Commodities Produced by Religious Communities on the Food Market: Competitive Advantage or Ruining Reputation?
Journal Title: Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
Recently the ecosystem of religious life had gone through radical changes: by the emerging of new religious movements the choices became freer than previously. Being born into a religious group does not necessarily mean that one needs to stay there forever. And by the emerging of free choices the nature of sacral life had changed in its fundamentals as well: religious communities are not in monopolistic situation anymore, they are not protected by the state in this position either, as before, and the number of believers may change rapidly as well. This means that churches need to take their maintenance and promotion into their own hands. In the present days religious communities engage themselves more and more often in commercial activities including marketing, PR and usually even for-profit activities such as service provision and product sales. Krishna-believers in Hungary started off as a self-serving economy, but soon overproduction made it possible for them to sell their products to the wider public as well. In my research I examined the products they offer and the effect of their commercial activities on their reputation. During the research process I compare the activities of Hungarian Krishna-believers to those of the communities in other countries. My aim was to find out how much the Krishna Valley in Hungary is a pioneer among the Krishna-conscious communities in Europe in the commercial activities and how these engagements affect their reputation. In my research I primarily relied on the results of my in-depth interviews and to draw conclusions about the effects of commercial activities on the reputation of churches. As my research has shown, engaging in commercial activities does not affect religious communities as badly as many would think, and this may even be a path of progress for Krishna-conscious groups around Europe.
Authors and Affiliations
Krisztina Bence
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP265681
- DOI -
- Views 156
- Downloads 0
Challenging the Negative Image of Destinations at Pre-visit Stage Using Food and Food Events as an Educational Tool: The Case of Romania
Destinations with a negative image struggle to attract tourists (Alvarez and Campo, 2014). Research addressing the issues of these destinations remains limited. Séraphin, Butcher and Korstanje (2016) have provided eviden...
Developing the profile of green consumer and family decision making model: a review
Ecopreneur’s business activity involves the understanding of the relationships between creating and selling ecological products to eco-consumers and the environmental consequences associated with the purchase. In order t...
Social-Media Platforms and Marketing of Higher Education Institutions
The paper introduces the reader to social media as a marketing tool in the first section, then investigates the motivation behind using social media. In the following section it delves into basic and recommended strategi...
Customer vs. E-tailer: How Tablet Affects Mobile Commerce
The emergence of mobile devices, especially the tablet, has created chances and challenges for mobile commerce vendors across the continents, as they seek to increase their profits and optimize the users’ online shopping...
The Development of Innovative Product Concept: A Case of Organic Rice in Thailand
Due to today competitive business environment and the dynamic of consumer behavior, especially their never-ending wants and demands, the product development is therefore essential for any organizations. In the new produc...