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This research aimed to investigate the impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in measuring the service quality of the recreational vehicle tourism industry in New Zealand. SERVQUAL model was employed to measure the service quality among RV rental service providers (Maui and Mighty) in New Zealand. Data was collected from the websites of Maui and Mighty which belong to Tourism Holdings Ltd (thl). A quantitative research approach was adopted to analyze the demographic features of the customers. The study analyzed 461 online customer reviews using qualitative method to measure RV tourism service quality in New Zealand. Findings showed that reviews were more about the tangible factors of the services and were most frequently coded and represented 60.4 percent of the total. Nearly 70 percent of reviews were positive about the services of RV tourism industry. This study revealed that eWOM could conclusively indicate the service quality from direct customer feedback. eWOM would benefit customers, business managers, and tourism industry. This study was conducted in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic so this gave us an opportunity to analyze the customers' reviews during lockdown period. Further research is necessary to ascertain the impact of eWOM on recreational vehicle tourism industry after COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Organizations face tensions to conform to industry norms for legitimacy yet differentiate for competitive advantage when implementing strategies. We suggest this tension is due to and resolved through organizations’ cognitive negotiations of multiple levels of identity. Through an inductive study in the recreational vehicle industry, we find that organizations concurrently draw on identities at the organizational, industry, and strategic group levels to formulate and enact specific competitive actions. Specifically, we find that organizational identity relates to decisions on product offerings; industry identity relates to downstream strategy; and strategic group identity relates to upstream strategy, firm boundaries, and expansion mode. Our findings highlight the importance of strategic group identity and inform a grounded model describing how organizations draw upon different levels of identity to influence strategy. Managerial Summary: Many managers experience tensions of differentiating their firms’ competitive actions from rivals, while conforming with industry norms and practices. In this article, we argue that a manager can navigate these tensions by understanding their firm, strategic group, and industry identities and how these identities interrelate. Through a qualitative case study of the U.S. recreational vehicle industry, we show that each level of identity influences different competitive actions, with firm identity connected to product offerings, industry identity related to managing downstream distribution, and strategic group identity related to firm boundary and acquisition strategies. Overall, strategic group identity is the most critical for managers as this level filters how they view competitors and provides the rules of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freedom camping is fuelling nationwide political debate in Australia as a rapidly expanding recreational vehicle (RV) market impresses upon regional and urban communities its strongdesireto avoid traditional caravan parks and the features that they present/represent. Community leaders are being lobbied to consider the needs of all types of caravanning visitors to their communities. Conflict and positional power struggles are thus surfacing within national caravanning communities and within national, state and local community governance arenas. This paper provides an overview and an assessment of the history and status quo of the issues. It is structured to first set the broader political contest within a local context, and this informs a working definition of freedom camping. We then review the growing, but limited and fragmented, international literature concerning freedom camping; discuss the phenomenon of freedom camping with reference to supply and demand issues, including the oversimplified descriptions of freedom campers' motivations; and finally, highlight the complex nature of stakeholder engagement and influences on policies as they relate to freedom camping through policy dialogues. The planning and management of spaces and places as limited resources are inherently political activities and are valued for a variety of competing uses by users with diverse perceptions and motivations across time. Through this exploratory analysis, we identify the perspectives of key stakeholders in the policy process, provide a baseline for future discourse on issues relating to freedom camping and conclude with a call for further critical analysis on this subject to inform rational debate on policy-making, planning and management implications for regional and urban communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The rental fleet scheduling problem (RFSP) arises in vehicle-rental operations that offer a wide variety of vehicle types to customers, and allow a rented vehicle to 'migrate' to a setdown depot other than the pickup depot. When there is a shortage of vehicles of a particular type at a depot, vehicles may be relocated to that depot, or vehicles of similar types may be substituted. The RFSP involves assigning vehicles to rentals so as to minimise the costs of these operations, and arises in both static and online contexts. The authors have adapted a well-known assignment algorithm for application in the online context. In addition, a network-flow algorithm with more comprehensive coverage of problem conditions is used to investigate the determination of rental pricing using revenue management principles. The paper concludes with an outline of the algorithms' use in supporting the operations of a large recreational vehicle rental company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer shows are widely used throughout the world by recreational organizations. Although their use is rampant, little empirical research has been completed to understand the motivations of visitors they attract. The main purpose of this study was to identify different segments of visitors attending RV and camping shows based on the underlying dimensions of their motivations. A total of 411 attendees to four RV and camping shows conducted in Michigan during 2005 were surveyed. Factor analysis performed on the motivations for attendance showed five underlying dimensions for show attendance while subsequent k-means cluster analysis distinguished five segments of visitors. Chi-square and ANOVA tests revealed that these market segments are significantly different regarding their purchase cycle stage, product usage, and show behavior. Recognition of different types of show customers have important marketing implications, especially regarding customer retention and market development, which this article discusses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the design culture on custom automotive coachbuilding in the U.S. between 1900 to 1940. The author mentions that custom designed and crafted automobiles existed in the U.S. because wealthy men and women were not contented with the standard offerings of luxury automobile manufacturers. He explains that they were willing to send additional sums on coachwork custom designed by a separate company and placed on the bare chassis supplied by the auto company. The author also explains the custom automotive designs were created by designers who have artistic background and employees of the coachbuilding firms.

Researchers examined snowmobiles made and marketed by Arctic Cat, Bombardier (Ski-Doo), Polaris, and Yamaha to determine carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions in Yellowstone.

The use of part of a garden centre's car park in the Warwickshire green belt has been authorised for the display of motor homes for hire and sale, an inspector [...]

Ex-Gov. Terry Branstad (R) is up with a new TV ad, produced by Alfano Communications. Full script, 'Conservative Change': ANNCR: 'The farm crisis. Budget deficits. Skyrocketing unemployment. That's what Terry [...]

The retention of a motor home hire business in rural South Yorkshire has been rejected despite claims that it offered benefits to a neighbouring farm and in promoting outdoor recreation. [...]

An overnight stopover site and picnic area for motorhomes has been rejected at a site in Pembrokeshire on the grounds that it would cause visual harm to the countryside. The [...]

An enforcement notice directed against the storage of a motorhome on farmland in the Wirral has been upheld following a ruling that it constituted a material change of use that [...]

An enforcement notice directed against the sale of motor homes, caravans and forklift trucks at a garden centre in the metropolitan green belt in Middlesex has been upheld due to [...]

Pennsylvania-based WATT Fuel Cell Corporation is working with Erwin Hymer Group North America (EHGNA) to test the Imperium™ hybrid solid oxide fuel cell power management system onboard a recreational vehicle (RV, or motorhome). The first Imperium system was installed in an EHGNA E-Trek autonomous vehicle, showcased at the recent Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massachusetts-based Protonex Technology is deferring the launch of its M250-B product into the US recreational vehicle (RV) market, originally planned for this year. The delay is to allow the company to focus more of its near-term technical and business development resources onto the military version of this product, the M250-CX. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]