(PDF) Consumption-Driven Market Emergence

Consumption-Driven Market Emergence DIANE M. MARTIN JOHN W. SCHOUTEN New market development is well theorized from a firm-centered perspective, but research has paid scant attention to the emergence of markets from consumption activity. The exceptions conceptualize market emergence as a product of consumer struggle against prevailing market logics. This study develops a model of con- sumption-driven market emergence in harmony with existing market offerings. Us- ing ethnographic methods and actor-network theory the authors chronicle the emer- gence of a new market within the motorcycle industry that develops with neither active participation nor interference from mainstream industry players. Findings reveal a process of multiple translations wherein consumers mobilize human and nonhuman actors to co-constitute products, practices, and infrastructures. These drive the growth of interlinked communities of practice, which ultimately are trans- lated into a fully functioning market. The study highlights the roles of distributed innovation and diffusion, embedded entrepreneurship, and market catalysts in pro- cesses of market change and development. The translation of intents into artifacts always itability of growth markets and the potential advantages of escapes the control of their creators, in the being an early mover within them (Kerin, Varadarajan, and same way that a text distances itself from, and Peterson 1992; Lieberman and Montgomery 1988), it is no acts beyond, its author. (Robichaud and Cooren surprise that business disciplines have devoted research ef- 2013, xvi) forts to new market development. Most of it has focused on just two processes: innovation and its diffusion, in which T his article is about the translation of intent into artifact, but it is also about the translation of artifact into intent. Ultimately it is about the formation of a new market from consumers figure primarily as potential recipients of firm- driven innovation (Day and Kimberly 1995; Hauser, Tellis, and Griffin 2006; Rogers 1983; Van de Ven 1995). the highly distributed and parallel actions of consumers on Work in the consumer culture tradition recently has objects and the reciprocal actions of those objects on the same shown consumers to be more active participants in market and other consumers. Through ethnographic fieldwork and dynamics. A few studies have examined contexts wherein actor-network theorizing, we demonstrate a process of con- consumers played key roles in market formation (Giesler sumption-driven market emergence (CDME) that sheds new 2008; Goulding and Saren 2007; Sandikci and Ger 2010; light on the roles of consumption in market formation. Thompson and Coskuner-Balli 2007). Without exception New market development research historically has oc- these studies conceptualize consumer roles as some form of curred from within a firm-centric tradition. Given the prof- rebellion or resistance to prevailing market logics or market- induced stigma. This raises the following questions: Can Diane M. Martin (

) is associate professor of mar- new markets form in the absence of significant resistance, keting at Aalto University School of Business, 00076 Aalto, Helsinki, conflict, or stigma? Is there another model whereby new Finland. John W. Schouten (

) is professor of mar- markets can emerge from consumer activity in relative har- keting at Aalto University School of Business, 00076 Aalto, Helsinki, mony with existing market logics? If so, what processes are Finland, and at the Center for Customer Insight, University of St. Gallen, involved? In answering these questions this study contrib- 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Address correspondence to Diane M. Martin. utes to a more comprehensive picture of market formation, The authors express gratitude to Jenny Mish for her contribution to an earlier version of this article. For valuable feedback during the revision one that contrasts markedly with predominantly firm-driven process, the authors thank the editor, the associate editor, and the reviewers, models of market development. as well as Domen Bajde, Fleura Bardhi, and Russ Belk. CONSUMERS AND NEW Ann McGill served as editor and Eileen Fischer served as associate editor for this article. MARKET FORMATION Electronically published August 8, 2013 Very few studies have recognized truly generative roles for consumers or consumption in the creation of new markets. 855 䉷 2013 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc. ● Vol. 40 ● February 2014 All rights reserved. 0093-5301/2014/4005-0004$10.00. DOI: 10.1086/673196 856 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH The exceptions, in their particular foci, form only a partial that conceptual models based on resistance may be “less ap- picture. Kozinets (2002) examines consumers’ attempts to plicable in contexts where consumers would be delighted to emancipate themselves from institutional market logics in the make purchases from mainstream marketers if only options performance of Burning Man, and he notes the temporal and were available” (1235). The fatshionistas, as institutional en- local limits of such efforts. One might argue that Burning trepreneurs, are unsuccessful in bending the designer fashion Man participants actually co-create an alternative temporary industry to meet their needs. A new or substantially changed marketplace, complete with production, consumption, forms market never results. Is it only in resistance that consumers of exchange (although not monetization), and even a transi- can generate the energy to drive the development of a new tory supporting infrastructure. Thompson and Coskuner-Balli market? We demonstrate that there is another side to market (2007) analyze community-supported agriculture (CSA) as a dynamics in which consumers, similar to successful institu- form of ethical production and consumption organized as tional entrepreneurs, not only seek to expand existing industry resistance and remedy to commercial co-optation of organic logics but also drive the formation of a new market within agriculture by industrial farms. Although they do not present an existing industry. their research as a case of market emergence, it appears that To extend theory about consumption and market formation, CSA members participate with farmers in co-creating new we follow the admonition of Arnould, Price, and Moisio market structures (Press and Arnould 2011). Because neither (2006) to work in a context that is likely to be fruitful—in of these studies focuses directly on market formation, much this case an emerging market within and in harmony with an about the actual processes falls outside their scope. existing industry. We chose an industry in which we have a Goulding and Saren (2007) use a grounded theory approach great deal of experience and prior understanding: motorcycles. to investigate and illustrate subcultural commodification in The emerging market was minimoto, characterized by adults three stages: rebellion, fragmentation, and commodification. buying, modifying, riding and/or racing minibikes designed Growth in the rebellious subculture led to fragmentation into and manufactured for children. Minimoto was especially suit- multiple forms and expressions, akin to a market segmenting able for studying market dynamics for several reasons. First, itself. Commodification ultimately led to what Goulding and when we encountered minimoto it was quite new and its Saren describe as “a burgeoning retail and leisure industry” participants had knowledge of its recent history and devel- (235) serving the Goth subculture. Their study documents the opment. Second, those participants were primarily consumers emergence of a new market from consumer activity, but again rather than industry insiders. Third, minimoto developed it does so without fully examining the process of market without antagonism from or resistance to the mainstream mo- formation. torcycle industry. Fourth, participants were not stigmatized; Consumers in a study by Sandikci and Ger (2010) use they had comfortable relations with the mainstream industry. fashion innovation to resist stigmatization as a result of ex- And yet, as we explain later in detail, they worked at the isting market offerings and, in so doing, develop what the authors call a parallel taste structure. Eventually these con- edges of the industry to develop products, practices, and in- sumer innovators develop a viable business opportunity and frastructures that, while mirroring the mainstream, existed what may be, if not a new market, then certainly a new market separately. segment. Scaraboto and Fischer (2013) note limitations to Among the main challenges of studying market dynamics Sandikci and Ger’s perspective, calling it “insufficient in a is the need to be sensitive to both context and process. As context where consumers want to be able to participate in the Giesler (2008) explains, “processual understanding of how mainstream market without developing (or being relegated markets change requires the analysis of complex socioeco- to) a parallel taste structure” (1235). nomic systems over time” (739). To this end we benefited In his analysis of music downloading and file sharing, from our prior prolonged engagement with the motorcycle Giesler (2008) describes market evolution as a warlike industry. Scaraboto and Fischer (2013) cite the need for the “process of marketplace drama, a fourfold sequence of analysis to be richly contextualized. Recognizing the limi- performed conflict between opposing groups of consumers tations of blog post data, they call for researchers “to ex- and producers” (739). Interaction among music consumers, amine what other contextual dynamics in an organizational prosumer hackers, and the music recording industry took field might foster collective identity formation and com- on a decidedly antagonistic character, and what emerged municative action among consumers that can mobilize them from the protracted battle was a new market infrastructure to see and to seek market changes they desire” (1251). To with new products, modes of music consumption, and this end we chose ethnography, with emphasis on obser- models of pricing and distribution. Giesler’s conflictual vation and interaction, as our method of field research. Fi- model and the other resistance-based logics of market for- nally, as Goulding and Saren (2007) observe and Sandikci mation help to form a picture of market dynamics that is and Ger (2010) underscore, a complete understanding of potentially one-sided. market dynamics requires attention to materiality. Products, In contrast to studies of resistance, Scaraboto and Fischer innovations, infrastructures, market spaces, and exchanges, (2013) study “frustrated fatshionistas” who seek to expand, to name a few aspects of market dynamics, all have distinct not reject, the logics of an existing market in order to fulfill material characters that are likely to reflect context and in- their desires to wear designer clothing. These authors observe flect process. For reasons we soon elaborate, to capture the MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 857 material side of market formation we ground our ethnog- atizes a situation and then mobilizes an actor-network to raphy in actor-network theory (ANT). deal with it. Such intentional actors may set up obligatory points of passage for materials and/or communication ANT AND MARKETS within the emerging network in order to shape the assem- blage in a particular way or manage it toward certain out- Answering the question “How does a market form?” re- comes. Giesler (2012) makes use of Callon’s theory of quires first establishing that a market exists where previously translation in his analysis of the Botox market, although it did not. This in turn requires a clear definition of a market. without attention to obligatory points of passage or, it could In our choice of a definition we recur to actor-network the- be argued, the same attention to materiality that usually orization. To make sense of the nature of markets from this characterizes ANT analyses. perspective we first elaborate on ANT, what it is, and why In ANT any given actor can be both a “black box” and it is appropriate for a study of market dynamics. Then we an actor-network in its own right. For example, a marketing will define a market in ANT terms. firm is an assemblage of human actors and nonhuman act- ANT is our chosen theoretical framework in this study of ants, such as technologies, spaces, and discourses that affect market formation, but it is not a theory per se. Rather, it is how the humans work and interact. That same organization a constructivist (Latour 2005) ontological epistemology (Law can also be “black-boxed” analytically as an individual actor 2004) for investigating and theorizing social phenomena. in a different assemblage such as a market. In an apparently ANT was developed by sociologists of science and technol- paradoxical twist, ANT flattens hierarchies among actors. ogy in order to account for the roles of materiality in social For example, we can analyze a firm as an actor within a life, something that gets lost in a science that privileges cog- market, which in turn is an actor within an economy; how- nition and social construction (Callon 1986; Latour 2005; Law ever it makes equal sense to treat the economy as one actor 2004). Social constructionist theories locate agency entirely in the performance of a firm. within human subjects and relegate nonhuman entities to ob- In summary, a market can be conceptualized as an actor- ject status. In contrast, “ANT argues that there is no purely network comprising human, nonhuman, and hybrid actants, material, just as there is no purely social, and this belief in as can each of the actors within it. ANT would hold that a their separation and separability is a modernist fiction” (Gille market is constantly emergent in the relations among actors 2010, 1051). The core construct in ANT is the actor-network, and the many translations that give it form and stability. understood as a heterogeneous assemblage of human, non- The same is true for each of the actor-networks that con- human, and hybrid actors. The assemblage is inherently un- stitute that market. The potential for discovering infinitely stable, constantly being performed through the interactions nested actor-networks raises the question of scope and among various actors in concert or opposition (Callon 1986; boundaries. At what point do you stop unpacking black Law 2008). The relations are generative and together may boxes or quit proliferating actor networks? The answer re- assemble, stabilize, or destabilize a network. A central tenet sides in the constructivist nature of ANT. The scope of the of ANT is that all actors, including nonhuman ones, have phenomenon emerges empirically from the analysis and can agency to the extent that they affect the actions of other actors be inferred from the density, direction, and vitality of the (Latour 2005). For example, rules, standards, technologies, relations among actors. and infrastructures all exert shaping and limiting agency over human behaviors and practices. ANT insists upon analytic symmetry in the agency of What Is a Market? human and nonhuman actors (also called actants), assuming Fligstein and Dauter (2007) summarize sociological ap- no asymmetric subject-object relations but, rather, focusing proaches to markets as falling broadly into three camps— analysis on the relations between two subjects. Says Nimmo markets as networks, institutions, or performances—and (2011), this “is not so much a case of theoretically inserting emphasize that all three approaches treat markets as “social nonhuman actants into an otherwise human-centered story, arenas where firms, their suppliers, customers, workers, and but of refraining from imposing ontological categorisations government interact, and all three approaches emphasize a-priori, thereby allowing the heterogeneous relations and how the connectedness of social actors affects their behav- intermediations which are already present to emerge” (115). ior” (107). The emphasis on connections and interactions Unlike other approaches to materiality in social science, resonates with ANT except in its failure to account for the ANT scrupulously disciplines the gaze to recognize object agency of material objects and infrastructures as actors in agency, preventing an exaggerated account of human agency the social arena. in a largely material and technological world. In their ANT-informed work on marketization, Caliskan Translation is another key construct in ANT. In one re- and Callon (2010, 3) define markets as “sociotechnical ar- spect translations are simply transformations or move- rangements or assemblages (agencements)” that “organize ments of materials or meanings from one medium or space the conception, production and circulation of goods”; or- to another (Latour 2005). Translations result from the re- ganize monetized exchanges; deploy “rules and conventions; lations among actors, and actors are co-constituted in and technical devices; metrological systems; logistical infra- by those relations. Callon (1986) also refers to translation structures; texts, discourses and narratives; technical and more specifically as a process whereby one actor problem- scientific knowledge, as well as the competencies and skills 858 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH embodied in living beings”; and construct and delimit spaces though an adult can ride a child’s minibike, it is an awkward wherein conflicts or competitive forces can be resolved proposition, and racing a minibike flat out on a track that through pricing mechanisms. A notable characteristic of this includes jumps and obstacles generally results in the destruc- definition is that it speaks of the market less in terms of tion of the machine. As a result, for minibikes to be raced what it is than what it does. It is literally an actor. Not successfully by adults requires major mechanical modifica- merely a metaphoric place or structure, it constitutes places tions. The term “minimoto” as we use it refers to the modified and structures. It not only has supply chains, marketers, and minibike. Another common term for the minimoto is “pit customers; it co-creates them all. bike.” Minibikes are also commonly called “fifties” for the Citing the need to study the material, processual, rela- usual displacement of their stock motors. tional, and performative aspects of markets, many scholars The first MMSX races were held in the Orleans Arena in have turned to ANT (Araujo, Finch, and Kjellberg 2010; Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2004. Prior to the second annual Geiger, Kjellberg, and Spencer 2012). The history of ANT MMSX event, we contacted the race promoter, Tim C. (age in consumer culture research is also recent but promising 55), at his home in Oregon. Tim offered to facilitate ethno- (Bajde 2013). Our study uses ANT in the consumer culture graphic research at the second MMSX event in May 2005, and tradition to examine a case of an emerging market, uncover he provided us with an all-access pass as well as introductions the socio-material relations and translations that led to its to other race officials and participants. This allowed us to move formation and stabilization, and thereby add to theory about freely around the track, backstage areas such as the race-staff consumers’ roles in driving market emergence. This study break room, vendor areas, and the racers’ pit area for the pur- fits within what Caliskan and Callon (2010) describe as the poses of observation and conducting interviews. In May 2006, study of marketization, that is, “the entirety of efforts aimed we attended the third annual MMSX championship races as at describing, analysing and making intelligible the shape, ethnographers, once again with all-access passes. In the interim constitution and dynamics of a market socio-technical ar- year and subsequent to the 2006 race, we studied archival and rangement,” including their “insistence on materialities and online sources, such as MiniMoto SX magazine and various technicalities” and “taking into account the social sciences, websites and conducted follow-up interviews. In February as well as knowledge and skills developed by market agents 2013, we interviewed three employees of a major multibrand themselves,” which they describe as an “entirely under-stud- motorcycle dealership, one in sales, one in parts and service, ied field of research” (3). It also responds to Venkatesh and and one in customer financing. All were knowledgeable about Pen˜aloza (2006), who call for a paradigm shift “from mar- the state of the minimoto market and its context within the keting to the market.” These authors identified 17 concep- broader US motorcycle market. The parts manager, Doug (age tualizations of the market construct in scholarly literature, 26), also races minimotos, having experience in both Las Vegas reminding us that “the market does not have a universal and his home state of Ohio. quality” (140), even though the marketing literature is highly At MMSX 2005 and 2006, we interviewed race promoters, skewed toward viewing markets as product markets or as racers, their support teams, spectators, sponsors, parts sup- sites for competing firms. pliers, and both paid and volunteer members of the race pro- motion staff. Many interviews were informal, conversational, RESEARCH METHODS and unrecorded. We videotaped and partially transcribed for- Prolonged prior engagement as researchers in the motor- mal interviews with key informants. Table 1 lists the infor- cycle industry has instilled in us an understanding of and mants with whom we conducted formal interviews. We in- sensitivity to cultures and dynamics in the industry and its terviewed co–race promoter Eric P. (age 53) and event staff constituent markets (Martin, Schouten, and McAlexander in a break room where they congregated. We interviewed 2006; Schouten and McAlexander 1995). In early 2005 we racers, support teams, and some members of sponsor orga- became aware of a new phenomenon in motorcycle racing nizations in the pit area where race teams gathered and so- called minimoto supercross (MMSX) and became intrigued cialized between practice heats and races. We interviewed by its potential as a context for studying market emergence parts and accessories suppliers in a dedicated merchandising (Arnould et al. 2006). We began our study, as Latour (2005) area set up inside the arena. Interviews with racers in the pits insists is inevitable, in medias res and worked forward and ranged from 30 minutes to over an hour, depending on the backward in assembling the story of the minimoto market. practice schedule, and they often included accounts and dem- MMSX racing was our entry point to the market, but it was onstrations of minibike modifications. Interviews with Tim not the sole or even the primary focus of our attention. C. totaled more than 5 hours. With their permission, we iden- To assist the reader we offer some explanation of the terms tify certain promoters and professionals by name. To other used in this market and our study. Supercross is a variation informants, including amateur racers and volunteers, we as- of motocross racing, conducted on an indoor dirt track with signed pseudonyms. Both of our MMSX promoter informants a large number of jumps and other obstacles. MMSX entails have lifelong histories of participation in motor sports. adults, primarily, racing minibikes on a supercross-style track. MMSX racers span a wide range of ages and include both Minibikes, with engines originally displacing only 50–70 cu- men and women, although they are predominantly male. bic centimeters (compared to 250 cubic centimeters or more All interviews were unstructured, but we used probes as for a standard motocross bike), are built for children. Al- necessary to elicit informants’ histories with minimotos and MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 859 TABLE 1 minimoto market. Bill and Sandy Brown (ages in the 40s) are the parents of Mike (age 18), who had been riding since KEY INFORMANTS he was age 13. With them was Mike’s friend Jeff (age 18). Informant Age Role Interviewer: How did you get started? Tim C. 55 MMSX and MinimotoSX founder Cindy C. 40s Partner, MMSX and MinimotoSX Mike: My sister’s boyfriend had [a minimoto]. . . . He looked Eric P. 53 MMSX promoter like a bear on a roller skate. I was on a [full-sized] dirt bike. Kurt 34 Amateur racer Derek 24 Amateur racer Interviewer: And you? Tony 53 Amateur racer Mark 21 Amateur racer Jeff: I never had a big bike. I rode Mike’s [mini]. It was fun. Jessica 23 Amateur racer Gretchen 33 Amateur racer Sandy: What really appealed to them, they could do wheelies, Benjie 22 Amateur racer endos. . . . With the big bikes you could only go out and ride. Ron 34 Amateur racer These you could have some fun on. Brian 39 Amateur racer Guy C. 43 Former pro racer, minimoto importer Bill: Now we built a track for them. Preston 17 Stunt performer Sandy 42 Spectator Mike: When you get on the little bike you felt you could do Bill 40s Spectator anything you want on it. It was slower at first. I didn’t have any- Mike 16 Spectator, rider thing on it. But after I got a bar kit it got easier to ride. On the Jeff 16 Spectator, rider Nicholas 22 Spectator, rider stock bike . . . Jace 22 Spectator, rider Dan 28 MinimotoSX editor, rider Sandy: . . . knees hitting the handle bars and. . . Don 32 Former pro racer, minimoto importer Ryan 56 Custom parts builder Jeff: . . . when you try and turn it . . . Doug 26 Parts manager Mike: We bought stock fifties. First we bought handlebars, higher seat, more power. . . . Now it’s an 88cc. to “interrogate” material aspects of their experiences. The Jeff: Some of these guys have 125ccs on a 50cc frame. latter we achieved through discussions with riders about prac- tices such as the “how, where and with whom” aspects of Mike: I’m turning it into a bigger bike so I have more control. riding “back home” or through tales and demonstrations of Taller, more power, more room to throw your foot out, bigger minibike modifications and performance. We also investi- footpegs so you can keep your feet on. gated relations among actors through observation. At MMSX events we observed both front- and backstage activities, in- Sandy: Less chance of getting hurt. You can attempt to do some cluding racer registrations, racers’ preparations (including of stunts you wouldn’t do on your big bike. minimotos and gear), socializing in the pit area (including Mike: We’re not doing flips until we get the foam pit built. We’re material and spatial arrangements), race promotion and man- building that now, and ramps. agement activities and materials, practice heat races, spectator interactions, and the races themselves. In fall 2005, author Jeff: Long term, it’s a money pit. It’s never done. Martin spent a full day at the Southern Oregon home of Tim Mike: I’d like to ride a big bike, but I’ll always have a mini. It’s C. and his wife and business partner, Cindy C. (age in the the funnest thing I’ve ever done. I’d take a mini over a big bike 40s). They related, in the course of leisurely interviews, a any day. I have more fun on the mini bike. home-office tour, and the viewing of race and promotion vid- eos, a more complete history of the MMSX races and the Jeff: You feel safe. You’re not going to get thrown off. You feel magazine, MiniMoto SX, which they founded and published. like you have total control over it. Sandy: When I see them out there on it, I don’t worry. With the FINDINGS big bikes I was scared to death. They’ve wrecked pretty good on [minis], but they just get up and go. The Emergence of a Market Bill: False sense of security. At MMSX, motorcyclists from all over the Western world had come to Las Vegas to race on minibikes they had mod- Mike: It makes it easier—to know that she isn’t worried. . . . ified with aftermarket parts and accessories. A common We live in Pueblo, Colorado, and you see them everywhere. The thread uniting them and distinguishing them from other mo- more people the better, the more parts available. torcyclists was a desire to participate in dirt bike riding and racing in a way that was safe, affordable, widely accessible, Interviewer: And the racing? and, above all, fun. A 2005 interview with the Brown family Jeff: Our racing is in the back yard, not competitive. revealed much about the growing appeal of minimotos and was in many ways a microcosm of the development of the Mike: Five or six of us in the back yard, elbowing. 860 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH Jeff: You can talk to each other while riding. . . have chosen not to participate because of the material con- straints the activity entails. One of the most common actors Mike: Hang time off the jump, that’s where the adrenaline is. on the would-be rider, as we learned from the Brown family On a little bike you can really hang. On a big bike you don’t feel interview, is fear of injury. Gretchen, having previously like you’re up there that much. I was scared on a big bike. been injured on a bigger bike, also mentions the problem: Jeff: I’ve never rode a motorcycle in my life until I got the mini “I have other things I need to get done”—meaning that she from [Mike]. And three or four people got it from me. And it was can’t afford to be laid up with an injury. Minis, however, like a chain reaction. Bigger bikes are not for me. I’ll always be mitigate that constraint. Jace (age 22) remarks: “You can on a mini. It’s growing like crazy. . . . You get addicted to them. do whatever you want and not really get hurt.” Guy C. (age You have so much fun on them. . . . You’re not successful right 43), a professional racer turned minimoto importer, felt that away. It takes practice. It took some time to feel comfortable, a reduced risk is a democratizer that potentially expands the month or so after I got my bike. motorcycle market: “With less danger of minis liability for the sport is lessened.” Key elements from the Brown family story include the fol- In a remark quoted above Brian cited family life and a lack lowing: the ability of the minimoto to deliver a unique form of free time as his reason to quit riding dirt bikes, a constraint of adrenaline-filled fun; a relatively safe environment; low entry minimotos also mitigate. Other material constraints reported barriers; the need for owner-riders to modify and personalize by informants included money, space, and transportation. Big their minibikes; the tendency to build consumption infrastruc- bikes are expensive to buy and maintain. Transporting one ture, such as racetracks and jumps, for greater enjoyment of requires a truck or trailer, and suitable riding venues tend to the minis; and the power of the activity of minimoto riding lie at considerable distances from population centers. The latter and racing to attract new riders and form the basis of local problem has been exacerbated by regulatory pressures on the rider communities. As we will show, this basic pattern played amount of public land available for off-road riding (Pike 2011). out in widely dispersed geographical locations. Through online Minimotos neutralize all these constraining actors. Re- activities, local minimoto communities began to connect and garding price, Nick (age in the 20s) tells the story of how form a larger metacommunity—by which we mean a broader, he and five friends got together one day in Mississippi and transnational set of electronically networked communities— all bought minibikes for about $1,000 each: “$6,000 equals sharing know-how, enthusiasm, stories, and material resources, 6 minis . . . enough to have some serious fun.” Regarding or in a word, practices. The growing metacommunity of prac- transport, a mini can be hauled in the trunk of a car or the tice supported and was supported by entrepreneurial commerce back of a family van or SUV. One race participant sent his in minibikes, parts, and accessories. Ultimately it became the bike to the United States from the United Kingdom in his basis for a market in minimotos that was attractive to major checked baggage. A group of Hawaiian riders used plastic corporate investors. As we detail the emergence of the mini- storage bins to FedEx their bikes from Maui to Las Vegas. moto market, we attend to the agency of nonhuman and hybrid The bins then served as ad hoc seating for socializing in actors, and especially their roles as catalysts in the various the race pits. Storage and parking are less problematic with translations leading to the formation and stabilization of the minibikes. We heard about minis sneaked into hotel rooms minimoto market. and garaged in college dorms. Benji (age 22), from the United Kingdom, regularly parks his mini in his mom’s Consumer Desires, Material Constraints, and the kitchen, at least until her patience is exhausted. Minibike Solution The stage for the emergence of a new sport, MMSX, was set by the combination of consumer desires and the material The driving actor behind the emergence of the minimoto actants opposing them. Minibikes emerged as a resolution market was the desire of adult consumers to ride or race to the thwarted agency of would-be dirt riders. Minis did dirt bikes, combined with the inability or unwillingness to not, however, in their stock form meet the needs of adult do so on full-sized motorcycles. The desire was usually riders. The adult-friendly minimoto and the market built up rooted in a previous history of dirt riding. For informant around it were assemblages that resulted from a series of Tony (age 53) minimoto racing takes him back to his youth. translations, as illustrated in figure 1. Although many re- He notes, “It’s like being a kid again.” Most of our infor- lations in the emergence of an actor-network evolve more mants grew up around motorcycles, perhaps even starting or less simultaneously, we observed a general chronological on minibikes or three-wheeled all-terrain vehicles. Brian sequence of translations generating a series of growing, (age 39) describes a common progression: “I started out on morphing, and interconnecting actor-networks that became three-wheelers. Those got banned, so I went to big bikes more and more market-like in their overall manifestation. and got into races. Then I got older and got a family and We take them in that rough chronological order. had less free time. Minis are a way to ride at home on my property . . . and it’s probably the most addictive thing I’ve First-Stage Translations: The Emergence of the ever done.” Like Jeff before, Brian speaks of addiction. Gretchen (age 33) also echoes the theme: “Riding is kind Adult Minimoto Rider of like a disease; you can’t just let it go.” The minimoto is a heterogeneous grouping of manufactured Despite the strong desire to ride dirt bikes, many people parts and fluids resulting from translations involving the fol- MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 861 FIGURE 1 MARKET EMERGENCE: STAGES OF TRANSLATION lowing actors: (1) minibikes designed and built for children, resources (knowledge and skills) and nonhuman resources (2) consumer innovators with particular motivations, skills, and (minis, materials and tools), acting as obligatory passage circumstances, and (3) a wide range of tools and materials. points or organizing forces, until the adult-ready minimotos Tim C. summarized the general translation process: “Adults came together and performed as desired. took these little fifties that they bought for the kids and kinda As an agentic actor, the minimoto provides the rider with got in the corner of the garage with spider webs on them. . . . fun, and lots of it; hence, the previous comparisons to an They dust them off, they put on a little bit bigger set of handle- addictive substance. From Doug we learn that minimotos bars, a little stiffer spring and all of the sudden it takes off.” exert their agency in other ways relevant to a market. They Said Dan (age 28), a former minimoto blogger and editor of require frequent parts and maintenance, they beg for per- Minimoto SX: “When this thing first came underway, the only formance modifications, and if raced they demand repairs. way to really build an adult-oriented pit bike was to take a He says, “My 184 motor went through transmissions left stock Honda and piece it together.” Ryan, a 56-year-old former and right because certain parts they don’t make strong. . . . racer, is a consumer innovator. Ryan began experimenting with I mean it’s like a full race bike at that point. You gotta and modifying minibikes for his own use in the 1990s, even- maintain it all the time.” tually building race minis for his teenage daughters and turning Amabile (1996) notes that passion and intrinsic motivation his Southern Oregon shop into a center of activity for minimoto are driving forces for creativity, and Moreau and Dahl (2005) enthusiasts. demonstrate that imposing constraints actually heightens and True to Callon’s model of translation, the process typically channels innovation and problem solving. Into a milieu of con- began with a consumer problematizing a situation: how to ride sumer desires and material constraints the child’s minibike as- or race dirt bikes in the face of the already mentioned con- serts itself as an actor that prompts an idea. The consumer straints. Into this problematized situation enters the minibike, innovator, a true prosumer in the manner conceived by Toffler a nonhuman actor that to the innovator suggests a potential (1980), responds by mobilizing resources to create the mini- solution: a dirt bike that is cheap, easy to store and transport, moto. The minimoto as an actor delivers pleasure and makes and safe to ride. Minis, however, also pose new problems. material demands. In conjunction with its rider it forms a new First, they actively resist being ridden by an adult. Recall human-technology assemblage, the adult minimoto rider. The the Brown family interview and the difficulties of riding agency inherent in that assemblage leads to a new set of trans- and turning a mini with stock handlebars. Second, they do lations, which we now address. not stand up to hard riding by an adult. Motorcycle journalist Brian Korfhage (2005, 1) writes: “Without the necessary hop- Second-Stage Translations: Assembling up components, we’d still be riding clapped out [minis] and Community replacing them every two or three races. . . . A bike with increased displacement and true suspension modifications are The adult minimoto assemblage becomes a powerful actor an absolute necessity if you want to be competitive on the in a broader social context. In addition to consuming fun track.” But because adults riding minis were a relatively new in big doses, the rider performs fun for others, spreading phenomenon the necessary “hop-up” components initially did desire, attracting other potential riders, and acting as a cat- not exist. The early consumer innovators had to fabricate them alyst for the formation of a community of practice. The or find someone who could. In terms of translation, the con- relatively low purchase price of a minibike makes the fun sumer innovators organized and mobilized available human accessible for people who could not or would not afford the 862 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH high costs of standard dirt bike racing. As mentioned pre- web search reveals online minimoto groups and businesses viously, for Nick and his five friends, the low entry barrier around the globe, and this does not begin to account for the allowed them to create an instant riding community, and as ones that have come and gone in the past several years. Jeff related, the act of riding publicly creates a “chain re- Most commerce in minimoto parts and accessories is In- action” of new owner-riders. ternet based. Says Doug in 2013, “One of my friends back The minimoto rider prompts another kind of translation, East, he, like, owns an Internet website, and he’s the one the construction of a local track, an assemblage that en- I’ve kinda been getting parts from, and some info from.” hances minimoto performances and experience and becomes The fact that Doug, as a parts manager for a dealer that a gathering place for community. Most of the local tracks carries minibikes from Honda and other companies, sources we heard about were noncommercial adaptations of back- parts for his minimotos online indicates a market operating yards, pastures, or tracts of woods. As noted previously, Bill in parallel to the infrastructure of the mainstream motorcycle built a track for his son Mike and his friends. Nick and his industry. friends raced on a local BMX track designed for bicyclists. Another kind of entrepreneurship also emerged from Informants Gary, Ryan, Kurt, and Tony all mentioned the within the growing minimoto community. Both Guy and importance to them of local tracks, and a browse of mini- Don began importing from China minis made to adult-rider moto-related websites and forums turns up video evidence specifications (Xtreme and Thumpstar brands, respectively). of the same. Chinese ready-to-ride minimotos lowered the price barrier Local tracks act as magnets for enthusiasts to ride, so- even further for people desiring to try out the sport. Guy cialize, and learn from each other. Shared social practices and Don, who both had long histories in motorcycle racing, develop. Guy refers to local competitions as “banging bars, operated within a space that was uncontested by the major having a great time.” As Brian relates, “Someone will start players in the motorcycle industry. Said Don, “If Honda calling around and before you know it we’re riding, having wanted to bring out a . . . totally tricked out pit bike they’d barbeque and having fun.” Don (age 32) says, “The younger blow us all out of the water because it would be completely riders include me . . . they call me when they’re riding and the best bike. They’ve got the dealer network and the fi- I fit right in.” An all-Hawaiian contingent of racers discussed nancing and the everything. Why don’t Honda want to do their local rides and races, and Kurt specifically mentioned it? (Shrugs) It’s fine with me.” Doug, from his position in a group of “minor outlaws,” four women who ride their the mainstream motorcycle industry, explains the reason: minibikes on full-moon nights on local golf courses despite “Even though (minimotos) took off, the amount of people prohibitions against it. He is very clear that all the mini weren’t even, like, a percent of the riders of the world.” riders on the island are friends who know each other’s rou- Even though the minimoto community was developing crit- tines. ical mass as a market niche, it was not sufficiently attractive Minimoto communality transforms some families. Ryan to motivate major industry players to participate in any way has two daughters for whom he built race-worthy minis. At beyond continuing to supply stock minibikes. One conse- MMSX he functions as their mechanic, mentor, and cheer- quence was that the well-developed infrastructure of the leader, operating from a trailer that serves as both lodging mainstream motorcycle industry was largely unavailable to and garage. Ryan, his daughters, their minimotos, and their the minimoto community. racing accoutrements formed an actor-network that was in- The second-stage translations that gave rise to the mini- herently stable and recognizable as a family that races. Ron moto metacommunity differed from the first-stage transla- (age 34), another minimoto dad, moved to a mini from a tions in interesting ways. The creation of minimotos was full-sized bike in order to ride alongside his 6- and 9-year- engineered or managed by consumer innovators in the fash- old sons. He says, “I don’t go on a ride without them. ion theorized by Callon, but the emergence of local mini- Motorcycles are my passion and I’m lucky enough to do moto communities occurred more organically, driven by the my passion through them.” Tony (age 53) was introduced performances of lead minimoto riders in dispersed geo- to minis by his son, and now they ride together routinely graphic locations. The early riders functioned as catalysts on their own acreage. for change, or carriers of practice (Schatzki 1996), within The need for minis to be modified puts a premium on the their local communities. knowledge and skills of consumer innovators such as Ryan, Online activity indicated that local rider communities had who has an engineering background. Some innovators see emerged more or less contemporaneously prior to 2004 in this as an opportunity for entrepreneurship. One such in- many different locations in Europe, Australia, and North novator is Dan Hanebrink (Fortune Hanebrink 2012), a America. They developed similar practices, which mirrored NASA engineer and avid bicyclist, who has fabricated and practices in the realm of standard dirt bike riding and racing. sold products such as frame stiffeners, forks, and swing arms As Bourdieu (1998) argues, habitus and the practices it re- for minibikes. People with expertise to share or parts to sell produces are enacted and challenged by people that are “ac- began to reach out through the Internet. Blogs and forums tive, knowing agents endowed with . . . schemes of action proliferated. Informant Dan was an early blogger, chroni- which orient the perception of the situation and the appro- cling his own experiences modifying and riding minis prior priate response” (25). The consumers modifying minibikes to 2004 when he was hired to edit MiniMoto SX. A cursory operated from within a particular consumption tradition, and MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 863 the solutions they created retained a consistency of style and mini market had tremendous potential because it was made practice framed by that tradition. up of a number of cottage industries . . . several dozen.” By 2004, the year of the first MMSX, the popularity of As Dan described the situation, “People had websites and minimoto was moving toward more mainstream motorcycle catalogs and so forth. Call up and get a catalog. . . . It was practice and media. In 2004, MotorcycleUSA President Don still kinda scattered about. There wasn’t one source. None Becklin got his magazine employees involved in minimoto of the major magazines were covering it.” Tim C. proble- design and building. matized the situation like this: minimoto enthusiasts had no single, reliable place to go for information about how and Don had a story idea, and a good one. . . . Take four Honda with what to modify their minibikes, to find inspirational (minibikes) and hop them up to make mini rippers out of stories, or to read about other riders’ exploits. As for the them! The office went from work environment to Romper many cottage industries manufacturing after-market parts, Room in a matter of seconds, with grown men jumping they had no place to advertise apart from general dirt bike around and laughing maniacally. . . . The plan was simple; magazines, which were prohibitively expensive media buys divide the company into four groups representing various and inefficient at reaching the small minimoto segment of departments of MotorcycleUSA. . . . Each team would re- dirt riders. ceive a (stock minibike) and $2,000 to hop it up any way Mobilizing their own financial, material, and human re- they saw fit. When all the teams completed their modifica- sources, Tim and Cindy C. launched Minimoto SX magazine tions, the bikes would be judged on performance, appearance, in glossy format in 2004. Leveraging personal relationships, and ridability on a mini track. (Korfhage 2004) they got it inserted into the industry publication Motorcycle It was a classic act of translation: problematize a goal, then Product News just days before it was distributed at a major select and mobilize the necessary actors. The resulting assem- Las Vegas motorcycle show. Minimoto SX debuted to a hun- blages included four minimotos, four different group narratives, gry readership and became instantly popular among enthu- and one magazine story with the potential to act on the imag- siasts. Said Dan: “The magazine was the first one . . . the inations of many other actual and potential minimoto enthu- only one that was out there. Everyone who made a pit bike siasts. wanted to be in it.” As a publication it maintained a close Local rider communities continued to spring up throughout relationship with its fan base: the Western world, each to some degree united by shared We give (our customers) everything they ask for. . . . “Can practices around a local riding venue, and the local com- you give us more how-to articles on this?” “Can you give munities were becoming linked through Internet communi- us more opinion of how things work and operate?” “Can you cation and commerce. Thomas, Price, and Schau (2013) find give us more options on where to go and find products?” that when consumers depend on each other for resources, they What is so great about our magazine right now is that it is develop frame alignment practices that enable consumption so new, that people don’t even know who makes tires for communities to stabilize and reproduce. In the minimoto case, minibikes. And I’m going to the advertisers saying “Hello! resource dependencies were key to the emergence of a meta- If you advertise, people are going to find you!” (Tim C.) community of practice. As we have shown, minimoto enthu- siasts, inadequately supported by the mainstream motorcycle Minimoto SX entered the minimoto market as a new assem- industry, relied on an Internet-mediated web of entrepreneurs blage and black-box actor, becoming a preferred (not oblig- and other riders for the material, cognitive, and social re- atory, as in Callon’s model) point of passage for the meta- sources they needed to pursue their passions. As an actor- community. The magazine organized information flows network, the metacommunity was large and fairly stable but much more efficiently than they had been online, adding an lacked the obligatory passage points (Callon 1986) that might important piece of infrastructure to the emerging market. facilitate managing it or harnessing its overall potential to act. The success of the magazine and Tim C.’s nose for op- portunity led to a second venture. In Cindy’s words: “Some Third-Stage Translations: Catalyzing and of the subscribers said, we need to have a race. That was how Legitimizing the Market it happened.” In this case problematization was itself influ- enced by multiple actors within the network. Tim and Cindy’s In 2004 an actor-network spanning multiple continents motivation for staging a race was twofold. First was the ex- had formed among consumer innovators, riders, specific ma- pressed desire of backyard racers for a larger, organized event. terials, designs, practices, consumption narratives, and on- The second was to provide added value to advertisers in the and offline commerce. As a market it was characterized by magazine. Regarding the latter, Tim echoed a well-worn dic- a lack of efficiencies and professionalism, limiting its po- tum of the industry: “What wins on Sunday sells on Monday.” tential to generate profits and, perhaps, to fully satisfy the He identified and mobilized a large, heterogeneous assortment desires of a growing community. Into this network came a of actors—personal contacts (including race promoter Eric new actor, Tim C., a serial entrepreneur with a history that P., friends, and family), an existing motorcycle race with a combined marketing, publishing, tourism promotion, and built-in fan base, track-construction experts, MiniMoto SX motorcycling. Tim was well positioned to see commercial magazine, potential sponsors, celebrity motocross racers, and opportunity in minimotos. He recalls: “I realized that the the American Motorcyclist Association (an official race sanc- 864 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH tioning body)—to create and promote a race. They staged the race. Sanctioned, organized competition not only legitimizes first MMSX in 2004 in Las Vegas on the eve of the national minimoto racing; it also supports the market for bikes, parts, supercross championships in the same city. Years later, mo- and accessories. As we learned from many different inter- torcycle journalist Carson Brown (2011) referred back to views, competition is an actor that ensures constant translation that first race: in the form of performance modifications and repairs. Another legitimation strategy was to involve celebrity- It’s almost MiniMoto SX time again! Hard to believe this is class racers from the world of regular motocross and su- the eighth year. Before MiniMoto started, there were backyard percross racing. Carson Brown (2011) lists some of the dirt- races going on all over the world. It seemed like every town bike luminaries that have competed in MiniMoto SX: had some legendary backyard race going on. It was only a “Everyone from McGrath, Stanton, Pingree, Lawrence, Pas- matter of time before pit bike racing hit the big time and it trana, Metzger, and Costella have all made this race leg- happened in 2004 with the first MiniMoto SX. It has sold endary.” When Jeremy McGrath raced in the 2005 MMSX, out every year and always provides some great racing. he raced against amateurs in the same class. As we learned from informal interviews during race registration, part of The first MMSX drew sufficient racers and spectators to gar- the draw for some riders was the possibility of racing against ner impressive coverage in the mainstream motorcycle press, and possibly even beating an idol of motorcycle racing. to break even financially for the organizers, and to ensure a As MMSX grew in popularity and size, segmentation repeat performance. occurred in the form of competitive classes. Unlike in the As a new actor in the network, the race served to strengthen beginning, there are now separate classes for pros and the minimoto community and further consolidate, stabilize, and amateurs—with cash prizes for the former—and for dif- legitimize the minimoto market. The race’s agency manifested ferent minibike sizes and configurations. Altogether there in part by assembling and temporarily concentrating a large variety of other actors, including amateur racers with their fam- are 10 classes for adults, including an over-35 group, as ilies and gear; professional racers and their gear; vendors of well as three newer classes for youth aged 13–17. The pit bikes, parts, and accessories; race spectators and volunteer need to delineate race classes has had the effect of increasing workers; race pits; a schedule and organization; rules and reg- regulations and governance. To compete in any class re- ulations; the track and arena; and formal and informal com- quires adherence to rules regarding an impressive range of munications, all of which combined to produce a multitude of minibike specifications and modifications. Multiple classes individual and shared experiences. promote multiple-bike ownership, allowing a single racer to The structure of the race pits was especially important in compete in multiple races. Says Doug, “I’ve got a couple strengthening the community. The fenced-in pit area gave of friends I’ve met through the shop. . . . This one kid . . . the impression of an agglomeration of encampments, each he has, like, frickin’ ten pit bikes, and they’re all, like, nice.” one pertaining to a particular family or clan, similar to the It turns out the friend is a racer with corporate sponsors. college football tailgating environments studied by Sherry By 2006, the third year of MMSX, the market for minimotos and Bradford (2011). This quasi-tribal organization has roots was well established, with a growing customer base and a in the pragmatics of stuff, once again illustrating the cen- market infrastructure that included a whole range of manufac- trality of objects. At the center of each camp sits the trailer turers, standardized products, a stable supply chain, branding, or trailers where the race team spends the night; stores, and dedicated media. Product lines were being extended in maintains, and shows off its bikes when not racing (which recognition of increasing market segmentation. Says Don of is most of the time); and eats its meals. Members of race the United Kingdom’s Thumpstar: “We only had one bike last teams tend to hang around their camps, relaxing on lawn year and now we have five. We can’t do one bike for all people.” chairs or makeshift furnishings such as ice chests or storage Concerns about price competition in the category of race- containers. Competitors and their support teams socialize ready minimotos also signaled maturation of the market. freely, and the atmosphere is inclusive. As Mark (age 21) Says Don: “It’s very simple to import a bike from China said, “You can walk around here and strike up a conversation for not very much money and flog it for not very much with anybody.” Our own observations bore this out. money on the Internet or through magazines.” He goes on Adding to the impact of the MMSX races on the emerging to express concerns over quality and the overall reputation minimoto market were deliberate attempts to legitimize the of the industry when cheap products fail to perform. Dan races as something more than just a novelty. MMSX achieved counters that increasing consumer knowledge is already cor- legitimacy in several ways. First, the promoters applied for recting the problem: “People are getting pretty educated and received official sanction for the races from the American about it, and now they know you get what you pay for.” Motorcyclist Association (AMA). Tim C. says: “The first year Some of the current companies in the minimoto market have we did this, we realized to be serious, for anyone—I mean long-standing reputations for quality and competition in rac- the OEMs, Yamaha, and others—for anyone to recognize us ing. BBR Motorsports, for example, in business since the as a serious entity we have to be AMA sanctioned. We’re the 1970s and the builders of many championship-winning mo- first AMA minibike race in the world.” AMA sanction means torcycles and muscle cars, has swung a major part of its that promoters can award an official “No. 1 plate,” designating business into manufacturing specialty parts for minibikes. a national or world champion, depending on the level of the Mainstream motorcycle brands have also responded, not MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 865 with adult-ready minimotos but rather with branded per- marketing infrastructures and institutions support our view. In formance parts. Product reviewer Coatney (2005) writes: either case, its emergence as a market entity has allowed us to “(Yamaha) realized that something like half of these bikes study an undertheorized side of market development. will be purchased by adults. . . . With that in mind, Yamaha’s GYTR (a performance accessories division) . . . DISCUSSION created just about every part anyone could desire to primp, personalize, and pump up their pit racer and make it fit them We have discovered and described a model of consump- better.” tion-driven market emergence as a series of translations The relative stability and maturity of the minimoto market among human, nonhuman, and hybrid actors. In so doing we was underscored by the interest and investment of corporate have shown that, in contrast to possible inference from pre- sponsors for the race event, for race teams, and for individual vious consumer research, resistance to existing market logics racers. Sponsors at the 2006 MMSX included numerous is not a prerequisite for new market formation. The minimoto companies, both motorcycle-related and not. Monster En- market was not created by any centralized actions of firms ergy, Maxxis Tires, TCS, Two Brothers, N-style, Marzocchi, or managers. It emerged into existence largely through the Utopia Optics, Billetwear, O’Neal, Tag Metals, Dunlop, highly distributed and parallel actions of consumers on objects Spaz Out Ink, Wheelspin, and Podium Productions all had and the reciprocal actions of those objects on the same and financial stakes in the races. In 2012, MMSX, a thriving other consumers. brand in its own right, bears the name of a major corporate In this section we elaborate our model of CDME and in- sponsor, GEICO. In addition, more than two dozen other troduce three concepts—each a form of market translation corporate sponsors sport names and logos on the MMSX —that help to further explain the process: distributed inno- home page. Adult-ready minibikes are available from sev- vation and diffusion, embedded entrepreneurship, and market eral companies, including Pitster Pro, SSR Motorsports, Pir- catalysis. Next, we discuss our findings as they inflect and anha, G2 Moto, Pit Pro, and Thumpstar. Kawasaki has joined expand consumer culture theory on market dynamics as well as a sponsor of MMSX, which still draws racers from all as the broader literature on market development. We reflect over the world and is cross-promoted with endurocross and on the use of ANT in the study of market dynamics and close supercross races (Lovell 2012). In ANT terms, a mature with limitations and recommendations for future research. market is an actor-network that has stabilized. Individual actors, such as customers, sponsors, and brands, come and A Process of Consumption-Driven Market go, and relationships shift and change, but the assemblage Emergence persists with a life, an identity, and a logic of its own. The CDME process entailed three distinct sets of translations Returning to the definition of a market by Caliskan and that occurred, and that we contend had to occur, in a particular Callon (2010), we now establish in a point-by-point analysis order. The first-stage translations produced variations of an that the minimoto market meets the qualifications. It is a het- innovation, the minimoto, without which second-stage trans- erogeneous sociotechnical arrangement of actors that are human lations could not have happened. It is interesting to note that (e.g., individual minimoto customers, innovators, marketers, the minimoto solution appears to have occurred more or less and spectators), nonhuman (e.g., minibikes, parts, tracks and contemporaneously in many different locations in a process of brands), and hybrid (e.g., manufacturing and retailing institu- distributed innovation, which is more commonly associated tions with their attendant supply chains). It organizes the con- with open-source technology development (Kogut and Metiu ception (e.g., minimoto innovation), production (e.g., modifi- 2001). The second-stage translations organized local minimoto cation and manufacture), and circulation (e.g., sales and distri- communities and a metacommunity, within which developed bution) of goods. It organizes monetized exchanges (e.g., sales most of the necessary actors to constitute a market, namely, of bikes, merchandise, and tickets). It deploys rules (e.g., consumers, producers, products, marketers, and practices. The MMSX regulations for race classes), conventions (e.g., modes concurrent formation of multiple, geographically diverse com- of riding and socializing), technical devices (e.g., tools), met- munities developed as consumers acquired minimotos in a pro- rological systems (e.g., race time-keeping and engine-size mea- cess of distributed diffusion, the spread of adoption through sures), logistical infrastructures (e.g., Internet stores and ship- multiple local communities. The minimoto market was fully ping), texts, discourses, narratives, and technical knowledge realized only after the third-stage translations: the catalytic and (e.g., minimoto blogs, forums, websites, and magazine articles), legitimizing effects of two intervening actor-networks, a mag- and embodies competencies and skills (e.g., building, repairing, azine and a race event. There exists compelling evidence that and racing minis). It constructs and delimits market spaces (e.g., the market could not have formed without the prior, consump- MMSX vendor areas and online stores) and facilitates price tion-driven creation of the minimoto bike and the minimoto setting (e.g., price competition among importers and e-tailers). metacommunity. The usual suspects of market development, By these standards, minimoto is a market. Because definitions major industry firms, were inactive in this consumption field. of markets and levels of analysis differ, it may be debatable Throughout the emergence of the market, and to this day, no whether minimoto is a market or a segment of the motorcycle major motorcycle manufacturer has stepped up to create a mini- market. The facts that (1) mainstream motorcycle companies moto suitable for adult riding and racing. As we subsequently do not treat it as a viable segment and (2) it has separate learned from industry insiders, the standard model of firm- 866 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH driven innovation and market creation was prevented from the minimoto rider, then catalyzed community formation among outset by the unattractive economics of serving such a small other consumers with similar desires and constraints by re- market niche. moving obstacles and providing pathways to consumption. In the first-stage translation, the human actors that embody Nascent local communities were strengthened further by the the desire, skills, creativity, and access to resources necessary organizing infrastructures of local tracks. to innovate function as embedded entrepreneurs. In the manner The introductions of the magazine and the race catalyzed of embeddedness described by Polanyi (1944), their economic a loose metacommunity of minimoto enthusiasts into a fully activity is part and parcel of their noneconomic pursuits. For functioning market by channeling existing potential in ways Granovetter (1985), embeddedness is a key facilitator in mar- that created efficiencies and increased densities of people and kets because it fosters trust between buyers and sellers. We information. These actors gave the community a name and observed that embeddedness in the tradition of dirt bike racing an identity around which enthusiasts rallied. MMSX created yields embodied social capital (Bourdieu 1986) or subcultural predictable spaces for producers and consumers to meet and capital (Thornton 1996), which grants the entrepreneur privi- conduct business. Together the magazine and the race became leged insight into possibilities for solving problems or meeting clearinghouses for market information. In ANT terms, they needs within that consumption field. Ryan was an entrepreneur became privileged (again, not obligatory) points of passage whose skills and situation led him to design and fabricate parts for market actors. Advertisers found affordable ad space in necessary for minimoto conversions, to build competitive mini- a highly targeted vehicle. Manufacturers could count on the motos, and to become a central figure in minimoto in Southern race to unite a critical mass of lead customers to view and Oregon. Tim C. was also an embedded entrepreneur, but his perhaps buy or endorse their products. A dedicated vendor insights and energy were not directed at product innovations area at MMSX created a literal market space. Mingling among per se. Instead, he developed two new institutions that would the vendors and customers, we observed a classic trade-show launch the minimoto community into a new realm of com- atmosphere. Not much money was changing hands, but, con- mercial possibility. sistent with Granovetter’s (1973) description of network for- Embedded entrepreneurs bear some resemblance to the mation, information was flowing energetically and people ap- institutional entrepreneurs identified by Scaraboto and Fi- peared to be building or reinforcing relations. scher (2013). This study responds to their call: In her study of the emergence of the casino gambling industry in the United States, Humphreys (2010b, 491) finds We need to understand the circumstances under which in- that “the establishment of physical reality, such as the con- dividual consumers can effectively become institutional en- struction of buildings or the manufacture of products—adds trepreneurs and inspire other consumers who identify with legitimacy to a consumer practice.” We would add that the them. We speculate that this occurs when individual consum- physical reality also exerts agency that changes practices ers can accumulate symbolic capital within the organizational and co-constitutes a different consumer. The gambler in a field and when they use this capital to exert symbolic power Las Vegas casino is not the same gambler that plays poker in an attempt to change a field. (1251) in a buddy’s den, nor is the game the same in terms of its stakes or dynamics. By concentrating gamblers and mate- The embedded entrepreneurs in minimoto clearly inspired rially channeling their activities, casinos may well have been others to join ranks, and symbolic capital was a part of their market catalysts for the gambling industry. influence. In addition to symbolic capital, however, they com- The robustness of such catalytic actor-networks is evident manded other kinds of field-specific capital, including knowl- in the fact that both MMSX and the magazine survived and edge, skills, and material resources, which allowed them to continued to exert influence in the minimoto market after co-create the material infrastructures of a new market. Tim and Cindy C. sold them and retired from active in- Certain assemblages have the power to act as market cat- volvement. The continued evolution of both the race and alysts, which we define as actors that channel existing po- the magazine is testament to the ability of actor-networks tential in a network so as to reorganize the network into a to reinvent themselves, self-stabilize, learn, and embody and more stable configuration. Like seed crystals in a saturated reproduce practices. We now discuss what our findings mean solution, a market catalyst provides an organizing logic and in terms of their contribution to a theory of market for- structure that creates stability in a number of ways: (1) it may mation. resolve obstacles to more stable relations; (2) it may create greater efficiencies among network relations; or (3) it may temporarily increase the density of actors in the network, CDME and Market Development generating a greater frequency or different types of interac- On a continuum of models of market development based tions. on the relative importance of firms versus consumers, we find The potentiality in the first-stage translations of the minimoto one end anchored by purely firm-driven models in the tra- market lay in the consumer innovators’ desires to ride dirt bikes, dition of neoclassical economics (Bass 1969; Rogers 1983; material constraints to doing so, material resources, knowledge, Schumpeter 1942/1975; Van de Ven 1995). Moving toward and skills. The catalyst was the minibike. It planted the idea greater recognition of the importance of consumers, we find that led to the mobilization of actors necessary to resolve ob- models that consider consumers as contributors to firm-led stacles to consumption. The resulting assemblage, the adult innovation (Baldwin, Hienerth, and von Hippel 2006; Cova MARTIN AND SCHOUTEN 867 and Dalli 2009; Rindfleisch and Moorman 2001; Urban and incremental. The adoption of innovations is also distributed Hauser 1993; von Hippel 1986, 2005). Farther along, we find and occurs in communities of practice that provide support models that view markets as socially constructed but that for the products and their usage. The communities of prac- focus on institutional actors engaging in competitive exchange tice are robust, and the entire network of communities de- activities. According to Fligstein and Dauter (2007), “The velops with a high level of resiliency as compared to the social structuring of markets is generally in response to the precariousness of the firm-driven actor-network. In CDME, problems of competition and exchange” (117). They conclude investment never gets too far in front of demonstrations of that a “fruitful dialogue is needed between those who favor successful product adoption and consumption. We believe a more cultural approach to consumers that focuses on the that this understanding of CDME has broad-ranging impli- moral and social uses of products and those who favor an cations for our understanding of markets, of innovation and approach that stresses solving the problems of competition entrepreneurship, and of business models such as causal for producers” (119). Humphreys (2010a) enters this dialogue versus effectual approaches to market development (Sar- by invoking Kotler’s (1986) concept of megamarketing to asvathy 2001). argue that the creation of new markets is a cultural, political, Callon’s pioneering research on translations in actor-net- and social process, requiring stakeholder framing to achieve works reveals limitations of firm-driven efforts to create mar- legitimation. Humphreys’s institutional approach moves away kets or industry infrastructures. In studies of researchers at- from strictly firm-driven market development (FDMD) in ac- tempting to restore a scallop fishery (Callon 1986) and efforts knowledging the importance of other stakeholders, including by French electrical engineers to develop an electric car media and public policy actors, which play a pivotal role in (Callon 1987), he explains how both purposefully engineered the legitimation of an entire industry. actor-networks became tenuous propositions in which the lack Closer still to a consumption-driven model is Giesler’s of compliance among any set of actors would, and ultimately (2008) model of conflict and compromise, in which activist did, doom the projects to failure. Applying Callon’s trans- consumers do battle with a hegemonic industry using weap- lation theory to FDMD, we identify the firm as the primary ons devised by hacker-entrepreneurs and thereby force the actor, which tries to develop, lead, and manage an entire actor- industry to counter and adapt. Goulding and Saren’s (2007) network. Success depends on the compliance of a widely study of subculture commodification among Goths portrays varied set of human actors, including product designers, mar- an example of CDME with striking similarities to the mini- moto case. With a sharper focus on materiality than most of keting managers, and, perhaps most critically, customers, who the preceding studies, Goulding and Saren find consumer may come from very different sociocultural perspectives; in- innovation, community growth, and entrepreneurial activities stitutional actors such as suppliers and distributors; techno- that begin within the consumption community and lead even- logical actors, including products and product constellations; tually to “a culture of consumption which has moved beyond and macro-environmental actors, including phenomena such individual creativity to a two-sided system of production and as weather patterns, economic conditions, and/or sociopolit- consumption” (236). They even allude to a market catalyst ical events. Often the actor-networks assembled in FDMD without going so far as to define it or explain its mechanism. are as precarious and prone to failure as those that Callon If we compare the models of FDMD (firm-driven market examined. development) and CDME, we discover some striking dif- Developing new products and market infrastructures can ferences that should interest both market theorists and mar- be extremely resource intensive. The premise of business is keting practitioners. Table 2 lists the important distinctions. that the profit motive provides sufficient incentive for in- In brief, firms seeking to develop new markets through in- dividuals or organizations to do this substantial work. In novation have to invest heavily in research and development, CDME, this work is undertaken by prosumers in a spirit of production, and marketing, and they must shoulder the risk playful pursuit or determined self-interest or both. Even the of a market failure, which is all too likely. Through CDME, embedded entrepreneurs who may eventually sell their busi- the tasks and the costs of innovation are distributed and ness equity to commercial concerns are bound by com- TABLE 2 KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRM-DRIVEN MARKET DEVELOPMENT (FDMD) AND CONSUMPTION-DRIVEN MARKET EMERGENCE (CDME) FDMD CDME Industry stance Proactive Passive Consumer needs Unproven Systemic, self-manifesting Locus of innovation Centralized within firms Distributed among embedded entrepreneurs Drivers of innovation Extrinsic motivation, profit Intrinsic motivation, fun Nature of diffusion Pushed by firms, marketing-driven Organic, community-driven Market structures Top-down, built or existing Bottom-up, emergent Nature of investment High, up-front, borne by firms Incremental, distributed Risk of failure High Low 868 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH munity norms to subordinate profit seeking to the needs of sustainable production and consumption do not reside so the community up until that point. much in societal values or consumer ethics as in the idio- syncratic construction of markets. Limitations and Future Research Opportunities Fox (2000) argues for an integration of community-of-prac- tice (Lave and Wenger 1991) and ANT perspectives to un- In examining how one new market (minimoto) emerged derstand not only the structure of organizations as assemblages from a particular parentage (dirt bike racing) within a larger of human and technological actors but also the mechanisms by industry (motorcycles), we developed a conceptual model which learning and organizing occur. Wenger (1998) explains of CDME. As is customary with ANT approaches, we fo- how individuals move into and through and identify with com- cused deeply on a single case, and our findings may not munities of practice and how those communities transform and apply wholesale to other cases of emerging markets. It seems self-stabilize. He does not, however, account for how the com- plausible that a similar process may have played out in a munity of practice forms in the first place. We suspect that variety of other social contexts, such as the Goth market communities of practice may commonly begin as self-orga- emerging from punk rock (Goulding and Saren 2007), skate- nizing communities of purpose (Schouten and Martin 2011). boarding emerging from surfing (Brooke 1999), and the US Communities of purpose (e.g., a consumer boycott) may dis- microbrew industry emerging from home brewing (Brewers band once a particular aim is achieved; alternatively, their sense- Association 2012). Additional ANT-informed research in making processes (Weick 1979, 1995) may translate into prac- emerging markets would be useful for testing, challenging, tices and material structures that become stabilizing actors in or modifying the CDME model. a network that endures beyond the achievement of a single Our model is only one of many that are possible. Other goal. The proposition of a logical progression from community combinations of actors interacting differently will likely pro- of purpose to community of practice in the realm of con- duce different outcomes. For example, Ansari and Phillips sumption and markets merits further study. An ANT perspec- (2011) detail the emergence of the SMS (short message ser- tive focusing on materiality, translations, practices, and dis- vice) texting market from “the cumulative effect of the spon- courses would well suit the task. taneous activities of one important and particularly dispersed Finally, our dive into the dynamics of consumer inno- and unorganized group” (1579) of consumers, namely, teen- vation reveals implications for actor-network theorizing in agers, that encountered a technology created by telecoms for other areas of consumption, such as identity formation. ANT, other uses and adopted it for their own purposes and practices. in its insistence upon radical symmetry between human and The emergence of texting differed from that of minimoto in object agencies, tends to eschew the intrapsychic domain several key ways. SMS consumers did not have to innovate altogether. Based on our empirics, however, we are forced the product; as a nonhuman actor the technology was already to recognize emotions such as desire and fear as potent actors developed and deployed. Telecoms were not indifferent to upon the human subject, as potent perhaps as external social their consumers’ needs; rather, they capitalized on the growth and material actors. It is no stretch to conceptualize con- of texting to harness new sources of revenue. Less important sumer identity as an actor-network in which the individual, than the similarities or differences in the two cases is the as the obligatory point of passage, problematizes the self recognition that there remains much to be learned by focusing and manages the human and nonhuman resources of identity on market emergence from other than the traditional firm- construction. centric perspective. It might also be fruitful to bring ANT to bear on previous studies of emerging markets, such as Thompson and Coskuner- DATA COLLECTION INFORMATION Balli’s (2007) study of community-supported agriculture. A The authors collected all primary data through interviews disciplined look at the agency of material objects, spaces, and and observation. Fieldwork occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada, institutions may expand our understanding of a very differently in May 2005, May 2006, and February 2013. Interviews structured market. Similarly, revisiting Humphreys’s (2010a, with the key informants, Tim and Cindy C., were conducted 2010b) casino study with a focus on object agency and trans- at their home in southern Oregon in October 2005. lations may reveal a richer picture of market emergence in that case. REFERENCES Our study revealed the catalyzing power of certain assem- blages. This discovery hints at an interesting potential of ANT Amabile, Teresa M. (1996), Creativity in Context, Boulder, CO: in studies of market dynamics, namely, of identifying the Westview. conditions in which a network is susceptible to major trans- Ansari, Shahzad, and Nelson Phillips (2011), “Text Me! New Con- lations from strategic interventions and determining what kind sumer Practices and Change in Organizational Fields,” Or- ganization Science, 22 (November–December), 1579–99. of catalyst is likely to effect the desired change. 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