Paul Strickland

Familiness as a form of value for wineries: a preliminary account

Based on a small, exploratory study of three family-owned wineries in Victoria, Australia, the article examines how ‘familiness’ is constructed as a form of value. Drawing on work in cultural economy and economic sociology, we propose that familiness can be best understood as the outcome of a process of qualification that mediates between a winerys actual repertoire of properties and its cultural reception through the selective framing and legitimizing of family-related product properties as worthy points of attachment. There were five major themes around which the notion of family was clustered in the narratives of winery representatives and in winery marketing material: family as a key dimension of marketing strategy; the day-to-day involvement of family; the winerys family heritage; family as a symbolic quality; and the brand as family. Based on these findings, we argue that familiness may involve both indexical and iconic cues, that the material family is only one element in the construction of familiness as a form of value, and that familiness is legitimized as a point of attachment for consumers and employees through reference to authenticity, among other discourses.

Using family heritage to market wines: A case study of three “New World” wineries in Victoria, Australia

Purpose – The aim of this exploratory study is to investigate the benefits of “New World” wineries using family heritage as a legitimate marketing technique. “Old World” regions have been leveraging off the often long association the wineries family has in wine making to assist in generating wine sales. This marketing initiative is now being applied to “New World” wineries with increasing success.Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory study investigated three wineries including their web sites, print media and consumer responses. The case studies had to include wineries that were family owned and actively promoted and marketed their winery as having a strong family heritage link in Victoria, Australia.Findings – The results of this investigation suggest that family heritage is a legitimate marketing technique for “New World” wineries to assist in wine sales. If a family link can be established, there is no reason why “New World” wineries cannot promote family heritage, even if the winery is relati...

The Benefits of Family Employment in Ethnic Restaurants: A Case Study of Regional Victoria in Australia

This study concerns the operation of ethic restaurants in regional Victoria, with a particular focus on the potential benefits and cost reductions gained by employing family members. Most of these restaurants are classified as small businesses in Australia, and to be financially viable in the long term restaurants require a careful scrutiny of their costs. Given that labour costs are the single greatest expense for the majority of these restaurants, family labour has often been used to reduce wage expenditure. An evaluation was conducted based on 25 examples of ethnic restaurants across regional Victoria to establish whether family labour is still utilized as a cost reduction method. As part of a larger qualitative study, this paper examines examples of how ethnic entrepreneurial behaviour in restaurants utilizes family labour at reduced or no wages, and determines the impacts this has on the businesses. While this phenomenon has been identified as a legitimate business practice in the past, it appears still to be prevalent today. This empirical study is designed to open up a new field of social enquiry. It is from this work that theory can be developed in due course. This study is important as it supports previous findings but also highlights that ethnic restaurants are under constant financial pressure and may not have the ability initially to employ people outside the family structure. This may distort employment figures of the hospitality industry, with more people working in the industry than actually reported.

Do Space Hotels Differ From Hotels on Earth? The Mystery is Solved

This literature review article highlights the differences between current hotels on Earth and the expectations of space hotels in the future. Using existing literature to showcase the most likely space tourism products and services offered in the future, a gap in the literature demonstrated how space hotels may differ from hotels on Earth. It appears that space hotels will be very different from the current facilities and initially very expensive therefore limited to the wealthy and adventurous. Tourists staying in space hotels will have to be physically able, willing to undertake training prior to departure for safety and health reasons, and learn how to eat, sleep, and be comfortable in space. Space tourists will initially have to take care of themselves and be in small, cramped conditions due to the initial cost of space travel—especially when factoring in fuel. The article concludes by suggesting that this is the first stage of space hotels, which will become more cost effective with better facilities and services as more and more tourists explore space travel as an option in the future, as it is the next frontier for tourism.

Examining the Impact of Four Key Cultural Dimensions on Ethnic Restaurants in Victoria in Australia

This study examines the impact (if any) of four key cultural dimensions on ethnic restaurants in regional Victoria, Australia. Based on a modified model developed by Nguyen and King [Nguyen, T., & King, B. (2002). Migrant communities and tourism consumption – the case of the Vietnamese in Australia. In C.M. Hall (Ed.), Tourism and migration. New relationships between production and consumption (pp. 221–256). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers], this article explores the impacts of religion, co-ethnic ties, marriage and family support on the entrepreneurial behaviour of restaurants. These four cultural dimensions have been identified as influencing factors (Nguyen & King, 2002), but to what extent? It suggests that co-ethnic ties, marriage and family support are important to the daily operations of an ethnic restaurant, and potentially, long-term financial success. This is theoretically important in understanding how ethnic minority restaurants may differ regarding entrepreneurial business decisions compared to similar Western businesses. Utilising family and co-ethnic ties, labour resources offers a competitive advantage in four ways; reduced labour cost, efficiencies in communication, predictable behaviour and restaurant promotional opportunities. Religion, the fourth key cultural dimension put forward in Nguyen and Kings (2002) model did not strongly influence entrepreneurial behaviour; however, it still may have relevance outside business behaviour.

The first space hotel employees: Human resources challenges in a post-terrestrial paradigm

ABSTRACT This article discusses some of the issues regarding the first employees to work in a space hotel. As space hotels initially will be vastly different to existing hotels on Earth, it is important to question what human resource challenges this will raise for hospitality workers and providers. To assist reflection on this issue, the notions of space tourism and space tourist are explored, and a definition of a space hotel is included to create product and service boundaries. Plausible futures methodology is used to create five main human resource considerations and concludes by suggesting this sector is largely unexplored.

The Use of Social Media in the Wine Event Industry: A Case Study of the High Country Harvest in Australia

This chapter explores the use of social media by the wine event industry as a platform to increase customer interest and more importantly, patronage to wine events. Using the High Country Harvest in Victoria, Australia, as a case study, we consider which social media are utilized to promote this festival based on the platforms identified by Wollan, Smith, and Zhou’s research in 2010 plus vblogs. The chapter concludes by identifying the considerations for social media adoption of a wine event being cost, expansion, user knowledge, ease of use, longevity, and dynamic content. It also highlights official website promotion through Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as the preferred social media channels due to the perceived usage by Australian audiences and potential visitors to wine events.