Journal of Marketing Management

“FRANCESINHA” – A Case of Cultural Innovation Influenced by Social Media
Manuel Teles Fernandes

Abstract
This paper will present the case of a food recipe that went beyond being a simple regional cultural dish: “the francesinha”. The paper aims at interconnecting the process of innovation, in its technological and cultural dimensions, with the phenomenon of entrepreneurship around the innovative product, the francesinha, which led to regional impact throughout knowledge spillover and continuous innovation and, the later dissemination of the product, awareness through the Internet phenomenon, mainly the social media. On the lack of statistical data or other empirical studies on the subject, the paper will present a theoretical analysis based on folk and popular information. For that purpose, the literature review will focus on theoretical concepts on the subjects of innovation and entrepreneurship, and the case study will use information available from different public and non-public sources. This paper will contribute to the understanding of how a product can become part of a cultural innovation process, and the consequent impact of that innovation at the entrepreneurial and regional dimensions, and also how social media can contribute to the awareness of the product.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jmm.v8n1a2