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1 – 10 of over 157000Places in competition for inward investment increasingly apply place brands to address their target groups, often being unable to adequately establish the effectiveness of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Places in competition for inward investment increasingly apply place brands to address their target groups, often being unable to adequately establish the effectiveness of this approach. Based on theoretically derived components and structures an empirically validated model – the investor‐based place brand equity model (IPE) – is presented. Using the example of North European creative industries investments in Germany, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of the model in establishing the effectiveness of place brands. This is preformed with the German place brand “Lübeck” as the illustrative case.
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretically derived model components and structures to establish the effectiveness of place brands from an investor perspective are tested empirically. This empirical test encompasses primary data from 101 North European creative industries investors in Germany (31 percent of total population).
Findings
The effectiveness of place brands in influencing the behaviour of inward investors can be established by identifying and applying suitable place brand attributes and place brand benefits. While place brand attributes assist the operational place brand management, place brand benefits support strategic decisions to be taken by place brand managers.
Research limitations/implications
The model is limited to establish the effectiveness of place brands from the investor's point of view. If this approach can be related to the costs of implementation, the model can be extended to assess the efficiency. Within the context of this research, establishing the effectiveness is considered to be the only reliable approach for the time being since the costs of the place branding activities can usually not be delimited from economic development budgets. The model has not yet been considered for other target groups (e.g. tourists, residents).
Originality/value
So far this area of research has been approached by case studies. Considering this limited research basis, this paper aims at developing a generic approach to identify and validate those components and structures which can increase the effectiveness of place brands from an investor's perspective.
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Kirill Lvovich Rozhkov and Natalya Il’inichna Skriabina
– This paper aims to develop a methodological approach to place product analysis that aims to identify the distinctive ideas of places.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a methodological approach to place product analysis that aims to identify the distinctive ideas of places.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology included two stages: first, classifiers of place product uses and technologies were constructed on the basis of the product concept abstraction (Study 1) and then they were used as tools to systematize data about the attributes of city districts and the everyday activities of their residents to further identify product concepts (Study 2).
Findings
Product concepts of five Moscow districts were formulated as sets of benefits or district uses (needs satisfied and activities encouraged) offered to residents. The concepts are expressed in terms of typical constructions but reflect the distinctive features and specificities of the districts.
Research limitations/implications
Defining places as product concepts pushes the place product analysis, benefit and lifestyle segmentation forward. Additional place product dimensions and investigated places are advised to improve the reliability of the used classifiers as a tool for documentary research.
Practical implications
The developed analytical procedure is a much-needed supplement to existing techniques used to shape the product strategies of places. Identifying contradictory uses helps make product decisions that are appropriate in concurrently supporting all these uses, including providing spatial differentiation of the place product. The study results are thus useful for the development of city master plans characterized by long planning horizons and a high degree of conceptualization.
Originality/value
The paper proposes a new method for place product analysis that combines the advantages of both standardized and narrative approaches, introducing a convenient way to address the issue of clarity when transforming a variety of place attributes into core place values and eventual place brands.
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Business accelerators facilitate new venture creation, and most research on the subject focuses on the performance of accelerated ventures. This paper aims to understand what…
Abstract
Purpose
Business accelerators facilitate new venture creation, and most research on the subject focuses on the performance of accelerated ventures. This paper aims to understand what entrepreneurs value in business accelerators and how this differs for women- and men-led ventures. The authors suggest that venture growth stage may play a mediating role in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the resource-based view perspective to develop models of women- and men-led ventures’ valuation for business accelerator services. They also draw upon a database of 2,000 US entrepreneurs.
Findings
The authors found that, compared to men, women entrepreneurs place greater value on knowledge transfer benefits (i.e. business skills education) but lower value on networking benefits offered by accelerators. However, there are no significant differences in the valuations for these services between genders for high-growth ventures. Additionally, compared to men, women leading high-growth ventures place greater value on access to potential investors or funders.
Practical implications
This research serves as a practical guide for accelerator administrators and marketers who seek to adjust their business support offerings based on the value placed for the services by different populations of entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The authors provide a business accelerator user’s perspective and highlight differences in valuation of accelerator services by women- and men-led ventures at different stages of venture growth.
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Mechthild Donner and Fatiha Fort
The purpose of this study is to investigate the place brand building process based on multi-stakeholder perceived value. It contributes to an understanding of how place brands are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the place brand building process based on multi-stakeholder perceived value. It contributes to an understanding of how place brands are developed, providing diverse benefits, and proposes a conceptual framework for place brand building and value measurement scales.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on the place brand Sud de France. Qualitative data from stakeholder interviews is used to investigate the main place brand value dimensions. A survey of consumers from the Languedoc-Roussillon region is conducted to measure consumer place brand values. Quantitative data is analyzed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Results indicate that place brand value is a multiple-perspective and multidimensional construct that includes new measurement scales related to dimensions such as quality of life, a common local identity and local development. Brand identity is not only constructed on place identity, but should also incorporate stakeholder values and provide value to consumers.
Practical implications
For place brand managers, this study provides a methodology that helps identify the main place image and stakeholders values to be integrated into place brand identity construction. The place brand value measurement scales can be used to ensure a permanent match between brand identity and consumption trends.
Originality/value
Literature dealing with place equity has focused mostly on country-of-origin or destination image effects from a non-local consumer or tourist perspective. The originality of this study lies in analyzing the perceived benefits of a regional brand by its local stakeholders, leading to a new brand building framework and value measurement scales.
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Josephine Vaughan, Kim Maund, Thayaparan Gajendran, Justine Lloyd, Cathy Smith and Michael Cohen
This study aims to address the research gap about value in the holistic discourse of creative placemaking. It identifies and synthesises the often discounted social and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address the research gap about value in the holistic discourse of creative placemaking. It identifies and synthesises the often discounted social and environmental values of creative placemaking along with typically emphasised economic values.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds upon two research phases; first, a review and extraction of creative placemaking value indicators from relevant current urban, cultural and planning literature; and second, the identification of relevant, practice-based, value indicators through interviews with 23 placemaking experts including practitioners, urban planners, developers and place managers from the two largest cities of NSW, Australia; Sydney and Newcastle.
Findings
This study identifies three broad thematics for valuing creative placemaking along with several sub-categories of qualitative and quantitative indicators. These indicators reveal the holistic value of creative placemaking for its key stakeholders, including expert placemakers, designers, building developers, government and community groups. A key conclusion of the research is the need for tools that grasp the interconnected, and at times conflicting, nature of placemaking’s social, economic and environmental outcomes.
Originality/value
While a variety of value indicators exist to understand the need for ongoing resourcing of creative placemaking, stakeholders identified the limitations of current approaches to determine, represent and appraise the value of creative placemaking. The indicators of value proposed in this research consolidate and extend current discourse about the value of creative placemaking specifically. The indicators themselves have profound practical implications for how creative placemaking is conceived, executed and evaluated. Theoretically, the study builds on the deep relationships between values and practice in creative placemaking, as well as critiquing narrow forms of evaluation that entrench economic benefits over other outcomes.
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Kirill Lvovich Rozhkov and Natalya Il’inichna Skriabina
This paper aims to develop a theoretical approach to place market analysis that aims to identify the ways in which specific places are used and to further enable the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a theoretical approach to place market analysis that aims to identify the ways in which specific places are used and to further enable the identification of distinct segments and products.
Design/methodology/approach
Typology construction was chosen as the main study method. Eight polar place demand patterns were classified on the abstract level, using a set of binary variables of spatial behaviour (migration, natural growth and settling). Based on this typology, eight abstract places were deductively described. In conjunction with this deductive study, the authors conducted focus groups, and the results showed considerable similarity in the interpretation of the achieved types.
Findings
This paper arrives at interdependent typologies of place demand, place product and place use patterns that allow the ways of using specific places to be identified and distinctive segments and products to be distinguished as particular, consistent combinations of the achieved types.
Practical implications
The typologies obtained expand the scope of competitive analysis and planning in framing place marketing. Distinct uses of specific places unambiguously point to the features of certain segments and could thereby enable a lucid marketing strategy.
Originality/value
Empirically driven place market research has not precisely defined the distinct ideas and concepts of investigated places, which might reflect the different segments of the population that have different intentions for the use of these places. This paper offers important insights into product differentiation and market segmentation in the frame of simultaneous product use.
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Maintaining human capital in the hotel industry is challenging due to high turnover. Through the implementation of circular economy theory, hotels are finding that human capital…
Abstract
Purpose
Maintaining human capital in the hotel industry is challenging due to high turnover. Through the implementation of circular economy theory, hotels are finding that human capital retention can be achieved via Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes by providing Corporate Social Resposibility (CSR) initiatives in the employee brand experience that focus on “place” attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is qualitative and three interviews were conducted with professionals from luxury hotels. The results were then compiled for each interview to determine whether QOL outcomes were in fact experienced by the interviewee in their designated hotel company.
Findings
Based on the interviews, all three hotels do incorporate CSR initiatives that focus on “place” attachment. Consequently, employees experience QOL outcomes that result in their retention within the hotel company.
Originality/value
An issue that hotels face is employee turnover. However, with experience-driven human capital management, retention can be achieved by ensuring that QOL outcomes are properly incorporated into the employee brand experience. In so doing, hotels can ensure that employees are engaged in their surrounding “place” through CSR initiatives that attach them to the local area.
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Fabiana Gondim Mariutti and Janaina de Moura Engracia Giraldi
The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to expand the understanding of brand equity for places (e.g. countries, regions or cities) and propose two frameworks to increase its value.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to expand the understanding of brand equity for places (e.g. countries, regions or cities) and propose two frameworks to increase its value.
Design/methodology/approach
By interviewing international participants, this study was exploratory and interpretative; thematic analysis was performed for a broader understanding about place brand equity.
Findings
The Roadmap of Brand Equity is provided by proposing three “pathways” founded on core value drivers as “road signs” (potential influences or main variables of the value of a place brand), which are required to be strategically monitored and aligned to place branding activities to enhance the value of a city, region or country. Value drivers of place brand equity and the roadmap of place brand equity are proposed through the figures.
Research limitations/implications
A natural progression of this study is the investigation of place brand equity by applying statistical procedures for measuring places. Due to specific locations’ (often) unfavorable and threatening reputations worldwide, the key value-drivers (government initiatives, stakeholders' perceptions, residents’ engagement, news media, social media and real data indexes) are noted as influential partakers – either separated or combined – when analyzing their brand equity.
Practical implications
Both proposed archetypes suggest applications for several co-creators involved in public or private places, which can be beneficial for both emerging and non-emerging countries, regions or cities. Furthermore, both may be applied to the analysis of other places (e.g. universities, schools, museums, public squares, airports, hospitals, etc.).
Social implications
This study may inspire planning and actions for public policies, including private partnerships, government initiatives and practical endeavors.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to perform an analysis of brand equity of places under a qualitative approach and to propose strategical frameworks for both research and practice.
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Kanika Meshram and Aron O’Cass
The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework of third-place value offering that explains how specific consumer groups’, senior citizens, customer-to-customer engagement in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework of third-place value offering that explains how specific consumer groups’, senior citizens, customer-to-customer engagement in third places can develop their value experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected for two studies from senior citizen clubs in Australia. Study 1 uses focus group (12) and is analysed with QSR NVivo software following content analysis. Study 2 is based on 324 surveys and is analysed with AMOS version 24 software.
Findings
Study 1 identifies eight themes based on 29 main codes to develop a framework on the value offerings of third-place value and its consumer-centric effect on seniors’ loyalty and social capital. The themes under social capital and loyalty contributed to a better understanding of how consumers engage with each other in social clubs and develop their social capital. The results of Study 2 support the conceptualisation of third-place value offering as a reflective model and confirm the model’s nomological validity in relation to seniors’ loyalty and social capital outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The only limitation of the paper is that it presents findings based on data collected in a regional place in Australia.
Practical implications
The findings provide three practical implications for managers to consider in relation to service places: improve consumer patronage through community engagement, improve local business practices via consumer–owner friendship and redesign spatial settings to deliver meaningful consumer experiences.
Social implications
The present study has three social implications; first, it highlights the significant role of third places in bringing isolated groups of community together for regular interaction and socialisation. It also extends understanding on senior citizen customers and their consumption experiences within third places for value creation. The study also contributes to understanding how senior citizen customers develop loyalty towards third places and enhance their social capital through social engagement in the place.
Originality/value
This paper uses consumption experience to develop the consumer value in third places. It provides a consumer-centric focus to servicescape and incorporates recent works on third places, value, social capital and loyalty.
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Barbara Farbey, Frank Land and David Targett
This paper considers the problems of evaluating the benefits of an investment in information technology and systems against a background of institutional change. It is based on a…
Abstract
This paper considers the problems of evaluating the benefits of an investment in information technology and systems against a background of institutional change. It is based on a case study in the National Health Service and follows the progress of a project to introduce benefits realisation in NHS Trusts. The case illustrates the importance of personal, hands‐on attention to benefits management and calls attention to the different contingencies faced by managers in attempting to introduce evaluation or benefits realisation schemes. It concludes that, where managers face “certain” contingencies, formative evaluation will be beneficial, but where the contingencies are uncertain, structural changes in the organisation may be more effective in achieving benefits. The paper ends with a plea for evaluation activities to be re‐integrated into their organisational context.
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