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Purpose - Human needs and motivation are a central tenet of marketing discourse. In this exploratory study we attempt to understand the factors that drive individuals' higher-order human needs in a relatively new electronic marketing context, that of virtual worlds.Design methodology approach - The study employs the higher-order needs from Abraham Maslow's hierarchy (i.e. belonging, esteem and self-actualization) and a series of drivers related to the characteristics of the virtual world medium, personality characteristics, channel interaction, and demographic criteria. Data is collected via a survey delivered in Second Life (n=404) and analyzed using PLS path modeling.Findings - Arousal, pleasure, and individualism act as particularly potent drivers of higher-order needs in virtual world channels, while channel intensity, affinity for technology and gender act as lesser drivers.Practical implications - An understanding of personal motivations affords us an insight into consumers' needs and wants and is a useful precursor to targeting them and in effectively fulfilling these needs. This has implications not only in a single channel but across multiple channels.Originality value - This study represents one of the first attempts to better understand consumer behavior in virtual world channels, and, by so doing, better inform our understanding of personal needs in the modern multi-channel environment.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the necessary mechanisms for coordination in complex industrial networks which are temporary in nature, known as temporary organisations (TOs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on two in-depth case studies conducted in the UK construction industry. Findings – The paper outlines the necessary mechanisms for coordination in TOs – referred to as “scaffolding practices” – which ensure consistency (stability in terms of thinking and action), consensus (agreement) and co-constitutiveness (personal pledges and commitments). Research limitations/implications – The study provides practical implications for situations where actors create temporary organisational specific logics. This “logic” helps explain how actors are able to undertake tasks of finite duration where members lack familiarity and have competing loyalties. Originality/value – The paper is novel in that it represents the first extant attempt to examine “temporary industrial organizations” where individuals from different (often competing) organisations collaborate on a task for a defined period and suggests how coordination may be achieved.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review Advertising in a Free Society – a defence of the advertising industry – by Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, and to evaluate its status as a justifiable forgotten classic of the marketing literature. Design/Methodology/Approach – Advertising in a Free Society is placed in historical context (the Cold War), summarised and reviewed. Findings – During the 1950s, as the UK experienced a period of affluence and growing consumerism, the advertising industry was again subject to the criticisms that had been levelled at it by influential scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Against this context, Advertising in a Free Society deserves to be remembered as one of the earliest defences of advertising and remains highly relevant. Harris and Seldon were leading figures in the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), joining shortly after its inception, which became an influential group both in the UK and abroad, influencing policy on free markets. Originality/Value – Although Advertising in a Free Society attracted few citations (going out of print between its publication in 1959 and 2014 when it was republished by the IEA), and largely forgotten by marketing scholars, it provides a significant source for marketing historians interested in advertising criticism, the growth of the British advertising industry and the role of advertising in democratic societies. A reanalysis of the text situated in its historical context – the height of the Cold War – reveals that the text can be viewed as an artefact of the conflict, deploying the rhetoric of the period in defending the advertising industry and highlighting the positive role that advertising could make in free societies.

Purpose Recent research places an increased emphasis on the inclusion of the customer in value creation, learning and innovation processes; yet, there remains a gap in the understanding of just how such customer involvement may work. This paper aims to address this gap by examining two aspects of customer involvement – their knowledgeability and their agency. In addition, three boundaries (semantic, syntactic and pragmatic) across which relationship development occurs and which may facilitate and/or inhibit value co-creation, collaborative learning and innovation processes have been explored. Design/methodology/approach Three case studies have been used. Two were large-scale construction projects in the UK, and one was a global professional accounting firm in the USA. Findings Customers may become frustrated if not allowed to exercise their agency. However, their involvement can create tensions for suppliers who may have to become more tolerant of divergent goals. In respect of knowledgeability, it was found that constraint satisfaction is important in allowing customers to reconcile their personal knowledge schema with the collective schema. However, it was also noted that customer knowledgeability brings with it challenges for suppliers, who must find ways to add value for such customers. Research limitations/implications A number of further questions relating to the agency and knowledgeability of customers and their inclusion in value co-creation, collaborative learning and innovation processes have been posed. The need for guidance in identifying and minimising the barriers to crossing semantic, syntactic and pragmatic boundaries between customers and suppliers has also been highlighted. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to research in the field, in that how the inclusion of the customer in business networks alters current assumptions and practices is investigated.

Purpose - Firms collaborate for many reasons; however, sharing resources would seem a primary motive. This paper seeks to argue that in many instances firms collaborate to become part of a knowledge network - to learn about their industry and collectively use their knowledge to serve their own customers more effectively in a competitive environment.Design methodology approach - This is a conceptual paper; however, the authors illustrate the work with examples from the automotive industry.Findings - The authors conclude that it is necessary to expand traditional approaches to understanding networks to include the nature and purpose of the interactions between the firms, as well as the structural features of the network and the development of shared meaning and consensus among the network participants.Research limitations implications - The authors demonstrate the need to take a broader view of learning and collaboration in networks.Practical implications - The automotive and other industries are beginning to witness firms collaborating with competitors and other firms that can add value through collective learning. What seems certain is that for many industries the basis of future competition will be collaborative learning communities versus collaborative learning communities rather than OEM versus OEM in competing for resources and market share.Originality value - The paper examines how and why firms interact and how this influences what learning is shared, and how such learning is utilised by the firms involved. The paper explores the concept of collective learning, and discusses how the nature and purpose of the interactions between network partners facilitate key learning capabilities.

Purpose – This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance. Design/methodology/approach – An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews. Findings – This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices. Research limitations/implications – The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies. Practical implications – This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities. Originality/value – A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.

Several authors have suggested that virtual worlds provide the potential for an altered reality for their users, who may seek to experiment with different personalities, appearances and personal needs. This paper empirically tests this assertion using Maslow's three higher order needs as the base. A survey delivered in the virtual world Second Life examines needs in real-life and the virtual world and personal characteristics. Using ANOVA the paper tests for differences in needs between the two environments and according to personal characteristics. The study finds that real-life needs significantly dominate virtual world needs. However, the pattern of needs in Second Life is different to real-life needs and emphasizes higher order needs, particularly self-actualization. This is particularly the case for the most innovative users of technology. Needs in real-life are still the key motivator for consumers, but the results also demonstrate the notion of an 'altered reality' for some respondents.

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the characteristics of buyer-supplier relationship dissolution in China.Design methodology approach - The paper presents the results of nine in-depth interviews of Chinese managers of dissolved long-term business relationships.Findings - The paper finds that it is common in China for relationships to have a transferable \"energy\" after the dissolution of a relationship due to the guanxi that exists between individuals prior to dissolution. It is also common for dysfunctional relationships to \"fade away\" so as not to lose \"face\" for a business partner or damage any guanxi developed by abruptly ending relations. Additionally, a characteristic of dissolution in China is the involvement of a third-party (an individual who introduced subsequent business partners), who would often then play an active role in the dissolution of the relationship.Research limitations implications - The findings are based on data from managers in private enterprises with no examination of state-owned enterprises.Practical implications - The paper offers guidelines for the characteristics of relationship dissolution in China that make it distinctive, particularly in comparison to dissolution in a Western context.Originality value - This study contributes to the understanding of relationship dissolution by examining buyer-supplier relationship dissolution in China. The findings of this study suggest that much can be gained by examining predominantly western views of relationship functionality and dysfunctionality in different cultural contexts.

This study quantifies the link between marketing and rulings on competition or antitrust law made by U.K. competition authorities. To determine whether differences in competition systems influence how marketing actions are interpreted by a European Union competition agency, the authors conduct a comprehensive examination of U.K. competition rulings from 1950 to 2005. Business activities judged to be permissible in the United States and anticompetitive acts in the United Kingdom and European Union occur frequently and are closely linked to marketing behaviors in U.K. competition investigations. The authors conclude that marketers in international firms need to develop a greater awareness of different national competition law systems and to contribute more to the ongoing discussion about the present and future form of competition policy.