Cognition-in-context: reorienting research in business market strategy

Abstract

This paper highlights the usefulness of interpretive methodologies in theorizing over relatively unstructured, dynamic business market strategy issues. It is based on the tenet that interpretive methodologies are appropriate to cope with market strategy formation in dynamic market settings. We argue that in a “context of discovery”, marketing researchers need to uncover new relationships among key dimensions of market strategy and might consider reframing theories. Further, we demonstrate in this paper that interpretive research methods allow for managerial recommendations that are highly contextualized and that lead to more actionable prescriptions. We illustrate the above by reflecting on a concrete research on how companies in a business-to-business industry try to reorientate their market strategy. The process of understanding strategic reorientation in business markets should be based on a multiplex of perspectives, such as: multilevel research, fusing content with context and merging theoretical constructs with data and focusing on socially constructed realities.