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This paper applies a proposed concept of underlying consumer purpose and psychological bonding to the entrepreneurial hospitality industry, including hotels, restaurants, and bed and breakfast establishments. Since the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has seen a huge surge in pent-up demand. Event planners' expectations have risen. Students are flocking to the industry where there is almost a guaranteed employment upon graduation. The hospitality industry, being one of the largest industries worldwide, faces intense market competition. To succeed, it relies on various factors, including customer satisfaction, loyalty, trust, affective commitment, and share of wallet The model applied in the paper has recently been published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Management. The model synthesizes multiple theories, that includes need fulfilment theory, goal theory, and congruency theory. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that a comprehensive understanding of consumers' needs, goals, values, and self-image is crucial for marketers to enhance service experiences, achieve sustainable success, and help consumers attain their desired psychological outcomes. To combat this somewhat sceptical view of service mix development benefitting the hotel firm primarily, we propose the need to broaden hotel marketing and innovation strategies to include recognition of purposeful fulfilment of consumers' psychological needs/tasks, goals, values, and self-concept. Doing so will strengthen the organizational commitment to hotel consumers, leading to sustainable success for the hotel firm and other hospitality-related businesses. To exemplify further the usefulness of consumers' underlying purpose, we have supplied a variety of hotel examples in figures that demonstrate how hotels can create innovative products or services by utilizing a single meaningful purpose to communicate distinct competencies in meeting consumers' psychological needs and goals and asserting values congruence and self-image congruity. These easy-to-understand models can be applied to the hospitality industry. The paper includes examples and illustrations throughout. Implications for future research and further applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the perspectives of health and wellness tourism consumers, to better understand the factors that influence this tourism product. A quantitative approach was adopted to collect primary data through the application of an online survey to effective and potential health and wellness tourism consumers between January and April 2021. Results show that growing number of consumers tend to value health and wellness tourism as a holistic experience, in which not only products specifically related to health and wellness treatments are of particular importance, but also activities related to leisure, recreation and culture. This paper provides a basis of research and analysis for global wellness and tourism industry stakeholders. The aim is to help the industry understand consumer behaviour and preferences in the traveller's process of choosing a destination for a wellness vacation. This is achieved by predicting wellness tourism trends and developments, by acknowledging the gaps in the research available for understanding wellness tourism and reflecting the experience economy perspective in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product Service Systems are considered a new, circular business model that could help businesses be sustainable while maintaining economic growth at the same time. Consumer innovativeness can predict and influence acceptance of such novel business models. However, differences in innovativeness can vary across countries and should be considered in research. This study aims to examine differences and influence of consumer innovativeness on consumer acceptance of Product Services Systems based on data collected from Czech Republic, Sweden and Hungary. For the analysis pay-perwash was chosen, as washing machines are one of the most used everyday products. This paper takes a descriptive and quantitative approach while using regression as a data analysis method. The findings enrich current scarce knowledge of differences and influence of consumer innovativeness on consumer acceptance of Product Service Systems, especially considering that Central- and Eastern European countries are underrepresented in the literature. For the managerial contribution, the study offers insights for more efficient consumer segmentation and targeting for introduction of pay-perwash services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper studies the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and intelligent technologies and systems to expand customer relations management possibilities for growth of consumer network and development of open adaptive information infrastructure of modern Company. Now networks are an effective tool for purposefully coordinate efforts of all their participants. Thus, there is an urge to study theoretical principles of their formation and find a set of specific managerial skills needed for their efficient operations by developing a strategy to manage relations with other network participants. Simultaneously, in emerging markets, AI and intelligent technologies are in fact an integral part of cutting-edge management systems. They add to globalization of business by providing quick access to employees worldwide, as well as coordinating global interaction between companies at different stages of value chain. It does not mean that intelligent technologies and systems simply increase efficiency of a company's operations; they can be considered as key intangible asset. Their successful integration in the company's information structure can provide significant business effect. This research aims are analyzing applicability and adaptability of the joint customer relations management technologies and multi-agent systems (MAS), as well as the formation of external information infrastructure of companies with growing collaborative consumer network. The paper considers application of integrated approach for software company whose external infrastructure consists of the following blocks: potential consumers; technical support and consultancy; education; sales and dealership. The company strives for long-term contracts, customer loyalty and customer-oriented approach in emerging markets. The study is conceptual and research in equal measure, and provides the examination of approach to forming an external information infrastructure for a company with collaborative consumer network by joining opportunities of CRM and multi-agent technologies. Original contribution: the paper considers application of AI for modern company whose external infrastructure consists of the following blocks: potential consumers; technical support and consultancy; education; sales and dealership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making clothes and developing your own brand of clothes may not be innovative although it is a sign of entrepreneurial behaviour. However, the entrepreneurship does not stop there. For some years now, a young man has been selling a clothing range, as well as collaborating with other brands, in order to help kids and youths coming from the same background as himself, i.e., surrounded by drugs and criminality. His idea is to catch the kids/youths before they start taking drugs, become addicted or commit a crime, and show them that there are other better ways to live their lives. He is working towards several new goals: One of them is to open a school where they not only learn "the ordinary curriculum", but which also focuses on making a living for themselves and how to stand up for themselves. It is about adapting the schooling and learning to their life situation, rather than the children adapting to school. The earnings are not great (yet), but his eagerness to present the objective of the business has earned him some attention, not only among potential customers, but also with local and other authorities. His passionate and yet humble appearance appeals to customers and authorities. In addition to earning money to fund other youths, he also invests in them setting up micro businesses in order to become independent. In other words, his entrepreneurship skills have helped develop other entrepreneurs. In this paper, we will present the initial findings of our entrepreneur and his entrepreneurial achievements, characteristics and transformative style. We seek to explain the success behind such entrepreneurial activities using social entrepreneur and transformative leadership theories. We have conducted our first initial semi-structured interviews via zoom using interview guides and more research is planned for the next phase of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making clothes and developing your own brand of clothes may not be innovative although it is a sign of entrepreneurial behaviour. However, the entrepreneurship does not stop there. For some years now, a young man has been selling a clothing range, as well as collaborating with other brands, in order to help kids and youths coming from the same background as himself, i.e., surrounded by drugs and criminality. His idea is to catch the kids/youths before they start taking drugs, become addicted or commit a crime, and show them that there are other better ways to live their lives. He is working towards several new goals: One of them is to open a school where they not only learn "the ordinary curriculum", but which also focuses on making a living for themselves and how to stand up for themselves. It is about adapting the schooling and learning to their life situation, rather than the children adapting to school. The earnings are not great (yet), but his eagerness to present the objective of the business has earned him some attention, not only among potential customers, but also with local and other authorities. His passionate and yet humble appearance appeals to customers and authorities. In addition to earning money to fund other youths, he also invests in them setting up micro businesses in order to become independent. In other words, his entrepreneurship skills have helped develop other entrepreneurs. In this paper, we will present the initial findings of our entrepreneur and his entrepreneurial achievements, characteristics and transformative style. We seek to explain the success behind such entrepreneurial activities using social entrepreneur and transformative leadership theories. We have conducted our first initial semi-structured interviews via zoom using interview guides and more research is planned for the next phase of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airbnb hosts' pricing decisions are the choices hosts make when setting the daily rate for their listing of properties. Some Airbnb hosts have a long run approach, charging lower prices to attract more customers and achieve higher occupancy rates, while others have a short-run approach, charging higher prices to maximize the short-run opportunities from the market. The pricing strategy of Airbnb hosts is the key to their eventual success and plays an important role, since it influences their relationship with customers. Airbnb listings can be hard to price. Therefore, each Airbnb host faces an important decision when entering the market: What is the perfect daily rate to charge such that to achieve their goal? Major aspects, such as property location, type (private room, entire home, etc.) and amenities, target customers, other Airbnb competitors, thinking like a guest, the safety and beauty of the neighborhood, seasonality, etc., must be considered. Considering Airbnb's exponential growth since it started in 2007, it is obvious that establishing a suitable pricing strategy is vital for any new host. The present paper uses information from the new listings in 2020 to investigate different hypotheses that explore the pricing strategies of Airbnb hosts for their new listings on the market. This study highlights, on one hand, the great need for Airbnb to encourage dynamic pricing among its new hosts and, on the other hand, the challenges faced by these hosts when they establish the price. An important characteristic of this article is the set of theoretical and methodological implications for the pricing strategy for the new Airbnb new hosts. Furthermore, this document reinforces the idea that the pricing strategy differs between cities and countries, emphasizing the strategy in the case of the new Airbnb new hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: In this paper we study the perceptions of producers and consumers regarding Artificial Intelligence (IA) and robots and perform an empirical study to Portugal and Spain. We base ourselves in current theory about the phenomena and construct to questionnaires, one for each side of the market; we apply the two questionnaires in Portugal and in Spain. We use factor analysis and clusters analysis to obtain our results. We conclude that the consumers have a positive perception about the use of IAs, with an interesting limitation -- people, in Portugal and in Spain do not believe robots will ever have emotions. We also conclude that the producers have a rather optimistic view about the use of robots, namely they believe AI and robots will simplify the hard tasks and create more spice for real creative actions by the workers. Put together, these results show that in Iberia the basic forces on the AI market have an optimistic view about the phenomena. This idea, which is a bit at odds with some discourse served by the media, which may be therefore as alarmist, is a sign of hope and should be taken into account by the public powers, particularly in these Covid-19 times. This study is small in size and should be repeated in a larger scale soon, preferably in 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the operational risk of organizations, requiring its management through Internal Control Systems (ICS). The tourism sector in Portugal, one of the largest and most competitive, was also one of the most affected by the pandemic, which emerged in March 2020. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the perception of tourism managers about the relationship between the existence of internal control and risk mitigation in their companies. We present a quantitative study carried out by questionnaire, sent to 830 managers from tourism companies in the region of Porto, Portugal. Most participants consider crucial the implementation of ICS and a competitive advantage in the current pandemic context. They also consider that the implementation of ICS is not accessible to all companies, but its absence does not necessarily make them more fragile. The study also concludes that besides internal control, the role of the Portuguese Government was crucial to overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic and to ensure companies' recovery. Financial support from the government allows companies to invest in procedures to overcome the pandemic situation, such as strengthening cleanliness measures, focusing on new technologies and creating products and/or services more attractive to consumers. This study contributes to the perception of tourism managers about internal control, highlight the need to implement risk analysis routines to manage risks that may threaten the company activities and highlight the governmentÂ's role in business recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the under-explored dynamics between physical grocery stores and e-grocery through the lens of business model innovation. While e-grocery is expected to grow, we still know little about how it will affect the existing physical stores - and how these actors are reacting to this potential threat. We draw upon in-depth interviews with senior executives from grocery companies, academics, and experts. The data has been subsequently discussed in the light of market literature and the study's' theoretical framework. We find that e-grocery and physical grocery operate with two very different business models, where neither would benefit from emulating the other. While some of the physical chains have been developing e-grocery as add-on services, they are not profitable because they are not compatible with the current business model. Seeing this, physical shops are primarily concerned with competing with other physical shops to survive the growth of e-grocery despite of the development from pure e-grocery players. However, these sustaining actions might over time turn consumers digital, as the reduction of number of physical stores might spark the change in consumer behavior needed by e-grocery to accelerate its growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If organizations start to digitize, they must engage with a digital transformation. Therefore, an organization should have the right competencies to deal with a digital transformation. However, currently, it is not known which digital leadership competencies are needed to guide an organization with improving its customer journey as a digital transformation. Hence, this paper consists of an explorative study based on interviews with five experts to find out how digital leadership can guide the customer journey. The experts are employees within five different organizations. The interviews showed some interesting results. First of all, several competencies of digital leadership were mentioned by various experts. A lot of these competencies corresponded with each other. In the interviews, the following competencies of digital leadership were mentioned the most: Collaboration, Self-direction, Lifelong learning and Flexibility. Secondly, it seems that digital leadership influences the customer journey. Some of the competencies of digital leadership could be used to guide the customer journey. From the interviews with the experts, it appears that the digital leadership competence Information management plays an important role in enhancing the customer journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 400 entrepreneurs decided to set up the craft brewery in the Czech Republic during the last decade. This industry becomes very dynamic due to increasing competition and changing customer requirements. Current beer consumers are interested in the process of brewing, raw materials used and can recognise the quality of beer. The leaders (entrepreneur) ability to attract the customer and knowledge of the competition built the competitiveness of craft brewery. This empirical paper aims to analyse the ability of leaders to communicate competitive advantage to potential customers. The qualitative approach using a semistructured interview with the owners as the leaders of craft breweries was incorporated. The research sample includes 23 craft breweries from five different regions in the Czech Republic. Breweries location is in cities, towns and small villages -- the location was chosen due to different target customers. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and deeply analysed and sorted into subcategories -- causal events contributing to the phenomenon; descriptive details of the phenomenon itself; and the ramifications of the phenomenon. The results show that brewers know and reflect the requirements of customers in the location of the brewery. Nevertheless, the requirements differ according to the location. The customers at the villages are not usually interested in the competitive advantage and drink mostly traditional Czech lagers, special beers rarely. The bigger the municipality is, the more requiring the customers are. This reflects in a higher level of competition. These people also are knowledgeable about beer culture and brewing process. The craft brewery leaders perceive it and can communicate the whole process of brewing, discuss all raw materials used and advantages of each beer produced. They sell not only the beer but also the story of brewing and the brewery. They also know that is not enough and seek other ways to differentiate in additional services -- restaurants, excursions or participation on brewing. The findings have practical implication for craft brewers and also enhance the current increasing academic discussion in strategic management in the brewing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, we are witnessing significant growth in online shopping, with consumers increasingly relying on fast and reliable doorstep delivery. Drones represent a solution that will accelerate delivery times, lower human resources costs and improve accuracy. The paper's primary goal is to design an optimal information system model for the delivery of goods using drones and suggesting an application. A conceptual model is proposed to analyse the subject area, finding and naming entities and their attributes and subsequently for the processing of the design of delivery of goods using drones. The model describes internal processes together with external processes that cooperate and interact with each other. It represents a data flow diagram that includes control information and describes the dynamics of the system. Based on the conceptual model, an information system for optimising delivery procedures using drones is designed. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has already developed new uniform rules for drones for EU countries. Our proposal is taking into account the specifics of the operation of drones in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we reflect on the type of main actors that exist in the new Economy. Traditionally, people were employers or employees in the supply side of the market or buyers in the demand side. But with the advent of new technologies, the world effectively changed and the roles individuals are asked to perform also changed. The analysis is mainly conceptual but we also do a brief application of our model in the Data section. Firstly we define four concepts (creators, Owners, Performers and Costumers), secondly we synthesise theoretical ideas about those concepts, thirdly we explain how those ideas are put in practice in 2015-16 and finally we discuss the findings. Our main conclusion is that the four types of actors differ by quality and quantity which are inversely related and which may be assimilated to price and quantity in the traditional economic analysis. Actors rank in those scales as defined in Figure 1. Significantly, creators appear to be the leading and most powerful group, the decisive base for growth and prosperity, but power in the end power is much shared between the four types of actors. The main implication for researchers is that they should embrace the new categories and at least should use them as they use the old ones (that is employees, employers and buyers). For practitioners what is at stake is that the nature of the actors changed and therefore the play (economy and society) also changed, and in consequence the guidelines for behaviour, and policies should also change. The paper is a basis for follow up research employing by in-depth empirical analysis at macro (national) and micro (organizational) level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we reflect on the type of main actors that exist in the new Economy. Traditionally, people were employers or employees in the supply side of the market or buyers in the demand side. But with the advent of new technologies, the world effectively changed and the roles individuals are asked to perform also changed. The analysis is mainly conceptual but we also do a brief application of our model in the Data section. Firstly we define four concepts (creators, Owners, Performers and Costumers), secondly we synthesise theoretical ideas about those concepts, thirdly we explain how those ideas are put in practice in 2015-16 and finally we discuss the findings. Our main conclusion is that the four types of actors differ by quality and quantity which are inversely related and which may be assimilated to price and quantity in the traditional economic analysis. Actors rank in those scales as defined in Figure 1. Significantly, creators appear to be the leading and most powerful group, the decisive base for growth and prosperity, but power in the end power is much shared between the four types of actors. The main implication for researchers is that they should embrace the new categories and at least should use them as they use the old ones (that is employees, employers and buyers). For practitioners what is at stake is that the nature of the actors changed and therefore the play (economy and society) also changed, and in consequence the guidelines for behaviour, and policies should also change. The paper is a basis for follow up research employing by in-depth empirical analysis at macro (national) and micro (organizational) level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades a shift in marketing, corporate strategy, organizational and market dynamics has been recorded. A series of corporate scandals like ENRON and others has shown that corporations have a significant impact on a number of stakeholders and particularly customers. The notion that the customers can shift from one product or service provider to the other may not be as valid as some theories suggest. The markets are not perfect mechanisms and customers are not rational decision makers. Although marketing has introduced to the corporate culture the customer-centric approach the results are not as positive as they should be. The paper shows that marketing and corporate governance systems have many common elements and in fact they can be complementary in practice and theory. To establish the connection-correlation between them, the author is going to review the literature from both disciplines. As a next step, an analysis of impact of the customer as a party that has an interest in the firm is going to take place. Finally, two examples of this impact will depict the importance of a change in scope – goal, strategy and practices used by both disciplines in achieving the firm's mission and goals. The author shows that both can be benefit from the integration of mechanisms, principles and practices used by the marketing and corporate governance. The paper is the first step to create a theoretical convergence framework for these disciplines that seem completely separate. Marketing and corporate governance specialists and theorists may design a more comprehensive and holistic approach to customer that is more customer friendly, more long term and establishes a more successful and value creation (for both the customer and the corporation) relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has enabled identifying an object using a radio signal. RFID has become the talk of the day when world retail giants including Wal-Mart, Tesco, Target, and Albertsons announced their implementation of the technology to ensure efficient supply chain management, and, naturally, demanded that their suppliers meet RFID requirements. Today, these retailers boast some of the best supply chain systems and management in the industry worldwide. The increase in adoption and application of RFID, therefore, seems inevitable. It has been envisaged that the near future will see almost all new products sold to consumers having an RFID tag that can allow them to be remotely and uniquely identified and tracked. The potential impact of RFID on the South African retail industry is significant. This technology is mostly employed in supply chain management and customer relationship management. In supply chain management, RFID can benefit retailers in many ways apart from the mere identification of products and suppliers, such as monitoring the production process and the sequence of activities from the material production to delivery of the final products. Preliminary studies reveal that while South African retailers are aware of RFID and are interested in its adoption, few are actively engaged in pilot tests or planned implementations. Although, they are aware of its benefits, the relevance and its application in the South African retail sector is still limited. This paper reviews the relevance of RFID and the application in South African retail system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the Middle East has experienced remarkable developments in the travel and tourism industry. Travel bookings in Saudi Arabia is considered the largest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) worth more than $25 billion each year. The modern traveler expects the travel experience to be seamless, personalised and affordable. Satisfying the customer has become critical for any business wanting to retain and grow its customer base in the social media age. Customer-centric design is the process of building your product or service based on the wants, needs and challenges of your customers. Customer-centricity is more important than ever before. Being truly customer-centric, however, requires active means of listening to customers through User Experience (UX) research methods such as usability testing, surveys and customer interviews. This study focused on qualitative UX research conducted in the travel industry in the Middle East. The goal of the study was to start a process of UX research for the online travel agency to increase the organisation’s level of UX research maturity. A Middle East online travel agency (OTA) with two brands served as the case study. Brand 1 focused on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market, while Brand 2 focused on the Saudi-Arabian market. The UX research was conducted with Arabic and English speaking participants in Dubai and Riyadh. The research consisted of nine rounds, using methods suchs as one-on-one interviews and usability testing. The UX research assisted in gathering usability insights, abandonment points and insights into customer behaviour. Staff members in the organisation’s Product and UX teams were interviewed to rate the UX maturity within the organisation before and after this study. This paper highlights the results achieved in increasing the UX research maturity within the organisation, with an increase in alignment between teams, more focus on problem statements and identifying solutions that will impact the customer and improved outcomes. The study resulted in UX research being adopted as a way of working in the Fligths and Hotels digital channels of the OTA and the need to adopt this way of working in other teams in the organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a considerable period of time the western world has enjoyed the benefits of better talent, innovation and infrastructure over emerging economies. These emerging countries, including India and China, have unsuccessfully tried to bridge the gap with developed nations, thereby remaining middle-income countries. The advent of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution brought with it a new hope for these markets to compete directly with the developed nations. On top of this, AI delivers a greater impact of change and associated benefits to these markets compared with developed countries. To be competitive in the AI space one typically requires both, a mathematically literate talent pool and accessible data. If these are in place, investments usually follow. India and China, both, have a large pool of young, tech savvy mathematically literate talent. With the huge population and recent digitisation boom in both these countries, they are on a path to have the largest consumer data, unmatchable by any other economy. China and India now rank first and second respectively in terms of global internet data usage, leaving the US behind. With international investments flowing into Indian tech ventures, complemented with traditional home-grown businesses, India has risen to number two (52%) in the global Fintech adoption index, trailing only behind China (69%). Based on these factors, and a growing acceptance of AI, we have identified a new wave emanating which is elaborated in this paper: 1. Reversal of Offshore Outsourcing; 2. India as a Global Platform for innovative AI disruptors, on a massive scale [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed a wide and strong development of the sharing economy in various industries. As a result of the wide spread of intelligent mobile devices and customers' increasing digital skills, the use of collaborative platforms in tourism, in particular for accommodation services, has become an important alternative for many tourists. In this paper we try to investigate relevant aspects of the profile, motivations and habits of the Romanian tourists who are using Airbnb for renting accommodation services. Survey-based research was conducted during the summer of 2021, a period when very few COVID-19-related restrictions were being enforced in Romania regarding people's mobility and travel. The questionnaire was designed to capture not only the demographic, economic and social profile of the consumers, but also and more importantly the main aspects related to the type of travel (leisure versus business), the motivations of getting involved in the collaborative use of platforms etc., from a demand-side perspective. We have grouped the motivations for using Airbnb taking into account the following main classes of factors: price; comfort; ease of use and functionality; authenticity and local connection. Other investigated issues pertained to analyze the place of Airbnb compared to classical accommodation units, considering factors such as trust and efficacy. We found that there is a certain amount of conformity among the population in making the decision to book accommodation, but there is also an innovative trend, expressing people's desire to try other forms of accommodation that offer authenticity and new experiences, characteristics that are less common in traditional accommodation forms. Indirectly, we can identify several trends in respondents' preferences for tourist accommodation and consumption habits. Trends may include greater availability of accommodation alternatives, including through collaborative platforms and, gradually, the transformation of these alternative experiences into tourism consumption habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade there has been a growing academic interest in different forms of prosumer collaboration. Prosumers are everywhere and have the power to create value for themselves and for their peers, but especially for businesses in an open innovation approach. Thus, they are becoming an extremely important external partner in delivering added value in a competitive environment. Studies show that by integrating these new active consumers in new product or service development processes, firms and institutions can achieve a wide range of benefits such as: the development of products that match and satisfy customers' needs, the design, improvement and marketing promotion of new services and effective governmental campaigns. But how to address these new consumers, how to engage them in active participation for corporate innovation and effective leadership? Through an extensive literature analysis, the present paper aims to understand what defines a prosumer and what empowers consumers to participate and co-create value with and for an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the use of relationship marketing has been linked to customer loyalty so that companies can reach their customers in an innovative and effective way; knowing first the market, their customers and the products or services they offer. Likewise, achieving a great customer-company bond, for this reason the main objective of the research is to determine if there is a significant relationship between relationship marketing with the process of customer loyalty in custom arrangements companies, the study has a quantitative design, cross-sectional and correlational type, a survey was developed to 380 people with probabilistic sampling, the population was defined for men and women in Lima, the capital of Peru, The dimensions recognized were customer retention, communication, endomarketing, customer experience, information and internal marketing. The results showed that the location of these companies is of utmost importance for customers, and that customers in this area are very demanding in their requirements; on the other hand, a large percentage agreed with the services offered in these businesses since a good relationship is established between customers and employees. Finally, customers indicated that there is post-purchase follow-up and that the company has well-trained workers. In conclusion, it was obtained that most of the customers like to buy in this type of personalized arrangements stores and that they like to receive advice, the statistical inference tests also conclude that there is a significant relationship between relationship marketing and customer loyalty, thus verifying the hypothesis raised in the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the use of relationship marketing has been linked to customer loyalty so that companies can reach their customers in an innovative and effective way; knowing first the market, their customers and the products or services they offer. Likewise, achieving a great customer-company bond, for this reason the main objective of the research is to determine if there is a significant relationship between relationship marketing with the process of customer loyalty in custom arrangements companies, the study has a quantitative design, cross-sectional and correlational type, a survey was developed to 380 people with probabilistic sampling, the population was defined for men and women in Lima, the capital of Peru, The dimensions recognized were customer retention, communication, endomarketing, customer experience, information and internal marketing. The results showed that the location of these companies is of utmost importance for customers, and that customers in this area are very demanding in their requirements; on the other hand, a large percentage agreed with the services offered in these businesses since a good relationship is established between customers and employees. Finally, customers indicated that there is post-purchase follow-up and that the company has well-trained workers. In conclusion, it was obtained that most of the customers like to buy in this type of personalized arrangements stores and that they like to receive advice, the statistical inference tests also conclude that there is a significant relationship between relationship marketing and customer loyalty, thus verifying the hypothesis raised in the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many markets, including the courier market. This market still has great potential. Thanks to the introduced innovations and due to the growing demand for courier services and the development of e-commerce, it is currently one of the most dynamically developing industries. In the face of the pandemic, courier companies had to adapt to the new operating conditions. The implementation of innovations (i.e. parcel lockers) has become one of the key development trends in the contemporary mechanisms of for creating the competitiveness of enterprises. Parcel lockers introduced by InPost in Poland in 2009 now operate in other countries, there are over 23,000 of them in Europe. They are also located in Asia, both Americas, as well as in the Middle East and Africa. The aim of the article is to show the reaction of courier companies to the COVID-19 pandemic through the example of InPost. The article also demonstrates that difficult pandemic conditions cause adjustment processes on the courier market related to the implementation of innovations by courier companies. Various innovative solutions introduced by InPost during the pandemic were analysed. The main features of InPost courier services that distinguish the company's activity compared to its competitors have been identified. It was shown that the company reacted innovatively to the difficult pandemic conditions, and its actions were positively assessed by consumers. To support this view, in the empirical part of the article, we will look at the research conducted in 2021 in Poland. The survey was conducted among young consumers (students of Lublin University of Technology aged 19-26). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks change the way how companies conduct their marketing activities. Potential customers become part of companies' marketing activities instead of just being passive participants. The ability to actively involve customers thus becomes a critical factor in the success of marketing activities. The study aims to determine how the posts' different content on the companies' Facebook pages affects the engagement of the message recipients. A retrospective, longitudinal study approach was used. Five hundred fifty-three posts from the four Slovak largest fuel retail sellers' Facebook pages were analyzed. The results revealed the significant difference in the medians of the passive engagement (χ2 (3, N = 533) = 85.685, p-value = < 0.0001) and active engagement (χ2 (3, N = 533) = 85.685, p-value = < 0.0001) according to different content types. The paired rank differences suggest that while entertainment messages (EM) significantly encourage both types of engagement (passive and active), informational messages (IM) and social messages (SM) encourage mainly passive engagement. The study extends the research on active and passive customer engagement, and thus, it contributes directly to understanding engagement and customer experience with social media and expands the knowledge about the Facebook content strategy. Finally, it offers recommendations for future research in the examined area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a highly disruptive technology that will have major effects on the business world over the coming years. It has the potential to allow companies to achieve major efficiency gains and a more productive workforce through automating existing processes, providing deeper levels of analytics, providing better customer support, and increasing security. On the other hand, it may lead to lower staff levels and a drop in existing employee morale. Given the complexities of these projects, AI will only benefit organisations if they understand its capabilities in addition to its shortcomings. This investigation addresses the predicted impact on skills, roles and employee morale of artificial intelligence on the workforce of the future as AI continues to become more prevalent in our society. We investigate these impacts of AI specifically across four key industries by engaging in interviews with experts in the field to answer two research questions: (i) What are the core impacts of introducing AI systems in the workplace?, and; (ii) How can organisations develop AI projects for successful transformation? The inclusion strategy for this research were professionals who were highly knowledgeable in the area, and from our findings we were able to identify several impacts that AI made to companies developing these projects; namely employment levels, workforce morale, and process efficiency. With these insights, we subsequently developed a roadmap which contains the recommended steps and decisions that are necessary for successfully introducing AI to an organisation. This roadmap visualises the key decisions and steps that are critical for any AI based initiative for organisations, which will provide practitioners with a higher level of understanding of what is expected, in addition to enabling more effective collaboration with the system developers. Furthermore, this roadmap allows organisations to take a positive and proactive approach to designing these systems with their workforce in mind and to prepares them for the implications with the development, deployment, and use of these AI systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a competitive and continually changing tourism and hospitality sector the need for high qualified and motivated human resources, which meet the current and future business demands is more than ever imperative. As tourism is expected to thrive in the coming years, it is essential for tourism employees to have intrapersonal and interpersonal abilities that lead to positive interactions with customers, contributing to their memorable emotional experiences and delivering at the same time benefits to the tourism industry. On the other hand, putting emphasis on Emotional Intelligence development, through innovative training programs and educational methods, can lead to qualified personnel, which apart from cognitive abilities can also develop emotional abilities, significant for the tourism sector. In this framework, an education and training program that implements Transformative Learning theory, based on critical reflection, rational discourse, and experience, can motivate tourism employees to get outside of their comfort zones and change their assumptions, their dysfunctional beliefs, their values, and the way of being in the world. In a multicultural environment, such as the tourism field, the implementation of Transformative Learning can lead individuals to be more inclusive, open to new cultures and ideas, re-establishing their perspectives and behaviors to be more functional. Additionally, the utilization of digital learning environments, which are extremely popular in the recent years and characterized by flexibility and ubiquity, can contribute to the effectiveness of the learning process and the improvement of Emotional Intelligence. This research presents a training program that embraces the advantages of digital learning environments utilizing Transformative Learning as a pedagogical tool for the development of Emotional Intelligence in the tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on micro-environmental factors (Casado-Aranda et al, 2021) related to changes in consumers' travel behaviours, arising from COVID-19. It seeks to understand if risk perception associated with COVID had an impact on travel intentions of residents in Portugal and if there are changes, regarding more sustainable choices, in 2021 summer holiday's intentions. Data was collected through an online questionnaire between December 2020 and March 2021 (overlapping the first 3 months of the vaccination process, corresponding to 5% of the full vaccination of the Portuguese (Our World in Data, 2021) and reflects short-term effects (Miao et al, 2021) on the travel behaviours of residents in Portugal (n=610). Almost half of the participants (48,5%) responded positively to the probability of going on holidays in 2021. From these, the majority (64,2%) intended to travel only to domestic destinations, mostly justified by the willingness to help the country (54,5% of those who considered likely to go on holidays) and not as much as a risk perception associated to the pandemic (only referred by 26,8%). As for holiday's consumption intentions, residents expressed concerns that may have a positive impact on the socio economical sustainability of the destinations. In fact, from those who considered likely to travel, 71,6% referred that they will prefer national products, 64,5% will value more than before certified touristic services and 57,4% intends to shop mostly in small traditional business. In terms of environmental sustainability, 59,5% will have an increased concern in reserving touristic services environmentally responsible. Results emphasize the need for reflection on the effective positioning of sustainability issues concerning the tourism sector's future. COVID-19 has created an opportunity for tourism to review and relaunch itself, based on more responsible and sustainable approaches (Brouder, 2020; Casado- Aranda et al, 2021; Jones and Confort, 2020). It's important to understand to what extent consumers are willing to assume more sustainable behaviours in their future travel options. These results ask for future research regarding the importance of understanding the difference between tourists' stated intentions and effective actions when it comes to sustainable travel behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in customer insight has made inroads in academic discourse to identify strategic sources of information about customers, markets and competition while encompassing diverse activities and processes. Customer insight (CI) use and the related influencing factors in a start-up context remain largely under-explored, as existing literature in entrepreneurial management and marketing domains focuses on established companies. Start-ups generate significant strategic value when using CI to create innovative offerings in fast-evolving markets. CI represents, therefore, a strategic management means to strengthen a firm's responsiveness to environmental threats and opportunities by identifying what drives customers' attitudes and behaviour. This study presents a systematic literature review on CI use, examining recent advances and seeks to broaden our current understanding of how start-ups use CI to create new business opportunities. The key findings suggest that despite a moderate yet growing research interest on start-ups' responsiveness to customers' wants and needs through the use of CI, some issues remain unaddressed. We identify two significant gaps in the reviewed literature. The first gap is the lack of a detailed classification that may describe the processes of CI generation or acquisition, dissemination, interpretation, implementation and storage. The second gap relates to factors that influence start-ups' use of CI. Disregarding these findings implies dismissing the benefits of CI adoption for a start-up to achieve a competitive advantage, successful performance, and scalable business model. We aim to use the findings emerging from this study to extend the existing understanding of how start-ups respond to shifts in the marketplace and determine a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic word-of-mouth (i.e. eWOM) reviews are increasingly acknowledged as important information source that facilitate consumers to make purchase decisions. Given the increasing competition in the tourism industry, a key question is to investigate how the nature of the online reviews affect the destination choice of tourism destinations (i.e., TD). Drawing on Persuasion and Schema Theory, the aim of this research is to assess the direct and interaction effects of three characteristics of online posts: (i) source of the review (user-generated vs. firm-generated content), (ii) familiarity of the destination (low vs. high), and (iii) focus of the review (general about the TD vs. specific about a concrete attribute of the TD) on two dependent outputs: (i) the perceived informativeness and (ii) persuasiveness of the online review. The research used a 2x2x2 experimental design based on an online survey of tourists who use social media platforms to test the hypotheses raised. A total of 875 people residents in Spain and who had travelled at least once in the last twelve months for leisure participated in the study. Subjects were randomized to one of eight experimental conditions using Tripadvisor comments about real TDs. We employed 7-point Likert scales previously developed in the academic literature to measure the constructs. The results of the ANOVAs showed a main effect for the source of the review on persuasiveness and informativeness; the reviews made by a particular user were significantly more persuasive and informative than the reviews made by the TD itself. In addition, the reviews made on the more familiar TD were perceived as significantly less informative than those made on the less familiar destination. Regarding the interaction effects, a significant one was found between the source of the comment and the focus of the review on the persuasiveness and informativeness. When the source of the message is a user, a general comment about the TD is more persuasive and informative. However, when the source of the message is the destination itself, a specific comment is more persuasive and informative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social media has become a key tenet for both consumers, and tourism and hospitality service providers. On the one hand, consumers can learn from other consumers´ experiences about companies and services. On the other hand, tourism and hospitality service providers can inform consumers about their offers in an interactive and engaging way. However, eWOM in social media can be both a benefit and a hazard for service providers. While positive eWOM can encourage consumers to use the service, negative eWOM can prevent consumers to do so. Therefore, a better knowledge of the effect of eWOM in social media on consumers´ behavioral intentions is a relevant topic in tourism and hospitality research with important implications for managers. Using an experimental design and a sample of real TripAdvisor users, this research main goal is to gain a better understanding of the effect of positive/negative eWOM on consumers´ behavioral intentions. More specifically this research analyzes the effect of reviews valence sequence manipulating the positive/negative and negative/positive sequence. Main results suggest that valence sequence matters with reviews beginning with positive commentaries significantly affecting consumers´ behavioral intentions. Managerial implications for tourism and hospitality service providers are provided. Limitations of the study and future research lines are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of product's commercialization a variety of marketing techniques, both ethical and not ethical (i.e. manipulation techniques) are used. They vary depending on the subject of commercialization. No matter that, new, innovative ways to reach and convince consumer to the offered product are always being looked for. Regional and traditional products, in the context of the market process, can be considered innovative. Their most important attributes are long, at least 30 year tradition of producing, high-quality ingredients from the region and method of production and authenticity. These features should be highlighted in the marketing in a special way. To do this, theoretical methods for the commercialization of these products can be created, but their clash with the realities of the market can really reduce their effectiveness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify effective methods of implementation and maintenance of traditional and regional products on the market. The study was conducted in two groups of respondents: producers of traditional and regional products and their consumers. The purposeful sampling has been made. The method of focus group interview was applied. Respondents were asked about these products' value for customer, willingness to pay by consumers, manufacturers' cost, purchase convenience and communication between producer and consumer, consumers' and producers' satisfaction, the commitment on both sides. Obtained results showed, that consumer expectations of traditional and regional foods are inconsistent with the marketing strategies of manufacturers. Consumers do not pay attention to the origin (territoriality) and traditionalism, much more important for them are high quality which indirectly guarantees high health benefits, freshness, and the availability of products (e.g. possibility of buying in big chain stores or over the Internet). Regional products create new opportunities for innovative marketing enrolling in a sensory and nostalgic marketing, and the creation of modern distribution channels and marketing communications. The aim of the study was to show, that traditional and regional products can be positioned on the market as innovative products. There is an opportunity for them to be sold in new channels of distribution. Manufacturers have to notice that consumers perceive regional and traditional food as high quality, fresh and healthy products and have to emphasize these features of traditional products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Delone and McLean IS success model (1992), this qualitative study explores customer relationship management (CRM) system success factors. A case research approach was applied to examine CRM applications in three organizations. Through these case studies, five factors of CRM success were explored, namely: system quality, customer information quality, system use, user satisfaction, and system impacts. With regard to system quality, a main determinant of success was the system's primary characteristics. CRM systems can be categorized as operational, analytical and collaborative, based on their characteristics. The study showed how system's characteristics directly affect the purpose of system use. Operational CRM systems are mostly used for providing customer services. Analytical systems are primarily used for decision support. Collaborative systems are used both for work integration and providing service for internal and external customers. The study showed that if systems properly address users' expectations and employees have the required skills to work with systems, employees are more willing to utilize the capabilities of systems to support CRM processes and, in turn, are more satisfied with the outcomes. Customer information quality relates to system quality; integrated CRM systems that are based on standard platforms are more capable of generating high quality customer information in a timely manner. Individual and organizational impacts of CRM systems were explored. Individual productivity, improved decision making and planning, learning and awareness were shown to be important individual benefits that CRM systems provide for employees. At the organizational level, the study showed that CRM systems help organizations to acquire and share more knowledge about their customers, and improve business processes, products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a critical issue in sustaining competitive advantage. Therefore speedy availability and a high transfer and reusability of knowledge as a basis for innovation is urgently needed in order to enable customer knowledge management innovation teams to enable efficient, effective innovative work in specific knowledge-intensive business processes. In this context learning from the customer is of primary interest. Starting from the presentation of an ambidextrous leadership model of teams we will disucss some limitations. As this current approach cannot truly demonstrate the possibilities of fostering team innovation there is a need for an improved approach. To address this problem we will broaden the ambidextrous leadership model of teams and combine it with the author's recent research in customer knowledge management. In detail three aspects will be discussed, namely the characteristics of knowledge, the involved knowledge processes and finally a customer knowledge management model, the so called TOMI-customer knowledge model, for forstering team innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]