Revisit: Macromarketing 2018

January 22, 2018

Revisit: Macromarketing 2018

Introduction

Leipzig, 10-13 Jul 2018; Deadline 31 Jan

Dear Colleagues,

We cordially invite you to submit your research to our track of the 43rd Annual Macromarketing Conference Leipzig – Germany, which takes place from July 10 to 13, 2018.

Deadline for submission: January 31, 2018

Track Title: “Sharing Economy as Complementary Economy? The relation between providers and consumers”

Alternative economies are discussed as responses to precarious conditions in everyday life. They find some substantiation in certain types of transactions, such as collaborative or access-based forms of consumption, which are discussed along the sharing economy. What is more, they occur in parallel or complementary to mainstream economies (Campana, Chatzidakis, & Laamanen, 2017; Gollnhofer & Schouten, 2017). Exchange structures reflect a society’s belief structure and marketplace actors, the dominant social paradigm (Gollnhofer & Schouten, 2017), which seems to be faced with alternatives.

Due to the economic crises, increasing trust of transactions via the internet and environmental concerns (e.g., Möhlmann, 2015; Owyang, Tran & Silva, 2013; Tussyadiah, 2015) sharing economy and collaborative consumption are increasing in popularity (Belk, 2014). Instead of buying goods and owning them, consumers gain temporarily access to goods they need (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2012). Today people can engage in the sharing economy and collaborative consumption transactions in almost all business areas, including tourism (e.g., AirBnB), entertainment (e.g., public bookshelves), food (e.g., food coops), and transport (e.g., Uber). Due to its ongoing growth, the sharing economy will have far-reaching consequences for organizations, companies, consumers and the relation between these actors.

Recognizing the potential of the sharing economy, many companies have already taken steps to transform their business (Botsman, 2014). Utilizing the Internet, these companies establish regulations and provide a platform for exchange but do not possess anything. Collaborative consumption on the other hand, can also be organized within a community, whereby people are self-organizing access to goods and sharing.

The Track will specifically focus on market actor’s perspectives and their exchange / relationship. The contributions will deepen the insight into the interaction of these market actors and its consequence on the nature and structure of exchange.

Additionally, comprising providers’ and consumers’ perspective regarding their relationship is allowing for further insights focusing on the marketer side or the consumer side. Thus, market strategies and process are investigated or consumer research in sharing economy is undertaken.

The purpose of the Track is to examine the opportunities and challenges for marketing associated with the sharing economy. It discusses new requirements for marketing by examining differences between providers in the sharing economy and traditional companies by identifying for example their value propositions or business models in more general. It further seeks to understand better the relationship between provider and user in the sharing economy.