Search results

The purpose of this paper is to study the usage of ethical business strategies, in particular those using the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach, of Egyptian businesses. The authors primarily focus on one facet of CSR strategy – cause-related marketing (CRM) – which has been increasingly used by marketing practitioners in recent times.

In the context of Egyptian household goods business, the authors investigate the factors that motivate/hinder consumer participation in their CRM campaigns using a sample of 261 respondents in a mixed research design.

Results show that motivational attribution significantly predicts consumers’ responses toward CRM, with moral judgment playing a partial mediating role in such relationship. In addition, several variables such as altruism and religiosity among personality characteristics are found to arouse consumers’ positive motivational attribution, whereas skepticism was negatively associated with CRM responses.

The findings of this research have both practical and social implications for academics and practitioners alike. Successful campaigns should include the factors inducing motivational attribution, which, in turn, enhances consumers’ attitude toward a company and their purchase intentions. Personal characteristics also impact consumer responses and should be paid attention to.

In a world characterized by fast-changing pace of globalization, it has become critical to study an important phenomenon like CRM in the Middle East, and this original research provides insights into how effective CRM campaigns can be developed there. This will strengthen our cross-cultural understanding of the similarities and differences in consumer viewpoints between developed and developing countries.

Focuses on the relevance and significance to marketing of the new management technique of business process re‐engineering. Current criticisms of marketing′s contribution to contemporary management are reviewed, with specific examination of the suggestion that the marketing profession has not responded adequately to major environmental changes. Reviews the main components of marketing and business process re‐engineering and concludes that, contrary to some suggestions, these approaches are not antithetical but complementary. This broad hypothesis is currently being tested empirically via a small pilot study in the UK retail sector. The very early results of the pilot study are discussed. These initial results support the hypothesis that business process re‐engineering offers the marketing profession a major opportunity to bring about more effective organizational implementation of the central marketing concept, if they ensure that key marketing ideas are institutionalized in the definition of organizational core processes and systems.

Discusses issues concerning the relationship between codified marketing theory and practical strategic marketing expertise, particularly with respect to the importance of “tacit” or unarticulated knowledge. The trajectory of argument draws attention to the role of words as symbolic modelling devices and explores implications of this position for theorising marketing expertise. Makes use of a multidisciplinary perspective and draws material from work in cognitive science, the psychology of expertise and the philosophy of science. Sets the problematisation of practical theory in marketing within a broader context of a possible epistemological “crisis” of rationality in practical disciplines. The conclusion suggests that an epistemology of expertise for marketing management demands both theoretical and linguistic sophistication and implies a pedagogic shift towards a model of philosophic enquiry in marketing.

The main aim of this paper is to stimulate more relevant and critical ideas about marketing and the wider management field by exploring the actual and potential contribution of metaphor to marketing theory and practice. The subsequent connections made can help contribute towards understanding and coping with the theory/practice gap.

To date, the majority of metaphor application has tended to be literal and surface‐level rather than theoretically grounded. This paper interrogates the literature surrounding metaphor in marketing and management fields, while also examining the contribution of other areas such as art. The paper constructs and debates the conceptual notion of the marketer as an artist.

Incorporation of theoretically grounded metaphors into marketing theory can help develop a form of marketing which is capable of dealing with ambiguity, chaotic market conditions, creative thinking and practice.

Adoption of a metaphorical approach to marketing research helps to instil a critical and creative ethos in the research process. Marketers are concerned with identification and exploitation of opportunities. Metaphor assists in the process by enhancing visualisation of these future directions. We live out our lives to a large degree through the making of metaphorical connections. We should therefore embrace more qualitative, creative associations in marketing theory, as well as practice.

There is widespread acceptance that information technology (IT) is a central component of business operations and extensively used in marketing. Aligned to this is the belief that marketing is experiencing radical and dynamic changes, many of which are IT driven. Reports a study of 204 Irish firms, which seeks to discover the level of transformation in the marketing function as a result of IT. Reviews whether marketers’ use of IT has progressed from simply automating existing marketing systems to actually using IT to transform their marketing capabilities. Aims to ascertain if marketing is achieving significant benefits from IT.

The ethnic minority population in Britain is sizeable and represents a viable and untapped market segment. In today’s fragmented and increasingly turbulent markets, ethnic marketing offers a new strategic focus for product/market development and, in many respects, companies which ignore this do so at their own competitive peril. Companies wishing to do business with ethnic minority groups will fundamentally have to review the basic premisses of their marketing plans to take account of the growing market pluralism and the multi‐ethnic reality of modern Britain. Accordingly, this paper provides a literature over‐view of the crucial issues which are likely to become the important determinants of success in developing ethnic marketing programmes. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate thought towards detailed examination of good practices, critical success factors and associated principles which might help to improve marketing practices aimed at the ethnic minority population.

From the early 1990s a number of papers advocating feminist analyses of marketing phenomena appeared in the marketing literature. Scholars working from feminist perspectives in other disciplines have examined marketing phenomena for some time. Provides a guide to this literature, highlighting the scope of the work and its diversity, and suggests areas where more research is needed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine what formal executive-level committees senior corporate communications executives are members of and what value they contribute.

The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 30 senior executives at four US companies who discussed corporate communications’ involvement in eight strategic issues.

The focus on the C-Suite is too narrow as strategic issues arise at the division level and in executive-level committees. Corporate communications is often in competition with marketing for influence and coveted seats in the board rooms. Corporate communications is most likely to be included in decision making when issues are perceived as falling within their domain, when the function has support from the CEO, when working in industries with frequent crises or those focussing on reputation management, and in companies that utilize integrated decision teams.

Corporate communicators need to enhance their research skills and educate other colleagues about their domain beyond media relations.

Study includes the perspectives of executives outside of corporate communications such as marketing, sales, human resources, investor relations, finance, and operations as well as division presidents.

Provides a review of the nature of marketing. In order to explicate this work, presents marketing as a concept, management philosophy and organizational function. Acknowledges the contribution of key authors in the field, such as Alderson, Bagozzi, Houston, Hunt and Sheth, and pays attention to the nature of developments in marketing. Provides illustration to the evolution of marketing as a discipline with specific regard to the theoretical foundations of the subject matter. Draws various conclusions and makes certain implications as to the future of marketing.

States that numerous commentators have contended that we live in degenerate, degraded, decadent and soon‐to‐be discontinued times. Arguably a manifestation of “pre‐millennial tension”, this eschatological world‐view seems to be shared by many marketing theorists, for whom the end of marketing is nigh. Describes the background to the Marketing Eschatology Retreat and outlines six different ways in which marketing and eschatology can be related.