This case study explores the experience of a company in a controversial industry sector and its efforts to act in a socially responsible manner when establishing a presence in a regional market. We examine the management of stakeholder relationships and communication, and identify the challenges associated with implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Our findings highlight the importance of ongoing and broad stakeholder identification, prioritization and management. This case study demonstrates the key role of commitment from senior management and front-line employees and the importance of a CSR champion. Commitment must be demonstrated at a local level to facilitate community engagement, feedback and monitoring. Finally, the findings highlight the externality of stakeholder networks and their non-centric relationship with the company. Thus, a company is not the centre of the stakeholder network; the network has a life of its own, regardless of a company's involvement or non-involvement.

PurposeDespite the necessity of close integration between marketing and sales, managers report less than satisfactory results in this area. This paper aims to examine what keeps the two functions apart. It proposes going beyond surface level behavior to examine the different sub‐cultural mental frames that characterize the two functions.Design/methodology/approachA total of 44 salespeople and marketers across four different organizations in different industries were interviewed.FindingsThe research finds that conflicts between marketing and sales are driven by differences in beliefs about the valid scope and focus of activity, time focus, valid sources of knowledge, differences in perceived status, and the relationship to the business environment.Practical implicationsManagers need to focus on removing implied status barriers between sales and marketing, provide sales with a strategic voice, and attend to structural issues that drive the two functions apart.Originality/valueResearch on the sales‐marketing interface remains scarce. The paper examines this from a cultural point of view and identifies a number of basic cultural frames that explain behavioral differences between the two functions. Critically, it also identifies significant points of difference on which to build greater understanding between the two functions.

The process of transition from university undergraduate to business professional is a crucial stage in the development of a business career. This study examines both graduate and employer perspectives on the essential skills and knowledge needed by marketing professionals to successfully perform their roles. From in-depth interviews with 14 graduates and 14 employers, it is apparent that the transition trajectory is both diverse and dynamic. The first main finding is that the transition from marketing graduate to employee is marked by a lack of skills to organically “fit the organization.” Another finding is related to specific competencies such as the ability to have and, most importantly, apply marketing knowledge. These findings have strong implications for the development and redesign of curricula to produce highly skilled, employable graduates and to assist universities in retaining a competitive advantage within the tertiary sector.

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Globalization of business skills has become critical as employers have a requirement for culturally adaptable marketing and business graduates who are “work ready” in either Australia or overseas. These students must have both discipline knowledge and soft skills including cultural competence. How students develop intercultural skills at university is discussed. Given that more than ninety percent of local university students do not participate in academic offshore experiences, a focus is on the internationalization-at-home activities that universities offer. This study looks at cross-cultural peer-to-peer mentoring. A paucity of research on the effect of these experiences further enhances the relevance of this topic. This research investigates whether Australian marketing and business students who undertake a cross-cultural peer-to-peer mentoring experience “at home” become more cross-culturally adaptable. A quasi experimental pre and post-test survey shows that this method of an “at home” cross-cultural experience has a significant effect on four of the cultural dimensions. They are Flexibility/Openness, Personal Autonomy, Perceptual Acuity and Fulfilment. This means that as a result of this study, the recommendation for future peer-to-peer mentoring experiences would be to specifically target these significant dimensions as part of the peer-to-peer mentoring agenda. The focus of their agenda on these dimensions would allow peer-to-peer mentors of different ethnicities and those mentors who are Australian born but who mentor students from different countries, to be confident that their work was directly attributable to increasing their mentees’ and their own cross-cultural adaptability. It shows that cross-cultural mentoring for marketing and other business students in an “at home” setting is an important part of preparing business and more specifically marketing students for the challenges of the global workplace.

Consumers are participating in alternative consumption channels in increasing numbers, but increasingly they are becoming creators as well as consumers. The triggers and motivations that lead to consumers becoming creators have been explored in this paper, as we examine the motivations for consumers to become initiators of Collaborative or Alternative Consumption platforms. In-depth interviews examined initiators’ experiences and found that unmet needs from existing retail providers triggered the move to creation. However, the impetus to move from unmet needs to creation included specific intentions. The findings uncover six motivations to create Collaborative or Alternative platforms, with most creators noting two or more motivating elements. This research demonstrates that consumers can be initiators, and creators of alternative consumption platforms and provides an original perspective to understand the consumers in this context.

Purpose – Social media has transformed conventional marketing methods. This medium offers a unique blend of asynchronous communication, opportunities to co-create and customer empowerment far removed from traditional firm-to-consumer, push-vs-pull marketing messages. The purpose of this paper is to examine how a company developed long-term effective relationships and sales growth by using their blog to generate and enhance viral word-of-mouth message diffusion. Design/methodology/approach – The exploration of the blog includes analysis of both content and metrics for a real technology firm with an assumed name. Content and the ripples from blog posts were analysed to determine diffusion and use of messages. Findings – Seven critical success factors for utilising blog marketing to maximum effect are presented to firms considering a similar strategy. Suggestions for managerial implications are also presented. Research limitations/implications – There are two limitations, the focus on a single company which restricts generalisability. The advantage of the case study approach to research does afford depth into this topic. Second, the research questions addresses a small part of the whole social media and corporate marketing sphere, however, this focus allows for depth and richness of data. Originality/value – The paper’s focus provides a unique opportunity to explore the effect of a company who manages points of connection, blogs and viral marketing, on customer relationships. Further, the study responds to the need for practical guidance for managers in relation to the management of blog marketing to facilitate customer relationships and enhance the viral impact of blogs.

The consumer landscape is changing, with traditional behaviours, channels and models of commerce evolving rapidly. This has resulted in an increasingly disruptive landscape for businesses. One example is the growth of communities of consumers who collaborate through diverse and non‐conventional channels (often focused on specific needs or interests) to engage in information seeking and giving, socialisation, resource sharing and trade. This emerging field of research presents challenges due to the diverse and fragmented theory base available to explore, explain and analyse the phenomena we position in alternative consumption literature. In this paper, we address this challenge in the form of a Communities of Benefit Exchange (CoBE) taxonomy of exchange dimensions detailing purpose, nature of gain and benefit, channel and level of interaction and entity structure evident for consumers who participate in this practice.