Marcus Phipps

The duality of political brand equity

Purpose – The democratic political product is complex and untangible. An underlying assumption of a democratic system is the involvement of voters, or consumers, but with contemporary political apathy this aspect is relatively unacknowledged. This paper aims to explore the role of the consumer in political branding.Design/methodology/approach – Two contrasting case studies compare the balance between the corporate brand of the political party and the brand image of two different kinds of local politician. Aakers “Brand Equity Ten” is adapted to provide a suitable conceptual framework for the case study comparison.Findings – Investigating the interaction between the community and politicians drew out important implications for the political brand. The paper concludes that managing the political brand entails a recognition of the inherent duality that resides in the political product. In an environment of reduced differentiation of political offerings to the electoral marketplace it is important for politi...

From Right to Responsibility: Sustainable Change in Water Consumption

With demand increasingly outstripping supply, the sustainable consumption of water is a crucial public policy issue. This article outlines a case study of the urban water marketing system of Melbourne, Australia. The study illustrates how Melbournes water marketing system responded to the shock of drought and then was reset through changes in the formal, informal, and philosophical antecedents of the marketplace. Change was facilitated in part through public policy but also through the interplay between the antecedent classes that enabled new marketplace outcomes to occur. Interviews with seven upstream water experts and 16 downstream household water consumers, in combination with secondary sources, illustrate how consumers shifted their perspective on water consumption from a right to consume to a view that water needed to be consumed responsibly. Through an examination of the interactions among the external factors that shape the water marketing system, this article shows how changes in public policy can be effected if they are appropriately integrated into the informal and philosophical foundations of the marketplace.

Managing the Tensions at the Intersection of the Triple Bottom Line: A Paradox Theory Approach to Sustainability Management

Corporate sustainability management encompasses multiple dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. Companies are increasingly evaluated within the public sphere, and within their own organizations, according to the degree to which they are perceived to simultaneously promote this nexus of virtues. This article seeks to explore the tensions frequently faced by organizations that strive to manage these dimensions and the role of public policy in that pursuit. A multiple–case study approach is utilized in which the authors selected case organizations according to whether they were attempting to manage the three dimensions of sustainability. The authors utilize paradox theory and a typology provided by previous research to understand the nature of the tensions that emerge in the selected case study organizations. They extend this previous work by examining the role of public policy in providing the situational conditions to make these paradoxical tensions salient, and they examine organizational responses to these conditions. Directions for firms, policy makers, and future researchers are provided on the basis of this studys findings.

Exploring consumer responsibility for sustainable consumption

Abstract This article advances our understanding of sustainable consumption by focusing on the emerging concept of consumer responsibility for sustainable consumption (CRSC). Employing a recent scale of consumer’s ‘felt responsibility’ for sustainable consumption, we begin with the results of an empirical study intended to determine how CRSC relates to the established sustainable consumption attitude–behaviour gap. Guided by the insight gained from these results, we proceed with exploring a broader, multidimensional conceptualisation of CRSC by synthesising research from a variety of domains and perspectives. Our hope is that this exploration will inspire additional dialogue about the nature of CRSC, as well as enable development of a more refined scale to enable subsequent research. We believe that this, in turn, will promote future research and inform practice as our collective understanding of this important consumer construct continues to evolve.

Tactical Moments of Creative Destruction for Affordable Housing

The formation of a marketing system often reflects historical legacies that seek to protect and preserve longstanding community interests. These legacies encourage some patterns of adaptive growth, but they may also limit other avenues of productive change. In this essay, we focus on the United States housing system as an illustration of a marketing system with significant legacy structures. Historically, this marketplace system arose to provide safe shelter for citizens and was enacted through building codes. These codes arose for historically important reasons, many of which are still pertinent today. Other legacies, however, inhibit market innovations, such as the significant barriers that exist for developing affordable housing. We argue that change in legacy market systems may require tactical moments of creative destruction. We examine a multi-stakeholder approach across the macro, meso, and micro levels of the marketplace to enable novel solutions for systemic change.