Michael Jordan Research Articles

Exemplary Qualities: Market Coordination and the Valuation of Singular Products

In this article the notion of exemplary validity is developed to study the coordination of markets for singular cultural goods. Exemplars are unique goods that become focal points in markets by which market coordination occurs in markets for singular goods. From these exemplars norms of quality emerge which are otherwise hard or impossible to explicate. It is hard to explicate what makes a good basketball player in the abstract but we can refer to the qualities of exemplary players such Michael Jordan, or to a Dostoyevski in literature. These exemplars and the norms of quality which emerge from them help shape the expectations of both producers and consumers with regard to new goods that are introduced on the market. A theoretical economic framework is developed by which exemplars can be identified and analyzed, and through which we can study how the valuation of unique goods occurs on markets. It is demonstrated with two case-studies (of novels and hip-hop albums) how market coordination via quality takes place, and how it influences market outcomes. It is argued that market coordination via quality is more important in markets for unique goods than market coordination via price and quantity.

THE GROWING CHALLENGE OF UNLEASHING THE POWER OF STRONG IDENTITIES VIA BRANDING AND BRAND COMMUNICATION – IS IT THE PRODUCT, THE DESIGNER, THE COMPANY, THE CITY OR COUNTRY BEHIND TO ACHIEVE AND SUSTAIN SUCCESS IN FASHION MARKETING?

Fashion brands are influenced by multiple identities. Even though, for example, the brand name might still be associated with one or more creative founders (Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Hermes, Adidas, Joop) the brand image, and moreover the overall brand reputation are influenced by many different identities. For instance, a specific product identity (e.g., Gucci’s Bamboo Bag), the identity of the city or country of origin (Florence, Italy), the identities of well-known key customers as brand ambassadors (Sophia Loren, Vanessa Redgrave, Lady Diana, Naomi Watts etc.). Of course, also fashion brands who are not directly associated with the name of creative founders are composed of the effects of several identities. In the case of e.g. Nike especially successful athletes (Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan etc.), specific sports and sport events, and product lines tailor-made for them did help to build a strong brand reputation. All in all, it seems to be expedient to understand fashion brands as more of less complex systems composed of several identities. To deal in more detail with such “brand systems” is becoming particularly important against the background of several strategic challenges – e.g., when fashion brands are growing older and the creative founders lose their specific gravitational power, when in the process of internationalization new countries gain more and more importance who’s citizens might not have a strong access to the existing brand reputation drivers, or simply when in the context of the growing global competition the fashion brand needs to be “refreshed”.Against the background of cultural differences, or even - as within countries - lifestyle differences between different groups of customers, it can also be quite possibly that very different reputation drivers account for the success of a brand. Thus, it is necessary to identify, in different contexts, the relevant reputation drivers, and to analyze which interplay of those drivers might be particularly promising. Is it the creative founder, the corporate heritage, the country and/or city of origin, a special designer, a specific corporate culture, an outstanding product design, attractive key customers etc.? Which combination of such identity factors leads to what kind of success (e.g., brand loyalty, brand trust, price premium)? Will, for instance, heritage especially lead to brand trust, whereas an outstanding product design and specifically attractive key customers create the readiness for a higher price premium? And, is it necessary to create sub-brands to especially highlight specific identities in the process of building a brand system (e.g., the sub-branding of a Michael Jordan product line in the case of Nike)? Or is sufficient to only communicate an alignment with the brand (e.g., ads showing Naomi Watts wearing a Gucci Bamboo Handbag)? In other words, which kind of brand system, and which kind of brand communications has to be designed to attract specific target groups and to sustain competitive advantages?The present contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for analyzing “brand systems” in the fashion industry. Concomitantly, an approach of measuring such brand systems will be presented. Furthermore, a concept for analyzing the impact of several sub-identities on the development of the overall brand reputation and brand success against the background of existing contingencies will be outlined. With the introduction and discussion of such a conceptual framework it especially is intended to initiate the launching of an international research project which attempts to find an answer basically to the following question: Which via an integrated branding and brand systems communication carefully crafted composition of sub-identities might be how successful under what kind of situational conditions?

Hot Sauce and White Chocolate: And1 and ghetto style in basketball

AbstractIn the 1980s and early 90s, American professional basketball benefited from a steady rise in its popularity and appeal. With Michael Jordan's retirement after the 1998 season, however, a new era was in progress. Incoming NBA players like Latrell Sprewell, Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson brought energetic, but polarizing, personas to professional courts. Cultural critics Todd Boyd and Kenneth Shropshire examined the contemporary media reaction to these players, which exploited racially-coded terms like “thug” and “gangster” to disproportionately demonize black athletes’ transgressions. Their analysis provides a window onto an era that saw several upstart athletic apparel companies capitalize on a new wave of distinctly “authentic” and urban aesthetics. And1, a sportswear company that emerged in 1993, fought a vigorous and creative underdog campaign against sports marketing giants like Nike to define basketball style. And1 peaked as the number two domestic retailer of basketball shoes behind Nik...

Affirming the American Dream via the Sports /Film Star

FROM BABE RUTH TO MICHAEL JORDAN: AFFIRMING THE AMERICAN DREAM VIA THE SPORTS /FILM STAR Its drama, its personalities and its worldwide appealmeans sport is the new Hollywood- Bell and Campbell (1999: 22) Celebrity is a crucial aspect of contemporary culture and one to which both sport and film make a substantial contribution. In film, the 'star image' that has developed around individual actors is a multifaceted, complicated and sometimes contradictory phenomenon composed of the roles they have played, their carefully orchestrated public appearances and the depictions of the creation of a star's image, as well as the actual individual around whom this image has evolved. However, arguably what is most significant about individual stars is the manner through which they express facets of living in today's society, including the nature of labour in the capitalist world (Dyer, 1986: 7-8). Stars are particularly important in...

Checkmate to deliberate practice: the case of Magnus Carlsen.

Checkmate to deliberate practice: the case of Magnus Carlsen.

The Emergence of Basketball as an American National Pastime: From a Popular Participant Sport to a Spectacle of Nationhood

Invented in the USA in 1891, basketball immediately proved a popular pastime among those who played the game but it did not initially rank in the estimation of most American observers as a national pastime. By the twenty-first century, however, basketball had become acclaimed by the media and fans as one of a trio of team sports that stood as national pastimes, alongside baseball and American football. Promoters of basketball have since its invention promoted it as worthy of national pastime status but for much of the first century of its existence it did not quite meet that threshold. Beloved in certain regions and among certain groups, widely played but not as widely watched, basketball remained until the last quarter of the twentieth century outside of the boundaries that denoted national pastime status to most observers in the USA. Beginning in that era, however, a confluence of forces catapulted the game into national pastime status, a new eminence in American popular culture underscored by the debut of Michael Jordan and the ‘Dream Team’ at the 1992 Olympics.

PIMPING FICTIONS: AFRICAN AMERICAN CRIME LITERATURE AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK PULP PUBLISHING

PIMPING FICTIONS: AFRICAN AMERICAN CRIME LITERATURE AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK PULP PUBLISHING. By Justin Gifford. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2013. 216 pp. $74.50, cloth; $24.95, paperback; $24.95, e-book.In his wildly popular single-cum-political-anthem, Dirt Off Your Shoulder (2003), rapper-mogul Jay Z spits, If you feelin' like a nigga, go and brush your shoulders off / Ladies is pimps too, go and brush your shoulders off. His inclusion of women in the pimp is a brilliant, if wickedly deceptive, move. What Jay Z no doubt recognizes is the political baggage that is bound up in the ideas of and pimping, particularly as they concern black women, sexual violence/exploitation, and black-thug masculinity. He seems simultaneously aware of the cultural and gendered capital of these ideas as they concern black men and revolutionary politics. Indeed, the and player were elevated in blaxploitation films of the 1970s as heroic figures; their hypermasculinity and sexual prowess were inextricably linked to their bravery in the face of white male power. Even the iconic blaxploitation film Foxy Brown (1974), starring Pam Grier, reproduces these hypermasculine and playa versions of black masculinity to a large extent.Though the unwritten, if not also unspeakable, code of black respectability has long resisted at least the pimp-criminality version of these notions of black masculinity (because, as the thinking goes, the celebration of criminality to any extent reinforces white supremacist notions of black pathology), the tropes have remained viable in black spaces over several generations due in part to working-class blacks' extant mistrust of the (white) police and legal system, as well as to a comparable mistrust of an assimilation-minded segment of the black middle class. To be clear, the hypermasculine and playa aspects of black masculinity are not necessarily objectionable or even totally out of sync with the class, sexuality, and gender codes of black respectability (consider the love that middle- and upperclass blacks in particular continue to shower on the likes of Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, and Charles Barkley, to name but a few); rather, what may be seen as objectionable are the aspects of these tropes that link black masculinity to criminality, anti-intellectualism, and pathological behavior in general. Jay Z's Dirt Off Your Shoulder is a stroke of genius from a cultural marketing standpoint, then, because it anticipates and attends to the exploitative gendered baggage of pimping even as it recuperates the revolutionary fervor of these age-old, hypermasculine/playa tropes. Culturally speaking, Jay Z is able to have his hypermasculinity/black respectability cake and eat it too.The success, if you will, of Jay Z's song is perhaps most evidenced by the way in which President Barack Obama famously invoked and performed Jay Z's patented gesture of brushing off his shoulders during a stump speech in which he was referencing the hate that was coming his way from the GOP. Without uttering a word, Obama communicated that he was a pimp-subversive of the American political system. That is to say, he indicated that he had managed to bend to his political will the very system of power that was ostensibly designed to keep black folks from ascending to the highest office of the land. Being an outsider black man with a scary, Muslim-sounding name ultimately emerged as more benefit than liability in Obama's political game.But, of course, as we have witnessed with both Obama's ascendance to the presidency and Jay Z's ascendance to international celebrity and economic power, the game is, at bottom, another iteration or expression of status quo power. For all of his hope rhetoric and brush-off-his-shoulders bravado and black cool, Obama is every bit a status quo president. Perhaps a consequence of his blackness and the attendant (unspoken) promise to his white constituency that he would govern as a postracial president is that Obama pays at best only cursory attention to long-standing issues of racial and structural inequalities. …

チームスポーツにおける競技者のプレイを支える規範の探究：マイケル・ジョーダンの「威光」に着目して

The purpose of this study was to investigate the norm for supporting play by athletes in team sports, which has so far lacked implicitness, having been regarded spontaneity. The investigation involved analysis of the “authority” of Michael Jordan (hereinafter shortened to “MJ”), who has had a reputation as being one of the best athletes in history. Initially we tried to extract a sense of values from MJ himself and references to his reputation. From this, we clarified a standard of value judgments, and then finally produced a suitable universal normative principle common to all athletes. Although there were insufficient data to draw firm conclusions, the sense of values derived by an athlete appeared to be derived from evaluation of “whether one can utilize one's own talents.” It became clear that while this leads to “correct” play, this evaluation standard contributes to the formation of an “independent strong self” that can “exert positive freedom.” On the other hand, it was also concluded that not only did this “positive freedom” control the evaluation standards of athletes, but also functions as the “normative principle” that one should acquire by forming one's own creativity and identity. At the same time, it was suggested that “positive freedom” is the driving force that allows athletes to become “ignorant” through independent and strong self-belief, The present findings indicate that disregarding any mystique or secrecy about the underlying ability in athletes, and transcending the rule of thumb can contribute to execution of play by athletes in team sports, acting as a signpost when confronting any problem that is complicated, erratic or filled with uncertainty.

Isaac Newton assists, Michael Jordan jams - training of perceived distance anisotropy

Isaac Newton assists, Michael Jordan jams - training of perceived distance anisotropy

Spectres of Jordan

Despite retiring from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2003, the iconic basketball player Michael Jordan continues to inform popular understandings of race and racial difference. Jordan could thus be considered a raced spectre (Derrida 1994): a fantastically racialized figure derived from, and cast in the mould of, the contingencies of an earlier moment in American history, who nonetheless informs the racial politics and experience of the present. In examining Jordan's enduring influence on contemporary America's implicitly raced neoliberal formation, this discussion involves: a re-envisioning of the raced neoliberal politics implicit within, and mobilized by, Jordan's commodified identity; an illustration of how the institutionalization of racial logics derived from Jordan's idealized raced subjectivity have come to inform the racially regressive management and governance of the NBA; an exhumation of how the very form of Jordan's enduring phantasm has been accommodated to shifting, and increasingly interwoven, commercial and racial forces; and an examination of the contemporaneous manifestations and influences of the Jordan spectre.

Encyclopedia of sports management and marketing

Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing. Edited by Linda E. Swayne and Mark Dodds. Los Angeles: Sage Reference, 2011. 4 vols. $695 (ISBN: 978-1-4129-7382-3). E-book available (ISBN: 978-1-412-99415-6), $895. According to the publisher, the goal of this four-volume reference work is to provide comprehensive and authoritative overview of the state of sports management and marketing today (publisher's publicity flyer). The coeditors, both highly qualified academics with established credentials, also feel that this fairly new academic field needs a work that covers its very wide spectrum and helps legitimize this area as an academic discipline. The 328 authors of the entries are all from colleges and universities; they are listed with their affiliation in volume 1. Full color illustrations are scattered throughout the text. The 825+ entries are arranged alphabetically and are the meat of the encyclopedia. They range from around one to eight pages. Each United States and Canadian professional team has an entry that goes beyond history and key figures to include brand management, marketing challenges, and ownership. One of the more interesting entries is Integration of Sport, Globalization, and Commercialization. The author begins with a general discussion of the terms and then narrows it down to sport. After that, sport, place, and commerce is discussed, then two case studies. One is about the branding of the New Zealand Blacks men's rugby team and the second about Michael Jordan as representative of the evolving nature of commercialization, globalization, and sport. A further case focuses on challenges facing female athletes. The author concludes the entry with his name and affiliation, five see also references, and seven further reading suggestions which include books, journal articles, and online references. Sports marketing is addressed in two ways: marketing of sports and sport-related products and the marketing of non-sports products and brands through sports figures or events. The terms and examples in this encyclopedia range from the very broad (Benchmarking) to the less broad (Tort Issues in Sports), to the very specific (Pricing of Parking). Front contents include a reader's guide, which groups the entries into 21 broad topics ranging from advertising (29 entries) to team management and marketing (138 entries). Other topics include sponsorship, social marketing, news media, legal, and financing of sports. A sixteen-page alphabetical list of entries appears at the front of each volume. …

1944 IS ROUTINE POST-OPERATIVE CHEST X-RAY NEEDED AFTER PERCUTANEOUS NEPHROLITHOTOMY?

You have accessJournal of UrologyStone Disease: New Technology/SWL, Ureteroscopic or Percutaneous Stone Removal1 Apr 20111944 IS ROUTINE POST-OPERATIVE CHEST X-RAY NEEDED AFTER PERCUTANEOUS NEPHROLITHOTOMY? Marc Bjurlin, Michael Jordan, Naveen Divakaruni, Jed Robinson, Lindsey Lombardo, Sandra Goble, Patricia Vidal, Traci Beck, and Courtney Hollowell Marc BjurlinMarc Bjurlin Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Michael JordanMichael Jordan Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Naveen DivakaruniNaveen Divakaruni Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Jed RobinsonJed Robinson Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Lindsey LombardoLindsey Lombardo Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Sandra GobleSandra Goble Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Patricia VidalPatricia Vidal Chicago, IL More articles by this author , Traci BeckTraci Beck Chicago, IL More articles by this author , and Courtney HollowellCourtney Hollowell Chicago, IL More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2011.02.2125AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES To assess whether routine postoperative chest radiography (CXR) is required after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for the detection and possible management of a pneumothorax. It has become the standard of care by many urologists to obtain routine postoperative CXRs after open nephrectomy to assess for the presence of a pneumothorax. However, at our institution, very few patients have developed a pneumothorax postoperatively, and, furthermore, the CXR findings almost never affected the clinical management. METHODS A retrospective review of 214 PCNL's acquired from 2004 to 2010. Data analyzed included patient demographics, operative data, postoperative CXR findings, and complications. RESULTS We retrospective reviewed 214 PCNL's, 50% were male, with a mean age of 48 years, and mean stone burden was 2.4 x 2.5 cm. Renal access was obtained by the urologists in 43%. Upper pole renal access was obtained in 50%, mid-pole in 26%, and lower pole in 22% through the 11–12th intercostals space in 46% and below the 12th rib in 53%. Renal access was unsuccessful in 2.8%. All patients underwent a postoperative CXR. Only two patients (1%) had a pneumothorax of which one patient's CXR findings were normal immediately after surgery. One patient was managed with a chest tube, the other with a percutaneous thoracic drain. Most common complications included anemia (6%), tachycardia (6%), and sepsis (1.4%). Mean hospital length of stay was 1.6 days and mortality was 0.5%. CONCLUSIONS Routine postoperative CXRs are not needed after PCNL. Obtaining a selective CXR when a recognized intraoperative pnumothorax has occurred, the physical examination reveals an abnormality, or the patient experiences respiratory difficulties in the postoperative period is safe, cost-effective, and decreases the radiation exposure to patients. © 2011 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 185Issue 4SApril 2011Page: e777 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2011 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Marc Bjurlin Chicago, IL More articles by this author Michael Jordan Chicago, IL More articles by this author Naveen Divakaruni Chicago, IL More articles by this author Jed Robinson Chicago, IL More articles by this author Lindsey Lombardo Chicago, IL More articles by this author Sandra Goble Chicago, IL More articles by this author Patricia Vidal Chicago, IL More articles by this author Traci Beck Chicago, IL More articles by this author Courtney Hollowell Chicago, IL More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

Black male athlete activism and the link to Michael Jordan: A transformational leadership and social cognitive theory analysis

Have you ever thought about the potentialities coming about if Michael Jordan chose to emulate previous figures such as Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, and Tommie Smith regarding social activism? Michael Jordan has often been criticized for his failure to speak on social matters. Like Jordan, contemporary Black male athletes’ engagement in social activism has been minimal, unmatched to that of their predecessors of decades ago. The article employs transformational leadership principles and social cognitive theory (SCT) to analyze the link between Michael Jordan and the lack of Black male athlete activism in the current era. Implications for current and future generations of Black male athletes are discussed. Future research directions are also presented for scholars interested in Jordan’s impact on Black male athlete activism.

Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Players of All Time (review)

Sean Manning, ed. Top of Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Players of All Time. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2010. 215 pp. Paper, $15.95. Employing framework of twenty-five-man roster, Sean Manning and his authors deliver pastiche of personalities that span mostly good, sometimes bad, and occasionally ugly. Like buffet table with an assortment of dishes, this compendium provides something for every fan, although some of offerings are more palatable than others. The best of Manning's lineup includes Jonathan Eig on Lou Gehrig, nicely written piece showing that modern fans can connect to players they have never seen play in person. Eig's research leads him to correspondence between Iron Horse and his physician written during debilitating period near end of Gehrig's life, and while fearful of what he will learn in these missives, Eig comes to understand the true depth of manifest in stoic Yankee as he accepts his fate (32). Indeed, character and integrity, traits aptly noted by Roger Kahn to describe his hero, become loosely woven threads through book (115). Gehrig is accorded hero's status, as are Albert Pujols, Brooks Robinson, Jackie Robinson, and Steve Dembowski. Buzz Bissinger's Pujols comes off as paragon of virtue because of his steroid-free performance on field, and for moral commitments he has countenanced and upheld in his personal life. Sans a mean bone in his body (23), Brooks Robinson is fondly remembered by Laura Lippman, and Kahn's essay on Jackie Robinson outlines author's relationship with his proud subject and soberly recollects some of our nation's inglorious racial past. Recounting Dembowski's case, player whose grit and astronomical on-base percentage--due to his uncanny penchant for being hit by pitches--failed to attract attention of major-league scouts, Jim Bouton reminds us that bird dogs use all manner of hardware to track physical abilities of their quarries, but they often overlook the size of man's heart (56). And while Doug Glanville's Garry Maddox surely was not only player to value relationships [with] foundation steeped in trust, it's refreshing to be reminded that pride still counts for something (137). The only catcher present is fictitious Crash Davis. A fine essay by Carrie Rickey emphasizes Davis's virtue of park[ing] his ego in locker room while playing his role as unselfishly as grunt in trenches (160). Vic Power's joviality is evident in Esmeralda Santiago's paean, but it is nonetheless tinged with Power's bitterness at not having been first black to play for Yankees. Christopher Sorrentino's look at Dave Kingman evokes chuckles about supreme whiff artist, and Pat Jordan's connection to Tom Seaver, which is short on hero worship, commits to paper--sometimes in stark terms--the earthy, macho camaraderie enjoyed only in closest of friendships. Manning himself offers curious contribution on Michael Jordan, who in his brief trial with White Sox in mid-199os won little but scorn from detractors who delighted in his shortcomings on diamond. …

Review Essay: “First He'll Kill Her then I'll Save Her”: Vampires, Feminism, and the Twilight Franchise

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved? (Meyer, 2008, p. 2) As Elana Levine points out in her afterword to Bitten by Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, and the Vampire Franchise, female fans of romance genres (be they supernatural or not) have long been the “ultimate objects of scorn” (p. 281). The Internet has vastly expanded the reach of this loathing and derision of feminized cultural products, allowing misogynistic discourses about girl culture in particular to reproduce at an alarming rate. From the Facebook group TwiHATE, whose description reads “Because shirtless guys with abs is all you need for a ‘great movie’ for fat chicks to freak out over,” to the venom aimed at boy singing sensation Justin Bieber, to the Hannah Montana Haters Club, the products of mass-produced girl culture are hated on ad nauseam. Imagine a Facebook group organized around participants' abhorrence of Halo's Master Chief or thousands of antifans devoted to loathing Lost's Sawyer or Star Wars’ Boba Fett or Michael Jordan and you get some sense of the sexism directed at the mass-produced girl culture so many girls and women love.

Perceptions of Success Factors that Influence Positive Educational/Vocational Attitudes of Inner-City Black Males: Some Considerations for School Leaders

The problem is how to determine factors influencing the perception of success for Black males whostarted the race behind other ethnic groups in America (Hacker, 1995). Schultz (1969) wrote a book,Coming up Black: Patterns of Ghetto Socialization. In his book, he stated that poverty hindersprogress because it truly handicaps Blacks by giving them an unequal playing field. Schultz (1969)further stated that inner-city youths, especially Black males, have a struggle. He contended that theyoung inner-city males do not have fathers or positive male role models, which increases the likelihoodof failure. Therefore, many Black males turn to the streets to survive to get an education about life.Unfortunately, the street help some Black males form the wrong perception of what success should be(Shakur, 1993). Shakur, for example, was an original gangster. He grew up in Los Angeles as amember of the notorious crips gang. He stated that the gang became his family and his source ofstrength (Shakur, 1993). Unfortunately, this is the case for so many Black males growing up in the inner-city.How do they break this cycle? What happens to make them change their thought patterns,perceptions and help them strive for educational and vocational success? What are the factors thatinner-city Black males feels manifest success? For black males like Shakur, it was jail. For many otherBlack males it learned helpless behavior. They feel that no matter what they do the outcome will be thesame. Fortunately, many of young Black males find success through athletics and entertainment(Green, 1995). However, every inner-city child will not grow up to be a Michael Jordan, a MagicJohnson, or a Wilt Chamberlain (Dickerson & Delsohn, 1986). Still, some young Black males reachsuccess despite the odds of growing up in the inner-city by overcoming poverty and crime through postsecondaryeducational training, either collegiately or vocationally (Bowser & Perkins, 2000). Educationis the one thing that cannot be taken away from them. The literature has suggested that success inschool is a prerequisite for maximizing life chances and taking advantages of new opportunitiespresented to be successful education, professional and vocationally.

The Naomi Klein Brand

I should make clear at outset that I am a professor of marketing and hold a chair endowed by Kraft Foods Canada. This is already two strikes against me from Naomi Kleins perspective, although I am thankfully not author of one of those soul-destroying business she refers to in new introduction to No Logo (Klein 2009). My research is focused on consumers, materialism, gift-giving, sharing, meanings of possessions, and global consumer culture. My studies of brands have been largely critical treatments (e.g., BeIk and Tumbat 2005). I have met Naomi Klein only once, when we both spoke at a conference on brands held in 2000 at Victoria and Albert Museum (see BeIk 2000). I share a great admiration for many of her insights and I also share her concern with power of global brands, especially in less affluent world (e.g., BeIk 1996, 1999; Ger and BeIk 1996; Varman and BeIk 2009). Nevertheless, what I would like to do in this brief comment is to reflect on the Naomi Klein from a marketing perspective. Although there have been other stinging criticisms of global economic system, such as Nobel Prize-winning Joseph Stiglitzs (2003) critique of global economic policy and contributory role of world governments and World Bank, no other book has been as widely read or has stimulated as much discussion of these topics as Naomi Kleins No Logo. Part of this is undoubtedly result of Kleins careful research and well-crafted arguments, as well as books fortuitous publication just after World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999. But I believe that larger part of books continuing appeal derives from its lucid, clever, and compelling focus on global brands. Global brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Wal-Mart are building blocks of our identity in consumer societies, for better or worse. Like title of her book, Klein, in her new introduction, professes a hatred of wearing or consuming visible brands (Klein 2009). By implication, those who proudly sport brand logos on their clothing and those who even go further and have these logos tattooed on their bodies are, well, stupid. Although marketers and advertisers recognized critical role of brands and brand equity a decade or two before No Logo, for most consumers, brands were like water to fish: ubiquitous, but so normal as to escape any serious critical appraisal. All this changed with attacks on Nike and McDonald's during Seattle protests and with publication of Kleins book. Brands suddenly became a focal point and a target for frustrations of many who have been adversely affected by global economics: small stores and minor brands forced out of business by big-box retailers and multinational brands, displaced and underemployed workers of affluent economies, sweatshop and child laborers of nonaffluent economies, and desirous consumers of less affluent economies who must sacrifice mightily to afford glittering global brands or else make do with counterfeits. With publication of No Logo, simmering resentment of these brands and their corporate owners went from background to foreground. It is fitting therefore to consider brand of Naomi Klein, who also went from background to foreground in popular awareness with initial publication of book. Klein herself realized in original edition of No Logo that there is a relationship between brands and celebrities when they endorse a brand or bring out their own brand of fragrance, food, or faith (on last, see Einstein 2008). In book, those cited as celebrities fronting brands include Michael Jordan, Martha Stewart, Tommy Hilfiger, and even fictitious Aunt Jemima. But what this perspective stopped short of recognizing is that celebrities are themselves brands (Thomson 2006). Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson all left estates that earn more money marketing these postmortem human brands than these figures ever earned when they were alive. …

Historical Analysis of Apparel Marketer’s Strategies: Evidence from a Nike Case

Abstract In the decades previous to 2010, many firms in consumer product industries, including the apparel industry, have experienced changes both in the structure of the industries (e.g., ownership, control and location of production) and the functions of the firms (e.g., production- or product oriented vs. marketing-oriented) within the industries (Su et al., 2009). One force in this change was the economic globalization that brought about shifts of production and trade from domestic production to off-shore sourcing of production and then of fabrication and design (Ha-Brookshire and Dyer, 2009). Gereffi (1994) argued that the continued interest in this dynamic of globalization in the apparel industry may remain because global restructuring of the economy is historical in shifts of power across commodity chains. As a major industry in the global market, this argument emphasizes the importance of historical analysis for the apparel industry. However, a review of literature revealed that only a few academi...

Basketball Shoe Brand Preference of the Young Basketball Enthusiasts in Hong Kong

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English; abstract also in Chinese. The study attempts to investigate the choice preference of basketball shoe brands as perceived by the young basketball players in Hong Kong. A survey questionnaire was designed with content validity being established. The data for this study were collected from 240 young basketball enthusiasts in Hong Kong. Data were treated utilizing descriptive statistics mainly in terms of frequency counts and percentages. Chi-square statistic was used to determine the gender differences in various variables. Nike is the most dominant basketball shoe brand as indicated by the respondents. Male subjects chose the basketball shoe products because of the ‘comfortableness' and ‘price', whereas shoe ‘style' is the females' first choice. Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Lebron James were identified as the top three most popular NBA players who are endorsers to basketball shoe brands. The use of NBA to promote basketball shoe branding in Hong Kong appears to have further room for development. The present finding provides some insight and understanding about the basketball shoe products and market in Hong Kong. 本研究旨在探討本港年青籃球愛好者對籃球鞋品牌的喜好，研究以問卷調查方式進行，共收集了240名年青籃球愛好者的意見並進行統計分析。結果顯示：Nike是最受歡迎的品牌；「舒適」和「價錢」是男性受訪者喜歡選購籃球鞋的原因；而女性則喜愛籃球鞋的款式。高比拜仁、米高佐敦及勒邦占士的贊助品牌是最受年青籃球愛好者所喜歡的。

Icons of American popular culture: from P. T. Barnum to Jennifer Lopez

Introduction 1. Democratic Showmen: James Gordon Bennett and P. T. Barnum 2. Exponents of the Culture of Consumption: Marshall Field and Horatio Alger 3. Stars of Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley: Lillian Russell and Irving Berlin 4. The Cinematic Artist and the Literary Lion: D. W. Griffith and Ernest Hemingway 5. The New Woman and the New Negro: Clara Bow and Bessie Smith 6. Voices of Radical Culture: Margaret Bourke-White and Woody Guthrie 7. American Heroes: Hank Greenberg and Edward R. Murrow 8. American Rebels: Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley 9. American Icons during a Time of Unrest: John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Muhammad Ali 10. American Dreamers: Michael Jordan and Jennifer Lopez.