Situationally driven consumption

The purpose of this research as a PhD work-in-progress report, is to measure empirically the fundamental attributes that constitute the situationally driven consumer. Previous literature from a wide range of areas does not appear to adequately acknowledge the existence of a consumer who passionately seeks a product from various often unique markets frequently with the aid of an advisor or mentor who is denoted here as a cultural interpreter. Some elements of the desire literature, do acknowledge the existence of the driven consumer, but do not fully differentiate it from other elements of the human psyche.

Reweaving the Silk Road through outsourcing and offshoring: The need for an externalisation theory

The reweaving and repaving of the modern Silk Road passes through outsourcing and offshoring activities that have a profound impact on both global business psyche and landscape. Firms, in particular, and their global value chain are being shaped and reshaped through a complex concoction of vertical integration and disintegration. The boundary of the firm and the firm/market interface has been of interest to students of organisation and economics for some time. It has provided the context for Internalisation Theory. Within the new economy, the twin trends of globalisation and advancing technologies are giving rise to a hitherto unknown “worldwide market for market transactions? and increased opportunities for international expansion by firms via market-based modes of organisation. We describe these trends and offer an early modeling approach for explaining why some firm’s externalise the marginal transaction in the so-called new economy. The paper further draws attention on the need to articulate an “Externalisation Theory? that adequately accounts for the firm’s offshoring and outsourcing activities, and that parallels as well as complement “Internalisation Theory? for a full explanation of today’s firms behaviour.