Michael A J Saren

University of Birmingham · Marketing

This article 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. Introducing object-orient...

To date, the discourse about service dominant (S-D) logic has been largely theoretical, with the main focus on exploring the foundations for an integrating general theory of markets and marketing. Little attention has been given to the role of theorizing, and how empirical evidence can be used to inform the theoretical development. This paper explo...

Inspired by Askegaard’s thought-provoking commentary in Marketing Theory, this response argues that music is not ‘consumed’. Furthermore, there are many other market contexts where the consumption metaphor is unsuitable. The contemporary meaning of the term derives from its use by early economists like Adam Smith who labelled ‘consumption’ as the o...

We take the case of an industrial museum portraying the Victorian period and investigate the commercial staging of history. We argue that this re-enchants the past through the culmination of a series of factors, including: ‘the spatial and temporal organization of material history’; ‘the material ‘re’-production of history’ and; the ‘politics of ab...

Public value and city governance are fundamental notions in contemporary settings, but, currently conceived, they are not fit for the challenges presented by the proposed new epoch of geological time—the Anthropocene. Walking through the locked-down streets or calle of Venice, we face the sudden emptiness that starkly reveals the impact of human ac...

In the last decades, several studies related to the Service-Dominant Logic approach were carried out, where the tourism industry is not an exception. As such, multiple works associated with this research stream have been developed, with a special focus on the tourist value co-creation. This article presents a conceptual model that aims to aggregate...

Drawing on interviews with twenty tourists at the National Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland, this case study uses the concept of personal nationalism to understand how national identity is interpreted and communicated in personal and (post) tourist space. It uses a narrative analysis of domestic and international tourists’ experiences to real...

Student evaluations surveys (SES) in Higher Education (HE) now range worldwide; however, in spite of their profusion they remain controversial. Their impact extends beyond that on university teachers and its consequent effect on society cannot be regarded as a trivial matter. The literature dealing with this topic is abundant with defenders and det...

In this final chapter the editors report the results of the international survey of senior academics views about the evaluation of scholarship in HE which they conducted for this book. We recruited a broad international group of senior university staff who have been involved with the evaluation of academic work in a variety of institutions, discipl...

This introductory chapter explains the origins of this book, its rationale and the editors’ aims in critically analysing the methods for the evaluation of teaching, learning and scholarship in higher education (HE). The core problem which we identify for HE is similar to the performance evaluation issue faced by many public services; In many countr...

This book aims to open a debate on this controversial area of measuring scholarly work through the lens of the latest theory and developments in service theory. The chapters by the contributing authors apply various service theory approaches in their critical analyses of the various measures, methodologies and applications of quality evaluation by...

This article proposes an empirically derived method, Slow Storytelling, to construct and articulate value propositions, as a contribution to Business Model Innovation. Organizational actors and customers must be clear on what value an enterprise, product or service offers. This is increasingly important for products and services that leverage socia...

This article adopts a phenomenological, ethnographic approach to examine place consumption and place experience through visitors' practices in situ. It focuses particularly on an examination of the embodied practices and performances of both tourists and the local community. Viewing memorial places as ‘performative fields’, we argue that a set of p...

Business model (BM) literature has developed considerably; however, most research takes place in large for-profit organisations in western settings, rather than small–medium enterprises with social goals. This is surprising given the drive for social innovation (SI) and alternative modes of organizing. Models for managing innovation are typically a...

This article develops a holistic framework of destination image formation capturing the dynamic nature of the image and incorporating information sources and socio‐cultural factors. We combine a focused literature review with the findings of an empirical investigation on the image of Turkey. Utilizing the innovative combination of repertory grid te...

The role of higher education (HE) in the development of societies is an unquestionable fact, and its management has traditionally been a major concern of governments. Lately, there has been worldwide debate on whether universities should adopt traditional management practices as applied in any business sector. This paper questions the adoption of t...

Authors: Gary Sinclair and Mike Saren (2019)

This article examines the role and characteristics of professional client partners in the value co-creation process. Previous literature has studied the role of clients in the co-creation process; however, the effects of different characteristics of clients on co-creation of value are less clear. This study examines these through a research design...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how young British South Asian adults’ dual cultural identity is exhibited and reaffirmed through the appropriation of selfies. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a qualitative perspective and utilises a combination of in-depth interviews and netnographic data. Findings The appropriation...

This is the 2nd edition of the introductory text which explains Marketing from the consumer's point of view. It contain new sections on social media marketing,collaborative consumption, key readings and supplementary teaching material.

Purpose From a service ecosystem perspective this paper examines students evaluation surveys as a tool used by most Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide to measure teaching quality with consequences for tenure and promotion. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on the Service-Dominant (S-D) logic and specifically on the servic...

Adopting an acculturation perspective, this article explicates the duality of young British South Asian adults’ cultural dispositions. In so doing, it examines the complex dialectic processes that influence their acculturation strategies. By using a maximum variation sampling method, respondents from six major cities in Great Britain were interview...

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to conceptualization of destination image (DI) and shed light on the overlooked socio-cultural aspects of tourism along with recent technological changes. It endeavours to develop a framework to conceptualize DI formation considering socio-cultural, political, historical and technological influences. Design/...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of dark tourism in constructing narratives and stories which co-create and reinforce national identity. By focusing on the voice of the tourist and their consumer experience, we develop an understanding of youth behaviours and motivations associated with dark tourism and the effect of social influenc...

Dozens of lively international case studies that help readers put core marketing principles in a real-world context. From market research to positioning and brand management to customer relations, marketing is the engine that drives innovation and growth in the modern business organization. This latest addition to the acclaimed Pathfinder series, l...

This paper proposes a framework for analyzing and understanding communal centered consumption based on the concept of 'theater'. The focus of attention is the Gothic community, a consumer tribe that may be described as extraordinary and spectacular. Goths are also a group that has associations with the 'dark' side and in particular with the vampire...

This chapter discusses three marketing ideas which might be applicable to ‘consumers’ of music. It concludes that none of these fit the case here well. It may be that the music industry is exceptional and the consumer is different, or it may reflect the poorly defined marketing concepts. The nature of the product is unclear. It involves more than l...

Drawing on political theory, the goal is to radically reconsider the various dominant accounts of marketing through a critical reading and evaluation. This chapter seeks to illuminate how marketing is essentially the competitive exercise of power within the market system. With this in mind, the goals of our chapter are to uncover and theorize the i...

This paper undertakes a critical historical review of the role of anthropomorphism in marketing and advertising in American consumer culture from the 1940s onwards. We review the art of the acclaimed illustrator Boris Artzybasheff who among other artistic achievements created images that regularly featured on the covers of Life, Fortune, and Time....

Considering that marketing research has paid limited attention to water markets and water consumption, we examine the interrelationships among the ongoing crisis in water resources management and macromarketing theory and practice. Contrary to the dominant ideology of unlimited growth and increased global water markets, we discuss some of the conse...

This paper reviews and re-theorizes objects in consumer research with specific focus on consumer-object relations. Following Bettany and Kerrane’s (2011) argument of an ontological shift towards objects as fluid, morphing and mutable, this research adopts a posthuman analysis of consumer-object relations. The posthuman concept of human-machine hybr...

Review of book 'Deception in the marketplace: The psychology of deceptive persuasion and consumer self-protection' by David M. Boush, Marian Friestad, and Peter Wright, Routledge, 2009

Purpose ‐ The paper aims to analyse bottom of the pyramid (BoP) customers' (e.g. Bangladeshi farmers) use and appropriation of mobile telephony and to critically identify a suitable research strategy for such investigation. Design/methodology/approach ‐ Concentrated ethnographic immersion was combined with both methodological and investigator trian...

Based on data collected through familiarization and netnography we explore the different readings of the body at Von Hagen’s Body Worlds. We ground our data in a reading and interpretation that draws upon some of the debates from a cross disciplinary social science analysis. These include cultural anthropology, sociology and psychology. We present...

This paper examines the symbiotic relationship between social, commercial, and critical marketing thought. Marketers seek to influence consumer behaviour. Much ill health and many social problems are caused by human behaviour. Social marketing puts these two phenomena together and uses marketing insights to address social behaviours. In the process...

This article introduces the concept of the “atmosphere” from aesthetic theory to contribute to critical research on the aesthetic, embodied experience in retailing, and consumption spaces, which has received little attention in the marketing literature. The article draws on the “new aesthetics” of Gernot Böhme which is not a theory of art or the wo...

Business and customer relationships build on interactions between the parties. However, the marketing literature does not pay much attention to the concept of interaction. Interaction is a central construct of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group as a result of a strong empirical focus on interfirm relations. However, even this research do...

Our aim is to examine intractability in relation to processes of change. Drawing upon data gathered from workshops, documentary sources and follow-up interviews, we identify an apparent contradiction between accounts of the self as change-oriented and subsequent inaction. We argue that the dominant metaphor typically used to explain such contradict...

Purpose This paper aims to look back at Michael Thomas' 1999 thesis regarding the impact on marketing of the information age. In his view, the information revolution of “e‐commerce” and computer‐mediated markets removes distance as a barrier between buyer and sellers, which could empower or exclude consumers. This paper re‐considers Thomas' assessm...

The Sage Handbook of Marketing Theory

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to suggest grounded theory as a potential methodology within the field of arts marketing and the creative industries in general, particularly if the research aims to gain insights into consumer experiences. Design/methodology/approach Grounded theory is a general, qualitative methodology that is concerned with...

Posthumanism is used as a collective term to understand “any discursive or bodily configuration that displaces the human, humanism, and the humanities” (Halberstam and Livingston 1995:vii, emphasis added). There are compelling reasons for introducing posthumanism to consumer research. Consumer research often theorises technology as an externalised...

As a relatively young, applied discipline, one major challenge for marketing has been to build its own distinct body of theory. One problem for teachers of the subject is that many students find books on marketing theory dense and difficult to follow. Most are written for academics and researchers, not for undergraduates and taught postgraduates. T...

This paper argues that existing critical dimensions of discussions in business schools are not always recognised. The theory and practice debate oversimplifies and unnecessarily polarises each view when both need questioning. Transforming management education involves difficulties, but must shift to more of a focus on encouraging managers to be cri...

This commentary reflects on the scope for expanding disciplinary space for the potential of critical marketing, focussing particularly on how the critical marketing project relates to conventional or 'mainstream' marketing. It proposes three types of engagement: i.e. the oppositional mode, the revivalist mode and the therapeutic mode. These are out...

The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies provides an overview of theoretical approaches, key topics, issues, and subject specialisms in management studies, as well as a set of reflections on the progress and prospects of Critical Management Studies (CMS). CMS has emerged as a movement that questions the authority and relevance of mainstre...

Purpose A large number of researchers and marketing textbooks see business marketing dominantly from the relationship marketing perspective. One can even talk about a “matrimony” of these domains; “RM=BM”. The Contemporary Marketing Practices studies, however, provide clear evidence of the coexistence of various marketing practices but offer no sup...

This paper was published as Journal of Macromarketing, 2009, 29 (2), pp. 193-206. It is available from http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/29/2/193. Doi: 10.1177/0276146708327633 Metadata only entry In this article, the history of relationship marketing (RM) is challenged. Similar to discussions of the marketing concept, the debates surrounding RM are l...

The paper looks at the nature of gender identities within the gothic subculture, a subculture firmly rooted in objects of consumption and bonded together by a common fascination with the iconic figure of the vampire. We argue that the gothic scene is a site of praxis where accepted gender norms are challenged and alternative sexual politics are est...

This article is structured as follows. After a brief note on the history of critique both within and outside marketing studies, five core marketing concepts or main objects of critique, based on critical marketing publications and conferences (including the marketing streams of the conference series in critical management studies since 1999) are re...

This paper introduces the special issue. Using the work of Connerton ( 2008) as our prism, we examine the role of amnesia in marketing theory, stressing its positive and negative benefits.

The challenge facing marketing (and business) is letting go of old assumptions and embarking on a journey of unprecedented uncertainty towards a more sustainable marketplace. Current marketing approaches are called into question in this paper and it is argued that they fail to represent adequately – and far less to confront – our relationships with...

This paper explores the interface of employee orientation and the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process based on an in-depth case study of a leading firm in the UK automotive services sector. Employee orientation is embedded in the Organizational Culture (OC) of the firm and manifested through its key elements, notably assumptions, values,...

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the value of adopting a middle‐range theory approach in conceptualizing and investigating marketing practices. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the work of Merton, the paper discusses O'Driscoll's article on the role of paradoxes (both theoretical as well as methodological paradoxes). Findings – The...

This paper presents a critique of attempts to define the variety of types and manifestations of 'the self' in its relationship with and in consumption. According to this view, consumers are regarded as identity seekers and makers and the market is the primary source of 'mythic and symbolic resources' through which people construct 'narratives of id...

The authors report the results of a small‐scale study of the attitudes of 174 British companies to managing their technology. Their data sources were replies to a questionnaire and interviews with 18 senior managers of the respondent companies. They relate their findings to current academic thinking about technolgy strategy, of which a bibliography...

The recognised complexity of the innovation process not only makes it difficult to manage, explain and study, but also presents problems for the development of a generalised model. Cooper's recent article in ‘R&D Management’ suggests that the construction of a generalised model is inappropriate because there appear to be a number of different types...

Purpose To show how the conceptual framework of the marketing discipline can be radically revised and rethought, to be better in tune with the realities of the producer‐consumer relationship in advanced societies in the twenty‐first century. Design/methodology/approach Commissioned as a viewpoint, with permission to “think aloud”. Findings Market...

Marketing is still widely perceived as simply the creator of wants and needs through selling and advertising and marketing theory has been criticized for not taking a more critical approach to the subject. This is because most conventional marketing thinking takes a broadly managerial perspective without reflecting on the wider societal implication...

We are all consumers now; and marketing is all encompassing, socially, culturally, politically, well beyond business and management. This introductory textbook explicitly takes a new deliberately non-managerial approach to the subject and is not organized according to the marketing functions used in companies - adverting, distribution, sales etc. f...

This paper reviews the recent paradigm debates in marketing and reflects on the current pluralism of paradigms. It makes the case that a future important direction for marketing theory is multiple paradigm research; an avenue that has been widely explored in organisation studies, but as yet has had little extended treatment in marketing or consumer...

Purpose – The concept of time is intrinsically linked to the conceptualization and empirical investigation of organizational processes such as customer relationship management (CRM). The purpose of this paper is to offer conceptual and methodological insights enabling the incorporation of temporal factors in the study of CRM. Design/methodology/app...

The aim of this paper is to explore how different underlying worldviews in marketing affect the perception of the environment and how these impact the choice between transactional or relational offerings. Furthermore, we aim to show that not only positivistic and interpretivist paradigms are present in all of the management disciplines, in strategy...

Styles brings together leading authorities from both academia and the marketing industry to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of the rapidly changing world of marketing communication in the 21st Century. Containing a broad tableau of perspectives, the book reflects the insights and experiences of academics and practitioners from both si...

An organization's ability to enjoy long-term competitive advantage is closely related to its capacity for knowledge creation, dissemination and use. From a practical point-of-view the value of this statement could be increased if suggestions could be made to managers as to what kind of knowledge to seek for their organization, where and how to look...

We present the story of a research exercise which encompassed the disciplines of finance, accountancy, marketing, organizational behaviour and strategy. The research developed through phases of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary enquiry and our intention is to contribute to an understanding of these by telling the story of our difficulties an...