Towards a strategic place brand-management model

Abstract

Using earlier research into models of place branding-management processes, this paper develops a multi-level conceptual model of strategic place brand management designed to support managers in embracing a holistic approach to place brand management. The model identifies the following components for attention and activity: place brand evaluation; brand infrastructure relationships, including infrastructure (regeneration) and stakeholder engagement (management); place brand articulation; and brand communications. The model identifies the influences and action processes between these components, including brand identity and architecture, influencing brand experience. Existing place branding models take different perspectives on the branding process – respectively, relationship management, communications, and strategic planning; none of these models are comprehensive and neither are they widely adopted or tested. This paper proposes an integrative model that builds on and subsumes these earlier models and is also grounded in the wider research on branding and place branding concept and processes.     

The Relationship between marketing performance,logistics performance and company performance for retail companies

Abstract

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the importance of logistics and marketing to overall company performance. The focus is on the relationship between logistics and marketing, because, in the intra-organisational context, the different perspectives of these two functions can lead to conflict between short-term objectives. Consequently, effective coordination between these two organisational units, not only at an intra-organisational, but also at an inter-organisational level, is extremely important. The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically through an investigation of the retailing industry.     

Placing the enslaved at Oak Alley Plantation: narratives,spatial contexts,and the limits of surrogation

ABSTRACT

As iconic landscapes of the American South and significant heritage tourism destinations, Southern plantation museums have traditionally erased slavery and the enslaved from their narratives of the antebellum past. Recently, some plantation museums, such as Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana, are commemorating the enslaved within their landscapes and narratives, although often in limited and insufficient ways. In this paper, I draw on theories of symbolic excavation and commemorative surrogation to understand both the difficult memory work necessary to include the history of slavery at plantation museums and the fact that such museums or memorials act as surrogates for the lives of enslaved women and men that have been lost from our social memory. Using photographic documentation, content analysis, and textual analysis, I then examine the Slavery at Oak Alley exhibit to argue that fully assessing the efficacy of such commemorative surrogates requires that they be placed within the spatial narratives of both the plantation museum and the history of slavery more broadly.     

Sustainable Branding — mehr als ein neues Schlagwort?!

In der Markenführung l?sst sich derzeitig ein bemerkenswerter Trend zur Nachhaltigkeit beobachten. Im Mittelpunkt der Diskussion stehen Fragen, inwiefern Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte in der Marke verankert werden sollten und ob Sustainable Branding mehr als ein neues Schlagwort darstellt. Nachhaltigkeit war Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Sihler als ehemaligem Vorstandsvorsitzenden von Henkel immer ein besonderes Anliegen. Dieser Beitrag sei ihm daher aus Anlass seines 80. Geburtstages gewidmet.     

Hygienic quality of cleaning cloths used in professional cleaning of private domestic homes

The objective of this laboratory study was to obtain general background information concerning professional cleaning in private domestic homes. The specific aim was to examine the effect of storage and washing of dirty cloths on their hygienic status. The effect of storage on the number of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in cleaning cloths was examined using current or potential materials for professional cleaning in private homes. The bacterial content increased in microfibre cloths in some cases during a normal working day (8 h storage), and more clearly after 16 h or 48 h of storage. Disposable fibre cloths did not promote the growth of microbes as well as microfibre cloths. The effect of detergents on the hygienic status of cleaning cloths was unclear: some cleaning agents appeared to enhance the growth of bacteria, while others did not. In many cases, organic substances, i.e. protein added to the cloths, enhanced the growth of microbes. Washing of microfibre cloths at 60°C reduced the numbers of bacteria on the cloths but did not remove them entirely. Storage of dirty cloths before washing will probably cause difficulties in the proper washing of the cloths, and thus negatively affect their capacity for hygienic results in cleaning surfaces, as well as presenting a risk to the safety of the worker. Cleaning cloths should be washed as soon as possible after use: washing after each working day, at the latest, is recommended. Furthermore, cleaning cloths should be selected for professional use to allow washing at hot temperatures. The findings of this study could be used for training in professional home cleaning. They also provide valuable information for other branches of cleaning, including consumer use in households.     

Results from the model evaluation panel

The purpose of this one-day workshop on hazardous gas model evaluation was to bring together a set of experts to air the various issues on model evaluation, to draft a set of conclusions regarding the state-of-the-art, and to make recommendations for future research.