The Lincoln Magna Carta: marketing a document that changed the world

From the field of Runnymede in 1215, to later English parliamentary struggles, across the seas to a fledgling American democracy, then onwards in time to all parts of the globe where it encourages human rights and helps shapes legal systems, the Magna Carta has transformed the world. Now there are only four copies remaining of the original manuscript, one of which is owned by Lincoln Cathedral of the UK. This paper provides a critical account of the marketing of the Magna Carta to three target groups of the 21st century. These are the schools market, the general visitor market to Lincoln Castle, where the document is on display and the American market, which sees the Magna Carta when it is on tour. This paper identifies a number of marketing problems, arguing that a failure to implement an effective overall strategy has led to missed customer opportunities. This is a problem compounded by one of brand identity, where political, historical and religious discourses are allowed to converge onto the marketing of the Magna Carta in an undisciplined way, resulting in positioning difficulties. Finally, recommendations are made regarding the implementation of a more strategic approach to marketing the Great Charta

Unfit for practical purpose: critically examining the claims to validity of marketing management discourse

This paper critically evaluates the dominant discourse of academic marketing management which is held to be capable of structuring practice. In addressing this issue and the concerns of the marketing as practice track, this paper draws on critical theory, discourse analysis, and social constructionism. The latter involved carrying out two groups of in depth interviews with marketing managers. The latter’s practice talk is taken as the object of inquiry. As theoretical structures facilitating investigation, the Habermasian notion of validity claims and the critical framework of Minger’s (2000) are utilised, in order to discover what marketers say they do, as opposed to what the dominant discourse says they should do. Minger’s identifies four different features of a critical approach. In terms of a critique of rhetoric, findings demonstrate that normative marketing is based on a poorly reasoned argument about the nature of managerial action, where little or no reference is made to the mental models that people in organisations work within. Secondly, a critique of the tradition of marketing management demonstrates that the boundaries of the right approach have been set by a powerful group who use the dominant discourse in a fashion that furthers their own ends. Thirdly, a critique of authority illustrates that the dominant discourse is seen as the one way to conceptualise marketing, whereas practitioners actually exhibit a range of alternative perspectives. Finally, a critique of objectivity shows that marketing management is not a pre-programmed, transferable technology, but is largely constituted by human agency. As a result of these findings, this paper contends that the dominant academic marketing orthodoxy does not meet the Habermasian claim to validity and is unfit for practical purpose. It is additionally argued that the orthodoxy is damaging, as it contributes to an impoverished understanding of marketing management practice

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

Optometrists with defective vision: marketing orientation in the independent optical sector

Research into the marketing activities of the optical sector is extremely limited. The aim of this paper is redress this imbalance, and to examine and assess the role and relevance of marketing orientation to the independent optometrist. A national survey was undertaken using an adapted form of the MARKOR questionnaire, which sought to establish the level of marketing orientation of independent practitioners. This was supplemented by an in depth interview with a senior figure in an influential independent practitioner support organisation. The research shows that gaps exist in the market orientation activity of the independents. There is a lack of acceptance of the marketing function and practitioners score poorly on a number of aspects of marketing implementation. Whilst the response rate was good, those who completed the questionnaire represent a relatively small sample of optical practitioners and further research is required to validate the findings here. With the independent sector facing intensive competition and lacking in marketing orientation, a key recommendation is that the education and training of optometrists should incorporate a strong marketing and entrepreneurial element

Small business and marketing management: seeking relevance through the metaphor

This paper suggests that one way to make small business research more relevant to practitioners and academics is by using an approach based on the socially constructed metaphor. Drawing on some research which used a series of phenomenological interviews, this paper demonstrates how the ‘metaphors in use’ of a small group of marketing managers gives meaning to their world and informs action. Despite the limited scope of the research, what is revealed are ways of managing in small businesses which it is argued traditional methods of inquiry are largely incapable of uncovering. The varied insights into managers life worlds which are provided by analysing the metaphors in this paper, has enabled the researcher to suggest that the basis for a new type of creative theory exists. This theory, based on locally defined rationalities, has the potential to open up small business marketing and turn it into a contested area of knowledge. It is argued that the latter is not the case at present, due to the dominance of a need for replication and generalisation in many researchers’ agendas

Strategic marketing planning and phenomenology: challenging the dominant paradigm

This paper contends that the conventional rational model of strategic marketing planning is flawed. It is argued that the latter leads to the subsumption of individual perceptions of marketing reality within universal systemic based theories, which are unable to take account of the subjective and discontinuous worlds of marketing managers. It is proposed that in order to better understand marketing decision making in organisations, a phenomenological perspective be adopted. Further research, utilising the phenomenological interview, should aim to examine the local circumstances and practical reasoning used by marketing managers in their ‘life worlds’, as they go about making marketing decisions

Marketing in SMEs: assessing the contribution of a business school to the development of competent managers

The purpose of this paper is to assess the contribution that a business school can make to the development of marketing competencies in SME managers. Literature reveals that in comparison to undergraduate marketing learning, less attention is paid to the SME manager. The primary research here is based on workshops run by tutors from the University of Lincoln’s Business school marketing group. Workshops were organised around an entrepreneurial marketing theme and based on a philosophy of participative learning. Course member’s responses to the workshops were gathered via a questionnaire that allowed for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data. The results of both tutor and course participant evaluation suggests that models from entrepreneurial marketing, as opposed to traditional marketing, provide a sound basis for the development of SME managers skills. The positive course evaluation also suggests a good degree of satisfaction with the learning methods used in the workshops. Further research should be undertaken to assess the degree to which workshop thinking has become embedded in the actual practices of managers who attended the course. Finally, it is posited that there exists considerable scope for future workshops of this nature at both a national and local level

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

Fostering Chinese firms through entrepreneurship, globalisation and international finance

The success of ventures that have pursued non traditional marketing approaches may be attributed to a range of forward thinking practices which it is argued here, should be the starting and finishing points for Chinese companies. Chinese multinationals need to develop entrepreneurial ability more compatible with their growth in the international markets. Chinas educational framework is still largely based on rote learning, which is a method typically seen as ill suited to modern needs. Many Chinese high tech sectors are still dominated by overseas know-how and the ongoing strength of wholly foreign- owned enterprises

The student practitioner: developing skills through the marketing research consultancy project

This paper examines the perceptions of a group of undergraduate students undertaking marketing research consultancy projects for employers. The projects are informed by action learning. The author’s intention is to demonstrate that this method of learning facilitates a level of student skill development that more traditional marketing courses find difficult to achieve. Design/methodology/approach The study is underpinned by an interpretivist approach. Research involved students taking part in two focus groups during the consultancy and the completion of pre consultancy and post consultancy open ended questionnaires. Findings Findings suggest that the marketing consultancy project represents a way to help develop the general skills required by novice marketers. Students show an understanding of the importance of acquiring communicative, interpersonal, creative and team based skills. These assist them in developing a practical knowledge neglected by much existing marketing teaching. Research limitations/implications The findings although based on a small sample, indicate that marketing education if based on action learning, positively engages learners. The emphasis on practice suggests that experience, work place socialisation and tacit knowledge, are essential components of learning about marketing that often get overlooked in more traditional marketing courses. Originality/value This paper suggests that much established marketing education does not take sufficient account of experiential based learning and instead, is wedded to a model of teaching that sees marketing as being mainly about the transmission of administratively based knowledge. This paper argues that relying overly on the latter will not provide tomorrows marketers with an appropriate skill set for employment