How does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?: the case study of Guimarães

To date few studies have been undertaken in Portugal dealing with the attitudes, motivations, and profile of tourists who visit World Heritage Sites. Also, few studies have dealt with destination image (e.g., Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2010; Lopes, 2011). As far as it is known, none have approached the issue of gender differences in the choice of a Portuguese heritage destination. Since cultural tourism destinations need to differentiate themselves from each other, appropriate market segmentation must be based on a deep understanding of the customers’ motivations and preferences. Keeping in mind results from empirical literature (e.g., Silberberg, 1995; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Richards, 2004; Pérez, 2009; Sheng, Shen, & Chen, 2008), gender seems to be a possible approach to market segmentation, whether for Guimarães or for other cultural tourism destinations around the world. Located in the north-western region of Portugal, Guimarães is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical centre as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study analyses the possible relation between gender and attitudes and motivations towards a World Heritage Site, such as Guimarães. Additionally, the empirical approach used in the study tries to capture differences in the perceived attributes of the city. Commonalities and distinctions within and between groups of tourists, by focusing on the specific characteristic of gender, were analysed. The study addressed two main questions: first, whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination; and, second, whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences.

SUPPLIER INVOLVEMENT IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY

Global competition requires that the companies adapt themselves to technological changes rapidly, develop new products, reduce the cost, shorten the time to market, and increase the quality. In this context, supplier involvement in New Product Development (NPD) is determinant for a company to respond to the requirements of the increasingly dynamic markets. The main purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the importance of supplier involvement in NPD, buyer-supplier relationships and their effects on buyer’s NPD process, highlighting the benefits of supplier involvement, the barriers, the strategic aspects and industry aspects. These issues are addressed with a case study from the semiconductor industry. Besides helping to understand NPD in the semiconductor industry, the contribution and fi ndings of this work are clear: the results achieved confirm the findings of studies referred in the literature review, and confirm that the semiconductor industry sector requires a closer and more complex relationship structure with suppliers, given the specificities and challenges of the sector, such as rapid technological changes, permanent innovation, global competition, reduction of cost and time-to-market cycle, increased capacity, among other. The main contribution of the paper to the scientific literature and to managers is the better understanding of the buyer-supplier relationships in NPD in the semiconductor industry.