Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to enhance and further an understanding of business to business (B2B) contexts in relation to sensemaking "translations" between "performing" and "representing" of meanings that evolve within an interacting duality. The implications for research are outlined and a need for a corresponding duality in research methods is emphasised.


Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper exploring some of the main implications for indistrial marketing & purchasing group (IMP) and other B2B research of abandoning Cartesian privileging of generalised cognitive ideas over embodied activities in context.


Findings
Dualities of general structures and contextual practices are mutually constituted by performing and representing translations. They are described as "chiasmic" or "polyphonic" and regarded as polyvalent, dynamic and non-linear. Embodied contextual activities are described as of equal importance to de-contextual cognitive structures in meaning-making.


Practical implications
Practical actors within business networks are encouraged to continue relying upon practical improvisational coping skills that enable them to be effective, embodied "bricoleurs" within complex, often unpredictable and regularly unmanageable, eventful B2B contexts.


Originality/value
A post-Cartesian focus upon ideas and activities, structure and agency as dynamically evolving multiple dualities promotes an appreciation that contextual practices and decontextualised structures are mutually constituted; supporting a practical and pragmatic turn towards polyvalent and ephemeral, contextualised solutions to a diverse multiplicity of problems and issues. A post-Cartesian focus upon ideas and activities, and structure and agency as dynamically evolving multiple dualities promotes an appreciation that contextual practices and decontextualised structures are mutually constituted and a practical and pragmatic "turn" towards polyvalent and ephemeral, contextualised solutions to diverse problems and issues involving business relationships and interaction.

This article argues that cross cultural management is dominated by the objectivist paradigm of functionalism which is itself embedded in an ethnocentric western culture characterized by amoral rationalism, affective neutrality and orientation to Truth. The discussion uses research into Chinese culture and Chinese management to contextualize the debate. Western culture, it is argued, is an inadequate vehicle for understanding Chinese culture and management. The scientific sub-culture of functionalism is hegemonic within western social scientific paradigms. The paradigm hermeticism and paradigm `wars' characterizing this contested domain prevent integrative and synthetic views. The approaches of Hofstede and Schwartz exacerbate the problem, resulting in avoidance of an agenda to understand the complexities of culture beyond a western mechanistic, quantitative parochialism. The problem is summarized as attributable to the structural obsession of western social science that results in the denigration of understanding of process. Two possible solutions to this problem are outlined; namely `reform' and `radical change'.

In response to Barry Wilkinson's (1996) criticisms of the culturalist and institutionalist explanations of the structure of business in East Asia, this paper examines the influence of culture at the macro- and meso-level of business activity in Hong Kong. Aspects of Wilkinson's critique are criticized as unhelpful, whereas other aspects of it are taken as valid and are addressed. A theoretical framework is outlined which synthesises culturalist and institutionalist explanations constituted by combinations of models from formal market and hierarchy perspectives and informal network perspectives. This enables sufficient complexity to identify cultural influences, and reflects a general submission that only complex models contain the multiple social, political, economic and other influences inherent in cultural investigation. Simple organizational models, based upon assumptions of the market, are shown to be culture-bound in Anglo-Saxon ethnocentrism and of little validity in the Hong Kong context. The considerable methodological problems and research issues associated with this desirable synthesis of the culturalist and institutionalist explanations are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed upon the relevance of a 'network' approach, along with implications for 'strategy'. In addition, the implications for the promotion of 'intercultural' and interdisciplinary approaches amongst social scientists interested in Hong Kong and other 'Confucian Dynamic' economies are outlined.

Purpose
This paper aims to explore the implications of applying a Bourdieusian meta-framework to business interaction and relationship building within networks. The motive is to advocate the use of Bourdieu's work in its entirety rather than sub-optimal use of selected concepts in isolation.


Design/methodology/approach
The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore how a Bourdieusian framework benefits understanding of structure/agency relations as a mutually constituted duality within business networks. The concept of duality regard relationships as emergent from synergies between structure and agency made possible by the translational capacity of "habitus". Habitus is, therefore, the main intersection, catalyst or chiasmus between structure and agency facilitating enacted, emergent properties of business relationships.


Findings
The Bourdieusian framework suggests that structures and practices are related by multiple dualities brokered by multiple knowledge forms. The main contribution that this triadic framework brings to debates on structure-agency relationships is mostly contained in the concept of "habitus", which is identified as a translation vehicle provides critical brokerage between actors' resource structures and activities. It is a key concept that helps us understand how structures and agentic behaviours are equally important and mutually constituting influences upon emergent properties of business interaction. For business marketing, this means that the habitus of actors' schemas are both embodied and cognitive. Habitus acts as the main catalyst for emergent and diverse capital resources and a plural set of skills essential for effective practical activities.


Research limitations/implications
The research focus of a Bourdieusian framework is upon investigating a triadic understanding of concepts of habitus, field and practice as elements of a "pan-relational" or mutually constituted amalgam facilitated by a corresponding triadic relationship between three types of knowledge; namely, "illusio", "phrónesis" and "poíesis".


Practical implications
By adopting a Bourdieusian framework, this paper can regard the practical development of durable business relationships as involving interactions that adequately co-ordinate the different habitus, sub-fields and practices of parties as shared. The implication is that the practitioner needs to be equally competent in their use of "illusio", "phrónesis" and "poíesis" as different knowledge forms whose sum is greater than its parts.


Originality/value
The approach reveals that habitus emphasizes that structures are never entirely conscious and calculated schemas as they contain unconscious, embodied habits fuelled by tacit, cultural knowledge infused with symbolism, mythologies and rituals, which are communicated mostly indirectly through analogical reasoning, narrative, heuristics and embodied gestures.

PurposeThis paper aims to look into changing future landscapes of business interaction, relationships and networks using the lens of the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and his key notions of polyphony, heteroglossia and dialogism.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper exploring the complex dualities of Bakhtin's approach involving eternally competing, paradoxical forces of unity and fragmentation; continuity and change; and coherence and incongruity.FindingsBakhtin's approach suggests that all phenomena at all levels involve a complex struggle between organizational unity and dis-organizational fragmentation. Bakhtin provides theoretical support for David Boje's notion of "antenarratives" as key in the making of socially constructed futures. Antenarratives are bridging "tropes" between unifying narratives and fragmented stories.Research limitations/implicationsAntenarratives need to be a focal interest in researching Bakhtinian dualities because they are a catalyst and chiasmus traveling between and inter-animating relations between narratives and stories.Practical implicationsThe Bakhtinian schema suggests that practitioners need to maintain a reliance upon "phronesis" or practical wisdom and dexterity that allows them to adapt and improvise in fast-changing and multiple situations and contexts. To enable them to do this, such practical capabilities need the combined cultivation of appropriate embodied skills, capabilities in communicative and symbolic persuasion, as well as analytical reasoning.Originality/valueBakhtin's concepts provide a unique and operationalizable approach to encompassing duality, which addresses the increasing need in business marketing to understand and adapt within increasingly complex and changing landscapes of business interaction, relationships and networks.

PurposeDrawing upon ideas of holistic systems in conjunction with practice and complexity theories, the purpose of this paper is to provide a reflective examination of sensemaking within business networks.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that uses a meteorological metaphor to figuratively describe sensemaking within business-to-business relationships. To address this, the authors explore holonic sensemaking practices at a local, micro-level.FindingsThe weather metaphor emphasizes that local and general conditions, although qualitatively different, are mutually constituted. Consequently, local conditions must be taken seriously as they are the crucible of experience where sense is made in the moment and in particular spaces involving specific people. The suggestion is that any failure to account for these "emic" conditions is partial and flawed. The authors propose that an emphasis upon general conditions and nomothetic theories centered on cognitive generalizations has confined sensemaking theorizing. In particular, local sensemaking realities, which are characterized by embodied, communicative and cognitive practices, has been somewhat overlooked.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication is that there should be greater attention to process constituted by an equal focus on sub-processes of embodied sensing and semiotic sub-processes of talking sense, along with the already strong emphasis upon cognitive sensemaking but with greater attention to local activities. As processes of embodied perception, discourse within atmosemiospheres and cognitive sensemaking are qualitatively different, the authors argue for methodological diversity which should enable investigation of these inter-animating sub-processes more comprehensively and with greater equanimity.Practical implicationsIn industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) terms, this means placing the spotlight on the activities component in the actor-resources-activities model. The implication is that there is a need to educate networkers in improvization and bricolaged use of their bodies, communication and minds for concrete, local and practical contexts and ease off on theorizing.Originality/valueThe authors explore the consequences of examining embodied and communicative sensemaking' influences at micro-level mean, followed by an examination of how sensemaking within the IMP tradition has predominantly focused upon macro-level cognition in contrast to sensemaking more broadly, which has incorporated micro-level sensemaking including embodied, communicative influences alongside cognitive effects. The authors conclude with exploring the implications of a meteorological metaphor for research and practice.

Purpose
This paper aims to explore the topic of embodiment as a gap in meaning-making within the literature on business relationships in IMP and business marketing academic discourse. Referring to the theories of embodiment, the authors question the dominant worldview of Cartesian dualism which marginalizes the influence of the body in meaning-making and explore relevant implications of an embodiment agenda for research and practice. The aim is to demonstrate that embodiment has a vitally important influence in the construction of meanings.


Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a review of theoretical and empirical literature on embodied cognition and theories of embodiment to construct a cooking metaphor as an analogical vehicle for exploring meanings within business relationships.


Findings
The authors use a cooking metaphor to explore how meaning is created in human interaction. Body and mind blended together produce meaning through the catalyst of discourse and semiotics. Cognition is described as a mixture of rational and non-rational processes involving blended elements of embodied perceptions and psychological ideas stirred and heated in a semiotic "sauce" of discourse (language, communication, information, power/knowledge).


Originality/value
The contribution of the paper is in proposing that both body and mind influence the creation of meanings in business relationships blended through the mediation of language and discourse. The authors aim to advance a "practice" and "linguistic" turn in the business marketing discourse by proposing that embodied, discursive and cognitive processes are more effectively conceived as blended influences.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to promote the use of pragmatism within industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP), business-to-business (B2B)/network research with its enhanced emphasis on developing adaptable, workable solutions to practical problems. The usability of findings and the study produced means that implications and impact become a natural part of the research process rather than an afterthought concluding a research project. Although the reader might feel that the approach oscillates between viewing pragmatism in its everyday sense (through the use of terminology such as "a pragmatic approach […].," the intent is to elevate the discussion to one where pragmatism is viewed as a guiding philosophy.


Design/methodology/approach
It blends literature review and conceptual contemplation and challenges convention by "reading against the grain" (Brown and Wijland, 2018).


Findings
The authors do this to challenge convention and advocate for pluralism and diversity, theoretical evolution based on empirical evidence and increased sensitivity to the critical role of discourse, semiotics and abduction as a catalyst between theory, method and empirical activities. This conceptual blending portrays "activities" and beliefs as mutually constituted through the symbolic mediation of rhetoric and discourse.


Research limitations/implications
Existing elements of American pragmatism and discourse are identified as already a tacit constituent of the IMP oeuvre. Combining these approaches more explicitly is advocated as a suitable basis for a potential future "IMP 3" research agenda with significant potentials afforded to IMP and B2B marketing research.


Originality/value
This paper contributes to the development and dissemination of alternative and critical perspectives in marketing theory. The implication is that activities must usually be justified by actors within communication as believable and this process always involves mixtures of rational and non-rational appeals. Existing elements of American pragmatism and discourse are identified as already a tacit constituent of the IMP oeuvre. Combining these approaches more explicitly is advocated as a suitable basis for a potential future "IMP 3" research agenda with significant potentials afforded to IMP and B2B marketing research.

Purpose
This paper aims to propose an approach for exploring industrial marketing network environments through a social semiotic lens.


Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper introduces social semiotic perspectives to the study of business/industrial network interaction.


Findings
This paper describes how structures of meaning derived from a cultural history of signification and interpretive processes of meaning in action are co-determined in social semiosis. The meaning of environments using this social semiotic approach is emphasised, leading us to explore the idea of the "atmosemiosphere" – the most highly complex business network level, in illustrating how meaning is made through structuration between structures of meaning and their enactments in interactions between actors within living business networks.


Practical Implications
Figurative language plays an important role in the structuration of meaning. This facilitates establishing plots and, therefore, in the actors' capability to tell a story, which starts with knowing what kind of story can be told. By implication, the effective networker must be a consummate moving "picture maker" and, to do so, she must have competence in narrative, emplotment, myth-making, storytelling and figuration in more than one discursive repertoire.


Originality/value
In using a structurational discourse perspective informed by social semiotics, our original contribution is a "business networks as discursive constructions" approach, in that discursive nets, webs of narratives and stories and labyrinths of tropes are considered just as important in constituting networks as networks of actor relationships and patterns of other activities and resources.