veresiu and giesler_strategic servicescaping_acr 2012 presentation
DESCRIPTION
These slides were designed by Ela Veresiu ([email protected]) to illustrate the theoretical insights from one part of her dissertation research. In her research, she investigates how market spaces are created and influence culture, society, and consumer behavior. These slides were presented at the 2012 North American Conference of the Association for Consumer Research. This is a PDF version. The PPT version is available by email. Thank you! Ela �TRANSCRIPT
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@marketscapes
© Copyright, Ela Veresiu
Disclaimer
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These slides were designed by Ela Veresiu ([email protected]) to illustrate the theoretical insights from one part of her dissertation research. In her research, she investigates how market spaces are created and influence culture, society, and consumer behavior. These slides were presented at the 2012 North American Conference of the Association for Consumer Research. This is a PDF version. The PPT version is available by email. Thank you! Ela Veresiu March 28, 2013
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Servicescapes Literature
These studies highlight how servicescapes transform cultural ideals into material realities and, furthermore, how treasured cultural narratives, such as Wild West mythologies, tales of athletic achievement, or romantic narratives of revitalization through nature, are reworked to serve commercial aims and to channel consumer experiences in certain trajectories.
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(Arnould and Thompson 2005, 874-75) • Bitner 1992 • Borghini et al. 2009 • Brown and Sherry 2003 • Maclaran and Brown 2005 • Price and Arnould 1999 • Sherry 1998 • Visconti et al. 2010 • etc.
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Multiplicity of Competing Meanings on the Hill
Jewish Assn.
Tourism Businesses
Tourists InterConti Brand
Local Farmers
Historians
Profitable Site
Historical Site
Politicians
Entertaining Site
Natural Site
Commemorative Site
Wellness Site
Pilgrimage Site
Democratic Site
Neo-Nazis
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The Politics of Spaces/Places
Doreen Massey “[I]f as I have argued there are indeed multiple meanings of places, held by different social groups for instance, then the question of which identity is dominant will be the result of social negotiation and conflict.”
(Massey 1994, 141)
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Jewish Assn.
Tourism Businesses
Tourists InterConti Brand
Local Farmers
Historians
Neo-Nazis
Profitable Site
Historical Site
Politicians
Entertaining Site
Natural Site
Commemorative Site
Wellness Site
Pilgrimage Site
Democratic Site 7
Given that a servicescape is a locus of political contestation, what role does materiality play in the sustenance of its commercially
desired meanings over time?
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Servicescaping Strategic
Ela Veresiu Witten/Herdecke University
Association for Consumer Research Conference, Vancouver, BC
Markus Giesler Schulich School of Business @shapingmarkets
The Materialization of Meaning in a Politically Contested Servicescape
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Our Proposition
We define servicescaping as the strategic process of materializing the commercially desired meaning of a space while, at the same time, suppressing competing meanings that can undermine its commercial viability.
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Illustrating The Process of Strategic Servicescaping
Analysis 2: Explore Material Strategies
Analysis 1: Trace the Genealogy of the Hill
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Chapter 1: Rural Retreat (1877 – 1933)
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Chapter 2: Hitler’s Retreat (1933 – 1945)
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Chapter 3: U.S. Military Retreat (1945 – 1995)
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Chapter 4: Historical & Enjoyable Retreat (1996 – Present)
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Analysis 2: Data Collection
12 international tourists
volunteered for in-depth interviews between 2010 and 2012
6 local business owners
volunteered for in-depth interviews between 2010 and 2012
1120 pages
of online materials (e.g., news reports, forum discussions) and historical data
3 politicians
volunteered for in-depth interviews between 2010 and 2012
Longitudinal Hermeneutics
(Thompson 1997; Giesler 2008)
4 InterConti Hotel Staff
volunteered for in-depth interviews between 2010 and 2012
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Empirical Findings: Three Servicescaping Strategies
Materializing (Channeled) History Counteracts charge that history is ignored
Materializing Responsible Enjoyment Counteracts charge that dark tourism is promoted
Materializing Permeable Boundaries Counteracts charge that site is not managed responsibly
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It’s too late now, but I still think it's [the two-column model] wrong because Obersalzberg is famous in the world for being the idyllic place where Hitler tried to rule the world. The Bavarian government has tried to erase the physical memories and if you want the Nazi regime to be useful for our democracy now, you have to have the physical traces. You need the physical contact with the past.
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Hans German politician, Leftwing party
Servicescaping Strategy 1: Materializing (Channeled) History
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The second pillar, about 200 yards away, is the Obersalzberg Documentation Center, a museum of the Nazi era […] . The museum is not huge, but its displays in no way shy away from the horrors of Nazism. In fact, the Documentation Center has had some beneficial unforeseen consequences, not least that many Germans who would otherwise come to this area of the Bavarian Alps only for a holiday now spend some time getting a vivid reminder of savage plans and demented theories that were concocted in part right here.
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Hans German politician, Leftwing party
Servicescaping Strategy 1: Materializing (Channeled) History
Gunther German historian
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So our first day we headed up to Eagles nest. What a great location just 5-10 minutes walk from the hotel [InterContinental] and you're at the bus station for Eagles Nest. […] we then walked over to the Documentation Centre that gave us a totally different view of life in Germany during the war and many facts that I was unaware of. From here a few minutes walk through the forest to Hotel Zum Turken to see the underground bunkers. Another amazing find and all within 10 minutes walk of the hotel.
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Hans German politician, Leftwing party
Servicescaping Strategy 1: Tourist Response
Gunther German historian
Sonja Tourist from U.S.A
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This continues to be an appalling situation. The bathroom shower-heads in the InterContinental hotel rooms are reminiscent of the false shower-heads in the gas-chambers of Auschwitz. […] And the apparent choice of beige uniforms for the staff are similar to the brown shirts of the Nazi era.
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Peter German journalist
Servicescaping Strategy 2: Materializing Responsible Enjoyment
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Peter German journalist
Ralf InterContinental Hotel Manager
These shower-heads were first used at the Savoy 104 years ago. It's a pathetic comparison. […] The ICH Group is aware that this hotel is built on sensitive ground, but we believe that the time is right to move on, touristically, and we do so with integrity and transparency.
Servicescaping Strategy 2: Materializing Responsible Enjoyment
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The IC Hotel is built very near the site of the Berghof, which was the mountain home of Adolf Hitler, part of a huge Nazi complex. […] With such associations, it was with some reservation that we stayed at this hotel. I had a voucher to stay at an IC hotel, and thought that this would be an opportunity to make use of it before it expired. However, it is such a wonderful area, with a very long history, with so much to see and experience, that our stay here proved to be the absolute highlight of a tour of Salzburgerland and Berchtesgaden. […] This hotel is not just a place to stay, it is an experience in itself.
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Peter German journalist
Servicescaping Strategy 2: Tourist Response
Klaus Member of City Council
Seth Tourist from U.K.
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By neither clear-cutting and obliterating the ruins nor "managing" the site in a historically responsible manner, the Germans have inadvertently sanctioned a de facto shrine to their dead Nazi leader. […] the Hitlerpilger [Hitler pilgrims] come not just from Germany but from across Europe and the United States, in particular from France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
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Henry International Journalist
Servicescaping Strategy 3: Materializing Permeable Boundaries
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Far from rejecting the site's obvious connection with Germany's World War II history, we constantly confront it in our own way. For instance, we have decorated our rooms with the carefully chosen art of Nazi-banned painter, Otto Müller. […] The staff is available to answer questions on the history of the area and direct guests to the nearby Obersalzberg Documentation Center.
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Henry International Journalist
Wolfgang InterContinental Hotel Staff
Servicescaping Strategy 3: Materializing Permeable Boundaries
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It is a nature lovers paradise with views of the famous Watzman, hiking treks starting right at the front door.[…] The nearby documentation center "Obersalzberg" offers an impressive small exhibition about the darker side of the Obersalzber´s history. I would recommend the hotel to everyone looking for a nice break in stunning nature.
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Henry International Journalist
Servicescaping Strategy 3: Tourist Response
Wolfgang InterContinental Hotel Staff
Raji Tourist from Singapore
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Anticipated Contributions
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Extending the Literature on Servicescapes
• Booms and Bitner 1981 • Sherry 1998 • Brown and Sherry 2003 • Maclaran and Brown 2005 • Borghini et al. 2009 • Visconti et al. 2010 • etc.
In contrast to previous more social constructivist oriented approaches, we develop the strategic process of servicescaping used to sustain a place’s desired meanings through its materiality, despite a multiplicity of competing meanings.
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Extending the Literature on Market System Dynamics
• Giesler 2008 • Humphreys 2010 • Karababa and Ger 2011 • etc.
Like Karababa and Ger (2011), we explore the historical shaping of consumption, but we highlight the important role of servicescaping in the commercially-mediated sustenance of a particular historical memory.
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Extending the Literature on Commercial Mythmaking
• Pen ̃aloza 2000, 2001 • Holt 2004 • Thompson 2004 • Thompson and Tian 2008 • Giesler 2012 • etc.
While previous studies have focused on the rhetorical tactics used to enrich goods, services, and tourism regions with myths in order to add value to the consumer, they have omitted the material strategies also necessary to sustain these myths.
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Thank you!
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