Paper info

Understanding Market Dynamics potential Contributions To Market(Ing) Studies From Actor-Network Theory

Lars-Gunnar Mattsson

The paper was published at the 19th IMP-conference in Lugano, Switzerland in 2003.

Given that the market is a socially constructed institution for governance of economic activities, the market is an aspect of social order. How the social order is established, changed and stabilized is an important aspect of social ordering. Marketing practice, i.e. the behaviour of actors involved in market exchange, influences social ordering. Thus, marketing practice influences the dynamics (social ordering) of markets. Markets and marketing are also phenomena studied within academic disciplines (and in nonacademic research). Theories, concepts, methods and empirical results concerning markets and marketing also interact with marketing practice. Furthermore, markets and marketing practice also interact with actors not involved in market exchange or research such government policy makers and institutions since they contribute to shaping market(ing) norms. How market(ing) practice, academic research and government policies/institutions, all three phenomena broadly defined, interact is a major concern if we want to understand market dynamics.The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the major ideas in the Sociology of Science and Techniques (SST) approach, and more specifically the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) might be applied more generally to market studies.The disposition of the paper is as follows: First, a brief overview of four major market(ing) theory approaches regarding how they define the market concept, account for marketing activities, account for market dynamics. Second, the essential attributes of the ANT approach. Then, three examples of how some societal and managerial issues related to changes in markets and marketing, that came in focus in Sweden during the last 50 years, both for practice and research. These issues will then be used to discuss how different market(ing) approaches might explain market dynamics. Finally, ways the ANT approach might contribute to understand market(ing) dynamics are suggested.