This thesis is an investigation of a relatively recently-emerging type of social media discourse, where individuals reply to marketing and advertising messages that appear within their Facebook news feeds. Unlike in consumer discourse such as product reviews, the primary purpose of this interaction appears to be social in nature, due in part to the brand posts’ contextualization within the social space of the news feed. This thesis is concerned with the ways that responders ‘use’ news feed marketing messages as opportunities for the performance of identity, and how this is achieved linguistically through discursive exchange and evaluative language. This research question is approached through a triangulated discourse analytic approach grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004/2014), with a particular focus on the interpersonal dimension of meaning. The corpus includes 18 brand posts, consisting of images, text, and hyperlinks, and 540 comment responses. The first analytical layer is an analysis of the context of the interaction, which consists of a multimodal generic analysis of the form and function of the brand posts, as well as a description of the communicative purposes of responders (Martin & Rose, 2003; 2008). The second stage of analysis is a consideration of identity performance through interactive discourse exchange, using Negotiation analysis (Eggins & Slade, 1997; Martin, 1992). Finally, the third and central layer of analysis employs Appraisal theory (Martin & White, 2005) to investigate performances of identity through evaluation of emotions, aesthetics, and ethics. While there is an increasingly large amount of quantitative research considering the use and effectiveness of this emerging advertising model, there is to date no qualitative linguistic research considering the role of identity in responses to brand messages. The present study addresses this gap in the literature, whilst also addressing methodological issues and suggesting adaptations for applying these linguistic frameworks to computer moderated communication.

The development of store branded lookalikes (SBLs) imitating established manufacturer national brands has long been a source of friction and dispute between brand manufacturers and retailers. It is evident that retailers often use a close positioning strategy on store brands (SBs) to imitate the look and appearance of leading national brands (NBs) on a wide range of fast moving consumer goods. It is, though, less clear why and how a me-too store brand is perceived to be a lookalike to an imitated national brand. At issue is a fundamental question: What makes a store brand lookalike and imitated national brand look alike? Precisely to what extent do the different packaging features, both in isolation and in tandem, trigger in the consumer’s mind similarity between the two goods? Furthermore, the overall market outcome from the introduction and use of lookalike packaging on store brands is also not clear or evidenced, especially its effect on pricing and more generally how this impacts national brand/store brand competition as well as well as competition between competing retailers each purveying their own store brand. Does offering a closer lookalike allow a retailer to price the store brand higher and close the price gap with the imitated national brand? Does offering a closer lookalike allow a retailer to price higher than rival retailers offering less close lookalike store brands? This thesis seeks to provide some answers to these important questions that have so far received relatively little attention in marketing research. The analysis is based on undertaking different studies of consumers’ perceptions gathered through structured surveys regarding actual national brand and store brand equivalents as well as through experiments in manipulating features of store brands (to control for individual effects) to understand how consumers form judgments over product similarity. Along with additional information provided by respondents on their own backgrounds and their shopping behaviour, this primary data is supplemented with secondary data on market features and outcomes, including market share and sales performance data as well as prices, to allow for consideration of contextual aspects that might influence similarity perceptions and also for analysing how the degree of perceived similarity relates to the price gap between competing products. Collectively, the studies undertaken and iv reported in the thesis provide several new and perhaps counterintuitive insights to improve our understanding of this prevalent marketing phenomenon and its effects on market outcomes as well as the nature of competitive rivalry in positioning and selling FMCG products. On the issue of what makes a brand and a lookalike look alike, the analysis shows that whether consumers perceive a store brand to be a lookalike is initially derived from the physical similarity of its packaging, which is primarily determined by colour, size & shape, and imagery. However, the analysis shows that the context matters. Specifically, the findings show that consumers’ degree of brand loyalty and brand familiarity, as well as their perception of the retailers’ store work together to influence the perception of similarity for a particular pairing of a national brand and the intended equivalent me-too store brand. Accordingly, different consumers will perceive the same product pairings differently based on their experience, tastes and broader perceptions. Regarding the nature of NB and SBL prices, it might be expected that high packaging similarity of SBLs will bring more intense price competition between the SBLs and the targeted NBs they imitate and among competing SBs. There is indeed evidence for this here. However, again, the context is shown to be important. Several marketing context indicators were considered in analysing the price competition between the products. A key finding is that the price gap tends to be wider for NBs that have growing sales (measured by a higher sales turnover compared to the previous year) or have higher market shares in a given category. In contrast, the price gap between an SBL and targeted NB tends to be lower the greater market power of the SBs in a category (measured by store brands share of category sales) and the strength of rival manufacturer brands in the same category (captured by relative brand shares). In terms of cross-retailer rivalry, an SBL tends to be priced more closely to a competing SBL the higher is SB familiarity and the greater the relative strength of the retailer (measured by its retailer market share). In contrast, higher category share held by store brands is found to allow for a wider price gap between competing SBLs. All these effects were tested in numerous FMCG product categories from across the v different leading grocery retailers in the UK, which adds a degree of reassurance about the generality to the studies conducted in this thesis. The findings reported in the thesis add to the existing literature in five significant ways. First, it confirms that colour, when treated in isolation or in tandem with other packaging features, is the most important packaging cue that determines the physical similarity of SBLs. Second, it reveals how various contextual indicators, such as brand loyalty, brand familiarity, and store image, can moderate the similarity perception process. Third, it demonstrates that the close packaging position of an SBL to a targeted NB will intensify the price competition between the NB manufacturer and the retailer. Fourth, it highlights the strategic importance of SBs in assisting retailers with cross-store competition where retailers compete amongst themselves through their SBLs. Fifth, it reveals the necessity of considering the influence of several frequently mentioned marketing performance indicators in this price competing process and these moderate or accentuate the packaging similarity effect, such as the targeted NB manufacturer’s market strength, the general market strength of the SBs, and the competition intensity in the NBs’ market.

The purpose of this thesis is threefold: First, to explain how learning shapes consumer behaviour over a comestible (experience) good. Second, to examine the role of feedback information and information aggregation for consumer choices and market performance in markets for experience goods. Third, to understand how firms react to heterogeneous consumer choices in the supermarket industry when faced with institutional constraints. To shed light on how learning influences consumer choices over time in particular when new products or new characteristics are introduced, we employ in Chapter 2 a model of reinforcement learning over products as well as characteristics and apply it to yoghurt drink purchases from a large British consumer panel. We find that learning over both, products and characteristics, is important in explaining consumer choices over time. How consumer choices are influenced by the choice of others is analysed in Chapter 3 which introduces and studies a new model of aggregate information cascades. We find that if only one of two possible actions is observable say, how many others bought a particular product but not how many chose not to buy it only one type of cascade arises in equilibrium. Herding only takes place on the observable action. A different angle on how the provision of information bears on choices is taken in Chapter 4 on learning trust. Here we examine the effect of different forms of feedback information to consumers and sellers in a market with sequential exchange. Experimental evidence shows that both feedback information on sellers' history to consumers but also feedback information about sellers trading history to other sellers improves market efficiency. How firms optimally react to institutional constraints when consumer choice heterogeneity is important is developed in Chapter 5 in a model of supermarket entry into different store formats and applied to data from the UK. We are interested in estimating the cost of the institutional constraint of restrictive planning regulation. We find that the institutional set up matters but the impact of restrictive planning regulation on firm profits is small and increases barriers to entry for large supermarkets only.

This study aims to explore the features of a particular transnational consumer culture in Vietnam – the younger generation of urban consumers a consumer culture that is shaped by the recent political history of post-socialist era in Vietnam and the country’s economic transition. The research pays particular attention to ways in which globalizing processes in relation to consumption are negotiated and interpreted at the micro level i.e. the level of the consumer. Focusing, in particular, on the influence of brand consumption upon identity, it seeks to understand how these aspirational consumers within the two largest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, define and make sense of themselves as a new emerging consumer force. Assuming a qualitative research orientation, the study uses an interpretivist approach and case study methods to offer in-depth insight into the meaning-making practices of consumers within the context of the Vietnamese ' global' city, and the inter-relationships between globalisation and locality. Surveys were carried out among 600 Vietnamese respondents (610 distributed) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, to understand precisely the identity work of urban youth through brand consumption. This data was supported by in-depth interviews with 16 urban middle-class and follow-up participant observation to explore the varied ways in which these consumers use and attach symbolic meanings to the products they consume to affirm their social identity, as well as the influence of local and transnational media on brand choices. The findings presented via thematic analysis relate to the emerging themes of Consumption Practices and Identity work (Self, Face and Conformity). The survey results addressing the choices and opinions of CO (country-of-origin) among urban consumers indicate their attitudes toward Chinese brands, Domestic brands and Western brands, specific to the Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context. The findings also suggest that these urban consumers increasingly attach themselves to products to affirm their social status. They believe in ‘material goods bring happiness’ and willingly pay for the latest ‘must-have’ brands. The 'self' in relation to the group or community is important and ways of consuming might be likened to an act of wearing a ‘mask’ by the consumer, which can be ‘loudly’ or ‘quietly’ displayed to fit in favourably with a particular social circle. The thesis concludes by bringing to the fore a discussion of the potential and existent tension of the traditional values and state doctrine in the formation of new consumer culture in Vietnam. The study bridges the gap between local experience and transnational cultural forces by linking features of consumption-based identity to specific agendas associated with the Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context. The research’s insights about class integrated with consumerism can be of value to marketing and advertising professionals in emerging markets.

The debate around ethical consumption is often characterised by discussion of its numerous failures (Littler, 2011). Indeed, some have suggested that due to the complexity in individual trade-offs, the ethical consumer is a 'myth'. Alternatively, others have questioned the notion of the ethical consumer as 'rational maximiser', and the agency assumptions underpinning ethical consumption have been challenged through pluralist, phenomenological, identity and practice perspectives. There is a discomfort in the field, and this thesis takes 'the trade-off' as its starting point to understand how consumers attempt to navigate the 'deep moral waters' (Schwartz, 2010) of consumption in clothing purchase; a product with a history of moral controversies. Recognising the roles of both identity and practice, the concept of value for the customer is employed to explore these trade-offs, with the objectives for the research to: • Understand the role of moral evaluation in clothing consumption practices. • Explore the role of values in consumer trade-offs and their relationship to practice. • Explore the roles of identity and practice in the clothing consumption practices of ethically-motivated consumers, and the implications for value evaluation. • Investigate how ethically-committed consumers experience value in clothing consumption and to consider the implications for ethical consumption. With an underpinning philosophical framework of pluralism, pragmatism, postmodernism and phenomenology, an in-depth study has been conducted employing phenomenological interviews and hermeneutic analysis to explore the consumption stories of a group of ethically-knowledgeable consumers. The research uncovers the location of value within a fluid, yet habitual, plurality of patterns of preferences, morals, identities and relationships. The contribution to knowledge of the thesis is to frame the roles of morality and value in consumption within a pragmatist conception of consummatory experiences; unifications of value that take place in the context of teleoaffective 'ends in view', and which continuously merge through flows of experiences and habituation.

In contemporary organisations the evolution of technology and increased competition has accentuated the need for strategic imperatives to ensure that the traditional sales organisation is transformed from tactical management of sales transactions to the strategic management of complex strategic customer portfolios and customer relationship for a company’s long-term growth (Olson et al., 2001; Piercy and Lane, 2005). How management can ensure a successful shift from the conventional sales philosophy to the strategic one is a challenge in many sales organisations. In this case study of a sales organisation in a multinational company, an examination is undertaken of a strategic transformation that involves a new sales philosophy and the associated sales force automation (SFA) system. Such transformation calls for the sales organisation to shift from tactical and transactional-based selling approach to strategic value creation-based practices. The transition is necessarily supported by SFA system implementation, to which the adoption is invariably hampered by an alarming rate of failures (Bush et al., 2005). So what can be done to ensure a successful shift from the current sales philosophy to the new one supported by the new SFA system? How can management purposely shape the interpretations of the organisation's environment in order that employees understand and 'enact' strategic change (Daft and Weick, 1984; Reger et al., 1994)? In order to explore these questions, a social interactionist (Goffman, 1974) methodological approach is taken to examine the meanings inherent in individual and collective interactions and negotiations. The concept of framing is utilised as an analytical lens to understand strategic changes (Kaplan, 2008) occurring within the case study. Whilst framing as a conceptual bridge linking social psychological and resource mobilization has been researched in social movement participation (Snow et al., 1986; Benford, 1993; Benford and Snow,2000; Reber and Berger, 2005), little progress has been made using such micro-level analysis in understanding mobilizing strategic change in sales organisation in a theoretically informed and empirically grounded fashion. The overarching aims of this study are therefore to provide a deeper understanding of how management frame such strategic changes in sales philosophy and how the resulting frames are accepted or otherwise in a sales workforce automation and transformation programme. Applying a framing concept to the analysis of strategic change within the organisation enables us to move away from viewing organisation as a static entity or a fixed structure (Putnam and Nicotera, 2009) and get into the minds of management and employees to understand the internal struggles that are taking place. Most importantly, in this study, as compared to previous works using framing theory to interpret strategic decision making (Kaplan, 2008), this research goes beyond analyzing individual framing practices of key organisational decision makers (senior management) to study how cognitive frames can shape strategic objectives by framing messages to other organisational actors (sales employees) who are required to adopt the intended strategic change. By analysing both managerial framing practice and employee frame alignment as well as the degree of collective action mobilization (Klandermans, 1984), it offers a complete picture of how strategically inclined managers try to change the organisation status quo and how they employ various managerial framing practices to gain support for transformational change of sales philosophy. At the same time, it provides an account of how employees respond to strategic frame alignment process, such that they either accept the frames and take collective action accordingly or partially accept them and take deferred action or passively participate. The primary contributions of this study to framing theory are: first of all, it advances Kaplan’s (2008) original framing contest theory by demonstrating collective action frames are not static characterizations but can be changed or redefined with purposeful managerial framing and reframing. The framing outcome been focused in this research is employee’s collective action which is a step further from meaning construction in strategic decision making as in Kaplan’s (2008) research. Secondly, while Kaplan (2008) demonstrated how different organization actors attempt to make their frame resonate and mobilize action in their favour, this research focuses on the interplay between management and employees who have unequal access to organization resources due to organization hierarchy. It shows that despite of the differences, employees are not mere recipient of managerial framing whose only role is to respond (or not) to the framed meanings. Instead, their subsequent reactions to managerial framing shape collective action frame and the resulted action. Finally, it confirms the distinction between consensus mobilization and action mobilization (Klandermans, 1984) which separates management’s focus of convincing and activating, and shows how resonance of legitimacy and motivation frames are both necessary conditions for employee action mobilization. This research also contributes to strategic change studies by showing what constitutes effective managerial framing practices to enable strategic change in sales organisations with a theoretical framework that demonstrates how managerial frames are introduced, contested and aligned or partially aligned and the resulting employee participation level. Such a theoretical framework is both empirically informed and practically useful for strategic change practitioners as it delineates factors that determine effectiveness of management’s framing efforts in mobilizing employees for action thus help them to evaluate and predict the effectiveness of managerial framing effort and possible outcomes. Finally, this research contributes to sales technology literature by providing a better understanding of how technological frames affect SFA adoption by sales workforce and how management can strategically frame SFA and its value to achieve desired results.

In view of the diversity that exists among consumers, this study argues the importance of focusing on just one sub-group of consumers. Therefore, the study aims to explore the attitudes, motivations, and purchase behaviour of low-income women consumers to 'low-involvement' products. More specifically, the adopted methodology comprises of a focus group discussion followed by thirty semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that low-income women consumers engage in habitual purchasing and are not loyal to brands of grocery products. However, they often buy stores' own value-range brands as they believe that these products are similar to manufacturers' brands. They do not perceive price to be an indication of quality, rather they attribute basic differences between the stores' own value-range and manufacturers' brands as 'expensive packaging' and the popularity of the brand name. Value for money was revealed as a key motivation underlying their purchasing of grocery products. Consequently, they are very sensitive to sales promotions and actively engage in making comparisons between the promotions in different stores within their locality. The implications of the study are twofold. Firstly, this research challenges the common assumptions within the consumer behaviour literature that all grocery products are low-involvement. Hence, generalisation in consumer behaviour without due reference to the contextual factors identified among low-income women consumers provides a limited understanding of their decision making and purchase behaviour. Secondly, from a marketing perspective, the study supports the importance of segmentation/targeting with regard to the design of appropriate sales promotion techniques for targeting low-income consumers.

The researcher's research interest is in the area of integrated marketing communications (IMC), and specifically for the category of products often referred to as 'high involvement goods'. Some service categories could also classified as 'high involvement' in terms of the complexity of the purchasing situation and the time needed for the consumer to reach a purchasing decision. However this thesis is about high involvement products, specifically new cars which have been used as a vehicle for discussion to illustrate the application of the !MC concept to high involvement goods. The author has consulted widely within the relevant IMC literature and also the more contextual literature available on the UK new car market and the sale of new cars within the UK. This more contextual literature has emanated largely from professional bodies such as Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Having considered the area of interest and gained familiarity with both the conceptual and contextual literature, the researcher had to decide on the appropriate methodology. Given the nature of the research problem and the fact that little was known about the applicability of!MC within the UK new car market, a qualitative, emerging methodology was used. This was based on a Grounded Theory approach which was considered to be the most appropriate and productive way to proceed. The researcher conducted 35 interviews with dealer principals' and sales managers' and hence this work is based largely on the dealer side of the dealer-manufacturer relationship. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. The analysis was conducted using the protocol recommended by Strauss and Corbin (I 990). The researcher found that the concept of IMC is weakly embedded in the retail sector of the UK new car value chain. The reason for this weakness has been established and discussed. The author makes recommendations as to how greater integration can be achieved within this industry. The problems of implementing the recommendations made and the managerial implications of attempting to implement such recommendations are discussed in full. The author's findings have been presented diagrammatically in an industry specific conceptual model showing many of the issues and problems mentioned here. The conceptual diagram is discussed further in the text. Finally the author considers the limitations of the work conducted and makes recommendations for future research. A fully annotated set of interview transcripts are provided in the appendices for the reader's convenience.

Boycotting has been empirically proven to be damaging to business organisations, and there is compelling evidence to suggest that it is not only here to stay, but it is also on the increase. Brand loyalty is declining for many reasons including the effects of market competitiveness, the fading of brand differentiation and the ever-changing marketplace landscape. Transnationality and its impact on consumer behaviour—despite the increase in the international human movements and border crossing—is still an understudied field. The conducted literature review suggests that little attention has been paid to explore the link between boycotting and brand loyalty from the transnational consumers perspective. To achieve the research objective, which is to develop an understanding of the impact of boycotting on brand loyalty and the influence of transnationality on this relationship, a mixed methods approach was adopted. Thirty-five qualitative interviews were conducted with London-based Muslim Arabs and sequentially an online questionnaire that generated 537 responses. This research has empirically revealed the negative impact of consumer boycotts on brand loyalty and highlighted the influential role that transnationality, social capital and demographics play in shaping the consumer boycotting and brand loyalty decision-making process. This study also explored the role of religion on boycotting and the subsequent brand loyalty behaviour and empirically confirmed that religiously motivated boycotts are damaging for business firms as they have a sudden and long-term negative effect on loyalty. The study shows that religious denominations have a significant impact on both boycotting and loyalty behaviour. Based on the study findings, implications, recommendations for management and consumers alike and suggestions for future research are presented.

The objective of this thesis is to develop a better understanding of the relationship fading phenomenon in business-to-consumer context. Fading relates to a gradual decline in consumer’s willingness to continue a relationship with a company. Therefore, understanding the fading process may help to elucidate the ‘unexplained’ relationship dissolution and customer defection. Led by an assumption that a relationship between a consumer and a brand is like the one between individuals, the thesis proposes that the trajectory of relationship fading reflects the disaffection processes similar to the ones suggested in marital and romantic relationships between individuals. The approach taken to answering this research question is a multi-study approach. This type of approach allows addressing each individual research question independently, using the most appropriate research methods. As a result, the thesis comprises three adjacent studies. All three studies are linked and together contribute to a better understanding of the relationship fading process, which is the main topic of the thesis. Based on the results from the first study, a set of boundary conditions of relationship fading is identified. The results of the second study suggest that predictors of relationship fading stage can be uncovered. Thirdly, different restoration techniques are explored, aiming to describe their effectiveness in various relationship fading stages. Individual objectives of the three studies are accomplished. All three studies contribute to achieving the overall objective of the thesis, namely to developing a better understanding of the phenomenon of relationship fading.