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Tourism is truly an international/global industry. Tourism is vital to the economy of a country and sustainable tourism development requires an understanding of the complex interrelationships and interactions among a multitude of environmental factors and interdisciplinary forces that play a critical role in tourism development. While overall the field of tourism has been abundantly researched, there are certain areas where there is a paucity of research, namely, competition analysis, branding and positioning. Our research contributes to this extremely important but relatively less researched subject. Specifically, we study the relationship between destination development and its brand image. We develop a conceptual model which identifies various constructs, processes and linkages involved in the relationship between destination development and its brand image. We propose that the brand image has three components corresponding to the three stages of consumption/travel, namely, pre-travel, during travel, and posttravel. in developing this model we draw upon the interdisciplinary nature of tourism and discuss a variety of influences, such as, economic, social, cultural, political and psychological factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The marketing of food products to children through online media has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in high-income countries, where children spend considerable amounts of time on computers. Most food products marketed to children online are obesity-causing, and childhood obesity has grown to epidemic proportions, with harmful effects on society. Marketers use creative methods to engage children online, entertaining them, offering rewards and promoting products through interactive activities. Online media is monitored much less than conventional media and little is known about online marketing of food to children. This study seeks to examine policies related to food marketing in three high-income countries, France, Spain, and the USA, and their impact on the methods marketers use to engage children. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a conceptual framework linking several aspects of the policies and the socio-cultural environments in these countries with the design of the food companies' web sites. Six hypotheses are advanced based on this framework and tested using content analysis. Findings – The findings of this study indicate that there are significant differences in online marketing of food products to children in the three countries studied in the authors' research, France, Spain, and the USA, and these differences are largely attributable to these countries' policies. The web sites of French food companies placed greater emphasis on nutrition-related and interactions-related features compared to the web sites of US and Spanish food companies. On the other hand, the web sites of US and Spanish food companies placed greater emphasis on games-related, rewards-related, attributes-related, and brand-related features compared to the web sites of French food companies. These differences in the web sites were conceptualized to result from the differences in the socio-cultural and policy/regulatory environments of the three countries. Originality/value – The study provides several useful insights related to understanding of consumer behavior, consumer policy, and design of food companies' web sites in the three countries. The design of food companies' web sites in terms of their emphasis on different categories of features reflects the companies' understanding of consumers in the respective country and government policy and enforcement of online communications. The article provides a conceptual framework that identifies six factors hypothesized to influence the design of food companies' web sites, three related to the socio-cultural environment, namely attitudes toward health and nutrition, food and nutrition communication, and brand building, and three related to the policy/regulatory environment, namely, government regulatory agencies, self-regulation by companies, and enforcement and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing tourist behaviors and identifies three categories of behaviors based on the applications of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and the processes underlying these influences. Our findings indicate that tourist behaviors in the Before-Travel, During-Travel, and After-Travel stages differ significantly in terms of the applicability and process through which Hofstede's cultural dimensions operate. The results of our analysis suggest three categories of behavioral patterns, namely, "Social Interaction Driven Travel Behaviors," (SID), "Risk Tendencies Driven Travel Behaviors," (RTD), and "Collectivity Orientation Driven Travel Behaviors," (COD). SID relates to the evaluation of travel experiences in the after-travel stage. The dominant cultural values associated with SID are Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, and Power Distance. These three values act either independently or in pairs or all three together. RTD relates to the consumption of travel products in the during-travel stage, and COD relates to the formation of travel preferences in the before-travel stage. Individualism/Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance are associated with both RTD and COD. However, the underlying processes differ for these two categories of travel behaviors. In addition to their independent influences on travel behaviors, these two values associated with RTD and COD also have an interactive effect. For RTD, the Uncertainty Avoidance motive determines the Individualism/Collectivism outcome, whereas, for COD, the opposite is true: the Individualism/Collectivism determines the Uncertainty Avoidance outcome. The paper also discusses the application of a fifth cultural dimension, Confucian Dynamism (short-term versus long-term orientation), for the study of tourists' behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the preferences of consumers in Eastern Europe towards Western style of fashion. Social conformity on dressing; Influence of advertising; Implication to marketing.

This article describes the sharp contrast between the state of marketing in Romania before and after the fall of communism. The present study is a qualitative pilot survey that attempted to provide a first step in this direction. Despite Romanians' limited exposure to polling practices, and their reticence in revealing personal information, the study was able to obtain some consensus on the perceptions of the developments of marketing in Bucharest, in light of Romania's specific transition process. Two limitations of this study need to be addressed in future research. First, the study used a small sample of 100, drawn from the capital city of Bucharest. While Bucharest represents a unique blend of population drawn from several parts of Romania, for the findings to be applicable to Romania in general, it is suggested that larger samples should be used expanding the study beyond Bucharest to include cities in other urban as well as rural areas. Second, the recommendations related to the four Ps of marketing in Romania should be taken as broad guidelines and basic insights can be drawn from this pilot study. There is a need to investigate many of the managerial issues related to the marketing strategy in Romania in greater depth and future research effort should be devoted to this.

The transition economies of Eastern Europe present both the opportunities and challenges for companies operating in these markets. On one hand, these countries have a large number of technology savvy young consumers, and on the other, the markets must also take into consideration the macro-environment of a country and market conditions which make the use of certain market technologies more feasible and attractive compared to others. It is certainly true in terms of the timing for introduction of various technologies in a country. Drawing analogy for the "IDITAROD RACE" we develop three different "Sled Dog Team layouts" for market characteristics and technologies for three Eastern European countries, namely, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Albania. The ten market characteristics included in our research are: digital connectivity divide, economic power, demand type, privacy laws, demographics, and competitive conditions, attitude towards technology, institutional maturity, corporate social responsibility, and corruption. The ten marketing technologies included in our research are: digital profiling, segmentation, websites, and search engines marketing, campaign management, content management, social media, mobile application, digital collaborations, and analytics. Company case studies are analyzed and reported for each of these three countries which support the three models presented in our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations of today face numerous challenges, and training their sales force is definitely high on its agenda. This paper endeavors to contribute to the sales training field by providing a comprehensive state-of-the art and contemporary review through the study of publications in sales training research in the last 30 years (1985-2014). The specific objectives of the review are to study the chronological trends and structural distribution of sales training research in terms of the research type, research focus, methods, research themes and other issues such as methodology, analytical techniques, geographical region etc. Findings of 56 articles on sales training research published in the last three decades are analyzed and directions for future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]