Keith Perks

CSR advertisements: a legitimacy tool?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertisements to legitimise their ethical positions and how CSR advertisements vary across countries.Design/methodology/approach – The paper evaluates CSR advertisements from Chevron and Banco Real published in the news/business magazines (The) Economist and Time in the UK as well as in Veja and Exame in Brazil, leaders in their categories. The advertisements were analysed using a set of semiotic concepts.Findings – Companies use different strategies for publicising CSR. There are campaigns that appeal to consumer rationality as well as campaigns that appeal to the emotions. There is also evidence that companies use their advertisements to respond to public pressure and thus create or maintain their legitimacy in the eyes of society.Originality/value – CSR communication is an emerging field, with research focusing on corporate social disclosure mainly through web sites and corporate reports. Howe...

The influence of interactive, non-interactive, implicit and explicit CSR communication on young adults’ perception of UK supermarkets’ corporate brand image and reputation

Purpose – Corporations communicate CSR policies through a variety of methods, and the goal of the study is to explore young adult consumers’ communication preferences and the implications for managers to effectively communicate CSR to boost their corporate brand image and reputation. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Set within the context of the UK supermarket industry, the study adopts a qualitative research approach and a purposeful sampling method, collecting data from 30 young adult consumers in the south-east of the UK. The data collection method used was online bulletin board focus groups, face-to-face focus groups, face-to-face interviews and an online questionnaire. Research propositions are developed, evaluated and synthesized into a conceptual framework. Findings – The findings show that interactive CSR communication functions as an effective method of improving consumers’ emotional brand value, knowledge and memory of supermarket CSR. The findings have the p...

Identifying the Key Sociocultural Influences on Drinking Behavior in High and Moderate Binge- Drinking Countries and the Public Policy Implications

Despite considerable state investment and initiatives, binge drinking is still a major behavioral problem for policy makers and communities in many parts of the world. Furthermore, the practice of bingeing on alcohol seems to be spreading to young people in countries traditionally considered to have moderate drinking behaviors. Using a sociocultural lens and a framework of sociocultural themes from previous literature to develop propositions from their empirical study, the authors examine binge-drinking attitudes and behaviors among young people from high and moderate binge-drinking countries. The authors then make proposals regarding how policy makers can use social marketing more effectively to contribute to behavior change. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 91 respondents from 22 countries who were studying in two high binge-drinking countries at the time. The results show support for three contrasting sociocultural propositions that identify influences on binge drinking across these countries.

An exploratory study conceptualising marketing thought in entrepreneurial medium-sized firms in high-tech and conventional industries in France, Germany and Italy

The research on the interface between entrepreneurship and marketing has emerged as one of the major research constructs in the past decade. We employ a grounded theory and multiple case methodology approach exploring perceptions and practices of marketing among entrepreneurs in medium-sized firms in France, Germany and Italy in conventional and high-tech industries. We examine the ideas of entrepreneurs on various market orientation issues identified in the literature, namely, opportunistic behaviour, sales and marketing approach, visioning of the future, and customer orientation. We also explore the entrepreneurs conceptualisation of marketing and approaches to strategy and planning. The findings suggest that the approach of entrepreneurs to their strategic and marketing thinking is contingent on the context. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate of the role of entrepreneurship in developing our knowledge of marketing by providing empirical evidence of entrepreneurial thought on strategy and marketing, as well as emphasising the context-specific nature of entrepreneurial decision making.

Risk perceptions in Japanese SMEs: the role of Internet marketing capabilities in firm performance

Abstract Internet plays a very important role for the success of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many Japanese SMEs are risk-averse in adopting technological innovation such as the Internet. Others, despite these risk-related business norms, recognize the importance of technology and develop and deploy Internet marketing technology to compete in the current competitive environment. Drawing upon these contradicting practices among Japanese SMEs, this study investigates how Japanese SMEs risk perception impacts on the deployment of Internet marketing capabilities, the relationships between perception of risk, international mind-set, business networks, Internet marketing capabilities, and firm performance. This study makes two contributions. Firstly, there has been limited research investigating how Internet-related capabilities impact on firms’ performance. Secondly, there are few Internet-related studies in Japan. Thus, our emphasis on key antecedents and outcomes of Internet marketing capabilities among Japanese SMEs contributes significantly to our understanding of this unique contextual setting. The findings also provide some insights to managers/owners of Japanese SMEs that lower risk perception fosters adoption of the Internet and combined with other resources creates Internet marketing capabilities which results in higher performance.