José Luis Vázquez

Rural development strategies through rural tourism activities in romania: chance for an internal demand?

Rural tourism related activities have been widely regarded as key-tools for rural development, specially in those countries —as Romania and all East European countrieswhere rural space and production is still a major part of whole economic structure, trying by this way to revitalize declining areas and ensure them possibilities of achieving a sustainable future. At this purpose, rural tourism must be considered like a complex plurality of multi-faced activities, contributing both to growth of other activities in rural areas and to improvement of life quality for local inhabitants, all this as part of an effective rural development integrated system.Due to necessary attraction of foreign currency in order to contribute in solving structural troubles of national economies in these countries, design of quite a lot of rural tourism activities on there has usually focused on international demand. However, and even when this could be perfectly right at a first stage, evidence for other countries shows that long-time maintenance of such activities requires of the existence of a —perhaps not so attractive, but indispensable— internal market.In this paper, we give first descriptive evidence about existence and characteristics of this domestic —and mostly unexpected— market for rural tourism activities in Romania.

The Contribution of Smart Cities to Quality of Life from the View of Citizens

This study analyses the perceptions of a sample of 272 university students in Spain regarding current and ideal involvement of the municipality in six dimensions defining a smart city (smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment and smart living). Data was collected through a questionnaire and analysed with descriptive statistical analysis and Student t-tests. Results point to an important gap between students’ real experience in the city and the perceived potential of the analysed dimensions to improve future quality of live. Main gaps were found in the dimensions of smart economy and smart governance.

Young Adult Propensity to Join Voluntary Associations: The Role of Civic Engagement and Motivations

Based on a self-selection perspective, this study analyzes the relation between personal civic engagement and the willingness to join a voluntary association by considering the mediating role of motivations. Four factors of civic engagement are considered: civic duty, civic skills, social connection, and civic participation; in addition, three motivations are considered: instrumental, expressive, and career-related. The proposed model is tested using a survey of 408 Spanish young adults with no previous experience as members of any association. The analytical technique used is partial least squares. The findings point that instrumental motivation is the main vehicle to translate the four factors of civic engagement into associational involvement, whereas expressive motivation represents a secondary mediator in the effects of civic duty and social connection. Career-related motivation is not associated with the willingness to join a voluntary association. Implications for the recruitment and retention of young adults in voluntary associations are discussed.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE REASONS ATTRIBUTED BY SPANISH UNDERGRADUATES TO CSR IN ORGANIZATIONS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Abstract The implications of CSR for consumer behavior have represented a quite common topic in recent literature, main conclusions remarking that, while it is true that socially responsible initiatives may induce some consumer goodwill towards the organization, the effects of CSR are more complex than expected. From this setting, this paper aims to analyze university students’ consumer responses and motives attributed to CSR practices in business settings, just as the useful ness of academic background as segmentation variable. A survey study was conducted from a total sample of 400 Spanish undergraduates. Factor, descriptive and multivariate analysis revealed the coexistence of different CSR dimensions and attributions when defining participants’ consumer behavior, some differences existing between students with different academic background. Implications of the study are discussed.

La orientación al mercado en la universidad pública a través de la educación de la iniciativa emprendedora

En este trabajo se propone la educacion de competencias para el emprendizaje en la universidad, destinado a satisfacer las demandas de formacion profesional de los estudiantes en su acceso al mercado de trabajo. Como indice de calidad del servicio prestado, se analizan las percepciones de una muestra de estudiantes espanoles sobre la educacion y apoyo institucional para el desarrollo de carreras emprendedoras en la universidad, asi como el efecto de la educacion superior sobre el surgimiento de iniciativas empresariales en el alumnado. Los resultados del estudio denotan una escasa preocupacion institucional por la estimulacion de carreras emprendedoras, lo que influye negativamente sobre el interes de los estudiantes por crear su propia empresa. Las conclusiones del trabajo apuntan hacia la necesidad de introducir la educacion de competencias para el emprendizaje dentro de la estrategia de marketing de la universidad, de cara a favorecer la calidad del servicio prestado por la institucion como proveedora de capital humano adaptable a las nuevas necesidades del mercado de trabajo.

Case 7: Place Marketing and Residents’ Perceptions of Improvements on Quality of Life

This case study deals with the application of place marketing strategies in a small Portuguese township called Fundao. Through this case study, it is shown how small tourism events, organised by the municipality of Fundao, can improve local residents’ quality of life. It was effectively possible to verify that place marketing actions have a greater probability of success when there is a global vision of the marketing action, that the definition of certain pilot events and effort concentration was fundamental for the success of these events and that the creation of a brand image was essential to keep together all other projects.

Quality-of-Life Marketing: An Introduction to the Topic

The quality-of-life (QOL) concept is a concept that may be approached from different perspectives and, as such, gains a different meaning under each lens (Sirgy et al. 1982). To an economist, the concept may be understood as economic well-being; to a psychologist as life satisfaction or happiness in general; to an environmentalist as air quality, pure water, and wildlife; while to consumerists it may represent consumer satisfaction, consumer information, or consumer protection. The QOL concept is correspondingly not universally accepted and is perceived from several views (Sirgy 2001). One such view is the marketing approach.

Estimation of the role of diversification on farm effectiveness by means of modelling. An application to Bulgarian district of Stara Zagora

This paper estimates the effect of diversification on farm effectiveness through modelling using data from the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria. The estimation of the role of diversification in agriculture is similar to this in corporate firms. The results show that the number of diversification activities has a significant effect on the final economic results. The introduction of the factor of lifetime of the firms with its effect on size of revenues from diversification activities is a new feature in this study.The above mentioned provides an opportunity for adaptation and effective operation of the business in the variable market environment, as well as a useful referent for public responsibles in order to design adequate supporting programmes.On the other hand, this paper refines Berger and Ofek’s methodology by adapting it to the conditions of the agricultural production in Bulgaria. Main differences are related to the selection of the considered factors and the final economic result. The latter is extra revenue from diversification activities and the selected representative sample of firms is grouped by the criteria of number of diversification activities.