Masochistic marketing : not one of Volvo Australia's safest strategies?

The marketing approach used by Volvo to debunk the stigma of "Bloody Volvo Driver" in the Australian marketplace appears to be a rare approach and could be perceived to some extent as being 'masochistic'. A masochistic marketing approach, as coined by the authors of this paper, is a high-risk venture. It is a challenging and a demanding initiative because it plays on the humiliation of the corporate image itself. The core idea of the masochistic marketing approach violates, or at least appears to oppose, the fundaments of marketing. The underlying idea is to tum a stigmatised image in the marketplace into something useful and valuable in forthcoming marketing and business activities, however, in the process that corporate image may deteriorate even further.

A creative twist: management theory, creativity and the arts

For many theorists and practitioners in the area of organizational theory, HRM, marketing and other domains of organization studies, organizational creativity is something to be distilled and managed as an element of organizational performance. The article argues, however, that this process of appropriation from the creative arts is subject to a number of problematic transitions. The article's starting point is the notion of creativity itself. Within the creative arts, the question of what constitutes creativity and its relationship to artistic practice is subject to considerable debate. This debate centers on the question of whether creativity represents an essentialist and inexplicable (even spiritual) component of artistic practice or whether creativity is a trait of work and cannot be attributed as a unique aspect of art. The mantra of creativity provides nothing more than a means to control individuals and provide them with a false hope that contributing to the success of business will provide a means to self fulfillment.

Can the overcommercialization of cause-related marketing harm society?

The role of social responsibility within business has been debated for decades. It appears that there is a growing understanding that doing the right thing for society can not only be good for business but is also a responsibility of the modern corporation. Causes, corporations, and society have benefited from corporate involvement with social issues. However, it also appears that in some cases, there may be potential pitfalls associated with merging social and corporate objectives. The "overcommercialization" of some activities designed to benefit society may in fact harm those that these activities are trying to help. This article examines potential pitfalls associated with cause-related marketing and provides recommendations for reducing the potential negative consequences

Using creativity to achieve an entrepreneurial future for arts marketing

The marketing concept fails to explain marketing behaviour of small firms. Similar comments are now being made of large firms. This gap between theory and practice is even more significant in non-profit and arts organisations where sector specific philosophies often determine how marketing is embraced, with its underlying notions of the customer and profitability. Many of these organisations must overcome severe resource constraints by thinking creatively. This paper investigates the relationship between art, marketing, entrepreneurship and creativity in order to reach a clearer understanding of how creativity can assist both the arts organisation and those involved in researching the sector. There have been increasing calls within the academic marketing community to instil a creative philosophy within the research process. This call has not resulted in much research on the phenomenon within marketing, and certainly not from a nonprofit perspective. This paper discusses creativity as a concept drawing on a diverse range of literatures outside the management discipline. The link between creativity, marketing, entrepreneurship and art is analysed. Justification of the incorporation of creativity in the research process is presented for practitioners and theorists in marketing and the arts, so that they can learn from each others' disciplines. Implications for future research are presented, where creativity is viewed as the centre of a non-linear, free thinking understanding of artistic truth.

Market orientation and organisational performance: the influence of moderators

The concept of market orientation has received a great deal of attention from marketing scholars, indicating its conceptual and practical importance. The concept has been investigated from many perspectives and examined in many ways. The current general understanding is that market orientation, in most cases, is positively related to some measures of organisational performance and that different internal and external situations moderate this relationship. This paper aims to (1) introduce a measure of market orientation effectiveness, which represents a synthesis of the influence of different internal and external moderators on market orientation, and (2) measure the association of market orientation effectiveness with (a) a marketing performance outcome and (b) the overall organisational financial performance. The results from a survey of 216 large Australian businesses indicated that some variables (an organisation’s strategy of cost leadership, market strength, implementation effectiveness, and market volatility) have positive contributions at different degrees to market orientation effectiveness, while anticipated competitive reaction contributes negatively. Results also indicated that in the sample studied, both market orientation and market orientation effectiveness were more strongly associated with a measure of marketing performance, than with the overall financial performance, which is a function of both marketing and non-marketing initiatives.

The use of codes of ethics in the corporate marketplace: the case of Australia and Sweden

Business ethics is a subject that recently has been thrust again into prominence in industrialised economies around the world, due to the revelations of the practices of some of the major corporations operating within the USA. In Australia, corporate collapses such as HIH and Onetel and in Sweden, the scandals with the top executives of Skandia and also Systembolaget have brought in to sharp focus that these practices are not confined to the USA. Since the early 1960s, codes of ethics have been in evidence in many organisations in the USA, whilst in Australia, as in Britain, the interest in codes of ethics was piqued by the stock market crash of 1987. In Sweden, however, this concept of the use of codes of ethics in the corporate sector had not been investigated prior to this study. This paper examines the use of codes of ethics in the marketplace by the top companies operating in corporate Australia and corporate Sweden. The outcome of this research shows that in both Australia and Sweden that large organisations indicate a substantial interest in codes of ethics and value the use of their codes in the marketplace. There are, however, differences in the ways that the companies in each country implement their codes of ethics in the marketplace and the benefits that they see as being derived from them.

A strategic approach to target marketing-choosing the preferred generic customer : a model of shareholder value performance

In recent years the contribution of the marketing function has changed and interest now centres on its contribution to a firm’s financial performance. The Marketing Science Institute in the USA has stated that it is the number one marketing issue facing corporate America. The Australian Marketing Institute is promoting a set of marketing metrics that will help Australian firms measure the function’s contribution to shareholder value creation. Much of the literature relates notions such as customer satisfaction and other marketing activities with a firm’s profit. A missing link appears to be the choice firms make in terms of which customer groups to target and the resultant impact on shareholder value performance. The generic customer groups comprise: existing customers, former customers and prospects. A review of the literature reveals that marketing costs and benefits vary across these groups. The challenge for management is to determine which group represents the best target and to allocate scarce marketing resources accordingly. The task is made even more challenging because the economic value of members within each group also varies and some product lines may be unprofitable and therefore, may not be worth pursuing. To generate superior shareholder value it may not simply be the case of acquiring the maximum number of new customers from any source but to find the appropriate mix of the generic customer groups and manage the individual customer relationships accordingly. This paper seeks to firstly summarise and review the recent literature on marketing and its relationship to shareholder value and secondly to propose a model for allocating marketing resources across generic customer groups in order to generate improved shareholder value performance. Importantly, the model not only covers increasing business with customers but also shedding customers or shedding the extent of business conducted with customers as means of generating shareholder value.

Museum marketing competing in the global marketplace

Museums have moved from a product to a marketing focus within the last ten years. This has entailed a painful reorientation of approaches to understanding visitors as customers; new ways of fundraising and sponsorship as government funding decreases; and grappling with using the internet for marketing. This book brings the latest in marketing thinking to bear on the museum sector taking into account both the commercial issues and social mission it involves. Carefully structured to be highly accessible the book offers:
* A contemporary and relevant and global approach to museum marketing written by authors in Britain, Australia, the United States, and Asia
* An approach that reflects the particular challenges museums of varying sizes face when seeking to market an experience to a diverse set of stakeholders: audience; funders; sponsors and government.
* A particular focus on museum marketing in the 'Information Age'
* Major case studies at the beginning and end of each section of the book, and smaller case studies within chapters The hugely experienced author team, includes both leading academics and practitioners to ensure the book has broad appeal and is both relevant, innovative and progressive in approach. It will be essential reading for students in museum studies, non-profit marketing, and arts management and marketing. It will also be equally relevant for professionals working in and managing museums and galleries, heritage attractions and ministries of arts.
* The most up-to-date treatment of marketing museums with a global approach
* Blend of academic and practitioner expertise to appeal to students and professionals seeking a contemporary and relevant approach
* Features a range of international case studies that demonstrate the museum experience and draw out the particular challenges that museums and galleries of varying sizes and types face in the global marketplace

Reducing consumer switching intentions following service failure : do empowerment and apology help?

This research explores the effectiveness of apology and empowerment as service recovery actions and their impact on consumers switching intentions within the hospitality industry. It also examines two different types of failure - process failure and outcome and whether consumer-switching intentions vary based on failure type. Results suggest that apology is effective in reducing switching intentions in both types of failure. Employee empowerment reduces switching intentions in outcome failure situations, but increases switching intentions in process settings. There is also an interaction effect of apology and empowerment in the outcome failure setting, but not in the process failure setting. Recommendations for managing service recovery are provided.

Exploring the links between relational bonds and customer loyalty : the case of loyal Arabic guests at five-star hotels

Relationship marketing aims to build and maintain relationships between customers and organizations. While building strong bonds is a key objective of relationship marketing, limited empirical attention has been paid to the role of relational bonds on enhancing loyalty. This study explores the impact of financial, social and structural bonds on consumer loyalty, using a sample of loyal Arabic hotel guests. The results of this study suggest that structural bonds increase loyalty, although financial and social bonds were not found to have a significant impact on loyalty.

Environmental attitudes among university students In New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of western industrial societies. Two components of the DSP framework beliefs in economic growth and anthropocentrism are examined regards to environmental attitudes using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative
effects will be minimized.

A grouping journals using multi-dimensional perceptual criteria of North American marketing academics

This paper seeks to develop groupings of journals (A, B, C) using multi-dimensional perceptual rankings, based on North American respondents’ evaluation of a journal’s prestige, contribution to theory, contribution to practice and contribution to teaching. Nonparametric comparisons of criterion mean values indicate that there are generally statistically significant correlations between criteria. Cluster analysis identifies A, B, and C 'categorisations' of journals are different in regards to all four evaluative criteria.

The world wide web in modern marketing's contribution to organisational performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the antecedents of organisational performance (OP), both financial and marketing, and the influence of holding a strategic market orientation (MO) where customer-base volatility is taken into account.

Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 167 marketing organisations in Australia was surveyed to test the hypothesised model. Structural equation modelling was employed in the data analysis.

Findings – Use of the world wide web (Web) reported by organisations in this study indicates that there is still separate use of the Web and that it has yet to be fully integrated into the marketing strategy of many organisations. The study finds that traditional marketing effort mediates the relationship between holding a MO and OP in terms of financial indicators.

Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of this study is that it surveys organisations from many industries rather than selected industries. This tends to mask some of the possible outcomes.

Practical implications – The findings in this study suggest that traditional and online elements of marketing effort each mediate the influence of holding a MO on OP, but differently. Innovation culture is found to influence both marketing practice and marketing performance, directly. A single measure of environmental turbulence – customer-base turbulence or churn – negatively affects marketing performance, and ultimately financial performance.

Originality/value – A major contribution of this study is the examination of use of the Web in marketing effort and how this usage influences financial and marketing performance.

Effects of tv time and other sedentary pursuits

Television (TV) viewing is the dominant recreational pastime at all ages, especially for children and adolescents. Many studies have shown that higher TV viewing hours are associated with higher body mass index (BMI), lower levels of fitness and higher blood cholesterol levels. Although the effect size estimated from observational studies is small (with TV viewing explaining very little of the variance in BMI), the results of intervention studies show large effect sizes. The potential mediators of the effect of higher TV viewing on higher BMI include less time for physical activity, reduced resting metabolic rate (for which there is little supporting evidence) and increased energy intake (from more eating while watching TV and a greater exposure to marketing of energy dense foods). Electronic games may have an effect on unhealthy weight gain, but are less related to increased energy intake and their usage is relatively new, making effect size difficult to determine. Thus, TV viewing does not explain much of the differences in body size between individuals or the rise in obesity over time, perhaps because of the uniformly high, but relatively stable, TV viewing hours. Reducing TV viewing hours is a difficult prospect because potential actions, such as social marketing and education, are likely to be relatively weak interventions, although the evidence would suggest that, if viewing could be reduced, it could have a significant impact on reducing obesity prevalence. Regulations to reduce the heavy marketing of energy dense foods and beverages on TV may be the most effective public health measure available to minimize the impact of TV viewing on unhealthy weight gain.