Geoff Easton

Marketing: a critical realist approach

Abstract The debate in marketing about the philosophy of science that would be most appropriate for the discipline ended in the early 1990s with realism as the apparent victor. However, there are many variations within the realist camp. One particular version — critical realism — has become relatively popular in a number of social sciences cognate with marketing, including economics, perhaps because it is somewhat better articulated than many other schools of science philosophy. The objective of this paper is therefore to introduce critical realism and to set out the implications for research and teaching in marketing.

Market Exchange, Social Structures and Time

Two important, although neglected, dimensions of market exchange are the temporal and the social. Exchanges, particularly those between organizations, may be thought of as embedded in a social framework which rewards continuity. Similarly exchanges between the same entities which recur over time take on a different character from those which are instantaneous and atomistic. Such patterns of exchange create a framework, of among other things, expectations, trust, adaptations and investments which can be said to comprise the elements of a relationship. Addresses the many reasons why individuals, but especially organizations, choose to give up freedom of choice and the open market for the confines of a stable and long‐term relationship. Where such relationships exist they provide a measure of continuity in the workings of markets. This, in turn, gives rise to enduring structures which have been labelled industrial networks. Such structures provide an important framework for exchanges within a market since th...

Entrepreneurial Social Capital Unplugged An Activity-based Analysis

First, we develop a macro level explanation for how changes in social capital occur. Second, we apply a dynamic approach to social capital by examining on a more micro level the activities which are involved with and contribute to the increase or decrease in social capital in, largely dyadic, relationships within entrepreneurial networks.Third, we propose a more robust notion of social capital.We found that five key relationship-driving forces were involved in developing social capital.The research findings suggested that entrepreneurs seem to have a strikingly similar modus operandi when it comes to creating and destroying their network social capital. Activities such as the reciprocal trading of favours, socializing, joint problem-solving, delivering to expectation and using transparent communications were crucial to both. Finally, we discovered that entrepreneurs managed their network relationships heuristically relying on social capital, particularly by leveraging the productive ambiguity of this crucial [net]work asset.

Strategic Alliances: Partner as Customer

Abstract This paper analyzes a number of different inter-organizational exchange relationships, ranging from simple exchange transactions to complex competitor strategic alliances in terms of the exchangeability, value influence, and consumption/creation processes of the resources being exchanged. Many common features between exchange relationships and strategic alliances are identified and are used to suggest ways in which relational marketing concepts and skills have the potential to help in the successful creation and management of exchange-based strategic alliances.

Strategy: Where is the Pattern?

Strategy as an academic subject and as a concern for practitioners has grown in importance over the last decade. A review of the strategy literature reveals that the model employed by most current schools of thought concentrates on the notion of the firm attempting to control its own destiny in the face of a hostile and faceless environment. In this paper we seek to explore an alternative view of strategy which acknowledges the limitations of a theoretical and managerial discourse that emphasizes the dichotomy between the firm and the environment and constitutes the firm as the locus of strategic control. Starting with a processual definition of strategy as consistency in a pattern of firm actions, we discuss the sources of consistency; cognitive, cultural, political, economic, market relationship, institutional relationship and network structures, and show that they can stem from outside the firm as well as within.

Evaluating the impact of B2B e-commerce: a contingent approach

Abstract Technological developments in e-commerce provide one of the most important challenges to B2B marketers currently. In this paper, we use a contingent approach to attempt to assess the likely impact of two forms of e-technology, Virtual Markets (VMs) and Interorganisational Systems (IOS), on two different ideal-type markets: competitive and relational. The contingency market model in each case comprises a basic market mechanism that is influenced and modified by the action of certain key contingencies such as product form, market structure, and market information. The impact of each e-technology in each market is assessed by reference to the way it affects one key contingency, market information. From this, the likely penetration of each e-technology in each market is qualitatively assessed. The key managerial implication is that managers need to understand the mechanisms and contingencies that affect their own particular situation, rather than expect to be able to apply general prescriptions.

A Relational Resource Perspective on Social Capital

This chapter reviews the notion of social capital from a resource based perspective. We argue that the notion of social capital relies on a metaphorical mapping of features associated with economic notions of capital or assets into the social domain. We start from the notion that not all economic resources can be classified as assets in the way the term is deployed within legal and accounting language, and argue that social capital shares many features with other less understood and intangible resources. By employing a framework to examine the multifaceted and relational dimension of resources, we examine in detail the entailments of the social capital metaphor and relate to current applications within the business and management literature. We conclude by reflecting on the characteristics of social capital as an economic resource and caution against the dangers of engaging in facile prescriptions based on a cursory understanding of the logic of accumulation and use of social capital.

Patterns of actor response to environmental change

Abstract Organisations respond to environmental change in many and complex ways and, as a result, studying the way in which they do so is problematic. In this paper, we take advantage of a natural experiment — the banning of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — to investigate a situation where many organisations were facing the same external threat at the same time. The study employs a theoretical framework that incorporates elements from the Industrial Networks and Strategic Management schools, as well as critical realist ontology. A case study methodology, which is particularly appropriate for critical realist approach, was used and the analysis involved comparisons among 10 case studies of focal actors. The response outcomes, in this case, timing, size, and internalisation/externalisation of change, were explained by reference to a single deep process — minimisation of change — and a series of contextual variables internal and external to the focal actors.

UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS USING KAUFFMAN BOOLEAN NETWORKS

Industrial networks offer a prime example of the tension between system stability and change. Change is necessary as a response to environmental variation, whereas stability provides the underpinning for long-term investment and the exploitation of efficiencies. Whilst one of the key themes in industrial network research has been the dynamics of change, relatively little work, empirical or theoretical, has been devoted to the dynamics of stability. This paper presents a new approach to this problem by using Boolean networks, which were originally devised by Stuart Kauffman as an abstract model of genetic networks. The elements in the model are connected by rules of Boolean logic, and a novel aspect of this research is that the elements represent the industrial network exchanges rather than stock entities (the organizations). The model structure consists of interactions between the exchanges, and the results represent the pattern of exchange episodes. A total of 42 networks were modeled and the dynamics analyzed in detail, and five of these cases are presented in this paper. The models produced realistic behavior and provided some insights into the reasons for stability in industrial networks.

Net social capital processes

Purpose – The paper seeks to use the concept of net social capital to help explain the behaviour of a business constellation, a group of entrepreneurial firms in different businesses that cooperate to their mutual benefit.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an in‐depth case study of the Canadian Groupement Quebecoise.Findings – The members of the group create and maintain net social capital among themselves in a variety of ways both social and economic and in turn use that net social capital outside the group in dealings with other organisations, profit and non‐profit.Practical implications – The findings suggest ways in which firms can work with other non‐competing firms.Originality/value – The concept of net social capital is novel and the study is the first of its kind that investigates such a tightly knit and productive business constellation.