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Although cannibalism is seldom desirable, it can be tolerated under certain conditions. This paper illustrates those conditions and shows that cannibalism may not be so bad after all.

This paper examines the organizational consequences of aberrant decision making processes in terms of the continuum of knowledge management alluded to by T.S. Eliot (1969); namely information acquisition and use, knowledge and, in turn, insight and wisdom. The thesis of the paper is that a raft of recent corporate failures can be explained away in terms of managerial decision‐making processes that have destroyed the integrity of the organizational learning experience for these organizations, through the corrupt and dysfunctional behavior of their respective managerial elite. It is further argued that when viewed from an anthropological perspective this dysfunctional behavior is akin to cannibalism of the body corporate.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/eb008164. When citing the article, please cite: Mark B. Traylor, (1986), “CANNIBALISM IN MULTIBRAND FIRMS”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 3 Iss: 2, pp. 69 - 75.

A food tourism destination can fully exploit its competitiveness if food-related attributes are consistently highlighted both in its promotion and in user-generated content. However, in the context of food tourism research, a possible image incongruence has not yet been studied. Tourism destination image incongruence occurs when different travel information sources reflect inconsistent representations of a destination's attributes. This study addresses this gap, focusing on Italian food and wine as drivers to attract visitors. This study examines whether food-related attributes are present in online travel-related conversations and are perceived differently by people with and without knowledge about the destination.

Content analysis based on a Bayesian machine-learning technique utilizing Leximancer software was applied to analyze questions and answers posted on TripAdvisor forums by potential and past visitors of four destinations in Italy (Naples, Florence, Parma and Ferrara). Questions and answers expressed by people with different knowledge in Italian and English were analyzed separately to gain deeper understanding.

Contrary to expectations, food-related themes were almost completely absent in the conversations analyzed, with only a few exceptions in Italian question sections. This situation depicts a sort of “cannibalism”, in the sense that the centrality of food-related attributes is engulfed by other, less sensorial, enjoyable and memorable aspects of the travel experience.

Analysis suggests that hype may exist in food tourism promotion related to destination image incongruence. However, while based on a large volume of conversations, the analysis covers only four Italian cities.

Destination management organizations (DMOs) should develop their strategy and communication considering internal and external elements: their marketing targets on one side and the local culture and attractions' perceptions on the other. Standard marketing processes (segmenting, targeting, positioning) and theories should be put in place. The application of standard marketing dynamics and studies should push the DMOs to understand that the internally perceived cultural values of the touristic destinations could not be known or joint univocally by the global external customers and that a local promotional activity should start with branding and not commercial activities.

This is the first study to suggest the existence of hype in food tourism promotion of Italian destinations and to provide evidence supporting this argument.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the monstrous in organizational diversity by introducing the concept of cultural anthropophagy to the diversity literature. Using Kristeva's notion of abjection to better understand cultural anthropophagy, the paper argues that cultural anthropophages cross boundaries, and build identity through desire for and aggression toward valued others.

The paper uses a conceptual discussion of abjection, along with a historical survey of anthropophagic approaches from Brazilian art and cultural studies.

Anthropophagic approaches highlight unique features of organizational identity, framing identity formation as a fluid process of expulsion and re-integration of the other. While abjection approaches focus on the exclusion of material aspects of the self and the formation of self-other boundaries, anthropophagy focusses on the re-integration of the other into the self, in a symbolic gesture of re-integration, desire, and reverence for the other.

The idea of anthropophagy is a recent entrant into the organizational literature, and the close relation between anthropophagy and abjection is illuminated in the current paper. Original insights regarding the search for positive identity, the ambivalence of self and other, and the relation of the particular and the universal, are offered with regards to the diversity literature.

This study measures the degree of influence that attributes such as price, organic production, origin and commercial type have on Spanish consumers when purchasing lamb meat, while also analysing various lamb meat differentiation strategies.

The methodology consisted of a survey of 421 Castilla‐La Mancha (Spain) lamb meat consumers during the month of January 2009. The preferences of these consumers were determined through several multivariate techniques.

The results obtained by means of conjoint analysis techniques show that an additional potential differentiation strategy is to offer the market conventionally produced suckling lamb and organic “ternasco” lamb. Thus, potential commercial cannibalism would be simultaneously prevented between two types of meat belonging to one and the same PGI Manchego Lamb.

The excessive commercial differentiation that can arise in food for basic consumption in general and particularly within the Manchego Lamb PGI. Whether it be from the inclusion of another commercial type (suckling lamb meat) together with the traditional type (“ternasco” lamb meat) and the additional possibility of the organic certification, it can make way for a certain commercial “cannibalism” among PGI lamb meats.

“To understand that a technology — and the company whose future success depends on it — will eventually face the end of its lifecycle inspires urgency for, and commitment to, discontinuous innovation.”

This study aims to analyse how a hotel company manages ambidexterity when operating different business models in different markets located in the same country.

This research was conducted using a qualitative case study, and the subjects were selected using the theoretical sampling technique. A corporation managing two hotel business units located in the same city but operating different business models – a premium and a low-cost business model – were selected as subjects.

The empirical evidence revealed that an ambidextrous business model can be realized through integration or separation of appropriate domains of business activities. The empirical findings further showed that exploitations are easier to integrate than explorations.

The authors found that firms using structural separation for managing premium and low-cost business models can avoid market cannibalism and achieve synergies between different business models if business model ambidexterity is well managed.

This study extends research in the area of ambidexterity and business models. It responds to calls to examine how firms using structural separation implement business model ambidexterity in practice, particularly in service sectors. By analysing the details of activities within the business model, the authors advance the understanding of which domains are suitable for an integration or separation approach.

The ecological movement has fallen short in ignoring the earth’s noospheric layer (dealt with in the second section) and the fact that the life‐destroying interactions stemming from this layer are abnormal (section 3), and that man is a fallen mammal, Homo peccator (discussed in section 4). The symbiosis of Homo sapiens, faber, peccator (see section 5) and the persistent misappropriation of economic surplus value (dealt with in section 6) creates dilemmas for the ecologist (discussed in section 7). The major noospheric pollutants are the marketing sector of capitalism (in section 8), miseducation (section 9) and the promotion of idolatry by the judicial system (see section 10). Ecological action, not evasion, on the economic, educational, communications, aesthetic and political fronts is necessary (dealt with in sections 11 and 12).

Based on the sample of the European information and communications technology (ICT) companies, this paper aims to identify which strategy of knowledge generation is most beneficial for companies: internal knowledge development or absorption of knowledge external to the company through corporate acquisition or merger.

In this study, a longitudinal analysis of European ICT companies was conducted, contrasting internal knowledge creation, in the form of patent accumulation and research and development (R&D) efforts, with external learning through merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activities to uncover the best strategies for performance maximization.

Results suggest that the two knowledge generation strategies are not complementary and demonstrate only marginal impact on organizational performance. However, intriguing patterns in combining the two became apparent. It was found that patent accumulation improves learning achieved through M&A activities, while also acting as a protection against corporate takeover. At the same time, the internal knowledge generation strategy was found to have a negative impact on financial performance, with external knowledge generation demonstrating somewhat mixed results.

This paper provides practical insights into the patterns of internal and external knowledge generation activities. The two strategies were found not to be complementary, implying that companies must carefully choose their preferences.

This large-scale study tackles the interplay between internal and external knowledge generation strategies, which are mostly studied separately. It reveals new patterns in corporate acquisition and divestment strategies as sources of new knowledge. It also ties the knowledge paradigm to organizational performance.