Self-serving competitive move or a mission-based strategic choice? A discourse analytical study of S Group's nationwide price-drop campaign

A4

Artikkelit ja abstraktit

Artikkelit ja abstraktit tieteellisissä konferenssijulkaisuissa

Full Paper

Kyllä

1

Puusa Anu

Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ECMLG), City, University of London, UK, 11-12 December 2017

Rich Martin

978-1-911218-63-0

European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ECMLG)

Proceedings of the European conference on management, leadership and governance

2048-9021

2048-903X

2048-9021

90337

United Kingdom

Yes

2017

2017

408-416

English

No

No

512 Business and management

This article contributes to the discussion of differences in corporate missions in different business forms. The research target is a price-reducing act carried out by a Finnish consumer co-operative S Group. Once launched, this national operation was a nationwide news resulting in long-lasting discussions and debate in various forums by various parties. The research data consist of 27 newspaper articles published during a one-year period. A discourse analytic approach was used to identify the discourses drawn upon to construct versions of the campaign, its motivations and consequences. Four voices (S Group, Investor Owned Firm (IOF) K Group, reporters/the media and societal actors and/or experts) were identified from the data and their analysis reveals that the newspaper constructs a fragmented picture of the purpose, motivations, execution and future vision of the campaign. The discourse by S Group presents the price-reducing act as a long-lasting, mission-based strategic choice that is in accordance with a co-operative mission. The discourse of IOF constructs the campaign as a self-serving marketing trick and frames S Group as a copyist while K Group is presented as a socially responsible actor concerned for those who potentially carry the burden from the operation. The discourse constructed and upheld by media equalizes the actors by ignoring the differences in their corporate purpose. The discourses are characterized with doubt of alternative motives. They create and maintain juxtapositions between the actors. The societal actors call for extending the discussion in the more societal direction away from the price and towards discussing food as a multidimensional cultural phenomenon. In conclusion, the discourses reflect the widely adopted ideas of private ownership, profit maximization as the primary purpose of businesses and competition as a given setting in business life. Discourses widely reflect a lack of acknowledgement, awareness or knowledge regarding the unique features of a co-operative business model. Keywords: Consumer co-operative, S Group, corporate purpose, dual role, profit maximization,