Special issue on marketing practice and methods of inquiry

Citation

(2010), "Special issue on marketing practice and methods of inquiry", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 28 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/mip.2010.02028aaa.002

Special issue on marketing practice and methods of inquiry

Article Type: Call for papers From: Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Volume 28, Issue 1

Scope

Recent developments in a number of business and management disciplines including marketing have placed emphasis on understanding practice, which is central to the discipline and its development. Those who use research should be the communities of practice in the discipline but why is it that practitioners do not value much of the research produced by the marketing academy? Evidence from a number of journal articles suggests that this is the case and successive RAE reports in the UK acknowledge that this is the case. UK research councils such as ESRC and other organizations that fund research world-wide place value and emphasis on research in practice and dissemination to practice communities. Indeed Emerald, publishers of this journal, have a by-line that states: ``Research you can use'', implying that the research is useful to the practice community. There is often a wrong-headed assumption that theory is developed and then put into practice rather than theory emerging from practice. Indeed phrases such as ``knowledge transfer'', used by policy makers, implies that knowledge is a commodity that can be transferred through exchange processes. Practices are important to developing marketing theories in use and useful theories. Practices evolve in practice communities. Indeed the history of the development of marketing thought and marketing as a discipline taught in Business Schools emerged from the practice of marketing. Academic research and researchers have been accused of being irrelevant to the practice community whose concerns the research often claims to address.

In science disciplines: physics, biology and chemistry the paradigm for ``normal science'' is not as problematic as in management disciplines such as marketing where paradigms are contested and contestable. Rather than viewing this as problematic it allows multiple perspectives and pluralism of methods and this special issue welcomes contributions from across the spectrum of paradigms and methods employed in studying marketing practice.

Marketing practice may be researched in different contextual settings in which they are situated: for example, organizations in different sectors, of different size, in different locations, adopting different strategies, serving different markets, using different research methods and approaches. Themes: globalization, localization, digital distribution, networks and networking, marketing interaction, pricing, identity, reputation, innovation, change, applicable to a community of marketing practice with an emphasis on relevance as well as rigour.

Plurality of methods and methodological approaches: action research, critical reviews, grounded theories, narratives, sense-making, hermeneutics, heuristics, cognition and case studies and other approaches including mixing methods (and critical appraisal of benefits and limitations) discussing marketing practice and the methods of inquiry that can be used to develop, create and construct knowledge of marketing practice.

Papers could address notions of marketing practice from one perspective or a number of different perspectives. The following list is indicative of topics that are of interest for this special issue:

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  Constructing marketing practice

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  Making sense of marketing practice

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  Marketing planning practices

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  Marketing decision-making practices

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  Marketing research practices

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  Market research and intelligence-gathering practices

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  Research methods and methodologies applicable to marketing practice

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  Market analysis in practice

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  Market segmentation practice

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  Marketing information systems in practice

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  Strategizing practice

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  Marketing operational practice

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  Product innovation and product marketing practice

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  Service marketing practice

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  Sectoral marketing practice

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  Social marketing practice

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  Promotional practice

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  Market-pricing practice

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  Constructing marketing identities e.g. branding, imagery, reputation

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  Marketing interaction practices, networks and networking

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  The doing of marketing

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  Marketing stories of practice.

Submission guidelines

Submission will be taken to imply that the article constitutes original work that has not previously been published, accepted for publication, or is at present under consideration elsewhere. Submissions will be handled through the journal's online manuscript submission system, Manuscript Central (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mip). Please make sure that you adhere to the author guidelines available at the journal web site: www.emeraldinsight.com/mip.htm Details of how to set up your own account on Manuscript Central are provided at the journal web site. When submitting your manuscript you will be asked to specify whether the manuscript is for a normal issue of Marketing Intelligence & Planning or for this special issue; please make sure that you select the ``Marketing practice and methods of inquiry'' special issue option. Initial submissions will be reviewed by the Guest Editor and if judged suitable then placed for double-blind review. Articles should be no more than 6,000 words in length including references. One author should be clearly identified on jointly authored articles as the main administrative contact for the submission. Papers should be submitted to Manuscript Central by April 5, 2010. Any questions about the special issue can be directed to the Guest Editor.

Special issue Guest Editor:

Tony Hines, Professor of Marketing, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK. E-mail: a.hines@mmu.ac.uk