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This investigation argues that authenticity is inherently a macromarketing concept that is linked to how marketers and consumers view themselves and their own status in society. We show that authenticity refers to the marketer's marketplace condition (mindset) that can be best described as sincere concern for another. We argue that micromarketing as a general phenomenon is rooted in inauthenticity due to the fact that micromarketing practices represent (distressed, decomposed) overreaction to the marketers' self-embraced narrow view of their own social status (as maximiser of self-interest, profit, growth) that is largely irrelevant - even contradictory - to the crucial goals of society. © The Author(s) 2013.

The authors distinguish between two kinds of community: consumption and companion communities. It is known that the consumption community encompasses consumers and their interactions in acquiring, using, modifying, and disposing of a specific brand or product category. In contrast, the companion community comprises marketers and their network partners who nurture and enable the consumption community by providing necessary resources such as brands and services, as well as meanings that accompany these brands. Focusing on the particular companion community that promotes and generates meanings for hybrid cars, the authors find that the meaning of sustainability constructed within this community is self-focused: manufacturers contend that they have become "sustainable" because they admit their guilt about acting destructively towards the natural environment and marginally improving the situation. This is a subtle controversy and its implication for consumers is clear. Instead of seeing the hybrid car as the paragon of absolute sustainability and a signal to consume more, consumers should regard it as a monument to industrial wastefulness. ARTICLE Introduction In the marketplace, communities are formed on the basis of consumption practices and brand interests. In particular, brands are said to be a means of consumer bonding. In the same way, we argue that brands unite marketers into what we call companion communities. The companion community stands for marketer-affiliated individuals who enable consumer community development and operation through the provision of physical, financial, cultural, and symbolic resources. Traditionally, researchers have seen marketers as an external factor separate from consumer communities. We argue that both consumption and companion communities are closely intertwined so that they represent two aspects of the same wider social system. Neither community exists without the other. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how meanings are formed within companion communities. To do this, we first compare two contrasting conceptual perspectives: mechanist and constructivist. Then we theoretically explain how communities of consumption and companion communities are related. Next we describe the method of investigation. Results are presented and discussed. In the final section, we discuss conclusions and implications. Interpretive Worldview The concepts of system and community are related. The common definition of a system is that it comprises elements (e.g., individuals) and their relationships. Similarly, community is seen as a group of members and their relationships. This similarity between the two definitions is not coincidental. It is rooted in the tradition that we call mechanical systems thinking. Mechanical Systems Perspective People coming across complex social happenings often try to simplify them in order to grasp their essence. A person who uses the metaphor of a machine to understand community or system is more likely to have mechanical thinking patterns. Machines are made up of individual components that work and mesh together. Similarly, from this perspective, community can be seen as the aggregation of participating individuals and their actions. Researchers are also prone to such simplification. Some discuss a small group of friends as an example of community, and others consider community to represent the aggregation of brand users. Second, it is a challenge to explain why individuals act as a cohesive group when they are part of community, while economic theory emphasises that they should operate as individuals who seek to maximise their own utility and minimise costs. If a particular community is made up of individuals, then problems such as "the tragedy of commons" should arise. The tragedy of commons metaphor highlights how individual actions can undermine the long-term interests of society: individual members of society maximise their own well-being by using more and more of natural resources while together they might completely destroy the replenishing capacity of nature and thus compromise the very source of their well-being. …

Resource integration, as it relates to value creation, has recently been a key aspect of the discussions about service-dominant (S-D) logic. However, the majority of research pays relatively little explicit attention to the process of theorizing and the epistomological and ontological assumptions upon which the theorizing process is based. This article addresses these issues. The processes that relate to theorizing and developing strong theory are discussed. We then examine how to conceptualize ‘resources’ and ‘resource integration’ following differing ontological and epistemological assumptions that guide the theorizing process. Research recommendations to help navigate through the finer details underlying the theorizing process and to advance a general theory of resource integration are developed.

How can the positive power of a marketing ethos and techniques solve social problems? We propose a deepened understanding of social marketing in response to the sustainability imperative, applying systems theory to elaborate the impact of social marketing campaigns and to advance our understanding of viable practices. A meta-framework reveals the complexities of human behaviour that influences the aims and outcomes of social marketing. We clarify the ontological status of the social marketing field and recognise the world view within which marketing has expanded into the public realm of social problems. We identify the problem of ontological misconception stemming from the denial of nonrational forms of human behaviour. While complicated mechanism is assumed in the problem of long-term health and prosperity for citizens and society, organic complexity is the condition faced. Conventional social marketing has provided a ‘partial’ gesture towards a solution. We outline an alternative understanding grounded in a human-centred world view of socio-economic advancement.

“New science” has profound implications for business. Industrial capitalism can no longer power prosperity. The mass society worldview is giving way to individualisation. The “standard enterprise logic” is challenged. Marketing has operated as an attention technology for sellers competing to capture customers. However, in an intention economy buyers are a scarce commodity, and it is intentions that drive production for specific needs. Change in marketing is overdue. Despite increased social disharmony and the mounting evidence of looming environmental disasters, progress is stagnant, often negative, as marketing exacerbates the problem by misallocating negative value goods. The commonality in the contemporary crises of financial meltdown, human-made climate change, economic inequality, distrust of government, and the social corrosion of consumerism is the moral limits of markets in civic society. Sustainable living provides the higher purpose of marketing: well-being and human flourishing. Sustainability is a socio-cultural, inherently ethical, respectful, intellectual construct for a life of careful and equitable resource use within limits and inter-dependencies. It is not the antithesis of competitive business, indeed business can flourish by competing on, and being rewarded for, the accomplishment of enduringly valuable outcomes. Sustainability is a transcendent societal “mega”-megatrend.

This review constructs a broad and deep appreciation of what marketing scholars need to understand about economic growth, consumption, and quality of life, not as a problem of how to enhance marketing effectiveness and extend its reach, but rather one of how to focus (or limit) within the specific context of a better-not-more life goal and finite resource budget. The essay synthesizes concise reviews of recent books and finds implications for revisions to marketing and macromarketing principles and practices.

To explain inconsistent behaviour that is well documented in green-marketing and consumption, the authors develop the (neo)structuralist model of meaning co-creation that is based on the signifying practices of hybrid car manufacturers and consumers. The model reveals that market agents are recruited into a symbolic order that requires the perpetual reinforcement of self-opposing meanings as a condition for signification. The main problem of green practice is not the issue of market agents' authenticity/hypocrisy. Rather it represents a more interactive phenomenon – the common structure of meaning-creation – which silences important transformative action choices and thus defeats its own purpose.

PurposeThe authors aim to review a five‐year multi‐study research programme on the role of public dialogue in the social and cultural sustainability of biotechnology developments in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a critical review of all the published research products from a five‐year government‐funded study of the cultural and social aspects of sustainable biotechnology in New Zealand.FindingsThe review research highlights how New Zealand Government policies on biotechnology, which motivated the research programme, were fore‐grounded on economic progress and competitive positioning. Thus, debate on sustainable biotechnology issues became cast in economic and technical terms, while public dialogue became seen as diversionary and unsubstantiated. The analysis concludes that the programme was ineffective in influencing government policy and fell victim to the very problem of science governance that its purpose was designed to address.Research limitations/implicationsThe research develops implications regarding the ability of government‐funded sustainability research to influence policy.Originality/valueThe review focuses on the purpose, content, outcomes, and context of the research programme and identifies a number of key themes that arose from the programme that are useful for other sustainability policy researchers. The reviewers conclude that this case demonstrates that the marketization of the public sphere depoliticises the social and cultural construction of the nation's future.

Even after 40 years of philosophical discussions about whether “customer” terminology is appropriate in the context of education, health care, religion, government, and other social institutions, virtually no research has been conducted to identify actual public attitudes on the subject. Thus, a large-scale, five-country study was conducted to examine the question: Should patients, students, news media readers/viewers/listeners, political constituents, and members of religious organizations be treated as “customers”? In addition to collecting and analyzing quantitative responses, the study explored the reasoning behind respondents' attitudes, provided benchmark data for future research, and highlighted critical implications for both public and private policy.

The aim of this article is to examine the concept and functioning of value propositions, seen through a service-dominant logic (S-D) lens. The variety of perspectives used to understand value propositions are examined, from unidirectional communication of value to reciprocal promises of value. The concept of reciprocal value propositions is examined in the light of S-D logic's fundamental premises. Examples are included to show how reciprocal value propositions can be used to initiate and guide resource integration activities between initiators and participants across a range of stakeholders of the firm. Some ‘taken for granted’ assumptions about market exchange are examined which act as a constraint on innovation in developing reciprocal value propositions, and more generally, stand in the way of innovative marketing practice. We also argue that reciprocal value propositions reveal opportunities for focal firm engagement with suppliers, customers, and other beneficiaries beyond sale/purchase transactions, as part of a platform for communicative interaction. In summary, we position reciprocal value propositions as a communication practice that brings exchange activities, relationship development, and knowledge renewal closer together.

The article explores the different aspects of the symbolism of marketing systems. The authors argue that marketing systems maintain distinctive symbolic structures in addition to their functional/operational structures; the environment is an inherent part of the system rather than being outside the system; and symbolic unfolding, that is, the process through which emerging systems address the symbolic controversies of existing systems, underlies the formation of new marketing subsystems. Two implications for macromarketing research are drawn (1) improving the standards of living via making product assortments (that are also symbolic) available to consumers in fact is an unending quest of addressing acute societal problems and contradictions and (2) the design of marketing systems is likely to fail if the symbolic character of a system under development is not taken into account. © The Author(s) 2011.

We enlist marketplace wisdom as a next characteristic of the progress towards a post-industrial marketing system. Marketplace wisdom is manifested in the development and application of oppositional values, beliefs, and differing cultures pertaining to the marketing system in its long-term development. In this regard, the phylogeny and ontogeny of marketplace wisdom is distinguished. Phylogeny tracks the origins of wisdom in the long-term quest for survival, whereas its ontogeny is manifest in the marketing system's four post-industrial qualities: comprehensiveness, interactivity, value, and impact.

This paper describes the characteristics and benefits of a visual ethnography method called “video diary.” The authors illustrate the special features of the method based on their experiences in using it to understand consumer acculturation of Pacific Islanders in New Zealand. In brief, research participants benefit from the control and voice that video diaries give them. Researchers benefit from “saturated description” and collaborative analysis. The benefits of video diaries are particularly suited to ethnographic research with people from collectivist or vulnerable groups. Video diaries can be used alone or along with other ethnographic methods and the authors recommend them to consumer researchers, who want to understand routine and private aspects of consumers’ lives or any aspect of culture. Their range of use is limited only by one’s imagination.

This article examines the principles and practices of the marketing system within corporate social responsibility and sustainable development frameworks to argue that responsible marketing and sustainable marketing are not synonymous ideas. The article identifies misleading assumptions about progress through economic growth and preference satisfaction and highlights the issues to be confronted by marketers to fully address the social and ecological crisis of destructive overconsumption. The basic rationale for the developmental welfare marketing course of action is outlined, and this systemic policy is distinguished from the conventional appropriative form of managerial marketing. A radical new logic for marketing as a social process requiring thinking beyond the discipline is called for. The result of this review is an agenda for a sustainable society purpose and form for marketing, part of a catalytic movement, outlined in an emergent set of transdisciplinary propositions that reflect disillusionment with current values and beliefs.

PurposeRational modes of decision‐making, followed by communication of the decision to stakeholders, leading to implementation of the decision is taken as a given in most management theories. The role of corporate communication managers in many cases is to support this process via standard communication tools. This study aims to challenge the efficacy of this model by drawing on discourse and strategy‐as‐practice perspectives in order to explain the link between managed communication and performance in terms of enacting decisions.Design/methodology/approachFollowing an ethnographic case study approach, the research analyses communication discourse at Intech, a major international conglomerate based in Germany. Data was collected over a period of 15 months, structured and thematic analysis conducted, supported by ATLAS.ti computer‐aided qualitative data analysis software. Methods of discourse analysis were applied in order to explain concrete practices.FindingsA key contribution is to provide a framework that enables researchers and practitioners to understand in‐depth the setting in which decision‐related communication takes place, as recently demanded by Suchan and Charles (2006). Three critical fields of action for effective communication and strategy implementation are identified: giving decisions voice; facilitating the legitimisation process for decisions; and developing alternatives to cascading as a mode of decision implementation.Research implications/limitationsResearchers may adopt the alternative view of corporate communication proposed and test or apply it in further case studies or in more large‐scale, perhaps quantitatively oriented research projects across companies and cultural boundaries.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, a key challenge lies in implementing modes of legitimisation into managed communication.Originality/valueThis paper makes the case for an alternative approach to enacting decisions via practices of managed communication, based on the insights gained from the Intech case.

According to Vargo and Lusch (Journal of Marketing, 68:1–17, 2004a, Journal of Service Research, 6:324–335, b), service is the appropriate logic for marketing. For them, service is an interactive process of “doing something for someone” that is valued. More radically, goods also render service and have value-in-use. In this context service becomes the unifying purpose of any business relationship. This marketing world-view involves broadening and reframing what by convention counts as service and stands in opposition to 200 years of mainstream economic logic in explaining productive capacity. In our view they have succeeded in applying their scholarly thinking to old themes with synergistic results. Their thesis challenges marketing orthodoxy, and will in our view support much future innovation in both theoretical and practical terms.

Although social exchange theory is not a formal theory, it may be the most important body of social psychological thinking for explaining social behavior as exchange with an understanding of interdependence and relationships and the set of norms governing contractual relationships, emphasizing as it does both trust and commitment. There is neither an assumption of self-profit maximization nor is individual behavior the focus of attention. This behaviorist perspective emphasizes situational factors, interaction, and reinforcement and learning, as well as subjective evaluation of rewards and costs, and the exchange of rewards. Originating in the nexus of economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, and the concept of contract, social exchange thinking has become embedded in the marketing discipline, so much so that recent textbooks reproducing the convention do not mention it explicitly at all. Social exchange theory neither takes a utilitarian view of homo economicus nor does it assume risk-taking rationality in homo aleator by ignoring the social and the economic power distribution. Indeed, social exchange theory aims to explain what is not economic in social behavior. Keywords: social behavior; exchange; relationship; interdependence; reward

Two conceptions of social learning with different units of analysis are discussed. Until recently more common idea is of one independent person individually learning to be socially effective in social situations. Persons seek education to adapt to their local context. The other notion of social learning is of large-scale many-person collective learning, in which there is intentional adaptation of behavior in a social network of collaboratively interacting actors. This might be termed the “learning society.” The former socialization process mostly occurs at the micro individual level of information transmission and personal adaptation, whereas the latter arises at the macro societal level of aggregation in communal or social deliberation. This distinction is important in addressing how one person learns something that (perhaps) many others already know, and beyond that how numerous people learn something new together. It is important to understand social learning in terms of desired outcomes. Keywords: social learning; socialization; imitation; human development; learning society; social construction; sociocultural evolution

The great accomplishment of the past 300 years has been the building of a pervasive classical science and derivates, including economics. Yet we are resolutely acknowledging that continued unreflective employment of this worldview is now getting us deeper into trouble. We need a pragmatic (practical, sensible) alternative – we can find it through Pragmatism.

This article elaborates and extends the Vargo and Lusch (2004a) service-dominant (S-D) logic thesis. Three linked exchange-enablers and their potential for improving value-in-use are discussed: first, relationships to give structural support for the creation and application of knowledge resources (relating); second, communicative interaction to develop these relationships (communicating); and third, the knowledge needed to improve the customer's service experience (knowing). These activities are integrated within an augmented S-D exchange model, and the implications for co-creating value are discussed. Finally, the argument is put that a customer's value-in-use begins with the enactment of value propositions, and the development of reciprocal value propositions is discussed in the context of the notion of sustainable betterment.

SUMMARY Our aim in this article is to challenge relationship marketing's hidden monological assumptions, and as a redress, position dialogical interaction at its core. First, we reflect on the common sense of ‘marketing communication’. Next, we clarify the concept of ‘dialogue’. We then comment on the concept of dialogue in markets, building on Karl Popper's idea of an open society, followed by scrutiny of general marketing practice to show that such dialogue is absent. We then consider the potential for marketing to be dialogical in nature. To do this we will make a necessary distinction between informational interaction, communicational interaction, and dialogical interaction. Finally, we draw the conclusion that dialogue is not so much a method of communication but an orientation to it, and consider some implications for marketing theory and practice.

Varey, Richard J.; Baxter, Roger; Brodie, Roderick J.; Brookes, Richard W.; Plewa, Carolin; Quester, Pascale; Schembri, Sharon

The authors come not to praise marketing but to helpfully reflect, review, and re-energise. They express disquiet over flaws and limitations in the mainstream popular body of marketing knowledge th...

Recently, major projects have been conducted using a strategic alliance set‐up, where participating organisations work together, collaboratively, within the same organisation structure consisting of personnel from each organisation. The ethos of the strategic alliance encourages an integrated, unified working environment. A study of the communication networks in a major strategic alliance project was undertaken in November 2000. This involved conducting a communication audit that included five unstructured interviews. Participants included a broad range of project team members, matched to some of Belbin’s team role profiles. The paper discusses the principal factors affecting internal communication, as revealed from the analysis of the interview data.

This paper reflects on the managerialistic orthodoxy of knowledge management in order to show that a critical communications theory is required for addressing real political and ethical shortcomings. This produces an alternative methodological perspective through an intentional synthesis of established methodological views. The paper's allies in this critical quest include Jürgen Habermas, Werner Ulrich, Stanley Deetz, Geoffrey Vickers, Peter Checkland and their mentors. Information systems and knowledge systems architects and engineers and their manager clients conveniently ignore fundamental issues, including politics, power, knowledge and communication. Yet, today the more substantive issues are not technical but ethical. In raising questions about the rhetoric of knowledge management reflections on the instrumentality of much of what is said and done about management and information systems are outlined. The departure point is critical scepticism. This is motivated by concerns for the ethical status of the commercially valuable outcome of (at least) two conjoined simplistic and fundamentally dominatory conventional wisdoms. These stem from two fields that are managerialistically biased and which share a common basis in a false rationality.

In this world of increasing electronic connectivity we are often amazed at the widespread popularity of social networks, instant email connec. tions, and almost universal personal cell phone ownership. Today it seems that if you don’t have a social media presence there is something wrong with you! The ‘selling’ side of business demands an Internet pres. ence. Retail businesses face unheard-of competition from on-line sellers, such as Amazon, resulting in an ever decreasing number of ‘bricks ‘n’ mortar’ retail shops. The ability to electronically connect to each other has become so popular because we, as people, have a great desire to be connected to each other. In fact, the science of happiness is very clear in listing ‘relationships’ as the foremost determinate of happiness. So we embrace every opportunity to connect with an underlying hope of becoming happier.

The practice of tele‐ or home‐working, has been adopted by an increasing number of companies and workers in response to the changing economic and social needs that characterise the world of work today. Working from home brings new challenges as well as benefits, and a variety of studies have examined the impact of tele‐working in terms of such benefits and costs. Few studies, however, have focused on the emotional impact that working away from the office may have on workers as they cope with new technologies, reduced support, increased social isolation and other changes. This neglect of the feelings of workers reflects a somewhat wider neglect in the arena of emotion at work in general. The present study aims to redress this balance through a qualitative pilot study that examines the changing emotions that tele‐workers experience. The implications of the study for tele‐workers and managers are outlined.

The inter‐organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and households. Many of these networks are concerned with the exchange of tangible goods. However, increasing numbers are concerned with the exchange of knowledge and all are dependent upon the role of knowledge in their activities. It is our assertion that with an understanding of the nature of knowledge, we may identify how, and why, certain network formations are adopted. It is asserted that links between organizations may be viewed as knowledge assets. The expression of multiple links within a corporate community may be regarded as a network of knowledge assets. From this conceptual framework, it may be possible to answer wider questions concerning the nature of networks established in the real world and how changes are wrought on a network over a period of time.

Management literature is critically examined, and this finds an outmoded conception of human communication that is convenient when power is the central concern, but dysfunctional when constructive decision making is needed. Communication is widely taken to be the transmission of information and the reproduction of intended meanings. This view is premised on ancient classical assumptions of causality and linearity — of absolute and classifying categories, instead of relative and relational categories. Such a basis introduces intentions and causality into our understanding of communication. This reductionist thinking is seen vividly in stimulus‐response models of human influence that do not adequately explain human interaction. The critique examines social constructionist thinking that sees the world as a complex set of interrelated social phenomena constructed by people in interaction, ie in joint social action. A wealth of constructive thinking is discovered in Nordic, Germanic and Eastern sociologies and social philosophies. This is an alternative to the Western psychological perspective that is dominant and misleading in management thinking. Circular (transactional), rather than linear, models are more helpful in understanding human communication and what is required for responsive and responsible management of communication for productive business enterprise. Causal assumptions can be discarded in taking a view of communication in and of corporations (ie ‘corporative communication’) as both stimulator and stabiliser. Social, political and cultural phenomena can be more richly understood, however, if their linguistic and discursive (interactive) nature is addressed with a constructionist perspective on social reality. Communication cannot be understood without reference to knowledge, understanding, information, meaning and sense. A social constructionist theory of communication is a widened framework for the analysis of communication in a complex and holistic fashion.

This paper explores the integration of corporate and marketing communication in tomorrow’s company, and discusses a model of the corporate communication system of managing. It defines the need for a total stakeholder perspective and to integrate communication activities around constituent‐constituent relationships. Marketing is described as a special case of human communication, in which all elements of the marketing mix are seen as communicative in action. The paper agrees with the Tomorrow’s Company study that inclusion is a necessity, and argues that new management involves a form of economic democracy, which in turn creates a need for new forms of corporate governance, monitoring, and management. This will require managers to re‐evaluate the appropriateness of their thinking. The corporate communication model of systemic managing is forwarded for this purpose

This paper examines how computer-mediated communication (CMC) affects cultural aspects in workplaces. For the concept of culture used in this paper, we draw on the surface level of culture among three levels of organisational culture and 10 categories of culture. Some studies on CMC are presented based on its impacts on some cultural categories, among which temporality and territoriality are emphasised. The knowledge imparted by this kind of analysis can help CMC and information systems (IS) developers understand and predict what will happen in the users’ way of working after implementation. It will also help them develop effective systems. By emphasising time and space from the cultural point of view, we expect the paper will contribute to understanding newly emergent organisational forms such as virtual organisations in which temporal and spatial dimensions are significantly transformed.

Internal marketing has been of interest to practitioners and academics, in marketing and other disciplines of management, for some years, and published papers focus on definitions, the role of internal marketing in organisations, and various empirical investigations. Discusses the elements of a broadened concept on internal marketing, which emerges from: a systematic review and examination of the existing literature; case study material; “expert” opinion from leading academics; and interviews with managers.

The concept of relationship marketing is established in the general management and marketing literature. Almost all of the thinking and practice has emanated exclusively from marketing scholars and practitioners. A contribution towards better understanding the communication issues is presented by re‐considering the nature of managed human communication as a fundamental management function, and a re‐consideration of the social nature and function of human relationships. This requires recognition that the field of public relations also deals with relationships. Some implications for individual managers are identified which do not depend on the scgmentalist functional view of marketing as an economic tool of persuasion. As communication occurs within the context of the communicators' multiplex relationships and relational roles, and these relationships define how to interpret the content of communication episodes, business managers can benefit from awareness of the impact of relationship status on the communication process and of communication events on their relationships.

An eclectic view of organisational performance is presented and the ability of mass media to influence it is addressed. A number of cases are considered in the light of this including Northampton Healthcare NHS Trust and the American Electric Power system. Comments are presented in relation to a number of organisations including General Motors, The Inland Revenue and Shell UK. Concludes that communication is a core competence activity in performance management.