Co-creation in hospitality industry: a case study on the drivers of traveler-generated content

User-generated content in travel industry is the phenomenon studied in this research, which aims to fill the literature gap on the drivers to write reviews on TripAdvisor. The object of study is relevant from a managerial standpoint since the motivators that drive users to co-create can shape strategies and be turned into external leverages that generate value for brands through content production. From an academic perspective, the goal is to enhance literature on the field, and fill a gap on adherence of local culture to UGC given industry structure specificities. The business’ impact of UGC is supported by the fact that it increases e-commerce conversion rates since research undertaken by Ye, Law, Gu and Chen (2009) states each 10% in traveler review ratings boosts online booking in more than 5%. The literature review builds a theoretical framework on required concepts to support the TripAdvisor case study methodology. Quantitative and qualitative data compound the methodological approach through literature review, desk research, executive interview, and user survey which are analyzed under factor and cluster analysis to group users with similar drivers towards UGC. Additionally, cultural and country-specific aspects impact user behavior. Since hospitality industry in Brazil is concentrated on long tail – 92% of hotels in Brazil are independent ones (Jones Lang LaSalle, 2015, p. 7) – and lesser known hotels take better advantage of reviews – according to Luca (2011) each one Yelp-star increase in rating, increases in 9% independent restaurant revenue whereas in chain restaurants the reviews have no effect – , this dissertation sought to understand UGC in the context of travelers from São Paulo (Brazil) and adopted the case of TripAdvisor to describe what are the incentives that drives user’s co-creation among targeted travelers. It has an outcome of 4 different clusters with different drivers for UGC that enables to design marketing strategies, and it also concludes there’s a big potential to convert current content consumers into producers, the remaining importance of friends and family referrals and the role played by incentives. Among the conclusions, this study lead us to an exploration of positive feedback and network effect concepts, a reinforcement of the UGC relevance for long tail hotels, the interdependence across content production, consumption and participation; and the role played by technology allied with behavioral analysis to take effective decisions. The adherence of UGC to hospitality industry, also outlines the formulation of the concept present in the dissertation title of “Traveler-Generated Content”.

Drivers de inovação em modelos de negócios

O objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender quais drivers que afetam a inovação em modelos de negócio de startup. A revisão da literatura sugere quatro drivers de inovação: criatividade/experimentação, direção estratégica, contexto econômico e pressão do steakeholder. Além desses, há também e um driver de resistência a mudança, caminhando no sentido inverso à inovação, que é a lógica dominante da firma. A pesquisa utiliza o método de estudo de casos múltiplo, a partir de quatro casos de startups de tecnologia que apresentam características de inovação disruptiva em seu modelo de negócio. A análise dos casos mostrou que o driver ‘contexto econômico’ tem predominância na fase de criação do modelo de negócio, enquanto ‘criatividade/experimentação’ e ‘direção estratégica’ tem maior efeito com a evolução do negócio. A ‘pressão do stakeholder’ tem efeito indireto, ao aumentar a influência dos demais drivers. Já a ‘lógica dominante da firma’ não apresentou evidências de influência. Esta pesquisa contribui para o avanço da teoria na compreensão dos motivadores de inovação dos modelos de negócio em startups de tecnologia. A pesquisa encontrou evidências da ocorrência de queda na criatividade/experimentação com o passar do tempo, levando a uma maior rigidez e menor nível de inovação dos modelos de negócio. Como estudo de caso múltiplos, as descobertas desta pesquisa ficam restritas a generalizações teóricas dentro de seu contexto.

Gestão da satisfação e fidelidade do cliente :um estudo dos fatores que influenciam a satisfação e a fidelidade no turismo regional

This Thesis presents a contribution to the study of models of customer satisfaction, analyzing the relationship between construct satisfaction and its antecedents and consequences, carrying through a survey with tourists who live in states of northeast region, had used to travel by bus or their own car and used hotel of Natal in the period from march to june at 2004. The theory research is focused in concepts of customer satisfaction and loyalty, quality management system models and customer satisfaction measurement index models. For the field survey was applied a model with questions based on the norwegian customer satisfaction barometer - NCSB considered for Johnson et al., 2001 with 92 tourists. The results gotten for the multiple regression evidence that tourist satisfaction with respect to the hotel suffer fort influences of six drivers of quality and complaints management. However the factors that influencing tourist loyalty with hotel are affective commitment, satisfaction with the hotel and the complaints management

Competição e regulamentação no transporte de passageiros: Um estúdio no transporte rodoviário intermunicipal

The objective of this research is the verification of the competition in the intecity market, after the entrance of new competitors (vans and microbus) regulated and clandestine. For verification of this new view was effected one research of documentary character for the knowledge of the regulation and exploratory character of the system Natal - territory of the Seridó, for thus in making will know this problematic, well as its characteristics, attractivenesses and development of the territory of the Seridó, and its link with the Capital (Natal). Later, through a descriptive exploratory research of the type survey with the passengers to know as these are being taken care and its satisfaction in relation to the regulated companies. With the drivers if focus effected one group, and with the staff of the of sale ticket a research survey, aiming at to know the strategies used for the only company of bus that takes care of the territory of the Seridó, the implantation of these and the consequence of the user. In accordance with the generic tipologia of Porter and its strategies, were perceived that the bus company adopted the strategy of price leadership being competitive, using to advantage its bigger space in the market, already vans and the microbuses with its limited participation bet in a strategy of "differentiation" in its service, effecting faster trips and in the strategy of "approach" we find the not regulated services earn the service to the taste of the user

Uma fonte chaveada de 50kW com correção de fator de potência para alimentação de uma tocha de plasma Indutiva utilizando técnicas de controle digital

This work deals with the development of an experimental study on a power supply of high frequency that provides the toch plasmica to be implemented in PLASPETRO project, which consists of two static converters developed by using Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT). The drivers used to control these keys are triggered by Digital Signal Processor (DSP) through optical fibers to reduce problems with electromagnetic interference (EMI). The first stage consists of a pre-regulator in the form of an AC to DC converter with three-phase boost power factor correction which is the main theme of this work, while the second is the source of high frequency itself. A series-resonant inverter consists of four (4) cell inverters operating in a frequency around 115 kHz each one in soft switching mode, alternating itself to supply the load (plasma torch) an alternating current with a frequency of 450 kHz. The first stage has the function of providing the series-resonant inverter a DC voltage, with the value controlled from the power supply provided by the electrical system of the utility, and correct the power factor of the system as a whole. This level of DC bus voltage at the output of the first stage will be used to control the power transferred by the inverter to the load, and it may vary from 550 VDC to a maximum of 800 VDC. To control the voltage level of DC bus driver used a proportional integral (PI) controller and to achieve the unity power factor it was used two other proportional integral currents controllers. Computational simulations were performed to assist in sizing and forecasting performance. All the control and communications needed to stage supervisory were implemented on a DSP

As fontes de desgaste físico e emocional e a Síndrome de Burnout no setor de transporte coletivo urbano de Natal

Recognizing the importance the workplace has on mental health of the individual, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the burnout syndrome and the sources of physical and emotional wear which permeate the work conditions of the urban public transport system of the city of Natal. Although existent in international literature, research on burnout in the professional transport category and studies directed to this category are not a tradition in Brazil. The research was carried out using 412 drivers and money-changers of two transport companies of Natal. To collect the data, two questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were used. The first instrument, developed and validated during the research, investigated the sources of wear and the second, the syndrome of burnout. As its main results, two sources of empirical wear were identified as follows: (1) the Conflict of Values and the Lack of Justice at the Workplace, (2) Union and Reward. Besides these, it was observed that there is an incidence of the syndrome of burnout among the drivers and money-changers of urban transport by bus, not only in the caring occupations studied before in Natal and Brazil and that this incidence is related to the sources of wear which permeate the work conditions of these professionals

Z(bus) transmission network cost allocation

This paper addresses the problem of allocating the cost of the transmission network to generators and demands. A physically-based network usage procedure is proposed. This procedure exhibits desirable apportioning properties and is easy to implement and understand. A case study based on the IEEE 24-bus system is used to illustrate the working of the proposed technique. Some relevant conclusions are finally drawn.

Sleep apnea and automobile accidents: Review of regulation for drivers

Several studies show a crescent association between sleep-disordered breathing, excessive sleepiness and automobile accidents. Many countries already discussed about specific regulations for drivers with these conditions, including questionnaire and/or investigation by a qualified specialist. In Brazil, these discussions have barely begun. In view of that, we suggest some items to be included in our traffic law.

Analysis of electric torque in single machine-infinite bus system using phase shifters

ResumoThe main idea of this work is based on the analysis of the electric torque through the acting of the PS in the power system, provided of a control for the compensation degree (PSC). A linear model of the single machine-infinite bus system is used with a PS installed (SMIB/PS system). The variable that represents the presence of PS in the net is associated to the phase displacement introduced in the terminal voltage of the synchronous machine by PS. For the input signals of the PSC are evaluated variations of the angular speed of the rotor, the current magnitude and the active power through the line where the PS is located. The simulations are accomplished to analyze the influence of the PS in the torque formation (synchronizing and damping), of the SMIB/PS system. The analysis are developed in the time and frequency domain.

Development of a DC-DC converter for DC bus voltage control of series connected device

The purpose of this work is to study voltage control and energy balance of a split DC bus topology within a power electronics equipment connected to the AC mains, such as UPS systems, wind power generators, active filters and FACTS devices. A typical configuration in such equipment has two mains connected converters sharing a common DC bus, one series connected and the other parallel connected. The DC bus is usually composed by a battery or a capacitor bank. In the proposed topology, the DC bus is divided in two sides, interconnected with a buck-boost converter, which controls power flow and DC voltage on both sides. © 2009 IEEE.

Local and regional ecological drivers of fish assemblages in Brazilian estuaries

Spatial patterns in assemblage structures are generated by ecological processes that occur on multiple scales. Identifying these processes is important for the prediction of impact, for restoration and for conservation of biodiversity. This study used a hierarchical sampling design to quantify variations in assemblage structures of Brazilian estuarine fish across 2 spatial scales and to reveal the ecological processes underlying the patterns observed. Eight areas separated by 0.7 to 25 km (local scale) were sampled in 5 estuaries separated by 970 to 6000 km (regional scale) along the coast, encompassing both tropical and subtropical regions. The assemblage structure varied significantly in terms of relative biomass and presence/absence of species on both scales, but the regional variation was greater than the local variation for either dataset. However, the 5 estuaries sampled segregated into 2 major groups largely congruent with the Brazilian and Argentinian biogeographic provinces. Three environmental variables (mean temperature of the coldest month, mangrove area and mean annual precipitation) and distance between estuaries explained 44.8 and 16.3%, respectively, of the regional-scale variability in the species relative biomass. At the local scale, the importance of environmental predictors for the spatial structure of the assemblages differed between estuarine systems. Overall, these results support the idea that on a regional scale, the composition of fish assemblages is simultaneously determined by environmental filters and species dispersal capacity, while on a local scale, the effect of environmental factors should vary depending on estuary-specific physical and hydrological characteristics © 2013 Inter-Research.

Evaluation of Estrogenic Potential of Flavonoids Using a Recombinant Yeast Strain and MCF7/BUS Cell Proliferation Assay

Phytoestrogens are of interest because of their reported beneficial effects on many human maladies including cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Furthermore, there is a search for compounds with estrogenic activity that can replace estrogen in hormone replacement therapy during menopause, without the undesirable effects of estrogen, such as the elevation of breast cancer occurrence. Thus, the principal objective of this study was to assess the estrogenic activity of flavonoids with different hydroxylation patterns: quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, fisetin, chrysin, galangin, flavone, 3-hydroxyflavone, 5-hydroxyflavone and 7-hydroxyflavone via two different in vitro assays, the recombinant yeast assay (RYA) and the MCF-7 proliferation assay (E-screen), since the most potent phytoestrogens are members of the flavonoid family. In these assays, kaempferol was the only compound that showed ERα-dependent transcriptional activation activity by RYA, showing 6.74±1.7 nM EEQ, besides acting as a full agonist for the stimulation of proliferation of MCF-7/BUS cells. The other compounds did not show detectable levels of interaction with ER under the conditions used in the RYA. However, in the E-screen assay, compounds such as galangin, luteolin and fisetin also stimulated the proliferation of MCF-7/BUS cells, acting as partial agonists. In the evaluation of antiestrogenicity, the compounds quercetin, chrysin and 3-hydroxyflavone significantly inhibited the cell proliferation induced by 17-β-estradiol in the E-screen assay, indicating that these compounds may act as estrogen receptor antagonists. Overall, it became clear in the assay results that the estrogenic activity of flavonoids was affected by small structural differences such as the number of hydroxyl groups, especially those on the B ring of the flavonoid. © 2013 Resende et al.

El transporte interurbano por bus en Argentina, Brasil y Chile: un análisis comparativo

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El efecto de los subsidios, la reglamentación y las diversas formas de propiedad en la calidad y eficacia operativa de los servicios del transporte urbano en América Latina = The impacts of subsidies, regulation, and different forms of ownership on the service quality and operational efficiency of urban bus systems in Latin America

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