Rhetorical business

220 Pages·2015·1.61 MB·English

Printed by M TOMAS
Rhetorical business edia-Tryck, Lund University 2015 Rh NILSSON Rhetorical business
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A STUDY OF MARKETING WORK IN THE SPIRIT OF CONTRADICTION to
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moves into a territory but passes through it. Employing this perspective denies st DEPARTMENT OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND SERVICE STUDIES | LUND UNIVERSITY
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marketing work a fixed context, time and place. Marketing work is driven by d
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language as they accumulate words and ideas, and then twist and bend them a
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Tomas Nilsson has been teaching marketing, h
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He also has over 20 years practical experience in o
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Rhetorical business
A study of marketing work
in the spirit of contradiction
Tomas Nilsson

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
by due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences,
Lund University, Sweden.
To be defended at U202, Campus Helsingborg.
December 18, 2015, 13.15.
Faculty opponent
Professor Chris Hackley
School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London
Organization: Document name:
LUND UNIVERSITY DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
Department of Service Management Date of issue:
and Service Studies December 18, 2015
Author(s): Sponsoring organization:
Tomas Nilsson
Title and subtitle:
Rhetorical business – A study of marketing work in the spirit of contradiction
Abstract:
Marketing has traditionally been understood from the perspective of marketing management. This
causes problems when we study marketing practices because the normative discourse of marketing
management is not particularly useful for describing the day-to-day work of marketing practitioners.
This calls for marketing research from new perspectives. Rhetorical business – A study of marketing
work in the spirit of contradiction investigates marketing work in professional service organizations
from a rhetorical perspective. The overall research question – What do marketers do when they do
marketing work? – is explored empirically through conversations, observations and daily interaction
and argumentation with professionals involved in the marketing of consulting services. The rhetorical
theory applied in the analysis builds on the assumption that every reasonable argument can be met
with an equally reasonable counterargument, which is not only how we argue but also a representation
of how we gain knowledge of the world – namely, by contradicting it. The analysis is organized in
three themes – situation, strategy and subject – that address questions such as Where and when do
marketers argue for business purposes? What rhetorical strategies are used?, and How can the sub-
jects of marketing work be portrayed? This is followed by a discussion of the analysis under the two
headings persuasive marketing talk and marketing work “in-between”. This book concludes that
marketing work is accomplished by self-reflexive marketers who argue for business purposes in,
through and in-between meetings as they employ versatile and expansive language and enact contra-
dictory selves. In so concluding the book contributes a multifaceted account of marketing work be-
yond the framework of normative marketing management. It also shows how rhetorical theory can be
used in marketing research to analyse aspects of marketing practice that would otherwise have been
poorly accounted for. Finally, the book is written as a “confessional tale” by an author with long
experience of marketing work, in the hope that it may encourage self-reflexive inquires among profes-
sionals involved in marketing.
Key words:
Marketing, marketing practice, marketing work, rhetoric, argumentation, sophists, knowledge-
intensive services, professional services, consulting, ethnography
Classification system and/or index terms (if any):
Supplementary bibliographical information: Language: English
ISSN and key title: ISBN
978-91-7623-563-8 (print)
978-91-7623-564-5 (pdf)
Recipient’s notes: Number of pages: Price:
205
Security classification:

I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby
grant to all reference sources permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned
dissertation.

Signature Date
Rhetorical business
A study of marketing work
in the spirit of contradiction
Tomas Nilsson
© Tomas Nilsson
Department of Service Management
and Service Studies, Lund University
ISBN 978-91-7623-563-8 (print)
ISBN 978-91-7623-564-5 (pdf)
Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University
Lund 2015
En del av Förpacknings- och
Tidningsinsamlingen (FTI)
Acknowledgements
A long and enlightening – but also at times agonizing – research journey has
come to an end. I extend my sincere gratitude to the people who have sup-
ported my research enterprise, starting with my advisors Hervé Corvellec,
Erika Andersson Cederholm and Anders Sigrell. Thank-you, Hervé, for being
so generous with your time, and for being such a persistent and careful reader
of the countless versions of this book. Thank-you, Erika, for all the impro-
vised meetings (within meetings) in the corridors on campus, and for your
reassuring words in times of despair. And thank-you, Anders, for insightful
and amusing conversations about rhetoric, research, training and life. I truly
enjoyed every minute of them.
The fieldwork on which this book is based was conducted in periods from
2009 to 2012. During this time I talked to, observed and argued with a num-
ber of professionals to learn more about marketing work. Since I have prom-
ised them anonymity I am forced to address them by the names I have given
them in my study. Thank-you, “Carl”, “Erik”, “Lars”, “Anders”, “Axel”,
“Linus”, “Anna”, “Stefan”, “Gunilla” and “Per” for your time and commit-
ment. Although this book only covers fragments of your intriguing work I
still hope these are recognizable and may lead to new insights. I owe it to
you.
I also would like to thank my colleagues at the Department of Service
Management and Service Studies for the encouragement and pleasant distrac-
tion they provided. Thank-you, Emma Samsioe, Malin Andersson, Josefine
Östrup Backe, Ida Wingren, Alma Raissova, Christian Fuentes, Mikael
Bergmasth, Gustaf Kastberg, and others. A special thanks to Gunilla Steen
for helping me with all sorts of administrative matters.
Finally I turn to my dear mother Mariana, and to my brothers Torgny and
Tobias, my sister Tina, and their families. Words cannot express how much
you all mean to me. I know you are proud of me for writing this book, and I
know dad would have been too. And Cia, thank-you for your support and for
being such a good mother to our children.
However, my greatest and most sincere debt of gratitude is to my children
who, thankfully, forced me to put this book aside now and then to… well,
live. Michelle, Melvin and Malcom, this book is for you.

Helsingborg, 18 November 2015

Tomas Nilsson
Michelle, Melvin och Malcom,
nu är pappa äntligen klar.
Förlåt att det tog så lång tid.
Jag älskar er!
Contents
Chapter 1.  A rhetorical study of marketing work 1 
1.1  Introduction 1 
1.2  Why study the work of marketers rhetorically? 3 
1.3  About the study 12 
Chapter 2.  In pursuit of rhetorical theory 17 
2.1  An introduction to classical rhetoric 18 
2.2  Two conflicting understandings of rhetorical context 28 
2.3  Exploring theories of argumentation 34 
2.4  Homo rhetoricus 40 
2.5  What this chapter has accomplished 43 
Chapter 3.  Self-reflexive research in the spirit of contradiction 47 
3.1  Writing ethnography 49 
3.2  Doing fieldwork 52 
3.3  The analytic process 64 
3.4  The representation of everyday marketing work 66 
3.5  Fieldwork – an overview 68 
Chapter 4.  Analysis of rhetorical situation 71 
4.1  Omnipresent rhetorical challenges 72 
4.2  If marketing talk is dictated by need 75