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This chapter compares different models of consumer behavior including standard economic theory and alternative behavioral theories such as prospect theory and assimilation-contrast theory. It shows that these behavioral theories have important implications for marketing-finance fusion and human resource management. Specifically, they lead to different market implications for new product pricing, pricing over the business cycle, choosing optimal dividend policy, designing bonus plans, and choosing optimal Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies.

This chapter shows how the firm can use marketing-finance fusion to evaluate mergers and acquisition strategies. It examines the potential gains from mergers, the history of mergers and acquisitions, the effect of private equity firms and hedge funds on merger activity and merger performance, and the special problems posed by international mergers. In particular, it shows how buying and selling firms can objectively value brands by combining game theory and data from choice-based experiments.

Chapter 9 returns the reader to the semi-fictional narrative of Student X. Spoiler alert: Student X has a happy ending! The chapter follows Student X’s development over her degree and into her career beyond, exploring how she addressed the issues of discrimination and marginalization that are presented in Chapters 3 and 5 , and how this process of becoming extends into her professional life as she becomes Graduate X. One of the turning points in Student X’s learning experience (although there are many others that we do not cover here) is a lecture in which a piece of cake is used as a device to highlight the interconnected material assemblages of modern western capitalism.

Once again, the book returns to the semi-fictional narratives that structure Chapters 3 and 5. This time, our focus shifts from the semi-fictional story of Student X to a wider cast of people and things. In this chapter, we encounter Student A, Lecturers X and Y, Archaeologist X, and Heritage Professional X. The semi-fictional narratives about each of these individuals illuminates how the processes of becoming archaeologist are connected to and emerge from engagements with multiple different materials and multiple different scales. This chapter provides the basis for arguments that will then be further developed in Chapter 8. Trigger warning: Chapter 7 describes miscarriage.

The debate on identity and governance has polarized into an argument between what is required to deliver the ‘service state’ and what is tolerable to avoid the emergence of a ‘surveillance state’. In this chapter we explore the much-vaunted role of ‘smart cards’ as a means of authenticating citizen identity and as a platform for providing access to cross-agency services. We also examine the vexed question of the extent to which the complex identities and relationships we have as citizens, patients, and clients can be reduced to that of a ‘customer’ and be managed through e-commerce solutions such as ‘customer relationship management’ (CRM) systems. We conclude that if digital identity management through smart cards and CRM systems are central aspects of digital government we need to be extremely careful about the concepts and practices of ‘identity’ and ‘governance’ associated with it.

Traditionally, evidence for domestic dwellings dating to the Late Archaic Period, here defined as between 6000 and 2650 B.P., has been rare and ephemeral. With the advent of CRM archaeology, however, the inventory of known structures in Ohio and surrounding regions has expanded considerably over the last 30 years. To date, several forms have been documented including circular, oval, C-shaped, and rectangular patterns. At certain sites, evidence points to use of only one form; whereas at other sites simultaneous use of more than one structural type is indicated. Although our knowledge of this early architecture has grown, no attempts have been made to synthesize available data in Ohio or along segments of the Ohio River (e.g., northern Kentucky, northwestern West Virginia). This chapter provides a complete inventory of all Late Archaic structures in the region and highlights possible chronological and regional trends in form, construction methods, and size.

Who decides the boundaries around a product terminology? The ‘technology classifications’ which frame and define boundaries around technology fields are an important part of the ‘knowledge infrastructure’ on which markets operate. Here, Gartner makes regular ‘naming interventions’ within the IT domain. Considering the evolution of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, the chapter shows how Gartner attempted to regulate the boundaries around this technology category and to exercise control over a terminology (‘classification work’) and its interpretation in particular instances (‘categorization work’). As well as building frames around new terminologies/naming interventions they may adopt and perhaps repurpose an existing terminology. However this framing work is bound up and entangled with the responses of wider communities of users. Gartner may need to manage divergences of view within Gartner; it may be called to defend frames in the face of external challenges and even abandon a framing.

The chapter considers the sales organization’s responses to increasing customer demands. Proactive customer management is required throughout the customer’s interaction with the organization. Keeping existing customers is arguably more profitable and less costly than finding and developing new ones, but the right customers to invest in have to be identified and they need constant attention to grow. An allied topic is customer relationship management (CRM) and its central role in creating value for customers, as sellers move away from transactional selling to longer-term, more profitable relationships with buyers. Sales are creating closer relationships with intermediaries and we discuss the nature of relationship quality and how it can lead to customer trust, commitment, and loyalty. However, not all customers require relationships with their suppliers and we look at the importance of customer portfolio management.

This chapter is mainly concerned with the impact of technology on the sales function. The term ‘sales technology’ covers not only sales force automation (SFA) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems, but also order processing, web sales, social media communications, and managing market information. There is an argument to indicate that SFA is primarily concerned with managing transactional sales, while CRM systems facilitate relational activities and this proposition is explored. We also look at systems that can be put in place to reduce risk and to increase customer knowledge and knowledge management. The chapter also focuses on the effect of social media on sales processes and on salespeople, who may find the new sales channels challenging to operate. We therefore consider the impact of new communication technologies on the traditional activities of sales and the developing role of social media in selling.