Managing Social Media and Consumerism ― The Grapevine Effect in Competitive Markets

The social media and spread of communication through various social networks form the communication grapevine. This is an emerging informal channel of business communication and a critical element in building the posture of a firm in a competitive marketplace. The grapevine effect is contributed to by the social media through word-of-mouth that stretches throughout the market irrespective of the various measures taken by firms to build their brand and competitive posture. This volume categorically reviews the theories of communication, best practices in social media and previous research, and analyzes the corporate involvement towards strategic and tactical stewardship in serving customer-centric business requirements. There are many types of grapevines that are developed in various niches which stem from emotion, sensitivity, personality, assumptions, experiences, and social conventions. Through an examination of this functional phenomenon of the grapevines and their effect, and by citing examples of various companies, Managing Social Media and Consumerism discusses the best ways to define a social media plan.

Dr. Rajagopal is Professor of Marketing at EGADE Business School of Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), Mexico City Campus, Mexico, and Fellow of the Royal Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, London. He is also Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and Fellow of Institute of Operations Management, United Kingdom. He has been listed with his biography in various international directories including Who's Who in the World since 2008, and 2000 Outstanding Intellectual of the 21st Century published in 2009 by International Biographical Center, Cambridge, UK. He offers courses on Competitor Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Advance Selling Systems, International Marketing, Services Marketing, New Product Development, and other subjects of contemporary interest to the students of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. Rajagopal holds post-graduate and doctoral degrees in Economics and Marketing respectively from Ravishankar University in India. His specialization is in the fields of Marketing Management, Rural Economic Linkages and Development Economics. He has to his credit 40 books on marketing management and rural development themes and over 400 research contributions that include published research papers in national and international refereed journals. He is Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, International Journal of Business Competition and Growth, and International Journal of Built Environment and Asset Management. He is also member of editorial board of various journals of international repute. He has imparted training to senior executives and has conducted 55 management development programs. His research contributions have been conferred the highest recognition of National Researcher -SNI-level III by the Government of Mexico.