Claudio Vignali

The typical products within food “glocalisation”

The choice of typical products as an area of autonomous business with great potential comes from the development of a scenario of supply made up of important trends – within wealthy countries – that simultaneously invested in: the economy, the agricultural sector, the agro‐food sector and, on the same level, in the tourist industry and (of consumption) in the cultural sector, in the broad sense. It is well‐known that the more significant traits of the matter are connected to the following elements: globalisation; the increased use of technology in agricultural production; the renewed concept of territory; the “philosophical” change of agricultural policies; the great fragmentation of the tourist industry; the tensions generated by public opinion towards subjects like food safety, exacerbated by recent shocking events (mad cow disease, GMO, etc.); and new food consumption behaviour. The definition and background of typical food products are located in these varied elements.

The marketing management process and heuristic devices: an action research investigation

There has been extensive debate about the purpose and scope of appropriate management research. Many authors agree that management research does not operate a single agreed scientific paradigm and can be seen as a soft, applied area of study, showing features of both “engineering” and “craft” orientations. Nevertheless, the need for management theory to be made more relevant to the work of practice by explaining that it will be necessary to identify new ways of formulating and employing scientific knowledge to practical ends is the basis of this work. This article develops the methodology used in operationalising heuristic devices. Practitioners extend their use of the marketing mix in developing their strategic process. In this process they always face problems and the answers always cause concern. This article develops a model, which defines the use of the heuristic devices and allows action and review. The qualitative approach in action research was analysed in a series of case studies, which formed the basis of the research materials used.

CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF PERCEIVED VALUE AND SATISFACTION IN MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Abstract This article identifies the importance of tangible and intangible values for customers. It further explains the manner in which these values are constructed. It recognizes the hierarchy of dimensions which constitute value for the customers and observes the theoretic analyses (models) of the hierarchies of value dimensions. The article points to features as constituent parts of the value dimensions and attempts to determine the axioms of values for customers. The article further determines the relationship between the quality and the value of products and services and indicates the dimensions of the quality of services as a precursor to the concept of values for the customer.

Liquid Applepie: Market Entry Strategy for a New Lifestyle Drink

ABSTRACT This is a theoretical case which observes the path a small business needs to follow to be successful. It is hoped the company involved will take these conclusions into consideration for future development. This case study has been conducted in order to understand the theoretical models of international marketing. It determines the key criteria that need to be considered when entering a foreign market. The idea was to develop a market entry strategy for a Polish Vodka manufacturer who wants to enter the Austrian market. After an analysis of the market and consideration of the situational factors, which are very important for the development of a detailed SWOT analysis, the segmentation, targeting, positioning and finally the selection of the right entry method, including the customer specific marketing tools, have been identified.

Weight Watchers: Social Event Centered Marketing

ABSTRACT This article looks at an international weight loss service company known as Weight Watchers and evaluates the promotional effectiveness of their social event focused business. Secondary research highlights their approach to the marketing mix and the significance of perception within this particular market and the marketing mix per se. Research of their traditional social event based business is reported in terms of the effect of the promotional tools used by Weight Watchers, influences on consumer decision making, consumer behavior, and internal and external factors which influence marketing decisions. The conclusions drawn are that there are significant issues for Weight Watchers to consider in terms of their future approach to the weight loss market. Firstly, the need for Weight Watchers to differentiate themselves further from their competitors and, secondly, to ensure they have distinct differentiation strategies for their social event and online businesses.

Improving relations between business strategy and marketing tactics

The purpose of this research was to develop a new strategic marketing model which would help to improve the relations between business strategy and marketing tactics. The chosen research methodology was phenomenology and the combination of action research and case study was recognised as the most appropriate research method. The main findings of the research were that there was the gap for logical upgrading of the existing marketing models which would make them simple and interactive and that the new developed Stratics model improves the business result of the company. The main practical implication of this research is the developed Stratics 2.0 model which is as a piece of academic knowledge available for free download and use. The originality of this research lays in the developed Stratics model which contributed to the overall knowledge in the field of business strategy and marketing tactics. This research was performed as a part of PhD thesis.

Discount retailing, a European test case for perceived value as a basis for shaping the firm's offer

According to the representative studies, higher level of perceived value leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction, greater levels of customer loyalty and to a greater success of organisations. Due to this, firm has to identify the factors of perceived value in order to offer the value which customers want. If the difference between customers and firms perception exists then the service gap appears and customers do not receive the service which they wanted. The purpose of this paper is to define how the service provider should create its offer based on customer perceived value, which dimensions of the offer should be improved for attracting more customers and maintaining the existing ones and which gaps should be avoided. In addition to the theoretical framework in the article is presented an example of the discount retailing in Croatia between Konsum and Lidle and how they should design their offer.

Competitive Advantage of the Food Industry in the Balkans

This special issue dedicated to consumer traits in Balkans specifically in the food industry, gives the reader a terrific perspective into habits consolidated throughout this eastern European area. Organic foods are usually associated with developments in Western geographic areas ; Segmentation is also associated with modern marketing. - - But with apples as the product an interesting perspective develops. When the wine market is also segmented in an area that totally consumes production and a comparison given to potential export needs, one wonders how far food marketing has progressed. Finally, the essential growth in Rural food Tourism and Agro-Tourism is of specific interest. We hope the readers of this special issue appreciate how far food marketing has developed in a geographic area forgotten by Western Europe.

AWARENESS ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY WITHIN GOVERNMENTAL BODIES

The main subject of this research was finding out what is the level of awareness on Energy Efficiency within governmental bodies in Croatia. Under “Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services and repealing Council Directive 93/76/EEC” Republic of Croatia will have to, as all the Member States of the European Union, achieve the target of 9% in national energy savings in the future nine years. The first step in this direction was enacting The Act On Energy End-Use Efficiency. This will be achieved by the Directorate for Energy and Mining within the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. At the time when this research was done (Spring 2007), the Energy department consisted of only 12 people plus a secretary and an assistant minister, and these people were responsible for creating and implementing the energy policy in Croatia. Every one of them had responsibility for his/ her sector and each one of them was crucial in gaining aims for their sectors. Some of measures to achieve these aims are related to the public sector. The exploratory research showed the awareness on Energy Efficiency of people who work in this sector and on whose effort these measures will give results. The main research showed the awareness on Energy Efficiency among people who will have to implement the Energy Efficiency measures in their ordinary work. The exploratory research was done in the Energy Department with aims to find out what Energy Efficiency measures do employees of Department think of, what level of internal education is needed in order to achieve goals as easiest as possible and what kind of questions are needed in the main research to find out more about the awareness on Energy Efficiency in governmental bodies.

A British and Italian case study on management philosophy

Six Sigma is a management philosophy that is strategic and disciplined, customer and process centric, data-driven, and represents a cross-functional approach to performance improvement aimed at the reduction of defects/errors from every product, process, and transaction. In this paper, a general introduction of the methodology is presented, including some basic characteristics, as the tools used for its development and the structure for its implementation. A comparison with other well known and recognised quality management systems has been done as well. In this second part, some of the most important cases of application of Six Sigma are presented.