Travels with the Flying Dutchman: marketing managers, marketing planning and the metaphors of practice

A review of the literature on strategic marketing planning reveals that the manner in which it is carried out in practice does not appear to reflect the way in which it is written about in texts. It is also clear that the exploration of marketing processes in organisations is seriously neglected from a phenomenological perspective. In order to explore this area, and the lived reality of planning from marketing managers perspectives, a research methodology was adopted using the phenomenological interview. A key research question focused investigation on determining what successful marketing decision making expertise actually consists of, if it is not about the explicit skills and knowledge embedded in the rational technical model of planning. The subsequent phenomenological analysis of the interviews demonstrated that the complexity of marketing planning and individual action cannot be collapsed into a textual model. What managers drew on was a qualitative, locally constructed knowledge base. Marketing decision making and action was found to be based within a locally enacted hermeneutical circle of talk, relationships, tacit knowledge and emergent issues, where the plans they wrote acted as cues to action rather than as prescriptive guides. Based on these findings, a revised theoretical framework is proposed for understanding marketing planning. This framework draws on the socially constructed metaphors used by the marketing managers in this study to explain their practical activity. It is argued that this theoretical approach offers up ideas for action to other marketers, rather than prescriptions. It also indicates that much marketing activity is successful yet diverse, both in form and style

A case of mistaken identity: theory, practice and the marketing textbook

PURPOSE One field in business where there is a purported gap between theory and practice is in marketing. This paper examines one area of the debate, the degree of congruence between the established textbook theories of marketing and the practical activity of marketing managers. METHODOLOGY/ APPROACH Phenomenological interviews were carried out with senior marketing managers from a diverse range of organisations. The aim was to establish what types of factors inform manager’s approaches to practice. Meaningful comparisons were made possible, as a range of marketing texts were also examined. FINDINGS Textbook theories represent a flawed view of the practitioner’s world. Many texts are very similar, based on an implicitly systems based paradigm. Universal truths are seen as indispensable modes of representational language. In contrast, the interviews with managers show that marketing is a locally contingent activity, occupying a discursive space separate from textbook theory. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS Scholars desire to reduce real world activity to over arching explanations has led to the simplification of theory. Textbooks should embrace an approach based on interpretative insights into the realities of marketing practice. Moves away from the `one size fits all’ theory need to occur, to a situation where marketing is recognised as being about a socially mediated, multifaceted approach to business activity. ORGINALITY Substantial attention has been paid to what many commentators regard as an academic practitioner divide in marketing. Most of this concerns the status of research into marketing. Considerable less attention is devoted to the position of the marketing textbook. This paper helps to remedy the situation. Ideas are offered up for the development of marketing knowledge and ways are suggested to help close the theory practice gap in the discipline, through the medium of the textbook

Mapping domain characteristics influencing Analytics initiatives: The example of Supply Chain Analytics

Purpose: Analytics research is increasingly divided by the domains Analytics is applied to. Literature offers little understanding whether aspects such as success factors, barriers and management of Analytics must be investigated domain-specific, while the execution of Analytics initiatives is similar across domains and similar issues occur. This article investigates characteristics of the execution of Analytics initiatives that are distinct in domains and can guide future research collaboration and focus. The research was conducted on the example of Logistics and Supply Chain Management and the respective domain-specific Analytics subfield of Supply Chain Analytics. The field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management has been recognized as early adopter of Analytics but has retracted to a midfield position comparing different domains. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses Grounded Theory based on 12 semi-structured Interviews creating a map of domain characteristics based of the paradigm scheme of Strauss and Corbin. Findings: A total of 34 characteristics of Analytics initiatives that distinguish domains in the execution of initiatives were identified, which are mapped and explained. As a blueprint for further research, the domain-specifics of Logistics and Supply Chain Management are presented and discussed. Originality/value: The results of this research stimulates cross domain research on Analytics issues and prompt research on the identified characteristics with broader understanding of the impact on Analytics initiatives. The also describe the status-quo of Analytics. Further, results help managers control the environment of initiatives and design more successful initiatives.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli

Strategic adoption of logistics and supply chain management

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a thorough understanding of the adoption of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in practice, particularly at a strategic level, through an investigation of the four perspectives taxonomy of the relationship between logistics and SCM. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a comprehensive literature review, three specific research questions are proposed. The empirical work addresses these questions and comprised three phases: focussed interviews, a questionnaire survey and focus groups. Findings: The findings provide a usage profile of the four perspectives and indicate a divergence between the understanding and adoption of logistics and SCM principles and concepts at a strategic level in firms. The findings also identify the critical success factors (CSFs) and inhibitors to success in addressing this divergence. Research limitations/implications: The insights generated using the authors’ methodologically pluralist research design could be built upon to include case studies, grounded theory and action research. Replicating the research in other geographical areas could facilitate international comparisons. Practical implications: The findings allow practitioners to compare their perspectives on the relationship between logistics and SCM with those of their peers. The CSFs and inhibitors to success provide a rational basis for realising the strategic potential of logistics and SCM in practice. Originality/value: New insights are generated into practitioner perspectives vis-à-vis logistics vs SCM. A fresh understanding of those factors which drive and hinder the adoption of strategic SCM is also developed and presented

Getting Better by Design: Evaluation of a programme to support the voluntary sector in Scotland

Better by Design was developed in 2013 by the Big Lottery Fund Scotland in response to the complex and changing landscape for voluntary sector organisations delivering services on the ground with people or communities. It aimed to support a process of change, and prioritised organisations focusing on social care, employability, health and housing where intervening earlier or preventing needs emerging could make a real difference. The programme encouraged sustainability in the widest sense to enable organisations to meet the needs of their beneficiaries better now and in the future.The chance to learn in this way and the challenge to habitual ways of thinking and doing, have made a significant change to mindsets in a number of organisations and at times, brought a new quality of engagement in partnership settings. This report shows that design-led approaches do have a great deal to contribute in creating the new organisational cultures of collaboration and mutual learning necessary for public service reform

Migrating agile methods to standardized development practice

Situated process and quality frame-works offer a way to resolve the tensions that arise when introducing agile methods into standardized software development engineering. For these to be successful, however, organizations must grasp the opportunity to reintegrate software development management, theory, and practice