The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the instrumental perspective on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in practice and theory by relying on sociological analyses of a well known organization: the Italian Mafia. Legal businesses might share features of the Mafia, such as the...

In contrast to content-based models of corporate social responsibility (CSR), we propose a process model of organizational sensemaking explaining how managers think, discuss, and act with respect to their key stakeholders and the world at large. We also propose a set of cognitive, linguistic,...

Past decades have witnessed the growing success of branding as a corporate activity as well as a rise in anti-brand activism. While appearing to be contradictory, both trends have emerged from common sources - the transition from industrial to post-industrial society, and the advent of...

This article explores the challenge of merging brands successfully following corporate mergers. It develops a framework for corporate and product branding strategies, as well as for creating the appropriate brand identity among the merged firm's target consumers. A critical key to successful...

Traditional western society is based on a balance between private and public interests, the economic and the social spheres of life. However, in recent years this balance has been completely upset, in favour of the private and economic. This has driven six wedges between business and society,...

A brand management framework is routinely advocated in gaining market share leadership within a product market, with consequent advantages accruing to the leading brand. The specifics of such a marketing-mix-based approach often fail to explain the absolute market dominance of a leader over all...

A system of exchange for marketing pharmaceuticals to developing countries is described, identifying the key conflicts among its constituents. A research agenda for marketing is suggested, involving both systemic characteristics and exchange behaviours. A framework for public policy appropriate...

Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individual’s relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and conative antecedents of relative attitude are identified as...

Discriminating between analytic and nonanalytic categorization mechanisms can be of value in designing marketing stimuli that facilitate consumers' acceptance of a product/brand. Two methodological paradigms were employed, the first involving the outcome of categorization judgments made by...

This study investigated the effects of mood on product evaluation. Subjects were asked to evaluate the stereo speakers on which they heard music that induced either a good or a bad mood. Subjects' awareness of the music as the source of their mood was manipulated to be high or low. The results...