Sources

COMMENTARY

The Internet of total corporate communications, quaternary corporate communications and the corporate marketing Internet revolution John M. T. Balmer and Dorothy A. Yen

The Marketing and Corporate Brand Research Group, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, London, UK

ABSTRACT The advent of what we call, ‘The Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution’ necessitates a radical rethinking of marketing prac- tice and scholarship. As such, mindful of the importance of the Internet and, in particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) phe- nomenon, this article formally introduces and elucidates the Internet of Total Corporate Communications (IoTCC) notion. Moreover, it particularises the nature and importance of qua- ternary (fourth-order) total corporate communications. To date, the total corporate communications effect of the Corporate Internet Marketing Revolution has not been accorded impor- tance in the extant literature. As such, this article seeks to address this omission.

KEYWORDS Internet of Things (IoT); corporate communications; corporate Internet marketing; corporate marketing; industrial revolution; total corporate communications

Introduction and purpose

To us, what we call, ‘The Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution’ is beginning to be recognised and taken account of. The aforementioned – a product of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – is, arguably, one of the most significant corporate marketing developments of the new millennia and is a phenomenon of considerable import.

Mindful of the importance of the Internet and, in particular, the Internet of Things (IOT) phenomenon, this article builds on the aforementioned by formally introducing and elucidating the Internet of Total Corporate Communications (IoTCC) notion. Moreover, it particularises the nature and importance of quaternary (fourth-order) total corporate communications. To date, the total corporate communications effect of the Corporate Internet Marketing Revolution has not been accorded importance from previous scholarly works. As such, this article seeks to address this omission.

Our article proceeds by providing a contextual overview by discussing the Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution; detailing the nature of the IoT; explaining the total corporate communications conceptualisation; formally introducing the IoTCC notion; specifying quaternary total corporate communications; outlining the impacts of

CONTACT John M. T. Balmer [email protected]

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 2017 VOL. 33, NOS. 1–2, 131–144 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2016.1255440

© 2016 Westburn Publishers Ltd.

quaternary total corporate communications; discussing the dark side of IOT and the IoTCC, and detailing their implications for marketing management.

Context: the corporate marketing Internet revolution

It is an incontrovertible fact that we are now in the midst of new, powerful and prevalent marketing revolution with the opening-up of the digital and technological cosmos of which the materialisation of the IoT is emblematic. We call this revolution, ‘The Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution’.

By means of context, we sit on the edge of a far larger tumult of which the aforementioned, is a consequence of, as well as an integral part of, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab, 2015). The stupefying rise and ubiquity of the Internet has resulted in a revolution of a quite different order: one that is qualifiedly different in scale, scope and significance from its antecedents.

Unquestionably, this Revolution – as with formal transformations – has the potential to be of considerable consequence: some of them as yet unforeseen. What is clear is that this will transform the marketing discipline in both scholarly and instrumental terms.

Why is this so? This is because this revolution will cause marketing scholars and managers to reappraise the interfaces between organisations, society, people and, in particular, the relationships between organisations and their customers and key stakeholders.

Of course, many organisations have identified market opportunities in all this. For instance, the Internet and moreover the IoT have led to the establishing of new companies and the broadening of the scope of others. As noted by Roberts (2004, p. 13), the starting point for a business opportunity is to identify a market insufficiency: an unmet need.

Tellingly, corporations are beginning to invest heavily in the IoT: Google acquired Nest for $3.2 billion (a thermostat maker) and $550 million for Dropcam – a manufacturer of security cameras for the home (The Economist, 2016a).

This raises the question as to what is different about this technological revolution. Whereas the initial three industrial revolutions transformed the production, delivery and consumption of products and services, the Fourth Industrial Revolution goes further by altering the analysing, thinking, recommending and moreover controlling of the aforementioned. The aforementioned represent the basic precepts of this transformation but, as we will detail, there can be a dark side to the above which can result in a loss of customer and stakeholder sovereignty (Balmer & Greyser, 2006); greater opportunity for organisational and governmental manipulation/interference and, in short, the potential to move away from a marketing (customer/stakeholder) orientation to a myopic mind-set focussed on self-serving organisational and governmental concerns (analogous to the classic product-led approach outlined in marketing primers).

So what is special about this new transformation? As noted by Schwab (2015), the earlier industrial revolutions were characterised by:

(1) Mechanical production (eighteenth century) (2) Division of labour, electricity, mass production (nineteenth century)

132 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

(3) Electronics, IT and automated production (late twentieth century)

However, as Schwab (2015) deliberates, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the prospect of connecting billions of people via mobile devices, with extraordinary processing capabilities, storage capacity and infinite knowledge access. Moreover, the above will be augmented through technology breakthroughs vis-à-vis the IoT artificial intelligence, biotechnology, energy storage, materials science, nanotechnology, quantum computing, robotics, 3-D printing, etc. Moreover, it will materially affect our way of life in terms of how we live, work, and interact with each other.

Earlier on we referred to a new marketing revolution. Whilst the history of marketing thought is varied (Balmer & Greyser, 2006), various marketing ‘revolutions’ have not vitiated the saliency of early transformations but, rather, broaden the territory: the advent of corporate marketing is a case in point where marketing’s applicability to organisations per se – rather than simply products and services – was recognised (Balmer, 1998; Balmer & Greyser 2006; Balmer, 2011). For the sake of both expediency and simplicity, it can be averred that the four marketing revolutions are as follows:

● The first marketing revolution was the establishment of a distinct philosophy of marketing. Based largely on products and product brands, this philosophy focussed on mutually beneficial company–customer exchanges.

● The second marketing revolution adapted this philosophy to services. ● More recently, the third marketing revolution broadened this philosophy to organi-

sations, their corporate identities and corporate brands. Notably, the focus was not only on customers but also on stakeholders (company–stakeholder exchanges).

● The fourth marketing revolution recognises that a reformation of marketing thought and philosophy is urgently required with the advent of the ubiquity and impor- tance of the digital age and the spectacular ascendancy (and in certain regards hegemony) of the Internet. Clearly, the IoT is one, prominent, manifestation of the aforementioned. See Figure 1 for a graphic representation of the above.

The Internet of Things

The IoT was considered a novel paradigm back in 2010 (Atzori, Iera, & Morabito, 2010). What is the IoT? In essence, IoT refers to a computing concept where every day

physical objects can be connected to the Internet (and to each other) via tags, chips, or via a specific digital technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID).

As recently reported in The Economist (2016a), for some considerable time now, forecasters have prophesied the addition of Internet capability to products, especially home and ‘white goods’. As such, the IoT empowers consumers to control white goods and other items and services from afar. Exemplars include fridge sensors which identify rotten food, cameras which can monitor activities in homes from afar, controls which allow for remote control of central heating and so on.

In our estimation, the IoT not only has the potential to empower customers but also modify in new, and in sometimes unexpected ways, company–customer relationships.

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 133

However, the prosaic utility of IoT apropos white goods, etc. is, in fact, somewhat narrowly conceived. This is because rather than being limited to computers, tablets, smartphones, white goods, the IoT realm encompasses any device that can be connected and communicate in an intelligent fashion.

Moreover, as observed by Atzori et al. (2010), there are five application domains which are, at present, germane for IoT. These include transportation and logistics, healthcare, smart-environments, personal and social.

Other scholars have averred how the IoT is essential for organisational innovation, adaptation and success. This is especially for firms with high amounts of connectivity, network and data (Jones, Suoranta, & Rowley, 2013; Yadav, Prabhu, & Chandy, 2007; Yu,

1: First Marketing Revolution

Mutually beneficial company-customer exchange relationships based on products/product brands

2: Second Marketing Revolution

Mutually beneficial company-customer exchange relationships based on services/services brands

3: Third Marketing Revolution

Mutually beneficial company-stakeholder exchange relationships based on

corporate identities/corporate brands

4: Fourth Marketing Revolution

Mutually beneficial company-stakeholder/stakeholder networks exchange relationship based on the internet

platforms and internet corporate brands

Figure 1. The four marketing revolutions.

134 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

Nguyen, & Chen, 2015). As noted by Chui, Löffler, and Roberts (2010) apropos IoT, Japanese organisations are now utilising billboards to scrutinise would-be consumers in terms of their profiles and then go ahead to target bespoke advertisements on the billboards.

Importantly, the IoT also operates in business to business (B2B) domains. For example, B2B manufacturers improve both efficiencies and economies of scale via the implantation of sensors in factory equipment, for example.

What does the IoT mean in communications terms? For us, this represents an exciting, albeit challenging, development. Why? This is because the IoT is prospectively metamorphosing into a seemingly ubiquitous information universe. By means of context, it should be noted that the IoT enables data to be generated autonomously apropos everyday human behaviour.

On the positive side (there is a dark side), the IoT may foster efficiency, convenience and a better quality of life for consumers. It also, of course, enables companies – and also third parties – to be privy to consumer behaviour, preferences and influences. Such is the potential ubiquity of IoT that information of this kind is collected from devices and among individuals connecting via such devices. As such, communication and information feedback encompasses: (a) communication between devices and consumers/others; (b) communication between devices; as well as (c) strings of communications. For scholars such as Tan and Wang (2010), this represents a new era in computing. Significantly, extant scholarship on IoT reveals a preponderance of scholarly and empirical insights from information system disciplines.

In terms of marketing scholarship vis-à-vis IoT, this lags behind the information technology field. Moreover, our initial examination of the territory suggests that the corporate communications effects of the IoT remain in its infancy and at best adolescence.

Before formally introducing and explicating the IoTCC notions, by means of background, a short précis of the total corporate communications notion will be detailed.

Total corporate communications

The total corporate communications notion (Balmer 1995; Balmer & Gray, 1999) has an explicit stakeholder orientation and is informed by the premise that: (a) corporate communication is complex and multidimensional; and (b) takes cognisance that everything an organisation says, makes or does (including third party commentary and narrative relating to an organisation), de facto, communicates (Balmer, 1995 p. 35).

Moreover, the aforementioned represents a nexus linking a company’s corporate identity (a firm’s distinguishing and defining traits) and the corporate images and reputations held of an entity by stakeholders. These are important since they provide the foundations of stakeholders identifications and behaviours which can meaningfully support the company’s mission and purpose as evinced in its corporate identity (or not).

Total corporate communications are differentiated from traditional one-way communications models which emphasise ‘controlled communications’. As detailed by Balmer and Gray (1999), total corporate communications encompass:

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 135

(1) Primary communications: the total corporate communications impacts of corpo- rate activities and behaviours, product and service quality, management and employee behaviour, etc.;

(2) Secondary communications: the total corporate communications impacts of con- trolled corporate communications such as corporate advertising, corporate design, corporate public relations, etc.;

(3) Tertiary communications: the total corporate communications effects of third- party/uncontrolled communications.

Introducing the Internet of Total Corporate Communications notion

Given the rise of interest in and importance attached to the IoT, the formal introduction of IoTCC appears to be timely. Why? This is because this new IoT conjoins and advances both the IoT and the total corporate communications fields and, therefore, has the potential to afford scholarly and practical insights (see Figure 2).

For consumers and other key stakeholders, utilising IoT apropos smart-work/ smart-home devices, perhaps without realising it, are in effect, engaged in corporate communications. This is because the provider of Internet services often

Corporate Identity

Stakeholders images, reputations and attributed identitiessupportive/non supportive of an organisation's corporate identity

Total Corporate Communications

Figure 2. The total corporate communications effect of the Internet of Things.

136 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

collates information about their consumers (and B2B customers too) to better understand their customers, other key stakeholders and markets. Real-time transactions and usage data are automatically collected by app providers linking back to the cloud-based databases of companies and brands. Such customer feedback provides critical marketing information required to better enhance corporate communications.

Moreover, the IoT is part of a new world of corporate communications where the Internet not only responds to requests for information but also recommends companies and their products and services to customers (both business and consumers) and other stakeholders based on their analysis of existing usage profile. For example, many manufacturing firms now analyse their customers’ usage and inventory, with automatic devices that send reminders to users and purchasing managers for reordering. Utility firms also deploy ‘smart’ meters that display energy usage and the amount that is already consumed with the real-time cost of providing it (Chui et al., 2010). Mobile network providers also supply customers with automatic updates of mobile data usage so that consumers are aware if they have exceeded their initial allowance or if extra data purchase is needed. By attending to customers’ needs prior to their own recognition, IoT provides businesses with competitive advantages to increase customer satisfaction, confers a positive image.

More generally of course, Internet providers, track customers’ uses of the Internet in order to provide bespoke services and product/service recommendations for them.

Moreover, the Internet comprises a plethora of organisations providing Internet platforms and they determine what and what not to prioritise or exclude for their search engines. Such, of course, is the power of the aforementioned that in certain countries certain Internet search engines are proscribed. For examples, several apps such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., and search engines such as Google are banned in the People’s Republic of China.

Over recent decades, the world has witnessed the ascendancy of the Internet as an information, knowledge, social, marketing resource. Newly created cloud space is now utilised by people, firms, institutions, products, systems and machines to store and exchange data on a regular basis. In many parts of the world and among the young in particular, this has transformed societal and marketing interactions.

Quaternary total corporate communications. What are they? What of them?

To reiterate, whilst the literature on the Internet and the IoT has burgeoned to date, there appears to be paucity of insights apropos the IoT/the Internet as discussed from a total corporate communications perspective.

As such, an additional dimension of total corporate communications should be considered, namely, that of quaternary total corporate communications which encompasses the communication dimension of both the IoT and, more broadly, the communications effects and effects of the Internet per se.

From our deliberations on the IoT/the Internet, we perceived the Internet as a new dimension of the total corporate communications realm which, to mix our metaphors, can be compared to a communications cosmos. As such, because of its ability to

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 137

communicate, evaluate and recommend organisations and their brands and because it provides assessments of corporate image and corporate reputation it may, perhaps, be considered a fourth dimension of total corporate communications that may be called quaternary total corporate communications.

Moreover, since the IoTCC transcends and impacts on the other three dimensions of total corporate communications, it can be compared to a galaxy. As such, Figure 3 not only shows the four dimensions of total corporate communications but also shows the fourth dimension (quaternary corporate communications) overlapping with the others.

● Internet of corporate communications: transcending primary-level corporate communications

For some companies the Internet is, of course, their primary modus operandi and as such their provision of Internet services and support (including support apropos the IoT). Furthermore, for internal stakeholders, such as managers and employees, the nature, utilisation and management, etc., of a company’s internal email, intranet, etc., systems can also be seen as a dimension of primary communications. In addition, chip- embedded staff cards store personal information that helps firms differentiate internal

Quaternary Corporate

Communications

Primary corporate

communciations

Tertiary corporate

communciations

Secondary corporate

communciations

Figure 3. Internet of corporate communications: transcending primary, secondary and tertiary corporate communications.

138 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

employees from external stakeholders. Whilst staff cards are used to activate locked doors and machines such as printers and computers, they also record data that track of employees’ activities and movement within the premises.

According to the precepts of total corporate communications, the activities, products and services and behaviours of organisations represent the primary level of total corporate communications (Balmer & Gray, 1999).

● Internet of corporate communications: transcending secondary-level corporate communications

An organisation’s planned and coordinated corporate communication strategies and core messages aimed at internal stakeholders, customers and other key stakeholder groups utilising the Internet (corporate websites, apps, advertising and electronic newsletters) can be considered a dimension of secondary corporate communications.

According to the precept of total corporate communications, the formal communications efforts aimed at key stakeholders represent the secondary level of total corporate communications (Balmer & Gray, 1999). Whilst traditionally mass media is employed to communicate standardised corporate message, now IoT-enabled apps often allow corporates to provide more tailored messages and information based on analysis of individual customers’ usage behaviour and their indicated preference. For example, BBC news app provides users tailored news based on individuals’ selection of newsworthiness and browsing behaviour. The messages are still very much controlled by the organisations; however, the users now have the freedom to choose which ones they would receive. Manufacturing suppliers also utilise the IoT to monitor their customer stocking.

● Internet of corporate communications: transcending tertiary-level corporate communications

The utilisation of the Internet by internal and external stakeholders, competitors, interest groups, the media and others apropos word-of-mouse (word of mouth) commentary and automatically generated recommendations about an organisation represents another critically important total corporate communications dimension.

According to the precept of total corporate communications, the above third-party narratives and dialogues about an organisation represent the tertiary level of total corporate communications (Balmer & Gray, 1999). However, whilst the IoT now tracks users’ browsing history and purchasing behaviour, a new recommendation system is now developed without the need of requiring further actions from customers to review or suggest. Instead by analysing and evaluating existing browsing history and purchasing behaviour (Choi, Lee, Han, Man, & Chong, 2015), IoT now provides recommendations to new customers by analysing previous customers’ behavioural data in relation to the same product/brand/corporate. For example, Amazon now recommends customers a list of products/brands/movies/music that other users have also bought based on their browsing and purchasing history to help customers identify competitive alternatives.

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 139

Impacts of quaternary total corporate communications

Quaternary communications give individuals, groups, systems and machines beyond stakeholders’ access to the Internet, enabling them to exchange information about an organisation among themselves as well as providing feedback. In short, quaternary communications are akin to a network and a network which operates on different Internet platforms, connecting people, corporates and machines.

Second, quaternary communications further diffuse the controllable aspects of corporate communications and require organisation to be far more astute in terms of the nature and impact of the IoTCC effects. Quaternary communications in effect is a constellation of corporate networks, enabled by IoT platforms through connected actor bonds, resource ties and coordinated activities (e.g. Snehota & Hakansson, 1995). Nevertheless, dissimilar to business networks that are developed and managed by senior managers for the business performance and competitive advantages, the IoT network expands autonomously, through multiple connections among people, corporates and machines, leading to a new ubiquitous computing and communication era (Tan & Wang, 2010).

Third, quaternary communications also have an upside for organisations in that it empowers companies in terms of the availability of big data through connected cloud space (Gubbi, Buyya, Marusic, & Palaniswami, 2013). The latter, collected and made available through the IoT, provides valuable resources for organisations to share their understanding of the markets and consumers with and amongst each other.

The dark side of IoT and the Internet of Total Corporate Communications

Although IoT empowers humans by bringing extra convenience to consumers as well as providing valuable marketing information to business, one cannot deny that the self- expanding information universe is not necessarily a galaxy, wherein all information is exchanged freely amongst humans and machines. Whilst the Internet can be controlled through the use of fire walls or utilised by governments in order to ‘regulate’ communication (MacKinnon, 2010), this reflects the dark side of the phenomenon. Firms and marketers are therefore advised to be cautious when interpreting and analysing IoT data for consumer insights. In fact, attention should be made to gain a full understanding in terms of how the data is collected to ensure validity and reliability, critical to reach sound and convincing conclusions.

Marketing management implications

Whilst the IoT provides a new platform that expands the original corporate communications framework of Balmer and Gray (1999), marketers are recommended to take advantages of this new platform by taking initiative to better understand how various data could be collected and collect them from the quaternary communications galaxy in order to obtain valuable consumer insights.

For example, by incorporating augmented reality and global positioning system (GPS) to connect to the real-world places, thus creating a unique user experience when

140 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

catching virtual cartoon-monsters (West, 2016), the app ‘Pokemon Go’ brings not only profits to Nintendo but also great access to consumer insights. Whilst the game remembers and records actual behavioural data of million users around the world, such big data could be analysed to obtain valuable consumer insights about when consumers go out, where they go and how long they stay at each spot. Such locality data if analysed appropriately, will be of great interest to local businesses, high-street retailers as well as media purchasing agencies.

Businesses are also advised to consider how IoT could be incorporated at a strategic level to enhance their total corporate communications with both internal and external stakeholders. Resourceful corporates are recommended to work on developing and advancing their own devices, apps, processes and/or systems utilising IoT in order to better engage and serve existing and prospective customers.

However, the advantages offered by IoT are not only reserved for the more resourceful, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also stay on top of the trend by keeping an eye on the latest development in the market and take initiatives to utilise such opportunities creatively. For instance, Nintendo allows users to nominate local business spots as special resource bases in the virtual game, hence drawing people to gather around the area in reality. SMEs such as estate agents, restaurants and local shops quick to respond to this free promotion opportunity by self-nominating as special resource bases are likely to draw more visits from customers who are into the game.

Reflections and limitations

The IoT has spread into various areas with rapid expansion and impact. This fourth generation of industrial revolutions challenges existing marketing practices, we therefore introduce the notion of the IoTCC, as the quaternary power that facilitates the corporate marketing Internet revolution.

To address the pressing matter that many organisations suffer from coordinated and integrated communications at the corporate level, we illustrate how the IoT could be employed to facilitate total corporate brand communications at primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary levels with a conceptual framework.

At primary communication level, the IoT implementation in forms of intranet and internal email systems facilitates communication with internal stakeholders, this, in part, reveals key dimensions of an organisation’s corporate identity. At the secondary corporate communications level, the IoT is used as part of an organisation’s (controlled) integrated corporate communications efforts to promote and project corporate identity to customers, employees and other stakeholder groups via corporate marketing channels. At the territory level, the IoT is engaged by external stakeholders, and others, in providing narratives on the firm and, as such, these provide valuable platforms in evaluating an entity’s actual, espoused and conceived corporate identity along with its corporate reputation.

Specifically at the quaternary level, the IoT gives all stakeholders access to the Internet and beyond, enabling them to exchange information and feedback, akin to a galaxy which operates on different platforms, connecting people, corporates and machines. This framework provides corporate marketing managers a comprehensive perspective to evaluate and plan strategically how IoT could be implemented to better communicate its corporate identity, image and reputation, as well as to serve and predict customers’ unmet

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 141

needs. Nevertheless, when interpreting information exchanged on IoT, caution should be exercised regarding data reliability, validity and limitations.

Following our discussion, future studies interested in IoTCC are encouraged to further explore:

● How IoTCC empowers different stakeholders, impacting on the corporate identity, image and reputation?

● To what extent does IoTCC facilitates bilateral company – stakeholder relationships in relation to corporate reputation enhancement?

● IoT as a sector, its boundary vs. organisation and impact on corporate communica- tions (e.g. China – state-controlled IoT environment, Google-controlled IoT environment).

● IoTCC consumers – how does their behaviour differ from previous generations?

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

John M. T. Balmer is Professor of Corporate Marketing at Brunel University Business School London; quondam Professor of Corporate Brand/Identity Management at Bradford University School of Management and Director of the Marketing and Corporate Brand Research Group at Brunel University. Took his PhD at Strathclyde University in 2006 and within 3 years was elected to a personal (full) chair as Professor of Corporate Identity at Bradford University School of Management. Subsequently, he was conferred the title of Professor of Corporate Brand/Identity Management at the same institution in recognition of his pioneering scholarship in these fields. In 2007, he was appointed to a personal chair at Brunel University London where he was conferred the title Professor of Corporate Marketing. All three professorial appointments are understood to be the first of their kind. Recognised for his scholarship on corporate identity, he is credited with writing the first articles on corporate brands (1995) and corporate marketing (1998) and co- developed the corporate heritage notion (2006). He is the Chairman of the Board of Senior Consultant Editors of the Journal of Brand Management; sits on the senior advisory board of the Journal of Product and Brand Management and was a long-time member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing Management. He has edited/co-edited well over 20 special editions of academic journals. His articles have been published in California Management Review, British Journal of Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Long Range Planning, Industrial Marketing Management, International Studies of Management and Organizations, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of General Management, among other journals. In 1994, he established the International Corporate Identity Group (ICIG). Launched in the House of Lords (Palace of Westminster, London), he is the Chairman and Conference Organiser of the ICIG: symposia have been held in Denmark, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland as well as at the Universities of Oxford, Strathclyde, Brunel, Essex and at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. He established the International Corporate Heritage Symposium in 2011 and is its Chairman and Conference Organiser.

Dorothy A. Yen is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Brunel University London. She graduated from the University of Leeds with a PhD in Marketing in 2008. Her research focuses mainly on the examination of cross-cultural interactions at both b2b and b2c levels. She specialises in the

142 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

business relationships between Anglo-Saxon suppliers and Chinese buyers and has a particular research interest in the Chinese relational notion of guanxi. Her works have been published in journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of General Management, Total Quality Management, The Marketing Review and Studies in Higher Education. Since completing her PhD, Dorothy has gained extensive academic experience from lecturing in several UK universities and she is currently an external examiner in Marketing at Middlesex University. She has reviewed papers for a number of academic journals such as Industrial Marketing Management and Journal of Business Research. Prior to her academic career, she worked for several years in Advertising and Market research both in Taiwan and in the UK.

References

Atzori, L., Iera, A., & Morabito, G. (2010). The internet of things: A survey. Computer Networks, 54, 2787–2805. doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2010.05.010

Balmer, J. M. T. (1995). Corporate branding and connoisseurship, Journal of General Management, 21(1), 24–46.

Balmer, J. M. T. (1998). Corporate identity and the advent of corporate marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 14(8), 963–996.

Balmer, J. M. T. (2011). Corporate marketing myopia and the inexorable rise of a corporate marketing logic: Perspectives from identity–based views of the firm. European Journal of Marketing, 45(9–10), 1329–1352. doi:10.1108/03090561111151817

Balmer, J. M. T., & Gray, E. R. (1999). Corporate identity and corporate communications: Creating a competitive advantage. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 4(4), 171–177. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000007299

Balmer, J. M. T., & Greyser, S. A. (2006). Corporate marketing: Integrating corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate communications, corporate image and corporate reputation. European Journal of Marketing, 40, 730–741. doi:10.1108/03090560610669964

Choi, S., Lee, H., Han, Y., Man, K., & Chong, W. (2015). A Recommendation Model Using the Bandwagon Effect for E-Marketing Purposes in IoT. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 1–7. doi:10.1155/2015/475163

Chui, M., Löffler, M., & Roberts, R. (2010). The Internet of Things. McKinsey Quarterly, (2), 1–9. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/the-internet-of-things

Gubbi, J., Buyya, R., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(7), 1645–1660. doi:10.1016/j.future.2013.01.010

Jones, R., Suoranta, M., & Rowley, J. (2013). Strategic network marketing in technology SMEs. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(5–6), 671–697. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2013.797920

MacKinnon, R. (2010, October). Networked authoritarianism in China and beyond: Implications for global Internet freedom. Paper presented at Liberation Technology in Authoritarian Regimes, Standford University. Retrieved from http://fsi-media.stanford.edu/evnts/6349/MacKinnon_Libtech.pdf

Roberts, J. (2004). The modern firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schwab, K. (2015). The fourth industrial revolution, what it means and how to respond. Foreign Affairs.

Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-12-12/fourth-industrial-revolution Snehota, I., & Hakansson, H. (Eds.). (1995). Developing relationships in business networks. London:

Routledge. Tan, L., & Wang, N. (2010). Future internet: The internet of things. 3rd International Conference on

Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering (ICACTE) Chengdu, China, 5, 5–376. doi:10.1109/ ICACTE.2010.5579543

The Economist. (2016a, June 11). Where the smart is, p. 65. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/ news/business/21700380-connected-homes-will-take-longer-materialise-expected-where-smart

JOURNAL OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT 143

West, D. (2016). How Pokemon Go will change just about everything. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://europe.newsweek.com/how-pokemon-go-will-change-just-about-everything-485142

Yadav, M. S., Prabhu, J. C., & Chandy, R. K. (2007). Managing the future: CEO attention and innovation outcomes. Journal of Marketing, 71(4), 84–101. doi:10.1509/jmkg.71.4.84

Yu, X., Nguyen, B., & Chen, Y. (2015). Internet of Things capability and alliance: Entrepreneurship orientation, market orientation, and product and process innovation. Internet Research, 26(2), 402–434. doi:10.1108/IntR-10-2014-0265

144 J. M. T. BALMER AND D. A. YEN

Copyright of Journal of Marketing Management is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.