Search results

Keith Brownlie, group HR advisor at Informa, explains how a flexible‐benefit program reduced costs and brought unity and harmony to a post‐acquisition environment.

This paper aims to account for the crafting of the constellation of brand and consumer values around an everyday product, that of bottled water. This paper situates the exponential growth of this market in its historical and cultural context, paying particular attention to the fostering of the “social conditions of possibility” for this product in the French market. The socio-historical context and the interplay of stakeholders to the respondents’ understanding and uses of bottled water, highlighting the importance of a range of factors that made this market and product resonate with their requirements, are linked.

This account responds to the call for more engagement with social theory in marketing and consumer research (Brownlie and Hewer, 2011). It also connects with recent scholarly pleas for a displacement of the consumer from the center of our analytic attention (Askegaard and Linnet, 2011; Holt, 2012). It does so by using the social praxeology approach associated with Pierre Bourdieu to study the affirmation and sedimentation of the practices surrounding the consumption of bottled water in France.

Influential institutional actors invoked discourses of purity, nature and health, juxtaposing these with the risks of tap water consumption. These were cemented by the influence of pediatricians who encouraged changes in family drinking habits which translated into long-term shifts in consumer behavior. By contrast to studies of different contexts, our respondents were greatly enamored by the materiality of the products themselves, using these in innovative ways for aesthetic pursuits. The social praxeology approach uncovers how brand and consumer value have been constructed in the French bottled water market.

This study is based on the historical development and growth of the market for bottled water in France. It would be a valuable exercise to investigate other contexts to determine whether the strategies of symbolic competition, especially the use of expert intermediaries rich in cultural capital that can be identified, are reflected elsewhere.

Bottled water producers will have to confront the issue of the resource-intensiveness of their products. This feature stands in marked contrast to the symbolic capital and points of differentiation that producers have weaved around bottled water. Such contradictions will be exposed by actors in other fields (e.g. the environmental movement). This can be expected to have an impact on the consumption and viability of this market in future.

This paper uses a philosophical framework – social praxeology – to chart the development, affirmation and exponential growth of the bottled water market. Via a combination of historical re-construction and empirical research, it highlights the interactive relationships between government, producers and consumers, uncovering brand and consumer value creation.

Many commentators are contending that modern marketing is in the throes of a “mid‐life crisis”. Although it is appropriate that marketing should be facing such a crisis exactly 40 years after Drucker′s (1954) celebrated statement that “marketing is the distinguishing, the unique function of business”, it is arguable that these declarations of crisis are both premature and unduly pessimistic. Adopts a broader, more historically informed approach to modern marketing, arguing that “crises” in marketing are not new, they are not insurmountable and that they are not necessarily unhealthy. Quite the reverse. Offers an analysis of marketing′s current crisis of representation; outlines ten key points concerning marketing′s past, present and future; and concludes with a simple model of marketing′s 40 year development cycle.

To succeed in an industry an organization must select a mode of strategic behaviour which matches the levels of environmental turbulence, and develop a resource capability which complements the chosen mode. Investigates UK building societies and identifies three distinct modes of strategic behaviour. One group of societies are reactive and driven by their environment. A second group are pre‐emptive and seek to anticipate future events and prepare for them while the third group exhibit the most aggressive stance; not only do they seek to identify future scenarios, they actually work to bring these about. The groups are compared across a range of marketing and strategy variables to establish the extent to which these approaches are supportive of the selected mode of behaviour. Clear differences are apparent between the reactive and proactive groups although, surprisingly, few differences of substance are evident between the two proactive groups.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The purpose of this paper is to celebrate the remarkable work of the late Emeritus Professor Michael J. Thomas, as Editor of Marketing Intelligence & Planning (MIP ) over 21 years, and Founding Editor in perpetuity.

His long‐time Assistant Editor and eventual successor trawls the back issues and plumbs the depths of his own memory, to formalise the story of the man and his creation.

The undoubted success of MIP, at the time of the editorial handover the third‐most downloaded title in Emerald's massive stable, was entirely attributable to the work of its Founding Editor: his clear vision of an academic journal that was applicable to the real work of intelligence gathering and strategy planning; his extensive personal networks, his professional status, and the sheer force of his personality.

In the overheated current climate of academic research and publication, more journals should consider the merits of editorial prerogative as a precursor to formal double‐blind reviewing in the acceptance process. A strong and focused Editor is a prerequisite, of course.

The paper celebrates the history of MIP and, in the process, the life of Michael Thomas.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the exposure of a student population to celebrity chef television programmes, to assess the influence these figures have, and how they are perceived.

A survey was conducted through an online questionnaire distributed at Bath Spa University. The approach included asking respondents why they watched programmes featuring celebrity chefs; to select a named celebrity chef whom they thought had most influenced their food habits, and to name particular chefs relating to campaign descriptions.

A significant proportion of the study group watched television programmes fronted by celebrity chefs (84 per cent); the main reason for watching was for entertainment. Overall, reported influence was insignificant, though Jamie Oliver was selected as the chef with most influence on the respondent’s food habits. Jamie Oliver’s campaign to improve school dinners was also the most recognised, and celebrity chefs were generally viewed positively.

The study population was quite specific in its gender, age and ethnicity, and therefore might not be representative of wider society. Further work could consider gender differences in chef influence, as well as different forms of exposure.

Despite their ubiquity, academic research into the role of the celebrity chef in modern society is limited, where very few studies have assessed the influence of named chefs or the public perception of these figures. This paper gives an insight into this under-researched field.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.