SIM Conference 2021

SOCIETA’ ITALIANA MARKETING XVIII ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Thursday 14th and Friday 15th October 2021
ANCONA

The Digital Transformation of markets:

Marketing’s role in creating value for firms
and society
Università Politecnica delle Marche
Università degli Studi di Urbino
Università degli Studi di Macerata

CALL FOR PAPERS

PARALLEL SESSIONS AND BEST PAPERS

Digital technologies permeate every aspect of people’s daily lives, and they
have profound implications in the social, cultural, legal, and economic spheres.
Transactions have become digitalized, a vast and constant array of
information has become accessible, and people can communicate in real time
and interact with robots. While objects, persons, and activities had previously
existed as separate entities, they have now become more and more
interconnected, thanks to the evolution of pervasive intelligent technologies,
such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual and
Augmented Reality systems, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, etc.
In this scenario enterprises must be able to respond rapidly to pervasive
digitalization in order to safeguard their competitive edge (Grewal et al., 2020).
New business models and “new” actors have changed and are still changing the
competitive logics, often in radical ways and in multiple economic sectors (Gregori
& Pascucci, 2019). Numerous enterprises that have been present in the market
for years are now struggling to compete with the rise and rapid growth of new
digital firms. In the retail arena, recent online enterprises like Amazon (B2C) and
Alibaba (B2B) are heavily influencing the performance, strategies, and processes
of traditional vendors. The latter are not only beginning to invest more in digital
channels so they can reach and communicate more effectively with clients, but
are also profoundly rethinking the very concept of a shop, to embrace a different
logic with a more experiential and multi-channel (Bonfanti, 2017) orientation.
Some digital business platforms, such as Airbnb, Uber Technologies, Google, and
eBay, have been experiencing significant growth, and others may soon be seeing
profitable growth trends. Marketing can not only play a vital role because it can
foster greater numbers and quality of interactions that take place on the platform
(Rangaswamy et al., 2020), but it can provide content and services that create
opportunities for differentiation and diversification.
In light of this, it is evident that there is a growing interest in the topic of digital
transformation, both in the world of science and in that of practitioners. In fact,
Digital Transformation has become a “buzzword” (Hausberg et al., 2019) and
“the current hype surrounding the concept of Digital Transformation is seriously
influencing its credibility and creating a lot of confusion in academia and research”
(Gong & Ribiere, in press). Scholars still underscore the lack of consensus on a
definition of the concept, and they insist on the need to adopt a multidisciplinary
and holistic vision (Verhoef et al., 2021; Grewal et al., 2020; Hausberg et al.,
2019) with multi-stakeholders (Broekhuizen et al., 2021), as well. This stems from
the fact that a company embarks on a path of digital transformation not by simply
adopting one or more digital technologies within a given process, but by
rethinking its approach to the market and the value proposition, by modifying its
operations and organizational structure, and ultimately, by innovating its business
model to involve multiple internal and external actors (Broekhuizen et al., 2021).
In this perspective, marketing plays a determining and leading role because its
core objective is the creation of differential value for and with clients; digital
transformation is thus a lever that impacts strongly on the very processes
connected to value management, from co-creation to distribution. The digital
revolution also fosters new forms of value measurement for both clients and
firms. For the former, the digitalization of processes can lead to new forms of
value creation, by increasing information and procedural accessibility, speed,
sharing and engagement, thus enriching the customer experience (Pencarelli,
2019). At the same time, digitalization can destroy value, particularly in the
services sector; for example, it can reduce some of the benefits associated with
direct contact with personnel because of the challenges of using technological
devices, especially as experienced by users who are not tech-savvy and
associated problems such as privacy issues and technological alienation. As
concerns firms, digital transformation can be a double-edged sword: it can be a
potential source of value generation, but it can precipitate the rapid obsolescence
of core competences and business models upon which the firm has founded its
competitive advantage over time, leading to a de facto destruction of value if the
firm is unable to “renew itself”. By way of example, the efficient management of
the enormous amount of data generated from the use of digital technologies
requires a major change, in which more “traditional” competences must be
coupled with new competences that involve data analysis and machine learning,
in order to achieve a type of marketing that is truly data-driven (De Luca et al.,
2020; Matarazzo et al., 2021; Paiola & Gebauer, 2020).
The huge potential of the volume, speed, and variety of data available is not
limited to the study and understanding of customer behaviors. Gathering and
analyzing data can impact significantly on strategic marketing processes and on
all of the levers of the marketing mix (Erevelles et al., 2016). New value can be
created through the design, distribution, and promotion of “smart” goods and
services, given that geolocation data can be used to design one-to-one
communication and to increase online visibility and competitiveness (Cioppi et.
al, 2019; Tuan et al., 2020). Data offers remarkable opportunities for the use of
dynamic pricing models that make it possible to implement flexible pricing
strategies based on changing demand (Liozu & Hinteruber, 2013).
As a fundamental link between market and firm, marketing helps to “bring” into
an organization society’s trends and needs, which change considerably and
quickly by virtue of the pervasiveness of digital technologies. At the same time,
marketing contributes to generating new forms of social aggregation by
leveraging on social community activities through social networks, forums, wikis,
etc. (Tuten & Solomon 2020); it can also facilitate the management of platforms
aimed at connecting new types of supply and demand, where underutilized
resources can be shared and exchanged between owners and potential users,
thus generating mutual advantage and multilateral value as a result of
collaborative processes (Coppola et al., 2020; Magnani & Re, 2020).
In order to meet the challenges created by digital transformation, marketing
theory needs to be enriched with new tools – concepts, logics, and relationships
– that will take into account the changes taking place (De Luca et al., 2020).
Thus, in the wake of important contributions like the recent Special Issue of the
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (vol.48(1), 2020) “Technology and
Marketing”, which explores how technological innovations will impact marketing
in terms of both practice and discipline in the next decades, the 2021 SIM
Conference aims to spur reflection on the relationship between Digital
Transformation and Marketing, starting from the process of value management
as a point of reference. The goal is to contribute to the ongoing debate by
gathering original studies and research that will further knowledge in both
academic and managerial arenas.
“The future of marketing depends on the effort made by firms to acquire a holistic
understanding of the needs and behaviors of their clients by means of platforms,
devices, and various products and services. Thus, there is a critical need to study
the impact of new technologies, as specifically concerns marketing strategy, to
understand how they are being used as levers to identify potential areas that
merit deeper exploration” (Kumar et al., 2021, 865).

Conference participants may present short or full papers, either conceptual or

empirical, aimed at investigating one or more of the following topics:
• Role of marketing in value creation via digital business platforms;
• Implications of digital transformation on the core concepts (constructs),
the methodologies, and the theoretical frameworks of the marketing
discipline;
• Challenges of designing ever more personalized customer experiences in
which the digital and the real are combinable;
• Digital transformation and innovation of the business model towards
models of digital servitization, and more;
• Digital transformation and co-creation of value;
• Digital transformation and omnicanality;
 • New intermediaries and reconfiguration of marketing channels and supply
chains;
• Digital transformation and sustainability processes;
• Role of organization interfaces to support the development of digital
transformation processes (e.g. sales-marketing interface, marketing-
operation interface);
• Ethical considerations and digital transformation (re-thinking of traditional
constructs like CSR in light of DT);
• Ethical and privacy issues related to the massive use of people’s data;
• The digital revolution, from generation to destruction of value;
• Blockchain and marketing

The 2021 SIM Conference will keep some of the new features introduced in the
previous edition regarding submissions and publication opportunities, as follows:
1) Participants may present short and/or full papers; see below for specific
guidelines;
2) The Italian Journal of Marketing, the official journal of Società Italiana
Marketing, will publish a Special Issue devoted to the 2021 SIM Conference and
exclusively reserved for full papers presented at the conference. The Special
Issue will not be limited to any specific topic and will include – following prior
review – papers from all thematic sectors explored;
3) The Psychology and Marketing journal will assign the Best P&M Paper
Award; the recipient(s) will also be issued a Certificate and will be invited to
submit their paper to the journal, through the usual review process. Only full
papers will be considered for the award and eventual submission;
4) Awards and recognitions:
a) the Best Conference Paper Award will go to the best paper
presented at the conference (Full or Short papers);
b) the Best Digital Marketing Paper Award will go to the best paper
presented on the topic of Digital Marketing (Full or Short papers), the overall
theme of the conference. If the paper considered for this award is also voted Best
Conference Paper, it will not receive both; in this case, Best Digital Marketing
Paper recognition will be given to the next best paper in the section;
c) the Selected paper recognition will go to the best papers (Full or Short) in
each section; from these, the Best Conference Paper will be chosen.

Themed sessions will take place on the morning of Friday, 15th October,
following scheduled timeslots determined by conference organizers. In order for
a paper to be included in the program, at least one of the authors must be up to
date with dues paid by 30th September 2021. To be considered for inclusion
in the Conference Proceedings, for awards, or for publication opportunities,
papers must have been presented in their respective sessions.

Upon submitting a request for presentation, authors must indicate the themed
session/topic to which the paper refers, from the following list:
1. International Marketing
2. Consumer Behavior
3. Marketing Communication & Branding
4. B2B Marketing
5. Retailing & Channel Management
6. Tourism, Culture, and Arts Marketing
7. Technology & Innovation Marketing
8. Digital Marketing
9. Sustainable Marketing
10. Services Marketing

In addition, a Special Track, “Marketing cases”, will be created to gather case

studies. If the papers in question are written and presented with company
managers themselves they will be published by Pearson in a special series of
cases curated by SIM and SIMA.
Another Special Track, on ‘Marketing for Start-ups’ (“Il Marketing per le start-
up”), will be launched in collaboration with the “Ricerca & Imprenditorialità”
Foundation, chaired by Prof. Riccardo Varaldo.

All short and/or full papers, submitted in accordance with the editorial guidelines
outlined below, must be received by the SIM Secretariat no later than Friday
17th September 2021.

The decision concerning acceptance of the proposed paper will be communicated

by the Section Coordinators by Tuesday 28th September 2021.

References
Bonfanti A. (2017), Customer shopping experience. Le sfide del retail tra spazio fisico e
digitale, Giappichelli Editore, Torino.

Broekhuizen, T. L., Broekhuis, M., Gijsenberg, M. J., & Wieringa, J. E. (2021).

Introduction to the special issue–Digital business models: A multi-disciplinary and multi-
stakeholder perspective. Journal of Business Research, 122, 847-852.

Cioppi, M., Curina, I., Forlani, F., & Pencarelli, T. (2019). Online presence, visibility and
reputation: a systematic literature review in management studies. Journal of Research in
Interactive Marketing.

Coppola, C., Vollero, A., Conte, F., & Siano, A. (2020). Self-production in an upcycling
online community: shared knowledge, collaborative ideas and creation of value. Italian
Journal of Marketing, 2020, 231-248.
De Luca, L. M., Herhausen, D., Troilo, G., & Rossi, A. (2020). How and when do big data
investments pay off? The role of marketing affordances and service innovation. Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-21.

Erevelles, S., Fukawa, N., & Swayne, L. (2016). Big Data consumer analytics and the
transformation of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), 897-904.

Gong C., Ribiere V. (in press), “Developing a unified definition of digital transformation”,
Technovation, doi: 10.1016/j.technovation.2020.102217.

Gregori, G.L., Pascucci, F. (a cura di) (2019), Il digital marketing come fattore
competitivo. Verso un approccio integrato "strumenti" e "strategia". Franco Angeli
edizioni.

Grewal, D., Hulland, J., Kopalle, P. K., & Karahanna, E. (2020). The future of technology
and marketing: a multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 48(1), 1-8.

Hausberg J.P., Liere-Netheler K., Packmohr S., Pakura S., Vogelsang K. (2019),
“Research streams on digital transformation from a holistic business perspective: a
systematic literature review and citation network analysis”, Journal of Business
Economics, 89, 931-963.

Kumar V., Ramachandran D., Kumar B. (2021), “Influence of new-age technologies on

marketing: a research agenda”, Journal of Business Research, 125, 864-877.

Liozu S.M., Hinterhuber A. (2013), “Pricing orientation, pricing capabilities, and firm
performance” in Management Decision, 51 (3), 594-614.

Magnani, G., & Re, B. (2020). Lived experiences about car sharing in young adults:
Emerging paradoxes. Italian Journal of Marketing, 2020(2), 207-229.

Matarazzo, M., Penco, L., Profumo, G., & Quaglia, R. (2021). Digital transformation and
customer value creation in Made in Italy SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective.
Journal of Business Research, 123, 642-656.

Paiola, M., & Gebauer, H. (2020). Internet of things technologies, digital servitization and
business model innovation in BtoB manufacturing firms. Industrial Marketing
Management, 89, 245-264.

Pencarelli, T. (2020). The digital revolution in the travel and tourism

industry. Information Technology & Tourism, 22(3), 455-476.

Rangaswamy A., Moch N., Felten C., van Bruggen G., Wieringa J.E., Wirtz J. (2020), “The
role of marketing in Digital Business Platforms”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 51, 72-
90.

Taylor, S. A., Hunter, G. L., Zadeh, A. H., Delpechitre, D., & Lim, J. H. (2020). Value
propositions in a digitally transformed world. Industrial Marketing Management, 87, 256-
263.
Tuan Annamaria, Kumar Ashish, Dalli Daniele, Leeflang Peter S.H. (2020), Brand
competition on social media: investigating direct and indirect effects of FGC on sales. Pr
oceedings of the European Marketing Academy, 49th, (63713)

Tuten T., Solomon M. (2020) Social media marketing, Pearson, Milano

Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Dong, J. Q., Fabian, N., &
Haenlein, M. (2021). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research
agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, 889-901.

SHORT PAPER GUIDELINES

• Abstract (250 words, maximum)
• Keywords: from 4 to 6
• Presentation of the thesis, object of the investigation;
• Short review of research streams that have explored the topic;
• Clear indication of the intended methodology to be followed;
• Illustration of any empirical findings;
• Conclusions and implications for research and management.

Editorial requirements
Font: text body Times New Roman 11; notes Times New Roman 9;
Margins: Top 5cm; bottom 6.2 cm; left 4.4 cm; right 4.4 cm.
Line spacing: single

Maximum number of pages (including figures, tables, and bibliography): 5

FULL PAPER GUIDELINES

• Abstract (250 words, maximum)
• Keywords: from 4 to 6
• Presentation of the thesis; positioning and contribution of the paper;
• Thorough and detailed description of research streams that have explored the
topic;
• Clear indication of the research design and of the methodology adopted;
• Presentation and discussion of the findings;
• Conclusions and implications for research and management.

Editorial requirements
Font: text body Times New Roman 11; notes Times New Roman 9;
Margins: Top 5cm; bottom 6.2 cm; left 4.4 cm; right 4.4 cm.
Line spacing: single
Maximum number of pages (including figures, tables, and bibliography): 20