Strategic Management and Marketing Theory in the Creative Industries
- Lecture Notes -
Week 1 define, categorize, operationalize concepts
There are two core meta-objectives of the course
- Fundamentalism: getting back to basics, applying as generally as possible.
- Harassment: operationalizing wherever possible, creating real intimacy between
concepts.
Boston consultancy group (BCG) matrix
This is a corporate portfolio management tool
Where are you allocating your resources, and from what direction do we get these
resources. Consultancy groups use this matrix. Axis 1: market growth potential (can be high
or low). Axis 2: your own market shares (can be high or low). You want to get in or get out on
these different resources. Question how you are positioned on these axis.
First see where you are positioned yourself, redefine what should be understood by ‘your
market’. Define your market, to get your desired sources. You want to be in a positive
location, where your sources are positive. To create an advantageous political position.
Cash cows: Most positive situation to be in is the cash cows. Here you are the market leader,
but this will cost you relatively not so much. So here you earn the most money, where most
companies after will invest this money in their star and question mark products.
The dogs: the dogs won’t cost much, but also won’t earn much. So they are just fine to have,
but will break even.
The question marks: will cost much, and not yet make much money, but firms hope that
they will change into stars.
The stars: will lead to a popular image and identity of the firm. Since the stars are the
market leaders in a fast growing market. Most of the time they will change into cash cows
after a while.
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,Article 1 Suddaby (2010) on Construct Clarity
This article is about concept clarity in management science and about scope conditions. How
to define something. This is necessary for understanding and testing the theory.
Operationalization
- Applying operationalizations to particular datasets/circumstances.
- Evaluating the definitions & operationalizations by looking at their usefulness in
making sense of particular situations/problems.
- How much of it is there, how strong/weak is it, does it affect something else?
Constructs = conceptual abstractions of phenomena that cannot be directly observed, not
reducible to specific observations, but abstract statements of categories of observations.
They are robust categories and together they form the base of a theory.
It’s not about construct validity = flows from the ability to precisely describe theoretical
constructs, they are narrower constituted on empirical questions of operationalization and
measurement. But about construct clarity = focus on why we need clear constructs in
developing theories of management and how we can accomplish this.
Construct clarity consists of four elements:
- Definitions: a clear definition to clarify distinctions between constructs. Not too
narrow, not too broad, not including unrelated matters (let alone counterexamples).
- Scope conditions: the conditions/circumstances under which the construct counts.
Semantic relationships: associations that exist between constructs. Define the
relationships between the concepts. What is it, what are the boundaries, what kinds
are there?
- Coherence: samenhang or consistency to the overall theoretical argument.
Scope conditions give clarity on how to apply construct:
- Space: construct definitions can differ between different types of organizations.
- Time: can differ over short or long term time frames.
- Values: the hidden assumptions that researchers have to the theory. Conceptualize
abstract reality.
Article 2 Kennedy (2008) on markets, media and reality
This paper is about press releases, to get attention. To sell what you are doing. Especially in
the creative industries press releases are very important because there is an oversupply in
these industries. You need to get attention. This study is about the effect of press releases
on attention and performance. He is interested in whether you refer to your competitors
and their products in your press release. Whether you do or don’t mention them. Because,
like Baum’s article, you would improve legitimacy. Because you want the ones reading your
press release, to know and understand what you are. By mentioning competition or similar
others. Give them a sense of what kind of product you are, compare yourself. If you are
unknown and don’t have legitimacy yet, you want to position yourself in the market, by
proofing you are the same as them. Making yourself legitimate. You want a few competitors,
but of course not too many (curve of competition vs performance is n-shaped).
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, He found that there were some general correlations, but as soon as you factor in these
states of the market (if it was a new or mature market) this changed. Aim of the paper
examines how firms in an emerging market get categorized and counted.
This study demonstrates that early entrants benefit from inviting coverage that makes a
few – but not too many – links to other entrants.
Results: the newer the market category you are in, the less this market is known, the more
you need to mention your competition. So that people can categorize you, evaluate you.
Being counted is important for legitimization of the new company / market. It enables an
actor to be perceived by the market as “real”, shared beliefs define reality.
- The basis for market formation lies in the patterns of association among the market
entrants, and the perceived patterns of association of the market entrants by the
market. These patterns lead to cognitive embeddedness, which are the
categorization process individuals minds use to make sense of products etc.
- Inviting coverage that makes a few links to other entrants has a lot of benefits.
Helping audiences perceive an emerging category. As the market matures, however,
references to rivals become unhelpful.
- 1st stage: early entrants benefit from inviting coverage’s that make a few (but not
too many) links to other entrants, thus helping the audience to perceive an emerging
category.
- 2th stage: as the market develops, referring to rivals becomes unhelpful as the
market has been categorized & you are now assisting your rivals in gaining public
attention.
Performativity & Counter performativity
- Performativity of economics: applying the theory makes reality corresponding more
to the theory. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. ‘Shared believes, shape reality’.
- Counter performativity of economics: applying the theory makes reality
corresponding less to theory. Sort of an on purpose counter movement.
- Example derivatives (afgeleide producten): contracts about other contracts. The
problem is how to value this. What is the value (financially) of the share, how to tell
the value of the contract. Black and Scoles came up with a formula to price the value
of the derivatives based on the underlying objects. Everyone could use this formula.
The theory had created the market, which responded to the theoretical insight. So
this formula created the market. The theory creates the reality (performativity). Due
to this people might counter themselves from this, so it becomes less likely to
happen (counter performativity).
Approaches to categorization (categories help to understand)
- Essentialist: characteristics. You name the essential features to the object, which
belongs to this category. Without these features, you would not be allowed in this
category. The minimum standards of being part of the category. Most normal/natural
way of categorizing. But in practice there are very few categories, where all the
members share the same set of essential features.
- Prototype: things that fit for sure. We know that (for example with games) a lot of
games are prototypical for a game. If something seems like a family of Chess, we say
it is a game. If it circles around this prototype. Kennedy: categories are like families.
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