Ann M. Torres

Discovering diversity in marketing practice

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.

The Irish wine market: a market segmentation study

Purpose – The Irish wine market has experienced unprecedented growth in the last 15 years; drivers of growth include increased affordability and accessibility of wine and improved branding. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Irish wine market may be meaningfully segmented for successful brand positioning.Design/methodology/approach – This research adopts a lifestyle segmentation approach by linking lifestyle values, product attributes and buying and consumption patterns. The primary research is descriptive in design, employing a self‐administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data on wine consumer behaviour. Efforts made to ensure a highly representative sample included choosing a large sample size, administering the questionnaire in a range of outlets, and gathering information from wine drinkers with wide ranging involvement levels.Findings – The research identifies three clusters of wine consumers: casual wine buyer, value seeking wine buyer, and wine traditionalist. Together, the ...

Perceptions of Low-Cost Carriers’ Compliance with EU Legislation on Optional Extras

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) market their flights as low cost and, so, aim to garner as much additional revenue as possible from ancillary services such as baggage and priority boarding. The airlines therefore encourage purchase of these services by their customers. As a result of this and other practices by airlines, the European Union has introduced legislation to deal with various areas of concern in order to protect the consumer. Airlines have responded to the legal requirement that all optional extras should only presented to the consumer on an ‘opt-in’ basis by using ‘grey’ Web design patterns such as the ‘must-opt’ presentation of optional extras, whereby the user must choose to accept or reject the item before continuing with the interaction. This study examines user perceptions of the level of compliance of two airlines with the relevant European legislation.

Diversity, marketing practice and organisational evolution: Implications for the management of productive evolution

The prescriptive marketing literature emphasises a universal view of practice, and yet it is evident from observation that marketing practice varies among firms. This paper addresses the issue of explaining diversity in marketing practice 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 environmental change. Miles and Snows (1978, 1986) well-established typology is used as a framework in the search for an explanation for the nature of diversity in competitive space. Evolutionary and ecological concepts are drawn on to suggest an explanation for the nature of diversity over time. Finally, given an understanding of the nature of diversity, implications for the management of ‘productive evolution’ are considered.

International Committee of the Red Cross: emblems of humanity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the branding and communications strategy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC is the worlds oldest non‐religious organisation dedicated to humanitarian relief. The ICRCs remit includes civilian and military victims of armed conflicts and internal disturbances, as well as human rights issues that transcend conflict situations, such as disaster response and preparedness, health and care in the community and humanitarian principles and values. The ICRC is the founding body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and coordinates the efforts of the National Societies and their International Federation.Design/methodology/approach – Various secondary sources are used to collate the information from which the case study is developed.Findings – The ICRCs longevity is attributed to its ability to evolve, albeit at times slowly. However, the environment in which the ICRC operates is changing rapidly. Like many internati...

Tricks and Clicks: How Low-Cost Carriers Ply Their Trade Through Self-Service Websites

Ethics on the Internet has been a widely debated topic in recent years covering issues that range from privacy to security to fraud. Little, however, has been written on more subtle ethical questions, such as the exploitation of web technologies to inhibit or avoid customer service. Increasingly some firms are using websites to create distance between them and their customer base in specific areas of their operations, while simultaneously developing excellence in sales transaction committal via self-service. This chapter takes a magnifying glass with an ethical lens to one sector – the low-cost, web-based, self-service airline industry, specifically in Ireland. It is noted that the teaching of information systems development (ISD) and, for the most part its practice, assumes ethicality. Similarly, marketing courses focus on satisfying customer needs more effectively and efficiently within the confines of an acceptable ethos. This chapter observes that while these business disciplines are central to the success of self-service websites, there is a disconnect between the normative view and the actuality of practice.

‘Calling Passengers’ — An Ethical Problem in the Design of Self-Service Web Sites Amongst Low-Cost Airlines in Ireland

Ethics on the Internet has been a widely debated topic in recent years covering issues that range from privacy to security to fraud. Little, however, has been written on more subtle ethical questions such as the exploitation of Web technologies to inhibit or avoid customer service. Increasingly, it would appear, some firms are using Web sites to create distance between them and their customer base in specific areas of their operations, while simultaneously developing excellence in sales transaction completion via self-service. This chapter takes a magnifying glass with an ethical lens to just one sector — the low-cost, Web-based self-service airline industry, specifically in Ireland. The chapter notes the teaching of information systems development (ISD) and, for the most part, its practice assumes ethicality. Similarly, marketing courses focus on satisfying customer needs more effectively and efficiently within the confines of an acceptable ethos. This chapter observes that while these business disciplines are central to the success of self-service Web sites, there seems to be a disconnection between the normative view and the actuality of practice. What follows begins with an analysis of the normative approach to information systems (IS) design and marketing. A review of questionable ethical practices used by low-cost carriers (LCCs) is then conducted, followed by a discussion on the phenomena. The chapter concludes with a look at the implications for research, teaching and practice.

Diversity; Evolution & Marketing Practice

Abstract Marketing practice varies among firms. However,. the prescriptive literature emphasises a universal view 01 practice, a ’one size fits all’ view. This paper addresses the issue of explaining diversity in marketing practice in competitive space and in time. Diversity in competitive space reflects the existence of different routes to high performance. Diversity in 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. In so far as diversity is the norm, the manner in which practice will be shaped by evolutionary processes is considered. Finally, the role of the academy as one of the forces driving the evolutionary processes is discussed. Miles and Snows (1978, 1986) work is taken as a main point of departure in the search for explanation and ecological and evolutionary concepts are drawn on for support and to suggest an explanation for the nature of diversity over time.

Must-Opt Imperatives and Other Stories Make Passengers of Low Cost Carriers’ Feel Put-upon: User Perceptions of Compliance with EU Legislation

Low cost carriers (LCCs) market their flights as low cost and aim to garner as much additional revenue as possible from ancillary services such as baggage and priority boarding. Therefore, airlines encourage customers’ purchase of these services. On account of this and other airline practices, the European Union introduced legislation to address areas of concern in order to protect the consumer. Airlines have responded to the legal requirement that all optional extras should only be presented to the consumer on an ‘opt-in’ basis by using ‘grey’ Web design patterns, such as the ‘must-opt’ presentation of optional extras, whereby the user must choose to accept or reject the item before continuing with the interaction. Through the method of verbal protocols, this study examines consumers’ perceptions of two LCCs’ level of compliance with the relevant European legislation.

How do firms present choice to consumers? Some unusual decision constructs along the B2C transaction process

Certain features amongst some online retailers are atypical of ‘good’ design; the transaction process presents consumers with optional extras that not only slowed the process down, but also stressed and agitated consumers. An established norm is that web design, employing human computer interaction (HCI) principles, develops applications that are easy to use and make the consumer experience positively engaging and productive (Rogers et al., 2011; Shneiderman and Plaisant, 2010; Sklar, 2006). This norm is in question today, as many points in commercial Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transactions are riddled with pitfalls intended to slowdown, confuse or trick consumers (Barry and Torres, 2009). This paper offers a taxonomy of decision constructs encountered throughout online B2C transactional processes. The findings make an incremental contribution in theorising, identifying and categorising new and established decision constructs, as well as reporting on whether the decision constructs are used and examining them in terms of factors such as opacity, clarity and user frustration.