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Three basic approaches to retail institutional change can be discerned in the last 30 years. The first contends that institutional evolution is a function of developments in the socio‐economic environment. The second argues that change occurs in a cyclical fashion. The third considers inter‐institutional conflict to be the mainspring of retail change. None of those approaches is found to be entirely satisfactory, and a series of combination theories has been posited. It is argued that regional institutional change is the result of environmental forces and a cycle‐like sequence of inter‐institutional conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether management‐ and marketing‐salient literature focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related issues has evolved from 2003 to 2006, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and to learn which of three competitive epistemological evolutional views (progressive, variegational, normativist) best fits CSR evolution in both disciplines.

Following an ex professo methodology developed by de Bakker, Groenewegen and Den Hond, a content analysis (CA)‐based empirical examination of 570 papers focused on CSR and corporate social performance (CSP) published in indexed management and marketing journals between 2003 and 2006 was conducted. The selected temporal scope is equivalent, in terms of CSR published papers, to the period 1972‐2002 analyzed by de Bakker et al. Three coders judged each paper by their epistemological orientation and discipline pertinence, achieving larger enough reliability coefficients.

The epistemological evolution of CSR within the management and marketing literatures fits a progressive view, and both alternative evolutional perspectives, variegational and normativist, were rejected. This finding means that theoretical‐oriented papers (conceptual, exploratory or predictive) prevailed over prescriptive (instrumental and normative) and descriptive articles. This qualitative evolution has been accompanied by a significant growth in the total number of CSR papers published in the broad management field from 2003 to 2006.

Judgments were mainly based on papers' abstracts, titles and keywords. Full text analyses were only done on those cases where coders had doubts.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the role of CSR within the management and marketing disciplines, as it is the first to analyse the epistemological evolution of CSR in the academic research. The findings serve to refute the ideas that CSR research has an intrinsic normative character, is still too embryonic or has a disoriented evolution.

Analyzes the development of marketing in East European countries. Traces the growth of East Europe's trade with the West from $12.3 billion in 1970 to $37.6 billion in 1979. Highlights eastern Europe as one of the most promising markets to the US. Discusses the broad spectrums of marketing development between eastern countries. Examines the emergence of marketing through four key stages – authoritative systems, directive systems, mixed‐middle systems and integrative systems. Analyzes the differences in the standards of key marketing factors between East and West – e.g. range of products, pricing and advertising. Concludes that due to variations in starting points and differences in development patterns, East European countries are divided between centralization and decentralization. Affirms that unless US international marketers understand the peculiarities of eastern Europe, the US trade record with these potential markets is unlikely to improve.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how small and medium sized subcontracting firms evolve.

A cluster analysis was applied to a sample of 417 North East Italian subcontractors to explore if (and to what extent) Italian subcontractors differ and can be classified on the basis of their design and marketing capabilities. Using this classification as a starting point, multiple case study analysis is conducted on a sample of ten subcontractors and a model developed of how subcontractors' capabilities evolve over time.

Four profiles of subcontractors are identified as a function of their design and marketing capabilities: developed, developing, question mark and traditional. A model is proposed to understand and predict subcontractors' evolution. In the model knowledge codification, supply management, design and marketing capabilities mutually reinforce one another and tend to align over time.

Firstly, future research should articulate the four clusters identified. Secondly, the framework for subcontractors' evolution should be tested on large‐scale databases. Thirdly, more accurate measures of subcontractors' capabilities should be conceived and tested.

Results of this study are critical for industrial buyers who need to segment their subcontractors and understand how their marketing and design capabilities evolve. Moreover, they are also critical for subcontractors' managers who wish to avoid cost‐based strategies, enlarge their customer base, broaden their international scope and engage in durable relationships with their customers.

This study proposes an original model of subcontractors' classification and evolution and suggests good practices to design and manage supply networks.

This chapter provides an historical perspective on the evolution of educational marketing both as a professional field within the management and leadership of educational organisations and as a research field for academics and practitioners. It weaves together three important strands of analysis:•The evolution of the political, economic and social ideologies which have created the context in which marketisation of education has occurred.•The development of approaches to educational marketing in schools, colleges and universities.•The development of the research arena focused on marketisation and marketing in educational institutions.

The analysis considers the challenges that market-based concepts have brought to the existing hegemonies within both education and academic research, and also the politics and sociology of academic research. This provides a perspective on the challenges of developing a ‘new’ research field as a valid and significant area of study. The chapter concludes that educational marketing has evolved very significantly over the last 30 years, but has a done so in a context of substantial intellectual and sociological challenge. Resistance to its development has at times reflected resistance to the underlying concepts of marketisation rather than a concern that its approaches and findings are not important.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how theories evolve within scientific fields: why they receive attention and why they eventually become less attractive.

The paper is based on a literature review and focusses on the theoretical structure developed by Wroe Alderson. His contributions were highly appreciated and generally considered as “the” marketing theory. However, in few years his broad perspective was more or less neglected within the field where it was developed. At the same time, Alderson’s basic thinking was adopted by the evolving IMP approach. The specific objective of the study is to analyse why researchers in marketing abandoned Alderson, while IMP adopted many of his ideas.

The paper illustrates significant aspects of the evolution of theories. First, the paper shows how well-established conceptualisations, like Alderson’s total systems approach, may lose impact when the focus of research shifts. Alderson’s holistic framing was found too broad and all-encompassing to be useful when research attention was directed to specific aspects of marketing management and the socio-behavioural approach to distribution. Second, the paper shows in what respect IMP found support in concepts and models presented by Alderson in the challenging of fragmented mainstream framings of the business landscape.

This paper relates the rise and fall of Alderson’s concepts and frameworks to the evolution of theories of other schools-of-thought. Furthermore, the study shows how Alderson’s ideas were adapted to other research fields than where it was originally developed.

The purpose of this research is to conduct a literature review on the evolution, antecedents, and outcomes of luxury consumption (LC). To accomplish our goal, we used a combination of bibliometrics and systematic approaches to review 165 articles published between 1998 and 2019. The investigation revealed that the evolution of LC is mostly driven by consumer motivation and is influenced by cultural and psychological variables. Furthermore, we explored the aforementioned antecedents of LC along four major axes. Antecedents related to (1) individual characteristics, (2) brand components, (3) cultural and social values, and (4) organizational strategies. Furthermore, based on the outcomes of LC, we found two categories (individual traits and social values). The chapter concludes by proposing a broader research agenda for the future.

Considers the characteristics of small firms from a marketing perspective. Examines the marketing undertaken by firms at different stages of development from start‐up to the medium‐sized firm. Proposes that this normally consists of four stages: initial marketing strategy; reactive selling; the DIY Marketing approach; and integrated proactive stages. Looks at these stages, suggesting that these provide a framework and starting point for further analyses of small businesses.

In recent decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly adopted marketing-oriented approaches. While the adoption of marketing was slower in Europe and Spain, it has become a vital tool for HEIs, both to stay competitive in a changing socio-economic context and to face the challenges posed by the transition to the University 2.0 model. This study aims to analyse the historical evolution of communication techniques used by universities, bringing into focus the relevance of social networks in the most recent decades.

This research methodology consists of two components. Firstly, a comprehensive analysis of the available data is conducted to investigate the earliest marketing and communication actions involving universities, as well as their evolution over time, contextualizing this within the significant shifts in the social, political and technological background. Secondly, a specific focus is placed on the contribution of social media, particularly Twitter, as a powerful tool in creating a university brand and effectively promoting educational institutions, especially during the last stage of this historical evolution. To identify and analyse these trends, Natural Language Processing is used, specifically by leveraging topic modelling techniques.

The results of this analysis offer insights into the evolution of marketing communication applied by Spanish universities and show the increasing importance of social networks and the use of specific topics and contents to enhance their impact on engagement.

This study contributes to the literature by using a novel methodological approach to the research on the historical development of communication in universities in Spain, providing guidance to manage their social media strategy to differentiate themselves, increase engagement and foster brand loyalty.