Nikhilesh Dholakia

Mobility and markets: emerging outlines of m-commerce

Abstract Mobile commerce—or m-commerce—is characterized by the emerging class of location-based commercial services delivered by a variety of handheld terminals such as mobile phones and palmtop devices. At the Conference on Telecommunications and Information Markets (COTIM)-2001, an international conference held in Karlsruhe, Germany, academic researchers and business practitioners shared their experiences and frameworks about m-commerce. Selected papers based on COTIM-2001 presentations are included in this Special Issue. This paper introduces the preconditions that led to the emergence of m-commerce, the main dimensions of m-commerce that distinguish it from e-commerce, and the key arguments from the contributions on m-commerce in this Special Issue of the Journal of Business Research .

Social behavior and brand devotion among iPhone innovators

Convergence of communication technologies and innovative product features are expanding the markets for technological products and services. Prior literature on technology acceptance and use has focused on utilitarian belief factors as predictors of rational adoption decisions and subsequent user behavior. This presupposes that consumers intentions to use technology are based on functional or utilitarian needs. Using netnographic evidence on iPhone usage, this study suggests that innovative consumers adopt and use new technology for not just utilitarian but also for experiential outcomes. The study presents an interpretive analysis of the consumption behavior of very early iPhone users. Apple introduced iPhone as a revolutionary mobile handset offering integrated features and converged services-a handheld computer-cum-phone with a touch-screen web browser, a music player, an organizer, a note-taker, and a camera. This revolutionary product opened up new possibilities to meld functional tasks, hedonism, and social signaling. The study suggests that even utilitarian users have hedonic and social factors present in their consumption patterns.

Virtuality as place and process

Abstract Virtual worlds are conventionally understood as representational places, or alternate realities more or less set apart from the real world. However, in considering new and emergent technologies, such as social media sites and augmented reality devices, which complicate any easy distinction between virtual and real, we contend that virtuality should also be understood as a matter of process, or the means by which virtualisation is realised. Focusing on theorisations clustered around Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, we compare Baudrillardian concepts to other possible theorisations in order to shed light on practices including transmediation and information management at the dawning of the age of Big Data.

Global business beyond modernity

Purpose – This paper sets out to provide global business managers and researchers with perspectives, concepts, and some tools to deal with emergent late modern conditions.Design/methodology/approach – Analytical discourse is employed to outline the post‐enlightenment rise of modernity and rational economics. The paper critiques the nature of business institutions and practices under modernity, and points to the new conditions of waning and late modernity. Indications and guidelines are provided about the nature of new, emergent forms of global business under conditions of waning and eclipsing modernity.Findings – The paper finds that the membrane separating global business organizations and their consumers is dissolving, and the new “post‐consumers” exhibit increasing levels of competence in terms of business practices. The paper reveals several aspects of global business under conditions of waning, late, and eclipsing modernity: transformation of business from and arcane, professional practice to an embe...

Exploring the cultural contradictions of medical tourism

The globalization of medical services provides a useful tapestry to explore what Appadurai called the “complexity of the current global economy.” This study, employing a netnographic‐inspired exploration of internet‐based discussion forums along with other evidence, probes the cultural contradictions of medical tourism. Medical tourism offers the promise of affordable medical services in world‐class vacation destinations; yet this marriage of exotic world travel and affordable medical care is somewhat paradoxical. Images of jetsetters, traveling the globe on medical vacations, clash with the reality that low‐cost global medicine is often most attractive to those with little cultural and economic capital in society. Further contradictions emerge. Whereas some consumers perceive these so‐called medical tourists as abandoning the local market in pursuit of self‐serving interests, often medical tourists perceive themselves as abandoned as well – by the American healthcare system, and by society. Consumers not...

Addressing the mega imbalance: interpretive exploration of Asia

Purpose – In this editorial introduction to the special issue, the authors lay out the problem of inadequate qualitative research about markets and consumers in the vast demographic‐economic space represented by Asia and present an integrative view of six articles that tackle this problematique. The aim of this editorial and the rest of the special issue is not so much to redressu2009the imbalance of inadequate qualitative work on Asias markets and consumers, but rather to begin to addressu2009the problem and start offering directions and suggestions that may make strides toward addressing it.Design/methodology/approach – This editorial introduction presents the perspectives of the special issue editors and introduces the six articles that are part of this issue. It is a conceptual piece.Findings – While the authors main goal here is to summarize and introduce the work of the authors featured in this issue, they also strive to present a meta‐theoretic frame to guide future similar efforts.Practical implications...

Outsider's insights: (mis)understanding A. Fuat Fırat on consumption, markets and culture

Fuat Fırat has for a long time maintained a radical, outside and critical voice within marketing and consumption theory. He was one of the editors of the landmark book Radical and Philosophical Theory in Marketing, published in 1987, which sought to develop alternative modes of theorizing and conceptualizing both marketing practice and the consuming subject. The continuation of that wider project eventually lead to the foundation of Consumption Markets & Culture, the journal for which Fuat served as Editor-in-Chief for its initial 10 years of existence. Fuat also co-authored the book Consuming People (1998) in collaboration with Nikhilesh Dholakia. By that stage, in particular following his seminal article on the re-enchantment of consumption, written with Alladi Venkatesh, Fuat had helped to pioneer the study of postmodernism within consumer culture. In this interview, Fuat Fırat discusses his research projects including consumption patterns, postmodernity, theatre, new literacy and also presents more general observations.

Finanzkapital in the Twenty-First Century

Drawing inspiration from the 1910 book Finanzkapital by Rudolf Hilferding, this paper explores the nature of financial capital in early 21st century from a political-economic and culture theory perspective. It offers suggestions for transcending the crises-prone contemporary economic systems. The paper reconceptualises the notions of Finanzkapital in the contemporary context, drawing selective evidence from current and 20th century economic and business history. The nature of contemporaneous Finanzkapital is elaborated by presenting seven ‘theses’ that probe the nature of Finanzkapital prior to, during, and after the Great Recession of 2007-9. Through succinct articulation of the major characteristics of contemporary Finanzkapital, the paper suggests some ways to resist and transcend politico-economic and business systems based on massive but quicksand-like foundations of financial capital.

Mobile Media: From Legato to Staccato, Isochronal Consumptionscapes

Mobile devices in the form of smartphones are transforming the temporality of consumption experiences, from languid and legato forms to isochronal and staccato forms. New communication technologies accelerate as well as alter mobile consumptionscapes. Rather than attempting to capture the elusive here-and-now essence of such fast-changing scenes, this essay invokes three historical episodes of technology and mobility – the transistor radio, the Walkman-style cassette device, and the MP3 player – to uncover the patterns that enhanced levels of mobility bring to the media consumption experience. In particular, by illuminating matters of time, some temporal framings are offered as correctives to spatially biased theories of mobile media. Drawing lessons from these historical episodes and blending in contemporary social theories about mobile technologies, we arrive at a temporally oriented view of the emergent consumptionscapes that can contribute to understanding the present era and the proximal future in terms of connecting both places and paces.

The reshaping of Chinese consumer values in the social media era

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, in China, postings on social media site Weibo reflect as well as accelerate the reshaping of traditional values. As Chinese social media extend their reach outside China, the displays of visible desire, hedonism and materialism could influence global consumption ethos. Design/methodology/approach – Using interpretive content analysis, over 250 Weibo postings of 8 selected Weibo users, from the network of one of the authors, were identified, coded and interpreted. The users were selected based on their frequency, variety and expressiveness of postings. Findings – Weibo is playing a critical role in transforming Chinese consumer values. Via Weibo, personal consumption experiences are available for public gaze. Consequently, desire for powerfully signified objects and experiences is more visible; “enjoy now” is turning out to be an appreciated life attitude, and materialism and hedonism are growing irresistibly. As a result, the traditional Chinese c...