Brenda Gainer

Ritual and relationships: Interpersonal influences on shared consumption

Abstract I examine the symbolic meaning associated with participation in shared consumption rituals in terms of developing and maintaining social relationships among buyers. Ten depth interviews with consumers of the live performing arts are used to explore the social context of this particular form of shared consumption. Conclusion: common participation in shared consumption rituals, even if not performed face-to-face, can be used actively to manage the social relationships that bind consumers together in “small worlds.” The major managerial implication of this finding is that the knowledge that one will share a consumption experience with friends and acquaintances affects brand choice. Other managerial implications with respect to target markets and positioning strategies for products that are consumed jointly are discussed, as well as directions for further research on “relational” influence in a variety of product markets.

Market Orientation in the Nonprofit Sector: Taking Multiple Constituencies into Consideration

Although nonprofit organizations deal with multiple stakeholders, most nonprofit market orientation-organizational performance research to date has focused exclusively on client/customer market orientation in a single nonprofit subsector. This study investigates orientation towards client/customer and government funder markets in multiple nonprofit subsectors. Overall results, based on data collected from 453 nonprofit organizations in Canada and analyzed using structural equation modeling, confinn that nonprofit organizations hold multiple market orientations, that these orientations are independent constructs that vary substantially in strength across organizations, that orientations towards different markets impact different performance dimensions, and, finally, that different resource structures affect market orientation-performance relationships. Results also indicate that the implementation of the marketing concept provides different benefits in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

The Business of High Culture: Marketing the Performing Arts in Canada

Despite government funding and increasing support from corporations and private individuals, audiences for ‘high culture’ in Canada show signs of declining. Arts marketers are using increasingly sophisticated computer technology and expensive advertising channels to attract customers but are unable to stop the overall decline in either subscriber or single ticket sales. An analysis of the evolution of the Toronto arts market suggests that, contrary to the belief of most arts managers, competition between arts companies is intensifying and arts marketing must now move beyond advertising strategies suitable for a growth market and adopt competitive strategies designed to build market share at the expense of competitors.