Paper info

Narratives' role in shaping new markets

Gaël Bonnin

The paper was published at the 34th IMP-conference in Marseille, France in 2018.

This paper investigates the market shaping for smart city technologies using actor- network theory to examine the role of the narratives as an assemblage tool between the market practices of representation, exchange and normalisation. This research understands market shaping as a process that embeds market practices that act together as an assembled coherent and logical construction that permits to make sense of the actors’ actions granting the entrance of a new good into the market. The case in point, the smart city technology market shows how narratives are used to shape a new market, by being used to create market representations that later are employed in exchanges between sellers and the cities. Thus, the narrative is transformed and serve as a material for normalisation practices permitting the creation of policies, habits and routines. The paper contributes to discussions on market shaping, by showing the use of narratives as assemblage tools of market practices.