Authors: Gael Bonnin; Mauricio Rodriguez
The acceleration of technological innovation and the magnitude of its potential impacts on business and society have increased exponentially. Sellers of technologies face the challenge to give sense and legitimise their offer in a context of uncertainty. Technology sellers construct narratives about their technology that often result in a “technological hype”. Buyers and network partners try to read through the “hype” to avoid technological fads. In spite of the importance of this phenomenon, research in industrial marketing has rarely studied narratives and even less so in the context of the adoption of technologies: their construction and appropriation remain an open question. This paper analysesCisco’scampaigntomorrowstartshere,withtheaimtoidentifythe narrativeelementsthatCiscousestogivesensetoitsinnovationsandtherelationsbetween actors and technologies. The examination of the data-set offers a speci?c description of ?venarrativestrategies(deliberateorunintentional)usedbyCiscoinitsendeavourtogive sense, institutionalise and legitimise its offers. The main contribution of the paper is to expand the understanding of the making of marketing strategies of technology companies, reducing the gap between the existent research in industrial marketing regarding narratives and business relationships.
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2016
Conference: Poznan, Poland (2016)