Intermediary draft - Gian Marco MELANDRI by Gian Marco MELANDRI

MEMOIRE INTERMEDIARY DRAFT En vue de l’obtention du Diplôme de Sup de Co Reims

CYCLE MASTER 2013-2014 How has Information & Communication Technology changed International Marketing Gian Marco MELANDRI

Tutor: Raymond OUELLET March 2014 1

Index Index …………………………………………………………………….... 2 Abstract ……………………………………………………....................... 4 English Abstract ………………………………………………….. 4 French Abstract ………………………………………………….. 6 Investigation Thesis and Hypothesis ……………………………………. 8 Investigation Question …………………………………………… 8 Hypothesis 1 ………………………………………………………. 8 Hypothesis 2 ………………………………………………………. 9 Hypothesis 3 ………………………………………………………. 9 Hypothesis 4 ………………………………………………………. 9 Choosing the research problem ………………………………............... 10 Databases used ………………………………………………………….. 11 Choosing real sample’s companies ……………………………………. 12 Investigation ……………………………………….................................. 13 Investigation Process …………………………………………… 13 Draft of the First Questionnaire ……………………………….. 14 Draft of the Second Questionnaire …………………………….. 15 Evolution of the Marketing …………………………………………….. 16 Summaries ………………………………………………………………. 19 Reference 1 ……………………………………………………… 21 Reference 2 ……………………………………………………… 22 Reference 3 ……………………………………………………… 23 Reference 4 ……………………………………………………… 25 Reference 5 ……………………………………………………… 26 Reference 6 ……………………………………………………… 27 Reference 7 ……………………………………………………… 28 Reference 8 ……………………………………………………… 30 Reference 9 ……………………………………………………… 31 Reference 10 …………………………………………………….. 32 Reference 11 …………………………………………………….. 34 Reference 12 …………………………………………………….. 36 Reference 13 …………………………………………………….. 38 Reference 14 …………………………………………………….. 40 2

Reference 15 …………………………………………………….. 42 Reference 16 …………………………………………………….. 43 Reference 17 …………………………………………………….. 45 Explanation about the References ……………………………... 47 Bibliography …………………………………………………………….. 48 Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………. 49

Abstract English Abstract With this work we want to understand and highlight the transformations that took place in the International Marketing with the advent of what we can consider one of the greatest innovations of the last thirty years: the Information & Communication Technology ( ICT ).

First of all why International Marketing and not just Marketing? Because with Globalization, domestic markets tend to be exceeded, and the future of business will play more and more in the international competitiveness. A company leader in its market if it does not expand internationally will see its market eroded by foreign competitors, with potentially dramatic consequences for its survival. So now Marketing has its maximum development in the International perspective, although from time to time it will also have to deal with the local reality.

Second, why the Information & Communication Technology ( ICT )? Because this is a revolution still ongoing, which started with Personal Computers and continued with the Internet. From this the creation of a network that can virtually allocate, without any costs, everything that is digital: data, information, music, movies, software. In addition

new

Communication Technologies, like Smart-phones and Tablets, allow us to connect at any time and from anywhere in the world. All these factors have opened up opportunities not fully explored yet and still in progress.

It is not possible to consider the implications of ICT in the International Marketing without first explaining, even briefly, the evolution of the Classical Marketing and the ICT. The paper will then begin retracing the fundamental steps of the Evolution of these two elements. Then we will try, with the help of some Cases Histories to propose the principles with a particular regard of the International context.

We will try to understand what changes have taken place in International Marketing since the introduction of Information and Communication Technology.

We will see the implications and we will develop in particular these four hypotheses that we believe are the main consequences: 1) Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce; 2) From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail); 3) The " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapted, it should be improved; 4) ICT made possible the convergence of the demand; With this hypothesis we will try to answer the question, object of this thesis.

French Abstract Avec ce travail, nous voulons comprendre et mettre en évidence les transformations qui ont eu lieu dans le marketing international avec l'avènement de ce que nous pouvons envisager comme l'une des plus grandes innovations de ces trente dernières années : la Technologie de l'Information et Communication (TIC).

Pourquoi parler de marketing international et pas seulement de Marketing? Parce que, avec la mondialisation, les marchés nationaux ont tendance à être dépassés, et l' avenir de l'entreprise jouera de plus en plus dans la compétitivité internationale. Une entreprise leader dans son marché mais qui ne se développe pas à l'échelle internationale, verra son marché érodé par des concurrents étrangers, avec des conséquences potentiellement dramatiques pour sa survie. Alors maintenant, le marketing a son maximum de développement dans la perspective internationale, bien que de temps en temps, il devra également faire face à la réalité locale.

Deuxièmement, pourquoi la technologie de l'information et de la communication (TIC)? Comme il s'agit d'une révolution toujours en cours qui a commencé avec les ordinateurs personnels et a continué avec Internet. On a alors assisté à la création d’un réseau qui peut affecter pratiquement, sans frais, tout ce qui est numérique: données, informations, musique, films, logiciels. En outre, les nouvelles technologies de la communication, comme les Smartphones et les tablettes, nous permettent de nous connecter à tout moment et de n'importe où dans le monde. Tous ces facteurs ont ouvert des possibilités pas encore complètement explorées et encore en cours.

Il n'est pas possible d'examiner les implications des TIC dans le marketing international sans d'abord expliquer, même d'une manière sommaire, l'évolution du marketing classique et des TIC. L’étude va alors commencer par retracer les étapes fondamentales de l'évolution de ces deux éléments. Ensuite, nous allons essayer, en présentant certaines études de cas, de proposer les principes d'un point particulier du contexte international .

Nous allons essayer de comprendre les changements qui ont eu lieu en marketing international depuis l'introduction de la Technologie

l'Information et de la Communication (TIC).

Nous allons en voir les conséquences et nous allons développer en particulier ces quatre hypothèses qui d’après nous sont les plus importantes : 1) Le marketing traditionnel est devenu le marketing Web, tout comme la vente classique s’est transformée en commerce électronique; 2) D'un marché de masse à une masse de marchés ( Long Tail ); 3) Le " 4P " Marketing Mix n'est plus adapté et devrait être amélioré; 4) Le TIC a rendu possible la convergence de la demande ; Avec cette hypothèse, nous allons essayer de répondre à la question, objet de cette thèse .

Investigation Thesis and Hypothesis With the advent of globalization, the domestic markets tend to be exceeded, and the future of business will play more and more a role in the international competitiveness. A company, even leader in its market, if not address to expand internationally will see its market eroded by foreign competitors, with potentially dramatic consequences for its survival. So now the marketing has its highest expression in an international vision of its mission, although it will deal from time to time with the local reality.

The ICT has profoundly changed the world technology and also flooding into the private life with computers and smart phones it is affecting the habits and lifestyles.

Investigation Question: What changes have taken place in International Marketing since the introduction of Information and Communication Technology.

The choice of the demand comes from the meeting of these two great revolutions of our time, globalization and the advent of ICT. The mix of these two forces has produced changes and new opportunities that transformed the International Marketing in a big challenge.

Hypothesis 1: 1)The traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce: The advent of ICT has influenced and changed all the various stages of marketing. We will try to analyze, compare, and understand how the various stages of the process of international marketing have changed with the advent of the ITC. How the conventional trade, retail and large-scale distribution is evolving with the competition of the forms of direct selling through Internet; how the Ecommerce addresses the customer supplier relationship; what are the strengths and weaknesses and what are the new implications of this new challenge.

Hypothesis 2: 2) From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail): Fordism with its standardized mass-production marks the beginning of the Marketing. The E-commerce with the dematerialization of physical locations to trade and the ability to sell around the world with low cost of trading, creates the possibility of being able to sell even low volumes at competitive price. We want to try to understand the potential and limitations of this theory, which is proving to be one of the most interesting innovations introduced by the ICT .

Hypothesis 3: 3)The " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapt and it should be improved: The 4P are from a few tens of years a must for the concept of Marketing mix. The advent of ICT has overwhelmed even this bastion. In fact we will analyse and try to find the new dominant model that has took the place of the 4Ps Marketing Mix model.

Hypothesis 4: 4)ICT made possible the convergence of the demand: One of the main problems that the Marketing has by dealing with new international markets is always to understand better the taste of the market in which it will operate. In recent years, under the pressure of ICT we are witnessing an acceleration of the globalization process that is leading to an increasing convergence in the tastes of consumers worldwide. Consumer preferences for many products and services tend to converge. We will study the evolution and how the ICT had make this possible.

Choosing the research problem Being at the end of my studies I lately discovered to like Marketing, so I decided to choose this as the object of my thesis. My idea is to learn more about the topic, improve my knowledge and create something that is at the same time really actual and interesting during this period of crisis and global changing. In particular I think that an excellent actual argument for my thesis could be a good springboard for a job opportunity. In recent years, due to the globalization, talking only about marketing could not be enough. This is the reason why I decided that my thesis should be more concentrating to International Marketing. Additionally people are using more and more the Internet and all the new social media. Being one of the million that use Facebook and Linkedin on a regular daily basis, I decide to concentrate my interest on this topic. Especially on the influences that all the Information and Communication Technology are creating on the International Marketing.

Databases used: After establishing the research problem, I have consulted several sources, articles and academic papers from three different Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s databases: 1)Reims NEOMA BUSINESS SCHOOL: 1. http://libraryreims.neoma-bs.fr/trouver_livre.php 2. http://www.scholarvox.com/catalog/ 3. http://pmb.rmsrbs.fr/rms/ 2)Bologna UNIBO: 1. http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale 2. http://search.proquest.com/abiglobal/index?accountid=9652 3. http://bigiavi.biblioteche.unibo.it/risorse-disciplinari/banche-dati/ 4. http://bigiavi.biblioteche.unibo.it/risorse-disciplinari/workingpapers-e-archivi-aperti/ 3)Milano BICOCCA: 1. http://symphonya.unimib.it/ From this databases I found my articles and academic papers and other bibliography that I assumed interesting for my thesis.

Choosing real sample’s companies Right now I’m working for Biotex, a company that produce technicalthermal-performance underwear for running and cycling. I’m actually improving their website for the B2C. The company has beneficed a lot of the ICT and the owner is a very available person that have seen a lot of changes from the beginning of the 60’s until now. I think that the company can be a really good example. In addition my company’s tutor is really available and she already said to me that she can ask some of her friends in other companies to fulfil a questionnaire if I need some more information. I’m planning also of sending some E-mail to other important companies that could have really good information about my topic because they are working in the Internet sector. I’m thinking about Amazon, Google, E-bay, Groupon…etc. Actually I’ not so confident to receive many answers, but it is really important to try at least, because the information that I can get could be really useful.

Investigation Process All complete research needs to be based on both quantitative and qualitative data. I have read many academic articles related to my hypothesis and my research question. I also think to do some interviews and to make some questionnaires. I have already developed two early and rough Sketch/Draft of Questionnaires to sent to some companies: The first one for companies that sell on-line, and the second one for research companies. This are just the first versions and I intend to modify and improve them while I’m still reading papers and books on this topic. I don’t want to create questionnaires too short, because I need good information, but not even too long because I don’t want them to became boring. For the interviews I already have registered a 15 minutes audio record with the owner of the BIOTEX. I have not yet re-listened it, and I still have to analyse it but right now at least I have the record. Another important thing that I want to do thank to my company’s tutor, is to ask some questions to a Journalist/Blogger that works for BIOTEX. That could be a really useful resource because by working in the Blog/Social network context, he should have a lot of interesting information.

Sketch/Draft of First Questionnaire for Companies selling on-line:

Questions for companies selling on-line , such as: Ebay, Amazon, Zalando, Spartoo, Ibs, iTunes, Privalia, Bonprix, Applestore, Yoox, Pixmania, Saldiprivati, BuyVip, LibreriaUniversitaria, Vente â&#x20AC;&#x201C; free, LaRedoute, Mrprice, Blomming

How many codes / products handled/manged ?

How many codes / products made 90% of sales? ( in quantity) How many codes / products made 80% of sales? " How many codes / products made 70% of sales? " How many codes / products made 60% of sales? " How many codes / products made 50% of sales? " How many codes / products made 40% of sales? " How many codes / products made 30% of sales? " How many codes / products made 20% of sales? " How many codes / products made 10% of sales? " How many codes / products made 5% of sales? "

How many codes / products made 90% of sales? (by value) How many codes / products made 80% of sales? " How many codes / products made 70% of sales? " How many codes / products made 60% of sales? " How many codes / products made 50% of sales? " How many codes / products made 40% of sales? " How many codes / products made 30% of sales? " How many codes / products made 20% of sales? " How many codes / products made 10% of sales? " How many codes / products made 5% of sales? "

in the following countries :

Italy , France, England , Germany, Poland , Russia, South Africa , UAE, China, Australia.

Sketch/Draft of Second Questionnaire for Research Companies:

Questions to research company Nielsen or other

As sales volumes were divided between: 1 ) Traditional Retail Stores (Retail) 2 ) Retail (BOD) 3 ) E-commerce

for the following product groups : Apparel, shoes and jewelry - Food and drinks - Auto - Cosmetics - Consumer Electronics, PC, smatphone , tablet, tv etc. . - Books, newspapers and magazines - Reservations hotels , airline tickets , - Tickets - x shows ( cinema, exhibitions ) - Music, cine-video - Betting, gambling

over the years: 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013

in the following countries : Italy , France, England , Germany, Poland , Russia, South Africa , UAE, China, Australia,

Evolution of the Marketing Since the dawn of history in order to satisfy their own needs, has grown among men the need to exchange. First among farmers and ranchers, then breeders - farmers and artisans. Each group produced their own goods, but also they were in need of goods produced by other groups. So the exchange was born. The situation has been evolving until the present day, where the separation between those who produce and those who consume has remained strongly, but everything has become much more complex.

In the actual complexity we could say that Marketing is the function that has taken on the task of optimizing the relationship between those who produce and those who consume a good. This definition only wants to have a sense of historical connection with the present and not to define the concept of Marketing.

Modern marketing is born from the modern conception of industry in the United States of America in the early twentieth century after the industrial revolution, when the capacity of agriculture and industry met the primary needs of man. Below, we briefly summarize the main steps. Even if for the various stages we give indications of dates, these are to be considered purely indicative, as the evolutionary processes of Marketing follow the development of industrialization, and each loop in the various nations occurs at different times , depending on the local industrial development.

STEP 1 ) PRODUCTION ORIENTATION: Even after the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, the market is still characterized by excess of demand. So in America were born the first major corporations. Singer, Coca Cola and Ford had as their objective the production of large quantity of products, all the same, to maximize economies of scale and introduce in the market standardized products at competitive prices. It was the birth of the Fordism, the production and mass market. The products were been sold by themselves. The marketing concept did not exist yet, or rather was beginning to start during these years. Its use was rare, it was limited to the definition of the optimal ratio between quality 16

and price, informing potential customers about the characteristics of the products and their main distributions. In developed countries it was an outdated concept, while it was still used in developing countries. In China, encouraged by the low cost of labour, production giants, such as Haier in the field of household appliances, used the concept of production to dominate the market with products of good quality at reasonable prices.

Step 2) PRODUCT ORIENTATION: With the increase of production increased also the competition and as a result the need to improving continuously the quality of the products in order to be purchased. However, it happened that companies focus too much on the product losing sight of the market’s needs, reaching the paradox of proposing features that are not interested or are not understood by the market. The realization of a better product not always ensures success, because the concept of best for the company may be different from customer’s expectations. An improved product will be successful only if it is supported by appropriate pricing strategies, distribution, advertising and selling.

STEP 3) SALES ORIENTATION: After the end of World War II , until the first half of the sixties, in what was known as the Western world, (North America, Europe and Japan ), there was a large industrial development which was generally designated by the term economic boom. The primary needs were satisfied almost everywhere, for the same product buyers could contact more sellers, the supply was greater than demand and the market did not absorb most of the high volume of the production. The companies had excess capacity and were designed to sell what they produced, rather than produce what the market wants. It became important to know how to manage the sales networks and communication, companies fielded forms of aggressive sales and promotion for goods that consumers normally would not think of buying. It was born the “door to door” sales. It is a Marketing still used mainly by companies that do not have capacity or ability to innovate, but involves high risks. It

assumed that those who have been convinced to buy a product do not return it, do not talk badly on it, and maybe they repurchases it.

STEP 4) MARKET ORIENTATION In the mid-sixties, the mass production was in crisis, then with the oil crisis of the early seventies started a period of political and economic instability, production volumes reduced, the needs evolved, the market required different answers. The mission of the Marketing moved from the sales to the idea of satisfying the needs of the customer. In practice the concept moved from searching customers for their products, to create the products that the customer wanted, follow the customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs. The production became more differentiated , more flexible, and started a wave of innovation that we might said is still not finished yet. It started what we can consider the maturity stage of the Marketing. From now on we will no longer have marketing cycles adopted almost universally by most of the companies, but everyone will look for his original model, Marketing holistic, relational, integrated, interior, then it comes the Web-Marketing and everything is changed.

Summaries: 1. Reference 1: Leyland F. , Berthon P. , “Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Web: Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers” in Business Horizons, Vol. 54, 2011, pp. 181-183 2. Reference 2: Ferguson R. , Hlavinka K. , “The long tail of loyalty: how personalized dialogue and customized rewards will change marketing forever” in Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23, N° 6, 2006, pp. 357–361 3. Reference 3: Dominici G. , “ From Marketing Mix to E-Marketing Mix: a Literature Overview and Classification” in International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 4, N° 9, 2009, pp. 17–24 4. Reference 4: Gordon R. , “Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix” in Australasian Marketing Journal, Vol. 20, N° 2, 2012, pp 122-126 5. Reference 5: Shankar V. , Rajeev B. , “The growing influence of Online Marketing Communications” in Journal Of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 285-287 6. Reference 6: Chai Lee G. , “A review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?” in International Journal of Marketing Studies, Vol. 1, N.1, 2009, pp 2-15 7. Reference 7: Winer Russell S. , “New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research Directions” in Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 108-117 8. Reference 8: Seongmin J. , “Long Tail in Online Daily Deals: The Effect of Email and SMS Notification Preference on the Concentration of Sales” in Gachon GCCR Working Paper Series, N. 14-2, 2014 9. Reference 9: Brynjolfsson E. , Hu Y. J. , Smith M. D. , “From Niches too Riches: Anatomy of the Long Tail” in MITSLOAN Management Review, Vol. 47, N. 4, 2006, pp 67-71

10. Reference 10: Mangold W. G. , Faulds D. J. , “Social media: the new hybrid element of the promotion mix” in Business Horizons, Vol. 52, 2009, pp 357-365 11. Reference 11: Brady M. , Fellenz M. R. , Brookes R. , "Researching the role of information and communications technology (ICT) in contemporary marketing practices" in Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 23 Iss: 2, 2008, pp.108 – 114 12. Reference 12: Constantinides E. , “The 4S Web-Marketing Mix model” in Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1, 2002, pp 57 –76 13. Reference 13: Collesei U. , “L’evoluzione del ruolo della comunicazione nell’approccio di marketing” in Sinergie riviste di Studi e Ricerche, N. 29, 2012, pp 25-31 14. Reference 14: Varadarajan R. , Yadav M. S. , “Marketing Strategy in a Internet-Enabled Environment: A retrospective on the First Ten Years of JIM and a Prospective on the Next Ten Years” in Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 11-22 15. Reference 15: Anderson C. , “The Long Tail” in Wired, 2004 16. Reference 16: Lambin J. J. , “Il concetto esteso di orientamento al mercato” in Cambiare le relazioni di mercato nell’era di Internet, McGraw-Hill, 2010, pp 29-67 17. Reference 17: Maci L. , “Chi trova un amico trova un biz” in Corriere delle comunicazioni, N.3, 17 February 2014.

Reference 1 Reference: Leyland F. , Berthon P. , â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Web: Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumersâ&#x20AC;? in Business Horizons, Vol. 54, 2011, pp. 181-183 Idea/Area: Social Network, WEB Marketing. Summary: The article is divided in many paragraphs with different arguments all in line with the social media marketing. It start by saying that there is a new phenomenon of using a variety of Information technologies all together creating a huge global network. It continue by focusing on brands that are put in the social media also if the social media were made for people. Willingness To Pay is changed in the social network with the new Willingness To Participate. Online customers reviews are really important for having information from them. The article continue highlighting the goals to improve the presentation of customers reviews. The role of Internet is becoming more and more important especially with the use of platforms, blogs and social networks. All this things are influencing the situation of a company and can also determine his survival or not. Firms should find a way to monitoring, understand and respond to this social media activities. There is a all new lever of viral marketing that manager should be aware of. Social media should be integrated as an ecosystem with the traditional media. There are some problem to define the Return of Investment of the social media marketing. What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is actually explaining exactly the fact stated in my first Hypothesis: that traditional marketing is changing in to E-commerce. Especially it gives many example of all the new important changes that are happening right now with the advent of the ICT, especially Internet and social media. All the points made by this article are general and we should go more in detail, but it is a good starting point for better understand my first hypothesis. 21

Reference 2 Reference: Ferguson R. , Hlavinka K. , “The long tail of loyalty: how personalized dialogue and customized rewards will change marketing forever” in Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23, N° 6, 2006, pp. 357–361

Idea/Area: Long Tail, Dialogue Marketing. Summary: The paper start by explaining the concept of the Long tail and it gives the examples of Amazon and Blockbusters. Then it proceeds by stating that the more a company make itself available and the more customers will appreciate it. Afterwards it focus on the 80/20 Pareto Rule and it shows how this rule is changing thank to the new Long Tail approach. Subsequently the case study of the Rain Bird using the Long Tail in the irrigation contractors show how the customization works and how is effective. Then the paper proceeds by making the example of Google, Amazon, Ebay and Yahoo! that are using the long tail in the online marketing and are performing really well. Finally the article conclude by focusing on the Loyalty and CRM that are suited for the Long Tail approach, and by affirming that companies who don’t use Long Tail Marketing techniques are destined to fall.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is dated by is still really interesting and it gives good thoughts about the future of the Long Tail and the fall of the Mass Marketing, that totally confirm my second hypothesis: From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail). This article is also interesting because it use some cases study to demonstrate my hypothesis and that give also more value to the results.

Reference 3 Reference: Dominicini G. ,“ From Marketing Mix to E-Marketing Mix: a Literature Overview and Classification” in International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 4, N° 9, 2009, pp. 17–24 Idea/Area: 4Ps and the E-Marketing Mix. Summary: The marketing mix is always been a matter of discussion, and without any doubts it is been impacted by the changing that are happening and especially by the digital context. The purpose of the paper is to find a new list of elements that can adequately modify the traditional mix to fit in the new digital contexts. There are two different approaches between the researchers: the firsts (conservatives) assert that the 4 Ps may continue to be the dominant paradigm of marketing mix in digital contexts, the others (revisionists) suggest that the 4Ps’ framework is now obsolete and propose to add other elements and /or to change the elements of the mix. Some of the revisionists think of adding to the 4Ps also other elements with a customers’ focus, other instead propose entirely different mixes. The Conservatives think instead that the 4Ps framework is perfectly able to adapt with the diffusion of digital technologies. The most relevant changes are: 1)personalize the product with the active help of the consumers. 2)The price should be redefined as everything given by the acquirer in terms of money, time and effort given to obtain the product. 3)Place should be defined today as: everything that is done and necessary to smooth the process of exchange. 4) Promotion has to be redefined in order to include: all of the information that is transmitted among parties. In conclusion the 4 Ps’ model is still valid and, with some modification and changes, is still really important for operative decisions.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is really useful for my third Hypothesis: the " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapted, it should be improved. In fact it show that there is a huge debate about the 4Ps framework. My point of view is that both conservatives and revisionist are right, because right now the model is still good, is not totally surmounted, but it is still useful even if it need some adaptation to the new digital context. Maybe in the future when all the digital context and potential will be understood better a completely new Marketing mix model will come up.

Reference 4 Reference: Gordon R. , “Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix” in Australasian Marketing Journal, Vol. 20, N° 2, 2012, pp 122-126 Idea/Area: 4Ps, Social Marketing, Marketing Mix. Summary: This article describes the role of the 4Ps in the social marketing and state that is required a change. It makes also some examinations and Criticisms of the 4Ps model. In fact the 4Ps marketing mix model is too focused on the short term, sales and transactions and does not give enough importance to the long term, and strategic thinking. Other critics are that this approach has a static nature and does not consider the emergence of new media and integrated marketing strategies. One of the biggest problem found in this model is the internal orientation. The article affirms that this model is not good enough for the social marketing. Many new marketing mix model are proposed such as the “four Cs” and a totally new social marketing mix model that incorporate a more consumer oriented approach is designed. The article then concludes by describing that the social marketing should avoid frameworks that can quickly become outdated or limited and that the 4Ps marketing mix approach is no longer adapt to the contemporary social marketing. The new social marketing model should be more concerned about the changes, relations and customers needs. There should be a debate of what form the new marketing mix model of the 21st century should take. What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article underlines my third hypothesis that the 4Ps marketing mix model is no longer adapt because of all the changing that are happening especially for the all new media. It opens up the debate about the creation of a new model considering to insert many new aspects and it also proposes a new model. 25

Reference 5 Reference: Shankar V. , Rajeev B., â&#x20AC;&#x153;The growing influence of Online Marketing Communicationsâ&#x20AC;? in Journal Of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 285-287 Idea/Area: Growing influence of Online Marketing. Summary: There is a huge increase of the online marketing communication. Online marketing has many advantages: 1)it is interactive, 2)researchable using keywords, 3)allows click-stream analysis, 4)involves elevated role of trust and privacy, 5)is the media where costumers are spending most of their time. In this article are put together the top five papers on this topic. The first article develops an optimal model for allocating marketing resources to online and offline media considering also the synergies between both media. The second article examines the effect of usergenerated contents such as blogs and posting in social networking sites on sales in the music industry. The third article examines the differences in the factors affecting consumer acceptance of mobile marketing between the U.S. and Pakistan. The fourth article discusses the concept of customer engagement with a website. The fifth article proposes a model that connects consumer characteristics attitude toward online reviews and the outcome of online reviews. The article concludes by underling that the debate is open and there should be many more researches on this topic. What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is interesting on the point of view of my first hypothesis. In fact it underlines that online marketing is growing rapidly and on this topic many studies and research are made to understand how combining the traditional marketing with the new one, how to understand the profits deriving from the online one and it also summarises many interesting articles on this topic. 26

Reference 6 Reference: Chai Lee G. , â&#x20AC;&#x153;A review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?â&#x20AC;? in International Journal of Marketing Studies, Vol. 1, N.1, 2009, pp 2-15 Idea/Area: 4Ps, Marketing Mix. Summary: The marketing mix is like mixing a cake, the proposition are mixed in line with the results to obtain. It has 2 important benefits: it shows the marketing managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job and it reveals another dimension of it. The article then summarises the history and implementation of the Marketing Mix. After that it shows some critics, the most important are: 1)production oriented and not customer oriented, 2)it is simplistic 3)does not take in account interactions, service marketing and create relationships. Then it discusses that many changing are happening after the dot.com boom and especially with the E-commerce. Finally it concludes by stating that despite all the criticism the 4ps model remain a staple of the marketing mix.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is really interesting for my third hypothesis: The " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapted, it should be improved, because it gives me more contributions and point of view on it. It shows many criticisms on the 4Ps and it shows also tables about the topic, the evolution of it and the new models proposed. I also states that in the post dot-com boom new marketing elements have emerged from the online world of the Internet.

Reference 7 Reference: Winer Russell S. , “New Communications Approaches in Marketing: Issues and Research Directions” in Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 108-117 Idea/Area: New Communication in Marketing. Summary: The early part of the 21st century has seen the invasion of an incredible number of new social media. Everything began with the use of Internet for

advertising.

Internet

advertising

improved

the

number

communication methods that the marketers can use. Newspaper and magazine are still important for the business to business but it is clear that major marketers are moving their budgets in the new media. The main reasons are 4: 1)improvement of new technologies 2)the tendency to differentiate the products and services from the competitors, so they are looking to interact more with the customers and so personalize the “internet interaction” 3)big differences in the media habits and how information is obtained 4)interest in “behavioral targeting”, personalize message based on what people are doing in the web. These changing are happening not only in the US but in other countries. The central themes today are interactivity and digital. Some of the new marketing media are under the control of the Marketing Manager, but some of these are not. Most of these are Internet or Digital-Technology based. Now there are problems of coordinate the message across the large number of media. Key characteristics of the new media are: 1)digital 2)interactive. The new media can be classified as: 1)Intrusive (customer is interrupted by the advertising)

2)Non-intrusive

communication)

(Customer

3)user-generated

chooses

(customer

receive creates

the the

communications).

Then the article describes many new media and new form of advertising. The new media are clearly valuable additions to the old media, but of course there are also some problems: 1)metrics and measurement 2)Planning and budgeting 3)Consumer behaviour/ brand control 4)Measurement issues. Finally the article describes the problems and it concludes by state that the new media have both opportunities and problems that should be object of discussions by both managers and academics.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is really interesting for my research question and in particular for my first hypothesis: Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce. It shows exactly what are the changing happening with the advent of the ICT and it describes many new digital media. It also discusses about the trade-off between problems and opportunities of all this new media.

Reference 8 Reference: Seongmin J. , “Long Tail in Online Daily Deals: The Effect of Email and SMS Notification Preference on the Concentration of Sales” in Gachon GCCR Working Paper Series, N. 14-2, 2014

Idea/Area: 80/20 rule, E-commerce, Long tail effect. Summary: Groupon started a daily deal initiative that has attract a huge amount of venture capitals. Daily deal industry has showed positive growth figures. The Pareto principle has changed in the long tail effect with the introduction of Internet. Notification on e-mail or SMS about daily deal influence the patterns of sales concentration. The author then explains his hypothesis. 1)Daily deal site exhibits a less concentrated distribution of product sales 2)Daily deal site exhibits a less concentrated distribution of customer purchase 3)Demand-side factors have a positive effect on the sales of niche products on the internet. The article then proceeds by showing his models and the results and it concludes by point out that exists a number of other directions where this study could be extended.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is really interesting because gives me more thought about the E-commerce, especially about the daily Coupons. “It has been widely know that a few best-selling products have been dominant in many markets. 80/20 rule called Pareto Principle is often used to describe this phenomenon of sales concentration. However, Chris Anderson publicized the term “Long Tail Effect” that niche products will explain higher market share due to the introduction of the Internet”. It is also really useful for my research question as you can see from the quoted paragraph, in fact it states the passage from the “Pareto principle” into the “Long tail effect” with the advent of the Internet. 30

Reference 9 Reference: Brynjolfsson E. , Hu Y. J. , Smith M. D. , “From Niches too Riches: Anatomy of the Long Tail” in MITSLOAN Management Review, Vol. 47, N. 4, 2006, pp 67-71 Idea/Area: Long tail, Internet Marketplace. Summary: “The internet marketplace allows companies to produce and sell a far wider range of products than ever before. This profoundly changes both consumer behavior and business strategy” This is the first affirmation of this article and one of the most important. Then is states: products that can be produced, promoted and purchased are a lot more with the revolution of internet and related technologies. It continues by describing the advantages and the disadvantages of the IT System with some real examples and graphs. Then it gives important thoughts about the Second order effects of the long tail and it finally affirms that the advantages of Internet are a lot more than the disadvantages and especially for the information sharing and second order effect. It concludes that often Niches translate to Riches but not always.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article as the precedent one (reference 8) is again interesting for my second hypothesis: From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail). In this article we add to our information also “the second-order effects” of the long tail. This second order effect is the positive feedback that effect both consumers and producers.

Reference 10 Reference: Mangold W. G. , Faulds D. J. , “Social media: the new hybrid element of the promotion mix” in Business Horizons, Vol. 52, 2009, pp 357-365 Idea/Area: Social Media, Promotion Mix, Consumer-generated media, Integrated marketing communications.

Summary: “The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and companies that provide them”. The Integrated marketing communication guides the communication to the target markets. The tools and strategies for communicating with customers have changed significantly with the emergence of the social media. Social media are becoming a major factor in influencing consumer behaviour. The problem is that many managers lack a full appreciation for social media’s role in the company communication and promotion. Social media enables companies to talk to their customers and enables also customers to talk to one another. Conventional marketing says that a dissatisfied customer tells ten people, nowadays he tells 10 millions. Social media is an hybrid element of promotion mix because it combines element of traditional as the possibility for companies to talk to customers and the possibilities of customers to talk to one another. There is a problem in the era of social media, in fact marketing managers cannot control all the content, timing and frequency of information as before. The internet has become a mass media vehicle for consumer’s communications. Consumers are changing their habits and using more and more Internet and less the traditional media: radio, television, magazines and newspapers.

People are more and more searching information in this new media and these are also perceived as more trustworthy then the old ones. There are also new organizations that create communities for people who have interest and desires that are similar. It is important to use both traditional and Internet-based promotional tools to involve customers. It is also really important to give to the customers all the information that they need. The article than also gives some examples of these quotes.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is again in line with my first hypothesis (Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce) in the sense that new social media are replacing old media like TV, Radio, Magazines. It shows the passages that are happening with all this new media. It also add to my hypothesis an innovative idea that this new media are an hybrid component of the promotional mix. They should be add and coordinate with the old traditional ones.

Reference 11 Reference: Brady M. , Fellenz M. R. , Brookes R. , "Researching the role of information and communications technology (ICT) in contemporary marketing practices" in Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 23 Iss: 2, 2008, pp.108 - 114

Idea/Area: Communication technologies, Electronic commerce, Marketing strategy.

Summary: ICT should start to be used successfully in the Contemporary Marketing Practices. The ICT should have a core role in the Marketing. Numerous academic and practitioner articles discussed how ICTs were expected to impact on marketing practice but no usable framework of ICT developments on Marketing practice emerged, only articles limited on internet than a focus on the totality of ICT within marketing. It was only when Coviello added E-Marketing practice that various researchers began to use the Contemporary Marketing Practices framework to study the operationalization of E-Marketing in marketing practice. Recent studies have found that not only there has been an increase of EMarketing in firms, but that firms adopting E-Marketing have a huge improvement in marketing performances. Subsequently the article shows the ICT in the early years and the integration of it with Marketing Theory and Contemporary Marketing Practices. It state also that firms adopting E-Marketing perform better and that E-Marketing is emerging as a practice highly integrated with existing marketing practices, rather than becoming an independent practice. Future research on ICT joined to Contemporary Marketing Practices framework need to enable marketers to successfully participate in this and even lead the implementation and use of that.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is really focused on my research question, and it is also focused on my first hypothesis: The traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce. It states essentially that: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Recent studies have found that not only there has been an increase of E-Marketing in firms, but that firms adopting EMarketing have a huge improvement in marketing performancesâ&#x20AC;?. This is totally in line with my first hypothesis. It gives me also a lot of important points on the E-Marketing practice and how this has been affected by the ICT. It also concludes by saying that right now there should be a lot of improvement to be find in this field.

Reference 12 Reference: Constantinides E. , “The 4S Web-Marketing Mix model” in Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1, 2002, pp 57 –76

Idea/Area: E-Commerce, 4Ps , Web Marketing Mix, 4S model

Summary: In order to meet the new expectations of marketing, companies have to adapt their on-line strategy to customers’ needs. According to the writer, Efthymios Constantinides, the main reasons for companies to fail in their e-commerce are: the limited understanding of customers’ needs in their online experience, the old-fashion product orientation and of course the failure of some businesses to exploit new technologies in a sustainable way. Because of the differences that exist between the virtual and the physical commerce the Marketing Mix framework, known as 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), is unable to promote the personalization required by modern marketing. As a result it is presented a new framework through which the physical strategy would be easily adapted to the fast changing of online conditions. The Web-Marketing Mix model applies the main strategic, operational and organizational issues in a complete new way so as to be suitable for the online competition. The “launch” of the 4Ss model (Scope, Site, Synergy, System) could be a strong “weapon” for the companies in order to maintain the competitive advantage of online organization. Scope is about the strategy that every company has to follow regarding doing market analysis, understanding the potential customers and analyzing the internal values. Site is all about the web experience that the customers will enjoy entering the company’s web page.

Synergy is the integrating processes necessary to realizing the virtual organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objectives; these synergies could be developed between the virtual and the physical part but also between third parties for affiliating networks for example. Finally, System is referring to all the technical requirements that are needed. According to two case studies that are analyzed in the article the right implementation of this model could work, helping the companies to maintain their competitive advantage keeping focused on the market orientation and the customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Web experience.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: The analysis of this article is really important for me, because it totally confirm my third hypothesis (The " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapt and it should be improved) and gives me also a new marketing mix model adapted for the Web-Marketing: the Web-Marketing Mix model (4Ss), with the implementation of which a successful e-commerce could be a reality for many companies, integrating the virtual activities into the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physical strategy, marketing plan and organizational processes. It also gives me more thoughts about my first hypothesis: The traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce.

Reference 13 Reference: Collesei U. , “L’evoluzione del ruolo della comunicazione nell’approccio di marketing” in Sinergie riviste di Studi e Ricerche, N. 29, 2012, pp 25-31 Idea/Area: Marketing, Communication, Web. Summary: The enormous spread of the principles of marketing in companies is in Italy since the early eighties, with a period of economic growth and the advent of commercial television. Television and communication’s investments increased from 25% in 1980 to over 50% in the early nineties. The massive investment in adverts on television marked the emergence of communication as an indispensable tool for the marketing business. Communication is so important that in many companies become an independent marketing area. With the growing importance of the brand concept, this vision changes. The need to establish the brand as the most valuable asset for the company and the need to rationalize costs gradually leads to an integration of the two disciplines. But the web changes everything (including communication) . With the emergence of the ICT and the globalization, in the developed countries there are radical, cultural and economic changes. Global competition forces to launch new products in all markets simultaneously. This is made possible by the many ICT applications available today. It implies always shorter time for both communication and marketing and there is the always the problem to challenge always markets different to each other and even really distant. In addition, the web has the necessity of numerous contents compared to traditional media campaigns, quicker reactions, more detailed information and to tight deadlines. Having a lot of information in a continuous jet is likely to undermine both the communication and the marketing.

If we add that those who manage the web, do not necessarily have a technical training and skills that go beyond those of marketing and communications, there is the risk that we move away from the correct application of marketing principles and communication. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for marketing and communication to be always more integrated in their action, because events on the point of sale, online marketing , viral marketing, multichannel marketing are areas of strong overlap between marketing and communication.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This paper is in line with my first hypothesis: The traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce. The value of this paper, in my opinion, is the increasing importance that is given to technicians who run the web. They are not experts in marketing and communications, but to them it is almost completely delegated the role of Marketing and Communication given the technical nature of this area. I think that it is an important point to take into account.

Reference 14 Reference: Varadarajan R. , Yadav M. S. , â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marketing Strategy in a InternetEnabled Environment: A retrospective on the First Ten Years of JIM and a Prospective on the Next Ten Yearsâ&#x20AC;? in Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 23, 2009, pp 11-22.

Idea/Area: Marketing strategies, Internet-Enabled environment, Summary: Marketing operations have been transformed by the Internet in many ways. Looking forward, we can expect that marketing strategy and marketing operations will be even more extensively integrated in the Internet-enabled market environment. The evolution of the marketplace into an Internet-enabled market environment and the digitization of information products, over the past decade, have had a major impact on contemporary marketing thought and practice. For a growing number of products, the competitive landscape has evolved from a predominantly physical marketplace to one encompassing the physical marketplace and the electronic marketplace, an Internet-enabled market environment. The term digital revolution is widely used to refer to the rapid advances in technology underlying the production of information products in digital form and their marketing and distribution over the Internet. These technological advances have also significantly impacted the marketing of non-information products as a consequence of the digitization of their information attributes. A growing number of organizations worldwide, much, if not all of marketing, seems to be evolving to Internet-enabled marketing. Then the article shows the marketing strategy in an internet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; enabled market environment. It is really important the online interface that connect firms with their customers.

Later on the article explains that in the past decade, research focusing on the marketing strategy implications of the Internet has progressed along three main fronts: 1)communication and interaction between firms and their customers; 2)communication and interaction between firms; 3)augmentation of marketing mix decisions. Finally it concludes by make clear that with the rapid growth of the internet and digitalization business had the necessity to change especially in their marketing strategies. The integration of the internet in marketing strategies is becoming compulsory.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article adds value to my first hypothesis: Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in Ecommerce. The impacts that internet and new technologies are making in all the fields are huge. It is important also because it actually states that if a company want to survive right now, changes are needed. It is compulsory to integrate the internet and digitalization to marketing strategies.

Reference 15 Reference: Anderson C. , “The Long Tail” in Wired, 2004 The same article is also the first chapter (pp 3-15) of the book: Anderson C., “La coda lunga”, Codice Edizioni Torino, 2008 (Translated by Susanna Bourlot) Idea/Area: Long tail, Niche markets Summary: In the 1988 a British climber wrote a book. At the beginning this book didn’t have a lot of success and it was forgotten. After ten years another book about climbing come up and soon the old one come up again. What happened? Amazon.com recommendation. The book was suggested by amazon.com to people that bought the climbing book online and the old climbing book was suggested. This was just an example but the emerging digital entertainment economy is going to be radically different from today's mass market. Retailers carry only content that can generate sufficient demand to earn its, but each can pull only from a limited local population. The "misses"(things that are not “hit”) usually make money, too. And because there are so many more of them, that money can add up quickly to a huge new market. So thing that find an audience, even if it’s just few people, create a long tail. Then the article proceeds by making the examples of Amazon, Goole, Rhapsody and E-bay that are using the power of the long tail. It finally concludes by explaining the three new roles for the new entertainment economy: 1)Make everything available 2)Cut the price in half. Now lower it 3)Help me find it.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: This article is important because explain in a really easy and good way how the long tail works. It also gives a lot’s of case study example of it and is totally in line with my second hypothesis: From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail). 42

Reference 16 Reference: Lambin J. J. , â&#x20AC;&#x153;Il concetto esteso di orientamento al mercatoâ&#x20AC;? in Cambiare le relazioni di mercato nellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;era di Internet, McGraw-Hill, 2010, pp 37-43 Idea/Area: Internet, Marketing, Market orientation. Summary: The basic model of marketing over the last 40 years in most industrialized countries is unquestionably the market-oriented, with the satisfaction of the customer as central object of desire. The companies try to influence the client to choose its products. It is a " top-down " relationship from the top ( the company ) to the bottom ( the customer) . The development of ICT with the removal of physical barriers, the direct relationship with individual consumers, the opportunity to know their profiles and their individual preferences, have opened the possibility to offer customized solutions for each customer. Initially, the Internet was perceived as a pure sales tool that through its storefronts would replace other channels. The reality is showing us that the Internet is proving itself as a new and effective sales channel, whose potential is still far from being fully known and exploited, but far from cannibalizing other channels, it creates new opportunities to meet more effectively the needs of the customers. The development of the Internet and its special features (no barriers of entry, easy access to information, comparing offers, separation between producer and seller, equal opportunities by each seller) combined with the possibilities offered by new communication technologies that enable to anyone, at anytime and anywhere in the world to access, have created in companies also doubts and second thoughts on the marketing strategies to be implemented.

Today all companies have their own website , although not all take advantage of the great potential to sell through the network at costs really low. But all without distinction are using the other great opportunities to create networks, exchanging data and information with customers, suppliers and stakeholders in general. Internet is the main source of information globally. Is consulted both before and after non- routine purchases from a growing mass of people to search for products, for information, compare prices or to make criticisms. This creates a â&#x20AC;&#x153;word of mouthâ&#x20AC;? through the social network which is believed more than the explanations of the sales staff and even more than traditional marketing channels . This amount of information that can be catch by the company creates the opportunity to realize personalized products to very different types of customers both as features such as quality and price. What does it bring to my hypotheses: This chapter is important for my first hypothesis: Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce. It also gives me some thoughts about my fourth hypothesis: ICT made possible the convergence of the demand. It actually emphasizes that thanks to the ICT, everything is changing especially that through the collection of information is virtually possible to reach an extreme personalization of the products almost on the customer's instructions.

In my point of view, this raises also few

problems. The huge amount of information increasingly growing in which companies can draw: 1)can be dangerous because there can also be spread virally misleading information. 2)All the information has to be collected, filtered, sorted, analyzed and stored and this can be a problem if you do not have the appropriate tools.

Reference 17 This article is not academic but it comes from a really interesting Italian Journal that gives a lot of information on the digital economy especially on the ICT. I consider it as an useful resource and reference, but I didn’t put it as one of the 15 references because it is not an Academic Journal. Reference: Maci L., “Chi trova un amico trova un biz” in Corriere delle comunicazioni”, N.3, 17 February 2014.

Idea/Area: Digital Influencer, New way of Marketing.

Summary: The social influencer will become more important of the Advertising’s agencies. It is a new phenomenon that is just at the beginning and not many companies know how to use this social influencers. With SocialSphere 5 years ago John Della Volpe was explaining to the companies that was really important to be on Twitter, and now there is a new phenomenon to use “listening technologies” that means listen what people say online. The really new step is find who are the social Influencers online and use them to “make marketing” in a really cheap but efficient way. Then the article proceeds by explaining what is a digital influencer and how you can recognise him online. It makes also the example of a feedback of one of this social influencer after a movie at the cinema, his only tweet can create a millions of tweet and re-tweet and like, and this is a really cheap way of doing great marketing.

What does it bring to my hypotheses: John Della Volpe: “For the companies the Digital Influencer will become more important than the Marketing Managers. The distrust on the politics and on the institutions move the interest to the people that in the Web post interesting contents in line with everybody’s taste and opinion”. That is a really interesting affirmation that changes completely the way we think about Marketing and Communication. It states in fact that people that have a lot of contacts on Facebook and a lot of follower on Twitter have a really huge power on convince other people. That also adds importance of everybody’s opinion on everything. A lot of power is on the positive or negative feedback of VIP or other important people or just interesting person that have a lot of contacts. This is becoming a new way to do marketing really cheap and effective. It confirms my first hypothesis: Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce.

Explanation about the References: From the articles that I read I found a lot of interesting points for future thoughts and improvements for my the four hypothesis that could help me answering to my Research Question. Actually I found a lot of sources for my first three hypothesis: 1) Traditional Marketing has become Web Marketing, as the conventional selling has changed in E-commerce; 2) From a mass market to a mass of markets (Long Tail); 3) The " 4P " Marketing Mix is no longer adapted, it should be improved; More information should be found for my fourth hypothesis (ICT made possible the convergence of the demand) and more specific improvements should be done. I want to underline that all these hypothesis and articles are just a starting point and can be changed during my next step, because the more I read and I become aware of the topic, and the more questions and new hypothesis come up.

Bibliography 1. Kotler P. , Keller K. L. , Ancarani F. , Costabile M. , Marketing Management , Pearson , 2012 2. Boario F. , Marketing Internazionale per entrare nel mercato globale, Il sole-24-ore, 1999 3. Pelliccelli G. , Il marketing internazionale: mercati globali e nuove strategie competitive, ETAS, 2010 4. Marino V. , Casi di Marketing Internazionale , Giappichelli , 2010 5. Valdani E. , Bertoli G. , Mercati Internazionali e Marketing , EGEA, 2006 6. Lambin J. J. , Changing market relationships in the internet age , Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2008 7. Chan K. , Strategia Oceano Blu , ETAS , 2005 8. Porter M. , Competitive Advantage: creating and sustaining superior Performance , Free Press, 1985 9. De Felice L. , Marketing conversazionale: dialogare con I clienti attraverso I social media e il real time web di Twitter, FriendFeed e Facebook, Gruppo 24 ore, 2010 10. Anderson C. , La coda lunga, Codice Edizioni Torino, 2008 11. Hangel J. III, Armstrong A. G. , Net gain: expanding markets through virtual communities, Harvard Business School Press, c1997

Acknowledgments My gratitude goes first to my Tutor Ouellet Raymond for all the suggestions and feedbacks that I received from him while I was doing my Intermediary Draft. I would like to thank Barbara Visani and Antonio Visani for their availability to answer questions about the company and have an interview. I thank Corinne Fertein and AgnĂ¨s Grison for checking the grammar of my French Abstract. I also need to thank the libraries' staff: Carolina Cavallini, Enrico Bongiovanni, Carlo Podaliri and Claire Siroux for the useful help on the research of articles and academicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s papers.