Marketing Commons^™

Beauty Bloggers And Youtubers As A Community Of Practice, Valerie Gannon, Andrea Prothero

Articles

Much consumption-related activity online is outside of what is understood traditionally as community and is via user-generated content (UGC), of which blogs and YouTube channels in particular dominate in the beauty sphere. Community of practice (CoP) theory from social learning and organisation studies offers an alternative way to understand these consumption-based UGC practices. This study combines data from 25 interviews with bloggers and YouTubers and their blog posts and videos. Among these UGC creators we find mutual engagement, shared repertoires and joint enterprise. This paper theorises consumption-based UGC creators as a CoP and contributes insights for mangers as to how …

B2b Social Media Marketing: From Information To Decision To Retention, Roisin Vize, Monique Sherrett

Books/Book Chapters

Social networks in a business context, are referred to as two or more connected business relationships, where an ‘exchange’ exists between business partners. The concept of a ‘network’ is based on the establishment of ties between individuals, groups of people, organizational departments or corporations, that leads to the creation of social networks (Michaelidou et al., 2011:1154). Advances in web-based technology and innovation have changed the nature of social networks. Where traditional social networks involve personal and social interaction of people these interactions are now mediated by computers and web connected devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and e-notebooks. The advent …

Understanding How Immigrant Entrepreneurs View Business Opportunity Formation Through Ethnicity, Kingsley C. Njoku, Thomas M. Cooney

Books/Book Chapters

Given that international research is now consistently showing higher rates of entrepreneurial activity from immigrants above native people, research regarding our understanding of how immigrant entrepreneurs view business opportunity formation remains underdeveloped. Based upon a review of the literature, this chapter examines how ethnicity relates to business opportunity formation through constant interactions. It also introduces the Visual Mixed Embeddedness Framework as an empirical lens for understanding the differences in the business opportunity formation process models between immigrant and native entrepreneurs. By explaining how factors and traits from both home and host countries impact upon the immigrant entrepreneurial business activity process, …

A Proposed Framework For Measuring The Effectiveness Of Social Media: A Study Of Irish Tourism, Colm Barcoe

Practitioner Journals

Over the past five years, visitations of American holidaymakers to Ireland have grown exponentially owing to the online strategies of Tourism Ireland, a Destination Marketer (DMO) with a meagre budget which is extended by their understanding of best practices to maximise their monetary allowance. This suggested framework incorporates a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as financial, marketing and operational that offer a scale of measurement from which the Irish DMO can monitor the success of each promotional campaign when targeting the US and Canada. These are presented not as final solutions but rather as suggestions based on empirical …

University-Based Technology Start-Up Incubators – Evaluating Their Contribution To The Co-Production Of Knowledge, Innovation And Growth. Experience From The Edge, Anthony Paul Buckley, Stephen Davis

Articles

Policy makers in developed economies see merit in supporting the innovative abilities of technology entrepreneurs. It is hoped that from these highly–educated entrepreneur(s), new technology and service–based firms (NTBFs) can emerge. Indeed empirical evidence suggests that it is fast-growing young innovative firms which provide the bulk of new employment growth (Henrekson & Johansson, 2010; Storey & Greene, 2010). Start-up incubators are one of a number of micro-policy interventions with which states attempt – primarily through publically funded higher education Institutions - to support technology entrepreneurs to develop and commercialise their innovations. Incubator numbers have grown globally from their first appearance …

Virtual Reality As A Promotional Tool: Insights From A Consumer Travel Fair, Mary O'Rawe, Alex Gibson

Books / Book chapters

Although the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a technology in tourism has been recognised for more than twenty years, (Horan, 1996; Williams and Hobson, 1995), we have witnessed a renewed interest in both academic and business circles recently (Jung, tom Dieck, Lee, & Chung, 2016). From a marketing perspective, VR offers the potential to build a sensory experience of a tourism destination or attraction, and can be used in sales contexts to complement, or indeed, supplant traditional promotional tools such as brochures. The immersive nature of the experience offers a deeper and more emotional assessment of the tourist offering …

Are Mature Female Consumers Well Served By The Fashion Retail Sector?, Amanda Ratcliffe

Conference proceedings

The fashion retail sector is going through extremely challenging times with continuing globalisation and the ongoing impact of the recent global recession in many markets. Markets are highly competitive and companies must strive to craft strategies which will deliver competitive advantage. Across the developed and the developing world, populations are ageing. The trend is so marked as to have been termed an ‘Agequake’ by A.T. Kearney, (2011, 1) in terms of its predicted impact on economies, companies and most particularly, retailers. Women aged 50 and over are now one of the most powerful consumer groups in the UK, spending more …

Autonomy Of A Rebrand: How Aviva Came To Ireland, Richard Brophy

The ITB Journal

This article charts the rebranding of the Hibernian Group companies in Ireland to Aviva in a manner that kept business as usual, without harming the rich tradition and brand heritage crafted over 100 years. The paper examines the progression of Hibernian to Aviva through academic literature and the course that Aviva pursued in Ireland to rename an established insurance brand cherished by both the industry and public alike.

Taxation, Debt And Relative Prices In The Long Run: The Irish Experience., Vahagn Galstyan, Adnan Velic

Articles

This paper investigates the effects of public debt and distortionary labour taxation on the long-run behaviour of Irish relative non-traded goods prices. We highlight that higher public debt, acting through higher taxes, has an equivocal impact on the relative supply of non-traded goods and, correspondingly, relative prices. Our empirical analysis for Ireland suggests that taxes and public debt play significant roles in the long run, comoving negatively with the relative price of non-tradables. Accordingly, shifts in public debt and taxation bear implications for the country’s international price competitiveness.

Young Consumers’ Brand Communications Literacy In A Social Networking Site Context, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Aine Dunne, Jennifer Rowley

Articles

Purpose - Whilst substantial scholarly attention has been given to children’s understanding of advertising in the context of traditional advertising channels, there is a gap in the literature with regard to children’s commercial awareness in the context of online social networking sites (SNS). This paper seeks to explore the nature and extent of advertising literacy amongst young consumers in the context of their use of SNS, namely Facebook and Bebo.

Design/methodology/approach - A three-stage study was conducted with 12-14 year old girls, using focus group discussions, participant observation and in-depth interviews.

Findings - The study illustrates that the increasingly blurred …

Modeling Of Healthcare Systems: Past, Current And Future Trends, Amr Arisha, Wael Rashwan

Conference papers

Increasing demand for healthcare services, due to changes in demographic shifts and constraints in healthcare funding, make it harder to manage effective, sustainable healthcare systems. Many healthcare modeling exercises have been undertaken with the aim of supporting the decision-making process. This paper reviews all of the 456 articles published by the Winter Simulation Conference over the past 48 years (1967-2015) on the subject of modeling and healthcare system simulation, and analyzes the relative frequency of approaches used. A multi-dimensional taxonomy is applied to encompass the modeling techniques, problem applications and decision levels reported in the articles. One of the most …

Market Orientation: The Implementation Of The Marketing Concept, Maura O Connell

The ITB Journal

The marketing literature has provided little guidance in relation to creating market driven organisations. It has traditionally provided pieces of the puzzle i.e. the product life cycle, segmentation etc, but it has fallen short of demonstrating how to put the pieces together to complete the picture i.e. creating a market oriented organisation. As a result marketing has largely been confined to ‘overseeing and co-ordinating activities directly involved with the outside - such as sales, promotion and delivery’ (Witcher B J, 1990). This has led to a situation where many organisations have reservations about the success achieved with the implementation of …

Analysing The Promotional Effects That Open Source Software Has For Paid Editions: A Dual Mediation Hypothesis Approach For An Emerging Software Business Model, Ernesto Ongaro

Masters

Attracting new leads to use a software product can be costly for a software vendor. One way to secure more leads is to offer trials and unpaid editions, but their use should not be arbitrary. The emerging business model of commercial open source allows a vendor to promote its software for free while converting some of the users to paid; but does the free community edition actually serve as promotion for the commercial edition? This promotional effect is measured through the user’s attitudes and cognitions towards the advertisement and their subsequent purchase intentions. Survey results from 134 users of a …

Procurement In Property And Construction - A Review Of Practises Under Taken By A Medium Size Contractor In Ireland, Charles Mitchell

Other Resources

3B Contracting Limited is a privately owned building and civil engineering firm on the east coast of Ireland. The company works predominately within the east Leinster region. The company falls into the category of being a small to medium size contracting company.

The procurement function is carried out by a number of small departments. Procurement is a key function for securing value for money and ensuring the successful continuation of the company.

Most projects tendered are done so using the traditional method of design-bid-build and as a result the subsequent sub-contract packages are secured in a similar manner. All plant …

Measuring Political Brand Equity In Ireland', Ewan Mcdonald, Roger Sherlock, John Hogan

Articles

This article will apply cognitive mapping techniques to understand the manner in which political brand equity is formed, and how it differs, across the four largest Irish political parties, from the perspective of citizens. It assesses the fundamental aspects of branding and brand equity in the marketing and political marketing literatures. Primary data were generated in spring 2012 through the participation of 232 citizens in the political brand elicitation stage and a further 75 citizens were involved in creating cognitive maps of brand equity. From the mapping process, we see that Irish political party brands are plagued by a number …

‘I Just Want A Job’: The Untold Stories Of Entrepreneurship, Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia Sell-Trujillo, Paul Donnelly

Books/Book Chapters

In this chapter, we explore the untold stories of Spanish and Irish necessity entrepreneurs to better understand the process of becoming an entrepreneur. Working with narratives, media articles, and policy documents, we illustrate how necessity entrepreneurs do not recognize themselves in the institutionalized entrepreneur narrative as empowered, creative and independent individuals. It is necessity, not opportunity that is pushing, not pulling, them to become entrepreneurial. The process is experienced as more fragmented than official narratives outline. In exposing these untold stories, the chapter expands our understanding of entrepreneurship, presenting a more nuanced view of both entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process.

Situating Men Within Local Terrain: A Sociological Perspective On Consumption Practices, Deirdre Duffy

Conference papers

The aim of this paper is to explore how young men, operating within influential discursive regimes, construct their identity projects and come to know themselves, through their engagement with consumption and leisure practices. Foucauldian theory is drawn upon to conceptualise men as intertwined within their social environs, the recipients of socio-cultural inscription. By situating the micro-social context of the male consumer in a larger socio-cultural context, this study endeavours to go beyond consumer narratives to incorporate the influence of market and social systems on individuals’ identity work. The two discursive practices explored include: hometown community and Gaelic sport. Findings show …

Understanding The Attitude-Behavior Gap For Renewable Energy Systems Using Behavioral Reasoning Theory, Marius Claudy, Mark Peterson, Aidan O'Driscoll

Articles

Consumer adoption of renewable energies is an important step towards less carbon-intensive and more sustainable energy systems. But despite growing ecological awareness and articulated preferences for green products, renewable energies face slow rates of diffusion in consumer markets. This has been hard to explain given consumers’ favorability to the concept of products that lower one’s impact on the natural environment. This study uses data from 254 homeowners in Ireland to investigate the psychological process of adopting a renewable energy system – solar energy panels. Applying Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT), this research examines a proposed model in which reasons both for …

Principles And Practices Of Bar And Beverage Management - The Drinks Handbook, James Peter Murphy

Books

Murphy, J. (2013) The Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management - The Drinks Handbook, Goodfellows Publishing Ltd, Oxford, England.

The Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management - The Drinks Handbook is an authoritative resource and comprehensive training guide, essential for all students, bartenders, sommeliers, mixologists, waiters and food and beverage practitioners the world over. Written and configured in an accessible and user-friendly style, packed with facts, explanatory illustrations and case studies it provides an in-depth knowledge of the products, plus the technical skills, practices and latest developments in the bar and beverage area.

Principles And Practices Of Bar And Beverage Management, James Peter Murphy

Books

Murphy, J. (2013) The Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management, Goodfellows Publishing Ltd, Oxford, England.

Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management is a comprehensive text and resource book designed to explain the latest developments and new complexities of managing modern bars - be they stand alone or part of larger institutions such as hotels and resorts.

Social Norms Marketing, Social Networks And Alcohol Consumption: A Collegiate Context. Investigating Feasability In Ireland., Sarah Samdani

Doctoral

The current Irish policies have not been adequately effective in reducing alcohol consumption. There is a need to consider alternative strategies, such as the increasingly popular SN marketing campaigns, which have been applied successfully in the US college system. However, the potential of these campaigns has not been evaluated in Ireland. It is also not clear from the literature if descriptive or injunctive norm types will be more likely to induce behaviour change. Further, while SN interventions tend to provide ‘friends’ or ‘typical student’ as referent groups, little is understood about how individuals visualize these groups and how salient these …

The Servicescape As An Antecedent To Service Quality And Behavioral Intentions, Daire Hooper, Joseph Coughlan, Michael Mullen

Articles

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the servicescape should be subsumed as a dimension within service quality conceptualizations or whether it is a unique construct in itself which precedes service quality evaluations and behavioral intentions. We both propose and operationalize this model and in doing so make a theoretical contribution by demonstrating how a delineation between these two constructs is necessary in order for theory to progress in this area.

Design/methodology/approach: A total of 355 customers were intercepted as they exited a retail store and surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The data was then analyzed using …

Technology Readiness In A B2b Online Retail Context: An Examination Of Antecedents And Outcomes, Roisin Vize, Joseph Coughlan, Aileen Kennedy, Fiona Ellis-Chadwick

Articles

This paper develops and empirically tests a model that examines the role of Technology Readiness (TR) in the Business-to-Business (B2B) context. It examines how the antecedents of TR affect the construct, and how the construct affects evaluations of a complex credence based B2B service. The research investigates how the retailers’ TR impacts their evaluation of web solution service providers (WSSPs). It responds to previous research calls by extending the TR construct from the business-to-consumer (B2C) perspective that is traditional in the extant literature into the B2B domain. The key findings of a survey conducted with 133 firms in the retail …

Incorporating Environmental Stimuli Into The Service Profit Chain In A Retail Grocery Context: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach., Treasa Kearney

Doctoral

Several theoretical contributions are highlighted; firstly that employee environmental stimuli construct contained five sub-factors, these were termed, E-design, E-music, E-lighting, E-olfaction and E-layout. This highlights the complexities of the environmental stimuli for employees. Furthermore this research found a significant direct link between employee environmental stimuli and employee satisfaction. Considering the literature examining the effects of environmental stimuli on employee behaviour is astonishingly scant (Skandrani et al., 2011), this is an important contribution to several literature streams. Secondly, examining a global configuration of the environmental stimuli can provide a fuller framework for understanding and exploring customer and employee behavioural responses. In …

Reconceptualising Resources: A Critique Of Service-Dominant Logic, Norah Campbell, Aidan O'Driscoll, Michael Saren

Conference papers

This paper examines the interactive relationship between intangible, human capabilities (operant resources) and tangible, physical assets (operand resources) in an era of global interconnectedness. It does so within the context of service-dominant logic and the challenge of sustainability in a world of resource scarcity. It challenges conventional ideas about the superiority of certain kinds of resources and it confronts a pervasive culture of demateriality both in marketing and contemporary post-industrial theory – the idea that ‘stuff’ does not count. Building on calls for a revised theory of economics and society, this paper offers a parsimonious model of a more holistic …

An Investigation In Culinary Life And Professional Identity In Practice During Internship, Frank Cullen

Articles

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the selection process used by consumers when choosing a restaurant to dine. This study examined literature on consumer behavior, restaurant selection, and decision-making, underpinning the contention that service quality is linked to the consumer’s selection of a restaurant. It supports the utility theories that consumers buy bundles of attributes that simultaneously combined represent a certain level of service quality at a certain price. The findings of the research displayed a preference by Dublin consumers for Italian and Chinese styled restaurants and identified quality of the food, type of food, cleanliness of …

An Exploration Of The Effects Of The Servicescape On Customer And Employee Responses In A Grocery Retail Context, Treasa Kearney, Joseph Coughlan, Aileen Kennedy

Articles

This research investigates the impact of the servicescape on the responses of both the customer and the employee within a retail grocery setting and is exploratory in nature. The paper has its theoretical underpinning in servicescape theory (Bitner, 1992; Homburg and Stock, 2004), physical work environment literature (Davis, 1984; Kuenzi and Schminke, 2009) and the Service Profi t Chain (SPC) (Heskett et al., 1994). Interviews with grocery retail store managers were carried out to contextualise the paper though the main research instrument is a large-scale survey of customers and employees. The fi ndings suggest that almost 50 per cent of …

Working Paper Of Reflections In The Eyes Of A Dying Tiger: Looking Back On Ireland's 1987 Economic Crisis, Brendan O'Rourke, John Hogan

Books/Book Chapters

This work examines the discourses about previous Irish crises , in radio chat interviews with a former finance minister and an economists, during the current Irish economic crise.

The Wiki Way: Supporting Collaborative Learning, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

Skills in working in teamwork are demanded from graduates, and these are ever more likely to be over the internet. Horizon (2011) calls for this experience to be reflected in students’ project work. The use of Wikis has been posited as a tool for collaborative online knowledge creation, increasing students levels of engagement, and social constructivism (Wheeler and Wheeler, 2009: Lai and Ng, 2011). The use of wikis in student groups is still relatively new, however, and the need for investigation of its role in supporting group collaboration has been identified in literature (Bruen, et al., in Donnelly, Harvey and …

How Do Organisations Engage In Marketing Strategy Making? A Problemistic Search Perspective, Sarah Browne, Katrina Lawlor, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Laura Cuddihy

Conference papers

Despite the importance of marketing strategy making (MSM) we understand little of how strategy making actually occurs within organisations. Departing from the common focus - on the tools and techniques of strategy– we apply a strategy as practice (SAP) lens to our exploration of MSM. We adopt a problemistic search perspective and utilise an in-depth case study to explore individual’s interactions in developing strategic marketing initiatives. We uncover a three-stage pattern in solution search within MSM; identification of the problem situation and postponing response, to problem recognition and acceptance, to a collective problem solving stage, which we label pre implementation …