Geoff Simmons

Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to provide an overview of postmodern marketing in the consumer context, integrating the relevant literature around two contrary arguments. Second, it seeks to reveal the potential of the internet as a marketing tool that can address the complexities inherent in postmodern consumer markets.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a general review.Findings – This paper reveals that complexity reigns supreme in the postmodern marketing consumer context, with postmodern consumers seeking both individualistic and communal brand experiences. Within this complexity, the paper identifies the internet as an enabling tool, which allows direct, real‐time individualised interaction with postmodern consumers. Further, the internets ability to provide these consumers with the opportunity to express this individuality within homogeneous groups is also presented.Practical implications – This paper reveals how the internet can allow an individualised...

Perceived intrusiveness in digital advertising: strategic marketing implications

With the growth of advertising utilizing digital media, negative consumer perceptions relating to intrusiveness are believed to be challenging the claimed added-value of this medium over traditional media. Building from this context, there has been little empirical work that addresses inherent strategic marketing challenges – indeed this can be applied more generally to strategic marketing challenges surrounding various aspects of new media, such as blogs and social networks. Building from this, internet and mobile digital media platforms form the locus of a qualitative study of 20 consumers, which explores perceptions of digital advertising within the intrusiveness context. A unique contribution of this study is the linking of perceived consumer intrusiveness, with strategic marketing implications relating to the push/pull context. Key outputs of this study then, are strategic implications for marketers in utilizing digital media for advertising, while also providing a unique contribution to extant thinking in the area, and a basis for further study in a formative – yet increasingly important – area of strategic marketing.

An exploration of the attitudes and strategic responses of sole-proprietor micro-enterprises in adopting information and communication technology

This article analyses longitudinal case-based research exploring the attitudes and strategic responses of micro-enterprise owners in adopting information and communication technology (ICT). In so doing, it contributes to the limited literature on micro-enterprise ICT adoption, with a particular focus on sole proprietors. It provides a basis for widening the theoretical base of the literature pertaining to ICT adoption on two levels. First, a framework is developed which integrates the findings to illustrate the relationships between attitudes towards ICT adoption, endogenous and exogenous influencers of these attitudes and subsequent strategic response in ICT adoption. Second, building upon this framework the article reveals the unique challenges, opportunities and implications of ICT adoption for sole-proprietor micro-enterprises.

An exploration of small business Website optimization: Enablers, influencers and an assessment approach

The literature reveals a need for more integrated research contributions to small business Internet adoption and theoretical development. There is also a need for these developments to relate more closely to effective, or optimized, use of web applications in business processes and growth. To address this, and building upon recent integrated theoretical developments, the aim of this study is to explore the determinants and outcomes relating to small business Website optimization. Five determining variables isolated from recent theoretical developments relate to small business Website adoption outcomes. Utilizing an optimization rating instrument with these variables a methodological approach produced four key findings. From these findings we develop an optimization model and focus important contributions as propositions. These propositions provide a new understanding of the enablers and influencers of small business Website optimization and a basis for research to develop further insights in this area.

Managing i-branding to create brand equity

Purpose – Given the emergent nature of i‐branding as an academic field of study and a lack of applied research output, the aim of this paper is to explain how businesses manage i‐branding to create brand equity.Design/methodology/approach – Within a case‐study approach, seven cases were developed from an initial sample of 20 food businesses. Additionally, utilising secondary data, the analysis of findings introduces relevant case examples from other industrial sectors.Findings – Specific internet tools and their application are discussed within opportunities to create brand equity for products classified by experience, credence and search characteristics. An understanding of target customers will be critical in underpinning the selection and deployment of relevant i‐branding tools. Tools facilitating interactivity – machine and personal – are particularly significant.Research limitations/implications – Future research positioned within classification of goods constructs could provide further contributions...

An Exploration of Business Model Development in the Commercialization of Technology Innovations

Research on business model development has focused on the relationships between elements of value conceptualization and organization having a linear sequence in which business models are first designed and then implemented. Another stream of research points to business model development with these elements interacting in a cyclical manner. There is a need to improve our understanding of the connective mechanisms and dynamics involved in business model development, particularly from the challenging perspective of commercializing innovations. The aim of this paper was to explore business model development during the commercialization of innovations through a case‐based qualitative study. This study found from four case studies that specific elements of business model development, representative of the conceptualization of value and organizing for value creation, integrate in a dynamic and cyclical process in the commercialization of technology innovations. The study provides empirical evidence that adds new insights to literature on sequential and more interactive processes of business model development. It also contributes to literature on business model development and particularly how it relates to the commercialization of innovations.

The relationship between small business market orientation and environmental uncertainty

Purpose – While literature has examined market orientation, it is limited with respect to small businesses. More specifically, previous research has not considered empirically the relationship between small business market orientation and environmental uncertainty. Due to resource constraints, smaller businesses are especially vulnerable to environmental uncertainty. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between environmental uncertainty and small business market orientation.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing from small business literature, the authors developed a research model advancing and testing hypotheses to address the research aim. An empirical study was conducted with 104 small grocery retailers from Brazil. A questionnaire was administered, divided into two sections relating to measurement of market orientation and the market turbulence and technological turbulence as dimensions of environmental uncertainty. ANOVA technique and a multinominal logistic regre...

Opportunity and innovation: Synergy within an entrepreneurial approach to marketing

It is evident from the literature that there is potential synergy between opportunity and innovation in the creation of value and competitive advantage for businesses. However, while entrepreneurial marketing presents a strategic business context in which to explore that synergy, there is a lack of existing work on which to draw. Addressing this, the main aim of this paper is to provide a common platform for researchers and business practitioners to tackle gaps in understanding, providing strategic implications and opportunities for future research. This is achieved through the development of a conceptual model, which builds on theories relating to marketing/entrepreneurial orientation and recent research on entrepreneurial marketing. The conceptual model offers a means of interpreting the synergy between opportunity and innovation in the creation of value.

Marketing planning and digital customer loyalty data in small business

Purpose – Retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence presents actual customer purchasing preferences, competitor activities and performance. Typically, extant literature implies that larger firms with formal marketing planning approaches will be more able to leverage it, structured as it is within a formalized statistical format. Small business literature on the other hand emphasizes their more informal approach to marketing planning. The purpose of this paper is to consider, for the first time, the potential relationship between retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence and small business market orientation. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model is developed which diagrammatically interprets how retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence can relate to small business market orientation. Propositions provide a basis for further discussion with applied and research implications. Findings – A pertinent aspect of the conceptualization is the role of small business owner-manager insight and intuition within an experiential learning context. A complementary relationship is posited in the leveraging of retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence to enhance small business market orientation, which with higher levels of entrepreneurship orientation can lead to positive organizational outcomes, such as facilitating more successful and informed engagement with larger suppliers. Originality/value – The paper addresses the increasing pressure small businesses face in dealing with retailer loyalty card marketing intelligence. Generally, literature has yet to adequately address marketing planning implications for firms. The informal/formal tension when considering small businesses presents a particularly interesting area of conceptual development, integrating market orientation literature and also recent developments which point to interaction between market and entrepreneurship orientations. This paper therefore provides a basis for a new small business research agenda in an area which is highly topical and important, with a synthesis of the extant literature in developing a conceptualization and propositions. The conceptualization and propositions can facilitate the development of new research and thinking in this potentially fruitful area of future enquiry.

Web-based social movements contesting marketing strategy: The mobilisation of multiple actors and rhetorical strategies

Abstract Previous studies suggest that marketing strategy is developed and used to mobilise and configure the actions of firm actors, creating a set of stabilising activities focused on the firm–customer dyad. Destabilising forces precipitated by the Internet and associated digital technologies involving contention and disruption by multiple actors are much less prevalent in the marketing literature. The central point we advance is that rather than marketing strategy being a controlled and stabilising force for firms in their relationships with customers, it can often lead to socially produced spaces where consumers and, importantly, other multiple actors form a social movement to actively attempt to destabilise it and contest its legitimacy. Using an innovative research approach, the findings of this study show how social movements proactively enrol and mobilise a wide range of relevant actors into a network of influence. Critical to this are rhetorical strategies, acting as important levers in attempts to destabilise and delegitimise a dominant firm’s marketing strategy.