Fear and adventure tourism in Brazil

The search for new non-routine emotions and sensations has become a decisive factor in taking part in adventure tourism. As Barros and Dines (2000) have pointed out, Brazil's natural resources are abundant and have been widely used to promote the nation's tourism. Empirical literature describes fear as one of the main emotions in adventure activities, and for this reason a questionnaire was designed to examine the presence of fear before and after three adventure activities (parachuting, white-water rafting, and rock-climbing). This study not only aimed to consolidate fear as a fundamental emotion in performing such activities but also to stimulate interest for further studies in this area.     

Implementing action profiles with sequential mechanisms

In this paper we consider the problem of a principal with many agents who desires to implement a given action profile. Agents observe the actions taken by their colleagues, and this information can be exploited by the principal. Sufficient conditions for implementation under various informational structures are provided. Received: 6 April 1996 / Accepted: 19 April 1998     

The impact of corporate social responsibility associations on trust in organic products marketed by mainstream retailers: a study of Italian consumers

This paper investigates the determinants of consumer attitudes toward organic products marketed by mainstream retailers under a private label. Since organic products are credence goods, consumers cannot directly verify whether these products comply with official standards. Organic labels are the primary source of consumer trust in organics, but these labels must be noticed and understood before consumers will actively seek them out. In that some consumers may not prioritize product labels when they shop, it is sometimes up to retailers to strengthen consumer trust. Within the antecedents of this trust, we isolated the contribution of the corporate social responsibility associations held by consumers about retailers. We surveyed Italian customers interested in organics and found that they are more likely to trust the private‐label organic products sold by a retailer when it is considered socially responsible. Our results also show that consumer trust translates into brand loyalty and a willingness to pay a premium price for organic products. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Integration of third parties within existing dyads: An exploratory study of category management programs (CMPs)

In this study, we focus on the pursuit of cross-functional integration between suppliers and retailers along the different phases of a collaborative project. More specifically, we explore why and how, a supplier and retailer would want to shift the locus of integration from the dyadic to the network level by adding a third party to an ongoing relationship.A case study is developed to analyze the process of integration in the context of category management programs. The analysis reports on a program developed by a regional retailing chain based in the south of Italy, with the collaboration of a national coffee blends supplier and a third-party leader in the market analysis service business.The findings offer a novel view of third parties' role, which broadens the scope from a typical, initial support of negotiations to an evolving modality of intervention during the different phases of the collaborative project. More precisely, the third party enables the sequential and joint activation of alternative forms of interaction between the parties, which is pivotal for enacting the integration mechanism that is most suitable for each program phase.These findings offer a rich set of insights for the analysis of integration within distribution channel and supply chains, as well as for category management and, more generally, for knowledge management in marketing relationships.     

How store attributes impact shoppers’ loyalty: do different national cultures follow the same loyalty building process?

This paper takes a first step toward verifying the robustness of a comprehensive loyalty building model across different national cultures, according to Hofstede’s distinction between individualist and collectivist countries. To this end, we test a two-stage model. After collecting data from 12 countries with different cultural traits, we test the two models in two macro groups: individualist and collectivist countries. The study’s results show that the intensity of some core loyalty model paths – particularly the relationships between store loyalty and its main drivers (perceived value and customer satisfaction) – are contingent on the country’s culture. In particular, the impact of customer satisfaction on store loyalty intention is greater in collectivist countries than in individualist countries. By contrast, the impact of perceived value on store loyalty is greater in individualist than in collectivist countries. Moreover, the cultural dimension moderates the impact of the stores’ environment and promotions on satisfaction. By contrast, some other paths show robustness to national culture.     

APPLYING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS TO INPUT–OUTPUT BASED INNOVATION MATRICES: AN ILLUSTRATIVE APPLICATION TO SIX OECD TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS FOR THE MIDDLE 1990s

The paper discusses, illustrates and possibly contributes to overcoming two methodological problems that emerge in applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) to the study of IO-based innovation flows matrices. The first has to do with the scale-effects these matrices suffer from. The second refers to the need of dichotomising the matrices. Through an illustrative application to six OECD countries in the mid-1990s, the paper shows that, as for the former problem, different relativisation procedures can be, and have been, used, which either tend to alter the actual meaning of standard SNA indicators, or do not properly take into account the actual composition of countries' final demand. As for the latter problem, the paper shows that the choice of discrete cut-offs is extremely sensitive, as comparative results actually change along the continuum of the matrices values. In order to overcome the scale problem, a new relativisation procedure is put forward that measures innovation flows embodied in a unit value basket of final demand and thus properly retains all the information provided by the original matrix of intersectoral innovation (embodied) flows. In addressing the problem of dichotomisation, the paper suggests, as a second best, to work with density distributions that can make the choice of discrete cut-off values less arbitrary.     

Vom „Zürcher“ Banking zur exquisiten Privatbank — Schärfung der Value Proposition und der entsprechenden kommunikativen Umsetzung dargestellt am Beispiel von Bank Leu

Was soll man tun, wenn die eigene Marke vom Kunden in zentralen Markenpositionen anders wahrgenommen wird als man eigentlich beabsichtigt? Wie soll man reagieren, wenn die Marke kein klares Profil hat und die aktuelle strategische Ausrichtung nur mangelhaft unterstützt? Wie kann man von einer eher generischen Positionierung mit unterdurchschnittlicher Markenperformance wegkommen und seine Value Proposition entscheidend st?rken?