In this paper, I argue that an elevated macro level perspective is imperative for conducting critical studies in the fields of marketing and consumer research. There are epistemic barriers to operating in this manner, and I offer several suggestions for overcoming these barriers. Finally, I...

Drawing inspiration from the 1910 book Finanzkapital by Rudolf Hilferding, this paper explores the nature of financial capital in early 21st century from a political-economic and culture theory perspective. It offers suggestions for transcending the crises-prone contemporary economic systems....

India’s retailing sector is expected to remain in a transition spiral for the foreseeable future. Because of India’s unique context – in terms of history, regulation, institutions, demographics, geography, and traditions – there is limited applicability of the available theories of...

India and the People's Republic of China, whose telecommunications networks are among the largest in the world, have a number of areas for broadband use ripe for exploration. Already in 2004 with more mobile phone users than any other nation, China was one of the three fastest growing countries...

By tracing the history of the links of financialization to consumer behaviors and marketer actions in the 20th century, this paper aims to show that consumer market phenomena are often shaped by the imperatives of finance. The paper employs selective historical overviews, mainly focusing on the...

This viewpoint paper develops the major meta-dimensions for bubbles of various types, ranging from the hype and speculative bubbles that sometimes form around some movies to major economic bubbles such as in housing properties and financial assets like stocks. Based on these meta-dimensions, a...

A key component of how human beings organize their lives is how they perceive and make sense of what it means to be human; that is, their subjectivity. Human subjectivity has taken on different dominant forms across history, the consumer being one of the most dominant contemporary form. Based on...

We introduce the concept of the epistemic consumption object. Such consumption objects are characterized by two interrelated features. First, epistemic consumption objects reveal themselves progressively through interaction, observation, use, examination, and evaluation. Such layered revelation...

Technology-aided ubiquity and instantaneity have emerged as major goals of most information technology providers and of certain classes of users such as "road warriors". New mobile technologies promise genie-in-a-bottle type near-magical qualities with anytime, anywhere access to information and...