Metaphors and metaphorical thinking have enriched business management in general, but have hardly impacted marketing management even though marketing as science, theory, and practice could benefit from metaphors more than other disciplines in management. This paper explores the rich potential of metaphors, root metaphors, and metaphorical thinking and reasoning as an overarching methodology for developing marketing theory. In this context, we first review the three major theories of metaphor origins – the comparison theory, the semantic interaction-tension theory, and the cognitive theory – for developing metaphoric thinking and reasoning in marketing. The comparison theory focuses on metaphors being a matter of words, as a deviant from normal literal usage, and is based on the similarities between two things. However, it has been argued that this theory ignores the crucial role of differences. This gave rise to the semantic interaction-tension theory, which introduced the notion of tension to describe the literal incompatibility relationship between the subject and that which embellishes it. While the semantic interaction-tension theory was an improvement over the comparison theory, it did not solve the issue of transition from literal incongruence to metaphorical congruence between two semantic fields. Thus, the cognitive theory argued that metaphor usage is not only emotive, but a cognitively potential vehicle of knowledge possessing special meaning other than the literal meaning and reading of text. In sum, a metaphor should not only encourage a premature analytical closure (and thus knowledge dissemination) by emphasizing similarity, but also work on tension that dissimilarities create for knowledge generation. Next, in our search for a suitable root metaphor for use in marketing, we formulate several research propositions to illustrate the sub-metaphor producer-consumer relationship under the root metaphor of the Free Enterprise Capital System. Finally, along each of the three theories of metaphor origins we extract layers of metaphorical utterances that we label as zero-order data sentences, first-order theory sentences, and second-order value sentences that indicate higher layers of conceptual and theoretical richness in marketing science. We discuss managerial implications, limitations, and new directions for research.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) of MNE subsidiaries in emerging markets has mainly been studied through aggregated CSR activities. Instead, this study disaggregates CSR engagement towards target groups into two foci - External and Internal CSR - depending on whether such engagement is outside or within the organization. We explored whether the odds of a wholly owned subsidiary matching its parent's choice of target groups - for both External and Internal CSR - varied by which organizational cohort it belonged to, based on organizational characteristics. Results of logistic regressions indicate that age of a subsidiary, relative size of the subsidiary and region-of-origin of its parent influence the odds of the subsidiary following its parent's External CSR focus; while age of a subsidiary, global presence of its parent, and industry type influence the odds of the subsidiary following its parent's Internal CSR focus. Findings indicate that both through External and Internal CSR, MNE subsidiaries simultaneously pursue legitimacy and competitive advantage, through different primary stakeholder groups, to address both host country and global institutional contexts.

Electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) information is used by consumers to form expectations of the brand. By properly managing consumers' expectations of a brand, managers can mitigate brand image problems. Thus, this study uses an expectations lens to investigate consumers' perceptions of the brand image formed by exposure to EWOM under the moderating influence of consumer involvement. Data were collected from over 1000 consumers across USA and India, and across smartphone and hotel services categories, using online simulations of EWOM. Findings suggest that high- versus low-involvement consumers will go through more EWOM information and spend more time with EWOM to develop an expectation or idea of the brand. High-involvement consumers also form a better image of the brand. Based on these findings, the authors develop a matrix that represents the possible strategies managers could use to encourage the formation of a good brand image from a consumer's perspective.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of an additional service on existing consumers' usage of existing services from the same service provider. Research has often focused on marketers' efforts to sell new offerings to existing customers. However, does the consumption of these new offerings by existing customers affect their usage of the firm's existing services? This research examines this question in the context of a subscription service. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses matched consumer- and firm-level data from a leading telecom service provider in India. These data include responses from 230 consumers, as well as details on their usage of existing and additional services. The data are analyzed using three-stage least squares regressions while controlling for consumers' past usage of the existing services. Findings - The results indicate that existing consumers' cross-buying of the new service results in a reduction of their future usage of existing services. Most consumers also managed to maintain their monthly payments constant, even though they had subscribed to the new service. Together, these findings imply that consumers reallocate their budget by reducing their usage of existing services to accommodate the usage of an additional service from the same service provider. Consequently, the revenue of the firm might not always increase when the consumer cross-buys an additional service from the firm. Originality/value - Marketing research on cross-buying has so far neglected to look at the effects of existing consumers' adoption of an additional service on existing services of the service provider. This study focused on this gap in knowledge, in the context of subscription services. Using consumers' perceptions and matched service usage data, the authors extend the literature that tries to understand why cross-buying may not be beneficial to the firm in certain service settings.

Global advertising often uses cultural values to standardize globally advertised messages. However, this exploratory study investigates the possibility that rather than cultural values (and consumer wants), it is consumer needs that are strongly shared across countries. Therefore, it might be possible to replace cultural values with these shared consumer needs for the standardization of globally advertised messages. This study does not argue against the universality of the content or structure of values, but rather against the universality of the importance of values across countries. The means-end theory is used to link the relationships between consumer wants, needs, and values. Data collected from Indian and Chinese consumers of information technology education services were analyzed using the laddering technique to reveal hierarchical value maps for each of the two country samples. The results indicate that at the level of consumer wants, Indian consumers seek more tangible attributes while Chinese consumers seek more intangible ones. Also, at the level of cultural values, Chinese consumers associate more values with the service than their Indian counterparts. At the same time, within both groups of consumers the same set of consumer needs were strongly shared among consumers; these were the need for knowledge enhancement, the need for skill improvement, and the need for better employability. Therefore, the results suggest that if managers want to successfully standardize their global advertising, their message strategy could focus on consumer needs that are strongly shared across countries.

During times of threat to organizational identity, managers often formulate strategies to regain the organization's original standing. Yet, they frequently ignore the identity‐image interactions that occur for boundary‐spanning members, despite such interactions having the potential to play a pivotal role in the organization's recovery. We propose that, in high‐threat situations, customer‐directed boundary‐spanners, like the sales force, become aware of the discrepancy between the organizational image projected by the organization (Projected Image) and the organizational image perceived by customers (Perceived Image). Consequently, boundary‐spanners restructure their perception of the organizational identity. This restructuring is moderated by several factors. The restructured organizational identity results in the boundary‐spanner manifesting a new projected image, with its attendant assertions and behaviors. We thus synthesize and extend the literature on identity‐image interactions and provide avenues for further research. We also discuss the beneficial managerial implications of closely monitoring the image‐identity interactions of boundary‐spanners in high threat situations.