Mobile digital technology : emerging issues for marketing

The growth of direct marketing has been attributed to rapid advances in techn ology and the changing market context. The fundamental ability of direct marketers to communicate with consumers and to elicit a response, combined with the ubiquitous nature and power of mobile digital technology, provides a synergy that will increase the potential for the success of direct marketing. The aim of this paper is to provide an analytical framework identifying the developments in the digital environment from e-marketing to m-marketing, and to alert direct marketers to the enhanced capabilities available to them.

Consumers' emotional appraisals and action tendencies arising from mobile viral marketing

This study examines consumers' emotional responses to receiving viral mobile marketing communications in comparison to receiving mobile marketing communications where permission has not been given. The study also examines the relationship between these experienced emotions and what action tendencies consumers might consider as a result of these emotions, as well as how they attribute causality for their emotions. Using scenarios in an experimental design, the findings show that there are differences in consumer emotions as a result of the two marketing approaches. The findings also identify relationships between consumers' causal attributions and action tendencies in relation to themselves, the friend sending the viral m-marketing communication and the company involved.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) : where to from here?

IMC is one of the most controversial areas of marketing education during the past decade. While many definitions of TMC have been put forth, agreement on the discipline's constructs remains unresolved. The core of future legitimacy of IMC resides in the development of a stream of research that develop s theory and methods for evaluation of IMC effectiveness. This paper reviews more than a decade of research on IMC effectiveness, suggests where the field is heading. and identifies future directions for fMC research.

In search of a theory of integrated marketing communication

For the most part, the literature base for Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) has developed from an applied or tactical level rather than from an intellectual or theoretical one. Since industry, practitioner and even academic studies have provided little insight into what IMC is and how it operates, our approach has been to investigate that other IMC community, that is, the academic or instructional group responsible for disseminating IMC knowledge. We proposed that the people providing course instruction and directing research activities have some basis for how they organize, consider and therefore instruct in the area of IMC. A syllabi analysis of 87 IMC units in six countries investigated the content of the unit, its delivery both physically and conceptually, and defined the audience of the unit. The study failed to discover any type of latent theoretical foundation that might be used as a base for understanding IMC. The students who are being prepared to extend, expand and enhance IMC concepts do not appear to be well-served by the curriculum we found in our research. The study concludes with a model for further IMC curriculum development.

Same but different: perceptions of IMC amongst marketing communication partners in Australia

This paper examines whether two key partners in the marketing communication process, advertising and public relations’ practitioners perceive IMC in the same way. It compares perceptions across a wide range of implementation, organizational and strategic issues in IMC to test if perceptions have moved past Stage 1 of IMC development (Schultz and Kitchen 2000). Although both advertising and PR practitioners concur with each other and the literature on a wide range of perceptions of IMC, they still believe that advertising and public relations practitioners have dissimilar views about IMC. PR practitioners position themselves as a separate breed of marketing communicator, requiring divergent skills from advertising practitioners and thinking differently about IMC.

Consumer acceptance of m-services : Marketing implcations

Consumers' evolving relationships with their mobile devices and their desire to access mobile services (m-services) present new opportunities to marketers, yet little research has been conducted in the area of m-services. Using structural equation modelling, this paper examines the effect of hedonic and utilitarian value of mobile phones on product and purchase involvement. It also investigates the effect of involvement, innovativeness, and self-efficacy on use of m-services. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 250 respondents using an online survey and a modified snowball procedure. Findings are discussed, further implications for managers are suggested and directions for future research are proposed.

Final report implementation of relational management

Construction teams and construction organisations have their own distinctive cultures. There also exists an infrastructure, both social and contractual, which ensures that these projects within which the teams operate are completed successfully. It is these issues which this research has addressed. The project was instigated by Queensland Department of Main Roads, Public Works and John Holland Group in order to address how they might better implement relationship management (RM) on their construction projects. The project was devised initially in order to facilitate a change in culture which would allow the project to be run in a relational manner and would lead to effective performance in terms of the KPIs that the organisations set for themselves, described as business better than usual. This report describes the project, its outcomes and deliverable and indicates the changes that were made to the project during the research process. Hence, the initial premise of the project and the problem to investigate was the implementation of relational contracting: • throughout a range of projects; • with a focus on client body staff. The additions that were made to the project, and documented in the variations to the project, included two major additional areas of study: • client management and stakeholder management; • a live case study of an alliancing project. The context within which the research was undertaken is important. The research was driven by main roads with their desire to improve their operations by focusing on the relationship between the major project participants (however, stakeholder and client organisation management became an obvious issue as the research progressed, hence the variations). The context was initially focussed on main roads, public works and John Holland group organisations but it became clear very quickly that this was in fact an industry-wide issue and not an issue specific solely to the project participants. Hence, the context within which this research took place can be described as below: The deliverables from the project are a toolkit for determining RM needs in an organisation, a monograph describing the practical implementation of RM and the outline for a RM CPD and Masters course

Report a review of the concepts and definitions of the various forms of relational contracting

Partnering has been defined in many ways. It can be considered as an individual project mechanism or can be considered as a long term strategy. Alliancing is normally assumed to be a long term business strategy linking together client, contractor and supply chain. Relational contracting goes further than this and brings in the whole philosophy of the value chain and the linking of the interdependent parts within the construction project as a key business objective. This document aims to review existing definitions of these three concepts and present and overview of the current state of-the-art in terms of their use and implementation. The document should be useful for all of those project team members looking to sharpen their understanding of the various concepts and will also provide a platform for debating the current state of the definitions and implementations being used in Main Roads and Public Works Departments.

Marketing unions to young people : recruiting and ‘rusting on’

In light of declining trade union density, specifically amongst young workers, this paper explores how trade unions are servicing and organising young people. Our specific focus is the way in which trade unions market their services to the young. We use, as a lens of analysis, the services marketing literature and the concept of an ‘experience good’ to explore trade union strategies. Based on interviews with a number of Queensland union officials, it is clear unions see the issue of recruitment of young people as significant, and that resources are being targeted on the development of innovative strategies at least in some unions.

The role of relational capabilities in developing the capacity for supply chain innovation

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the types of relational capabilities supply chain participants develop to enable ongoing supply chain innovation capacity building that produces improved business outcomes. This is exploratory research using qualitative data gathered by using five interviews, with the Australian road freight industry as the context. Two key relational capabilities and the improvement of four key business outcomes were identified as being present in the interaction of freight transport service providers with members of their supply chain. The data also demonstrates that by entering into competence building relationships with customers and suppliers firms can build capabilities that will increase their capacity for supply chain innovation. Even in short term arm’s length relationships firms can acquire improved skills behaviours and practices that enhance their operation effectiveness and the efficiency of the supply chain relationships.

The IMC concept meets political marketing : building brand relationships

There is a need to take a fresh look at the traditional application of the marketing concept to political marketing. As many businesses have learned, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) practices and principles will help them to build customer relationships and profitable brands. Political marketing must also change with the times and implement IMC practices toward building and nourishing brand relationships with voters and other important stakeholders. The nature of the contribution of this paper is the identification of a gap in the political marketing literature - the stagnation of political marketing at the 4P's marketing concept, and to play a role in the future development of political marketing. In recent developments, it is seen that there is a gradual movement away from this traditional marketing theory. There are a growing number of academics who have approached very closely to the IMC concept or aspects of it, but have not however embraced or have been reluctant to, the prospect of applying it to political marketing. IMC is a practical, logical and ultimately inevitable future for political marketing.

The ‘Get Marketer Challenge’: Engaging first year students in an introductory marketing course

Research on student engagement suggests courses that involve students in challenging, authentic tasks linking students to their peers and educators are associated with high levels of engagement. This paper presents an assessment innovation within a first year marketing course that was designed to promote student engagement. Currently in its pilot stage, the ‘Get Marketer Challenge’ is a constructively aligned, authentic assessment task; requiring student teams to solve a real-world marketing problem as part of a course-wide competition. Student enrolment data suggests the Get Marketer Challenge is an attractive assessment option that encourages students to enrol in the Marketing course. Educators have been surprised by the consistency and high level of effort expended by student teams. Students report the Get Marketer Challenge is an enjoyable assessment task that helped them to understand some of the challenges faced by marketers.

Sport marketing on Fortune Global 500 websites

This research investigates how the world’s leading companies, the Fortune Global 500, use sportsrelated terms and phrases on their Web site. An automated process mirrored leading transnational corporations’ Web presence and then searched their sites. Analysis of about four gigabytes of Webbased text revealed regional and industry differences in how the world’s largest corporations use sports terms on their sites.

Sharing knowledge at work : macro, social and relational individual influences on individual behavior

The impact of relations between an organization and its workers and the relations among workers on individual knowledge generation and sharing practices has not, to date, been addressed in an integrated way. This paper discusses the findings of a study analyzing issues at macro, locally-constructed and micro levels in a public sector organization, to identify and integrate the complex sets of mediators. Key factors were found to include (a) the contested nature of the process of knowledge construction, (b) the worker’s experience of the organization’s internal environment, (c) how the organization is understood to value knowledge sharing, (d) relations with colleagues, and (e) the perceived outcomes of knowledge sharing behaviors. Implications for practice are discussed.

WorkChoices, ImageChoices and the marketing of new industrial relations legislation

This article takes a critical discourse approach to one aspect of the Australian WorkChoices industrial relations legislation: the government’s major advertisement published in national newspapers in late 2005 and released simultaneously as a 16-page booklet. This strategic move was the initial stage of one of the largest ‘information’ campaigns ever mounted by an Australian government, costing more than $AUD137 million. This article analyse the semiotic (visual and graphic) elements of the advertisement to uncover what these elements contribute to the message, particularly through their construction of both an image of the legislation and a portrayal of the Australian worker. We argue for the need to fuse approaches from critical discourse studies and social semiotics to deepen understanding of industrial relations phenomena such as the ‘hard sell’ to win the hearts and minds of citizens regarding unpopular new legislation.