Marketing and Entrepreneurship: An integrated view from the entrepreneur's perspective

This article explores the role and significance of marketing in the entrepreneurial process.Utilising an 11-year longitudinal study, supported by a context-rich interpretive approach, the interrelationship between marketing and entrepreneurship at different stages of the business life cycle are examined. Under an effectuation and enactment framework, entrepreneurship is neither ends-driven nor means-driven, but a consequence of the interplay between actors and social context through ongoing enactment. As the ‘joint core actors of the business’, entrepreneurs actively interact with their customers in shaping the marketing activities of the business to meet their ends

Experimental study of Ar 38 +α reaction cross sections relevant to the Ca 41 abundance in the solar system

In massive stars, the Ca41(n,α)Ar38 and K41(p,α)Ar38 reactions have been identified as the key reactions governing the abundance of Ca41, which is considered as a potential chronometer for solar system formation. So far, due to experimental limitations, the Ca41(n,α)Ar38 reaction rate is solely based on statistical model calculations. In the present study, we have measured the time-inverse Ar38(α,n)Ca41 and Ar38(α,p)K41 reactions using an active target detector. The reactions were studied in inverse kinematics using a 133-MeV Ar38 beam and He4 as the active-gas target. Both excitation functions were measured simultaneously in the energy range of 6.8≤Ec.m.≤9.3 MeV. Using detailed balance the Ca41(n,α)Ar38 and K41(p,α)Ar38 reaction rates were determined, which suggested a 20% increase in the Ca41 yield from massive stars

A Metaheuristic Framework for Bi-level Programming Problems with Multi-disciplinary Applications

Bi-level programming problems arise in situations when the decision maker has to take into account the responses of the users to his decisions. Several problems arising in engineering and economics can be cast within the bi-level programming framework. The bi-level programming model is also known as a Stackleberg or leader-follower game in which the leader chooses his variables so as to optimise his objective function, taking into account the response of the follower(s) who separately optimise their own objectives, treating the leader’s decisions as exogenous. In this chapter, we present a unified framework fully consistent with the Stackleberg paradigm of bi-level programming that allows for the integration of meta-heuristic algorithms with traditional gradient based optimisation algorithms for the solution of bi-level programming problems. In particular we employ Differential Evolution as the main meta-heuristic in our proposal.We subsequently apply the proposed method (DEBLP) to a range of problems from many fields such as transportation systems management, parameter estimation and game theory. It is demonstrated that DEBLP is a robust and powerful search heuristic for this class of problems characterised by non smoothness and non convexity

Full wallets: the customer perspective on loyalty cards

To be ascertained

Realpolitik: consumer morality and emotions in marketing relationships

To be ascertained

Relationship marketing defined?

This collection is a long-awaited one-stop resource that draws together all the important readings on the origins, development and future of Relationship Marketing. With classic and contemporary writings from influential figures in the field, this landmark work explores the theory and practice of Relationship Marketing. Papers map out past and present research and pose exciting questions about Relationship Marketing's future. This definitive collection includes 59 articles and is accompanied by an insightful introduction that draws together key issues. A concise rationale behind the selection of papers is also provided. The SAGE Library in Business and Management is a first-class series of major works that brings together the most influential and field-defining articles, both classical and contemporary, in a number of key areas of research and inquiry in Business and Management. Each multi-volume set represents a collection of the essential published works collated from the foremost publications in the field by an Editor or Editorial Team of renowned international stature. They include a full introduction, presenting a rationale for the selection and mapping out the discipline's past, present and likely future. This series is designed to be a 'gold standard' for university libraries throughout the world with a programme or interest in Business and Management Studies

Steam Powered Marketing

Paper presented at the Academy of Marketing conference

Lingua franca

After briefly reviewing the origins of Relationship Marketing, and highlighting the prevalence of studies taking a practitioner viewpoint, this paper justifies the benefits in adopting a customer perspective for further RM fieldwork. Acknowledging the low level of conceptual and theoretical development in RM, it argues in favour of the application of qualitative methods in general and focus groups in particular. The main body of the paper discusses customer-respondent usage of metaphor and anthropomorphisms, drawing on the data from 20 focus groups with customers of 10 prominent firms operating in the East Midlands region of the UK. The paper presents a typology of the metaphors used, and analyses customer anthropomorphism of the firm's gender, distinguishing features and most importantly, their analogies of its relationship to them. The paper concludes that the majority of the metaphors imply a customer perspective on relationships with firms as being confrontational and competitive, rather than mutually beneficial and finishes by discussing the implications of this and the customer perception of their relationships with firms for the academy and practitioners

The past, present and future of relationship marketing

In the light of the redefinition of 'marketing' by the AMA in service/relational terms, and a recent review of the current vector of research in marketing (Littler and Tynan 2005), it seems an appropriate time to provide a substantial review of the past, present and likely future of what has become known as Relationship Marketing, together with an extensive list of key RM literature. This paper will take a reader through the origin, development and current state of RM research, with notes on the future of the research and practice of RM. The paper concludes that RM is here to stay, whether or not it is recognised as the dominant logic/paradigm of marketing