Katrina Lawlor

On the borderline: Exploring liminal consumption and the negotiation of threshold selves

In this paper we explore the complex mediation of selves and symbolic resources that occurs on the threshold between two sociocultural identities. Using the anthropological theory of liminality as a lens of analysis, in line with the inherent interdisciplinary genesis and practice of interpretive consumer research, a theory of liminal consumption is presented. This theorization of the consumption practices of young adolescents, who belong neither in world of child nor of teen but who are concurrently embedded in both, is characterized by stillness and movement, darkness and light, ambiguity and focus. Thus this shadowed reality, this fruitful darkness belies agentive consumption and active engagement with signifiers of a duality of mediated selves. In thus considering liminal characteristics as congruent with furthering theorization of identity and consumption, we highlight the inherent problematization of an integral aspect of marketing theory and practice, specifically the notion of age alignment and boundary creation at the heart of marketing segmentation strategies, in the process contributing to a debunking of the ‘tween’ myth, as marketing’s final frontier of target segments.

Adapting a book to make a film: how strategy is adapted through professional practices of marketing middle managers

Abstract For an organisation to be competitive its strategy must be highly responsive to both environmental challenges and customers continuously shifting demands. Yet many organisations treat strategy making as an exclusively top management concern, even though the top management team is often remote from the daily interactions and communications taking place at the organisation, market, and customer interface. We challenge the assumption that strategy making ‘belongs’ to top managers and argue that marketing middle managers, possessing expert market and customer knowledge and insights, adapt top manager’s strategy to shifting customer demands in a changing environment. We explore this argument by adopting a strategy-as-practice perspective and analysing marketing middle manager’s practices across three case companies operating in a dynamic retail environment. Our research enables two key contributions. Our primary confirmation is to demonstrate that marketers are not passive implementers, but active adapters of top management strategy through three critical practices of sensing, challenging, and transmitting. We use the novel analogy of how adapting a book to make a film involves minor changes to the story line and characters to suit the new medium and to illustrate the strategically relevant and influential role marketing plays in adapting the strategy developed by the top management team for implementation. By demonstrating the value of the strategic practices of functional middle managers we also contribute to the growing debate of the need for greater inclusion and transparency in strategy making.

Implementation Challenges: Triggers for Interactions in Marketing Strategy Making

The old and familiar tools of marketing strategy-making (MSM), which breed sameness and repetition, no longer apply in today‟s dynamic market environment. Despite the need for new insights, we understand little of how MSM actually occurs in practice. Departing from the common focuson the prescriptive tools and techniques of strategy– we apply a marketing-aspractice (M-as-P) lens to our exploration of how organisations engage in strategy making. We utilise an in-depth case study to explore problemistic search behaviour and individuals interactions in developing strategic marketing campaigns and uncover specific consultative and collaborative interactional practices.