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Despite increased emphasis on diversity marketing, much remains unknown about how brands should approach diversity. This paper aims to understand what constitutes a brand’s approach to diversity (BATD), establish a categorisation of such approaches, outline the effects on audience connectedness and establish a future research agenda.

This conceptual paper draws on critical theory and practical exemplars to present a conceptualisation of BATD.

Using two determinants, depth of diversity integration and order of entry, it is possible to categorise BATD into four types: transformative, adaptive, passive and performative. Early adoption and greater depth of diversity approaches (i.e. multidimensional to an intersectional representation of identities) provide optimal opportunities for evoking connectedness.

The conceptual typological framework for BATD helps delineate how varying levels of diversity depth and order of entry influence audience connectedness. A detailed agenda for further research can guide ongoing diversity research.

Creating a typology reduces complexity and helps marketers recognise the differing components, manifestations and effects of their diversity approach. To increase connectedness and reduce audience scepticism, marketers must seek deeper-level diversity integrations and adopt approaches earlier.

This study offers a novel conceptualisation of BATD by defining it, distinguishing it from related research themes and moving beyond single diversity dimensions and marketing mix elements. Further, audience connectedness is positioned as a critical consequence as it can instigate desirable brand outcomes, benefit those identities represented and promote a more inclusive society.

Marketing practice varies among firms. However, the prescriptive literature emphasises a universal view of practice, a “one‐size‐fits‐all” view. This paper addresses the issue of explaining diversity in competitive space and over time. Diversity in competitive space reflects the existence of different routes to high performance. Diversity over time reflects some combination of change in the individual firm and change in a population of firms. In the former case, diversity is shaped by organisational change; in the latter by the disbandment and founding of firms in the population. Miles and Snow’s typology is taken as a main point of departure in the search for explanation, and ecological and evolutionary concepts are also drawn upon. The paper starts by examining the discussion of diversity in the literature of strategic management and organisation theory, and then finds evidence of an emerging interest in diversity in the domain of marketing. Based on a number of cross‐sectional and longitudinal case studies, it proceeds to explore diversity in company marketing practice. How such variety evolves at industry level is then addressed. Finally, a view of industries as business systems with complex adaptive mechanisms, enabling both evolutionary and revolutionary changes in marketing practice, is offered.

This study aims to mark the 50th anniversary of social marketing as an innovative social change discipline; this viewpoint reviews “epistemological diversity” within social marketing and calls for its incorporation in the expansion of the discipline.

Cognisant of the visible (e.g., gender, age, race) and invisible (e.g., epistemology, experience, socioeconomic status) dimensions of diversity, this viewpoint focuses on one invisible dimension of diversity – epistemology. Using secondary data, an epistemological review of social marketing is undertaken by selecting five aspects that serve as potential indicators: professional associations, global conferences, education and training, research and publication and practice. Several recommendations are made to expand epistemological diversity in social marketing.

The epistemological review of diversity within social marketing reveals disparities between the Global North and South. These disparities are due to varying opportunities for participation in associations, conferences, education and training, and research and publication. In addition, there exist “hidden” social change practitioners who implement programmes in the Global South that are consistent with social marketing practice, but continue to be unchronicled and unheralded.

For many years, social marketing scholars and practitioners have been working to expand the boundaries of the discipline, with a focus on theory and application. Although the authors acknowledge that diversity and equity are inherently central to this discipline, epistemological diversity, specifically as linked to the geographies of the Global South, has been largely overlooked. Our viewpoint nudges the social marketing community into including epistemological diversity in the ongoing discourse around broadening and deepening the discipline of social marketing.

As the population and purchasing power of ethnic minority consumers in the USA continue to grow, more marketers are using subcultural segmentation and targeted marketing to reach these consumers. Meanwhile, some marketers have grown increasingly concerned with the cost‐effectiveness of ethnic segmentation and differentiated marketing. This research reviews various methods for segmenting the ethnic markets and suggests the nested approach and cost‐benefit optimization for analyzing the cost‐effectiveness of ethnic segmentation and marketing. Furthermore, this research proposes four alternative strategies for marketing in a multicultural environment. Directions for future research and managerial implications are explored.

Dixon recently commented that 50 years ago “marketing management and planning was part of marketing theory, today it seems to be all there is.” There is now a growing fragmentation of marketing thought, and a lack of marketing relevance to critical social and economic questions, that is of increasing concern to both internal and external critics. The purpose of this paper is to explore briefly the evolution of marketing thought over the last 100 years and to suggest a better response to the critics.

The paper comprises an historical review of the development of marketing as a discipline that could lead to a reconceptualization of the field.

Adam Smith emphasised both scale and diversity in markets. However, it was the economics of scale that caught the attention of economists and then of marketing specialists. This incomplete view of Smith limited the scope of marketing thought to single or related products. However, Smith's emphasis on diversity leads, logically and inevitably, to the development of the concept of a marketing system. A set of propositions are then suggested that lead to a generalised theory of marketing based on the marketing system concept.

This approach holds promise of resolving the concerns of both the internal and external critics of marketing, opening the door to a fresh, relevant interpretation of marketing thought that might address the concerns expressed by Dixon.

This study aims to gauge the interactive effect of export intensity and diversity on export performance among exporters in an emerging economy and explore the moderating effect of export intermediaries on the internationalization–export performance relationship.

A survey was undertaken among a convenience sample of small and medium exporters located in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces in South China.

The results show that intensity and diversity interact negatively with export performance, whereas the use of export agents registered a positive effect. Exporters pursuing a strategy of high export intensity will achieve better performance provided that these exports are concentrated in a few countries. Using export agents can help in enhancing the intensity–performance relationship but not that for diversity–performance.

Chinese exporters are advised not to blindly pursue international expansion without regard to their own resources and capabilities. They should try to strike a balance between intensity and diversity and employ external agents when needed.

This research seeks to address the void in the literature on how export intensity and diversity should be balanced to create a positive effect on the performance of exporting ventures in an emerging economy, which is under-addressed in the literature. It is also found that employment of export intermediaries is not always good for export performance.

This paper aims to offer practical, data-led guidance for the decolonisation of marketing strategy, especially as it relates to customer engagement. It does so with an acute understanding of the constraints of brand legitimacy.

The findings of this paper are informed both by a conceptual unpacking of institutional, decolonisation and customer engagement literature, as well as an empirical methodology that presents an embedded single case study of a top-ranking banking brand, using in-depth qualitative interviews as well as content analyses of brand communications.

The paper examines the notion of institutional brand legitimacy alongside the decolonisation of customer engagement. It offers five empirically driven decisions that marketers must consider when they attempt to decolonise their customer engagement strategies. These revolve around a decolonised bottom-up approach; establishing new biases for customer insights; the management of opposing forces; being strategically transformative; and going beyond diversity.

A single brand case study is offered that uses a relatively small sample of interviewees and does not include customers of the brand. Further research is therefore needed to reflect other organisational contexts and stakeholders. Just so, the paper specifically looks at the ways in which decolonisation and institutional legitimacy intersect for customer engagement. Further studies that focus on other organisational concepts impacted by decolonisation would be thought-provoking.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation that offers practical guidance for the decolonisation of marketing strategies – as it relates to customer engagement or any other facets of marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate diversity of marketing practices of firms operating in the same environment, by identifying how management perception and business strategy (BS) fits with the choice of the marketing practice.

A model was developed and tested using survey methodology based on three well-validated research instruments. Data were analyzed using the partial least square approach.

The results showed that different marketing practice were coupled with different frame of reference, as well as different BS. These forces were found to be inter related, and internally coherent, resulting in viable configurational profiles.

The research is unique and exploratory, and was conducted in three Arabic countries with a small sample size. For these reasons, generalizability is somewhat constrained.

The findings would help managers to carefully examine the internal logic of their marketing-related profiling; it can be used as an assessment tool, where performance should be enhanced if the variables are coherent.

To author’s knowledge this is the first study that inspect three variables that had been associated with decision making, but not integrated together in a holistic framework to explain marketing diversity. Additionally it identified four viable types of marketing practices with its corresponding frame of reference and BS. Therefore, the paper reports a work in an area not previously researched.

This paper aims to provide a critical reflection on diversity and inclusion research from the hospitality and tourism literature.

Through conducting a critical reflection, this paper used a thematic analysis focused on integrating the scholarly literature that has developed separately: one focusing on the human resources perspective and another concentrating on customer behavior. This critical reflection bridges the gap between these two perspectives.

The authors develop and offer a research agenda for future research drawing from three areas ripe for future research: human resources management, diversity resistance and marketing. They focus on theory-driven research that has practical applications to make hospitality and tourism more inclusive for both the workforce and consumers.

Meaningful research must be translated into practice, and by addressing these research gaps, organizations can gain insights into diverse worker and customer experiences and create more effective diversity initiatives.

The current literature often lacks an integrated approach that bridges the gap between the two reviewed perspectives: the human resources management and marketing perspectives. A holistic understanding of diversity and inclusion is vital, as it recognizes the interconnectedness between employees and customers within the context of the hospitality and tourism sector is important for several reasons.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association of international orientation and market orientation and their joint effects on export market success. Additionally, it aims to examine how firms’ foreign market portfolio diversity moderates this association.

On the basis of a review of the literature on market orientation and international orientation in relation to manufacturers’ performance on export markets, the paper proposes a set of hypotheses. The hypotheses are empirically tested using 249 questionnaire responses from CEOs supplemented with census data.

The results indicate that international orientation is positively related to export market success and that this relationship is independent of market portfolio diversity. The paper provides insights to the limitations of the dominant position that holds market orientation as an undisputed valuable strategic capability since market orientation has different non‐linear associations with export market success depending on market portfolio diversity. Finally, the results indicate that the joint effects of international orientation and market orientation on export market success only are present for firms with a focused market portfolio.

The authors argue that the performance implications of different strategic orientations on export market success are context‐dependent and that firms’ market portfolio diversity assists in providing this nuanced insight. The study's empirical cross‐sectional setting limits inference about causality among the constructs.

While all exporting manufacturing firms may benefit from an international orientation, business practitioners are advised to pay particular attention to the diversity of their foreign market portfolio prior to allocating resources to market‐oriented activities.

In this empirical contribution, the authors show how international orientation explains performance differentials among manufacturing exporters as well as how market orientation positively moderates this relationship. Furthermore, the paper shows the context dependency of the value of firms’ market orientation on the basis of export market portfolio diversity.