s customization of the service experience based on his knowledge of the customer and that customer’s with the tea ceremony, kaiseki ryori cuisine and Japanese culture.

We hypothesize that the dual experiential-value-creation model is potentially relevant whenever the service process contains an element of artistic creation. Potential examples include concerts, recitals, theatre performances and art exhibitions, as well as more mundane situations in which the service provider derives value-in-use from aesthetic appreciations of the service provider’s art.

Recent discussions of value co-creation argue that the customer controls the value creation process and the determination of value. The authors argue that the tea ceremony can serve as a metaphor for value co-creation in service contexts where the customer’s value creation process depends on the creation of value-in-use by the service provider.

Ayahuasca ceremonies are currently practiced all over the world. This study aims to investigate ayahuasca ceremonies in Colombia (where ayahuasca use is culturally entrenched) and Italy (where ayahuasca use has only recently spread).

In total, 32 Italian (53% males; 47% females) and 28 Colombian (79% males; 21% females) ayahuasca ceremony participants completed an online survey. Ceremonial setting and set (motivations for ayahuasca use, ayahuasca perceived effects and features of participants, i.e. drug use and problematic use, interpersonal dependency, spiritual orientation and quality of life) were investigated. Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson’s χ² test and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the Italian and Colombian samples.

No differences emerged in the ceremonial setting. Slight differences were observed in motivations for ayahuasca intake and religious beliefs, but not in the preparation for ceremonies, quality of life, interpersonal dependence and spiritual orientation. Italians showed greater use of other psychoactive substances and more drug use problems.

Prevention regarding safer practices of consumption should be promoted to avoid improper uses.

Few studies have explored ayahuasca ceremonies (set and setting characteristics) in countries with different traditions on ayahuasca consumption. The results highlight that the use and experience of ayahuasca can take on different meanings depending on the cultural context.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony with the goal of making a nuanced contribution to the discussion of online participation and engagement afforded by social media.

This paper applies a qualitative approach of sequential video analysis to the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony interpretive segment.

Despite the Olympics being a “networked media sport” where countries compete against each another in various sporting events, the paper argues that the overarching narrative of the London 2012 opening ceremony is one that breaks down traditional barriers, while simultaneously situating the individual at the centre of “networked spectatorship”.

Beyond merely watching media events, the paper proposes the term, “networked spectators” to identify how people participate in the content creation, social media moderation, and conversation using social media. Networked spectatorship moves away from the binary of active and passive participation, and rather reflects on the multiple ways people can engage in media events, which specifically includes social media monitoring/moderation as a form of participation.

This paper aims to demonstrate deep gaze using a Japanese Shinto wedding ceremony as an example. Some long-term tourists develop an intimate understanding of the host country’s culture by gaining access to authentic experiences typically limited to the locals. These native visitors experience a deep gaze.

Combing subjective personal introspection (SPI) and confirmatory personal introspection (CPI), the author’s 76 wedding photographs are examined critically.

Results demonstrate how a native visitor uses SPI and CPI analyses of native gaze. While the Shinto wedding ceremony’s authenticity mixes traditional and evolutionary elements, the ceremony is best viewed as a Gestalt experience. The evidence suggests authenticity need not have deep roots in the culture.

The findings serve as only one configuration of many possible gazes. Tourist Gaze 4.0 is a set of complex antecedent conditions and multiple configurations.

Using photographs taken by native family members, this paper demonstrates how SPI and CPI identify deep gaze through a different lens.

Conflict resolution theory and practice have often neglected the contributions of women in peacebuilding. To obtain a more balanced perspective, the work of women's movements, peace movements, and other social movements have attempted to highlight the importance of women's roles in society and their active participation in peacemaking activities throughout the world. This study hopes to contribute to recognizing gender in conflict resolution by examining the rituals of conflict resolution in Laos and the legacy of women working for peace. Through this gender lens, it highlights the importance of Lao women's work in the soukhouan ceremony, a conflict resolution ritual that is integral to Lao culture. The soukhouan ritual demonstrates characteristics that are vital to any peacebuilding effort, specifically how women are actively working to repair harm, restore relationships, and organize support networks that are essential for reconciliation in communities experiencing conflict. This research adds to conflict resolution literature that validates how women are playing a vital role in all stages of peacebuilding.

Marriage is a social institution that integrates individuals to form families. Yet, the social embeddedness of married couples is surprisingly rarely examined, particularly for remarriage. Drawing from multiple datasets, this chapter shows that before marriage, remarried dyads are socially less embedded than their continuously married counterparts; after marriage, their social relations rely more on the spouse. First, with the attrition of close associates over the life course and the disruption in social network due to divorce, individuals tend to look outside their networks and at less conventional venues, and to adopt dating strategies involving fewer contacts from existing network, resulting in greater socio-demographic heterophily in remarriage. Second, such dating strategies and the greater socio-demographic heterogamy imply socially invisible wedding ceremonies for remarried couples. Third, remarried individuals’ social networks, in the absence of spousal ties, remain as fragmented as those of the divorced in terms of network characteristics such as density, volume of contacts, and emotional closeness. A remarried individual’s network is akin to that of the divorced plus a spouse. Compared to first marriage, the spouse is much more prominent in the social relations of remarried individuals.