Marcello Risitano

The drivers of port competitiveness: a critical review

ABSTRACT Academic research on port competitiveness has so far focused on the identification of the drivers of port competitiveness and their measurement. This paper argues that the port competitiveness and its drivers are significantly affected by major changes in maritime industry, which scholars have not sufficiently addressed. Therefore, the manuscript explores the multidimensional nature of “port competitiveness” by conducting a systematic literature review of leading peer-reviewed international journals, between the 1983 and 2014 time frame. The analysis allows a profound understanding and a categorisation of the main drivers of port competitiveness. Main findings present a hierarchy of key drivers and suggest that major industry transformations moderate the influential role of traditional drivers and reshuffle their relative salience. The study also identifies some unexplored research areas for future studies.

A taxonomy of logistics centres: overcoming conceptual ambiguity

ABSTRACT This manuscript aims to disentangle the conceptual ambiguity around the notion of logistics centre. It proposes an overarching framework that categorises different types of infrastructure and identifies their distinctive components. The lack of a sound conceptualisation of logistics centres originates from the variety in temporal and spatial approaches. In transportation chains, path-breaking trends in market needs, technological innovations and institutional changes, as well as the place specificity of logistics centres embedded in various national contexts, inevitably led to a substantial theoretical ambiguity. This study consolidates prior fragmented works and identifies suitable criteria for classifying logistics centres. The functional criterion is proposed as a cornerstone for building a sound conceptualisation of these infrastructures. By capturing the distinctive characteristics of each type of logistics centre, the paper proposes an original and comprehensive taxonomy, which emphasises commonalities and specificities of various infrastructures. The paper provides a contribution to literature by sketching out a trustworthy conceptualisation of logistics centres. In addition, the outcomes bring insightful implications for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

The influence of tourists’ national culture on their behaviors in a sport mega-event

Purpose The impact of national culture on tourist behavior has been analyzed in several studies, but none of them focused on its discriminating impact on behavioral intentions during a mega-event. Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this paper aims to explore the influence of national cultural values on tourist behaviors (experience, satisfaction and behavioral intentions) during the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) in Naples. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a quantitative analysis of primary data gathered through a survey of a convenience sample of tourists (n = 612) conducted during the ACWS organized by the City of Naples in April 2013. Findings The findings confirm that national cultural clusters represent an important driver of behavioral intentions: tourists from different geographic clusters showed different intention to return and intention to recommend by word of mouth, caused by different levels of individualism and uncertainty avoidance. Practical implications For destination marketing managers, this study throws light on how the national culture of tourists may influence their experiences and behavioral intentions. Originality/value Despite the richness of works on the tourism experience, few studies have investigated the effect of national culture on tourists’ experience, satisfaction and behavioral intentions during and after a sport mega-event.

How Do Firms Process Info? Monitoring Brand Equity Drivers in Food and Beverage Sectors

Abstract The main purpose of this chapter is to show how to set a quantitative analysis of consumer behavior in the food and beverage industry and how the results from such analysis could be entered into producers’ decision making. The goal is to bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical needs of companies to improve their performance. The theoretical framework is the analysis of the relations among key brand equity drivers (brand experience and brand trust) and consumers’ behavior intentions (intent to buy, intent to use word-of-mouth, willingness to accept brand extensions). The empirical research proposes a structural equation model for analyzing such relations. The case study concerns the consumption of two product categories: coffee (nonalcoholic drink) and beer (alcoholic drink). Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of results and their use for managerial implications.

Strategic monitoring of port authorities activities: Proposal of a multi-dimensional digital dashboard

Abstract The consequence of port evolution is that port authorities (PA) around the world are modifying their nature and their role, acquiring more and more an active role in the governance of logistic systems and are often adopting managerial and entrepreneurial behaviours. This new role of PA requires the adoption of a complex approach to monitoring the performance of the single stakeholders and of the whole port. Existing studies on port performance consider only specific indicators of port performance such as operational and financial efficiency neglecting aspects like customer satisfaction, port security and port sustainability. This paper tries to fill this literature gap: (i) outlining an integrated multi-dimensional dashboard to monitor port performance in a strategic perspective; (ii) analysing the role of digital technology to support the PA in the implementation of the monitoring dashboard; (iii) defining the evolutionary stages of tools implementation in the strategic monitoring of PAs.

The port community system as a local innovation system: A theoretical framework

A Local Innovation Systems (LIS) is defined as an innovative network characterized by the heterogeneous nature and the spatial proximity of the actors, presenting a high level of social embeddedness and a base of analytical knowledge. On the other hand, academic research on port community systems considers ports as complex systems where mechanisms of coordination and cooperation between local partners play a crucial role in supporting the competitiveness and the efficiency of the port itself. Few studies have combined to date, the perspective of port community as a complex system with the complex nature of innovation systems. The paper provides an original theoretical framework to study port communities from a local innovation system perspective. In particular, the article investigates the elements of complexity typical of a LIS in the specific case of Port Community Systems. The article will focus on the localised nature of innovation processes within a Port Community System as well as the existence of inter-organizational relationships occurring among actors of heterogeneous nature (i.e. firms, local institutions and research organizations). These relationships will be analysed according to the innovative value of the economic externalities they are able to produce and according to their ability to confer economic value to the results of academic research.

Green practices in port authority management: A multiple case study

Port management is one of the most important economic pillars in maritime countries, where business players - such as port authorities, shippers, carriers, terminals, etc. - are called to undertake a virtuous process of economic development, respectful of the environment. This means achieving a sustainable growth, supported by green actions for environmental protection to improve corporate social responsibility. Coherently, the authors analyzed the role of Port Authorities (PAs) in adopting a socially responsible behavior, taking into consideration economic, environmental and societal expectations of all stakeholders in port logistics and management. For this purpose, in this work was adopted a multiple case study analysis to comparatively evaluate the green practices of PA enabling a sustainable growth, trying to explain: a. if there is a single or multiple stakeholders involvement in PA’s green strategies; b. what are the key green practices in port management; c. if there is a proactive or reactive approach to define green practices. In the empirical research were selected four representative PAs with a strong attitude towards green practices - Hong Kong (Asia), Antwerp (Northern Europe), Barcelona (Southern Europe) and Los Angeles (USA) - located in different geographical areas.

Evaluating tourist behaviour in sport mega-events through a structural equation model

In defining destination marketing strategies, a specific role is played by megaevents as critical tool to improve the economic development. In tourism marketing literature, researchers have analysed the holistic perspective of tourist behaviour to understand the factors that influence the level of satisfaction and the intentional behaviours. Accordingly, the paper aimed at analysing relationships among destination image, event satisfaction and tourist behavioural intentions in sport mega-event. Six research hypotheses have been formulated and empirically tested by using structural equation models (Partial Least Squares - PLS approach) on survey data from 304 international tourists who attended the America’s Cup World Series in Naples. The findings put in evidence the relevant role of the mega-event to create value for tourist in destination management.

The impact of consumer-brand engagement on brand experience and behavioural intentions: An Italian empirical study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of consumer-brand engagement and brand experience on behavioural intentions (i.e. intent to re-purchase, willingness to accept brand extension, willingness to pay a premium price) in relation to food brands. Design/methodology/approach The authors propose a conceptual model comprising five latent variables and 26 manifest variables. A questionnaire with questions relating to pasta and coffee was given to an Italian consumer sample (n=400). The model was tested using structural equation modelling of the resulting data to examine the research hypotheses. Findings The empirical study confirms the predictive role of the two selected drivers of brand value. Both consumer-brand engagement and brand experience influenced behavioural intentions, but these brand constructs had different roles in the two product categories examined in the study, pasta and coffee. Research limitations/implications This study does have limitations. First, the generalisability of the findings should be considered. The study refers to only two product categories in a specific country. It would be interesting to investigate the issue of food brand engagement and brand experience in different countries, and to compare the results. Furthermore, it would be valuable to investigate the impact of brand engagement and brand experience in other product categories. Practical implications The results have an important implication for marketing managers: they should develop long-term and strong brand relationships. Such consumer engagement and/or experiential actions can be key competitive advantages for food companies. Originality/value The study provides empirical support for the effect of consumer-brand engagement and brand experience on consumers’ behavioural intentions in the food industry.