Impact of Quality on Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing, in Industries in Kerala in the present Indian Scenario

The paper ‘Impact of Quality on Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing in Industries in Kerala in the present Indian scenario’ highlights the observations, based on a descriptive research carried out in five leading industries in Kerala, in the private and public sector. Ethics and social responsibilities, practiced in these industries, are reflected in the results of the survey conducted on specific queries like awareness of products/services provided by them, total understanding of the requirements of the customer, open discussion on technical matters, accountability of employees to the society and social needs, consumer ethics vis a vis business ethics etc. Team working goes a long way, in building relations, which in turn, results in a progressive and effective marketing strategy. This assumes paramount importance, considering the severe competition we are facing in the light of liberalization, privatization and globalization, which encompasses the globe. The prediction of India becoming a lead nation, along with USA, China and Japan, in this decade, can get fructified only if we follow a very high standards of ethics and social responsibility, in all domains including marketing. Organizations like TRW.Rane, Sundaram Fasteners, TVS Motors, in Chennai are a few among others in India, who have achieved the highest distinction in quality viz Deming Prize, and these demonstrate their commitment to quality, society and humanity at large. Cost effectiveness, without jeopardizing quality has become the need of the hour and MRTP has become history. This trait is being brought out through the survey and the results speak for themselves. Unethical practices like switch and bait, not only brings shame to the organization, and country but also results in the company getting wiped out from the market. Adherence to standards like ISO 14000 helps to maintain the minimum level of social responsibility and environmental friendliness. Like quality audit, safety audit etc, social audit is being insisted in all progressive countries to ensure that the organization comply with the minimum statutory requirements. The paper also touches upon Corporate Social Responsibility practiced in the industries and this becomes crystal clear through their commitment to improve the community. Green Marketing lays a lot of importance on the three Rs of environmentalism viz Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The objective of any business is to achieve optimal profit and this is possible only by reducing the cost as well as waste. In this context, management tools like brainstorming, suggestion schemes, benchmarking etc becomes helpful. These characteristics are brought out through the analysis of survey results. The conclusions drawn throw a lot of information on the desirable practices with respect to Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing

Plan de mercadeo para el Hotel Campestre: La Margarita. Ubicado en el municipio de Nimaima – Cudinamarca

En el trabajo de grado se realiza un análisis del mercado y se propone una planeación estratégica para el Hotel Campestre La Margarita, ubicado en Nimaima – Cundinamarca, con el propósito de aumentar los indicadores de rentabilidad para sus propietarios, con base a un Plan de Mercadeo que permita identificar factores claves de éxito y estrategias para lograr el posicionamiento deseado en los mercados objetivos.

The relationship between entrepreneurial marketing and the characteristics of Thai hotels and their managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically whether there are meaningful relationships between key entrepreneurial marketing (EM) variables and the demographic characteristics of the organization and its manager. Design/methodology/approach – The data were gathered from a sample of 369 hotels from all regions of Thailand through the use of a postal survey. Several multiple regression models were used to test the relationships in the study. Interaction terms were added to some models to test the moderating effects of major demographic variables on various EM attributes. Findings – The study shows which types of hotels and which types of managers were associated with EM characteristics. The results indicate that demographic characteristics, such as age, size, location, experience, and gender, significantly explain sets of entrepreneurial marketing variables. It was found, for instance, that both a young hotel and a large hotel are positively associated with entrepreneurial marketing, while owner management is positively associated with market orientation and negatively associated with growth aspirations but has no significant relationship with entrepreneurial orientation. Originality/value – The paper provides a comprehensive overview of selected relationships between key EM dimensions in the existing literature. It is suggested that future research involves a more in-depth exploration of some of the relationships found in this study.

Experiential dimensions in internet marketing : an exploratory investigation

This paper examines the dimensions of an experience in product marketing conceptualised by Pine II and Gilmore (1998) – customer participation and customer connection – by extending the study of the dimensions to the online context. In online marketing, the business aim is to hold attention, have visitors more deeply penetrate a Website, purchase, and return to the site, among other objectives. The paper analyses and synthesises findings from a three-part study of Internet use, the WebQUAL Audit, and presents the proposition that the dimensions suggested by Pine II and Gilmore as attractors to many experiential offerings in the physical world, may not be applicable in the online environment populated by commercial Websites. The paper also suggests a future research agenda to reconcile the requirements of users and the perspective of Web designers and other contributors to commercial Websites as discussed in the literature review presented.

Service guarantee redress options in a hotel environment

Unconditional service guarantees are a popular marketing tool in the hotel industry worldwide. They promise total satisfaction and guests are free to invoke the guarantee whenever they are dissatisfied. While many hotels offer “money-back” compensation following guarantee invocation, others vary the payout depending on the severity of the service failure and still others will only compensate the customer if the problem leading to invocation of the guarantee cannot be fixed. To the researcher’s knowledge, the influence of compensation and fix (i.e., taking action to resolve the problem) on consumers’ perceptions of distributive justice has not been examined previously in a service guarantee context. This paper begins to address this gap by presenting a conceptual model and related propositions, arguing that redress (compensation and fix) is an important predictor of consumers’ perceptions of distributive justice, and that this relationship is moderated by service failure severity.

Online marketing by local government in Australia and the United States

The study reported in this paper involves a comparison audit of local government websites in two states of Australia with county and city level government in two states of the United States of America, using the Marketing Readiness of Website Indicator (MRWI). The hypothesised more highly rated Web use in marketing by United States local government relative to Australian local government (LGA) is not supported. Californian counties, NSW and Victorian LGAs generally employ the Web in a more capable manner in marketing than Californian cities and Alabama counties and cities.

Value-added role of internal audit : an Ethiopian case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw inferences – from the results of an Ethiopian public sector corporation (for-profit) case study – on how the attributes of a value-adding internal audit department would vary among organisations.

Design/methodology/approach – The case study strategy is employed. The internal audit function of a public sector corporation was examined using an analytical framework derived from the literature. Research evidence was gathered distributing questionnaires to managers and internal auditors, conducting a semi-structured interview with the internal audit department manager, and reviewing documents.

Findings – The results highlight that traditional/compliance audit is dominant in the organisation studied as contrasted with value-added auditing. The paper concludes that goals and strategies pursued and the level of risk faced by organisations to which internal audit provides service, appear to shape the attributes of a value-adding internal audit department. The study also demonstrates that the quality of strategic planning for, and marketing of, internal audit would influence the extent to which an appropriate value-added profile is attained in a particular context.

Research limitations/implications – Since a single unit of analysis is examined, universal generalisability of the findings cannot be claimed. Also, the research design assumed that the unit of analysis investigated falls within the scope of internal audit departments considered in the literature that served as a basis to develop the analytical framework and data collection instruments.

Originality/value – The paper is expected to inspire conclusive follow-on research on the role of internal audit in Ethiopia, or other countries with similar settings.

Identifying emerging hotel preferences using emerging pattern mining technique

Hotel managers continue to find ways to understand traveler preferences, with the aim of improving their strategic planning, marketing, and product development. Traveler preference is unpredictable for example, hotel guests used to prefer having a telephone in the room, but now favor fast Internet connection. Changes in preference influence the performance of hotel businesses, thus creating the need to identify and address the demands of their guests. Most existing studies focus on current demand attributes and not on emerging ones. Thus, hotel managers may find it difficult to make appropriate decisions in response to changes in travelers' concerns. To address these challenges, this paper adopts Emerging Pattern Mining technique to identify emergent hotel features of interest to international travelers. Data are derived from 118,000 records of online reviews. The methods and findings can help hotel managers gain insights into travelers' interests, enabling the former to gain a better understanding of the rapid changes in tourist preferences.

Digital marketing of unhealthy foods to Australian children and adolescents

The emergence of new media—including branded websites, social media and mobile applications—has created additional touch points for unhealthy food and beverage companies to target children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to perform an audit of new media for three top selling food and beverage brands in Australia. The top selling brand in three of the most advertised food and beverage categories was identified. Facebook, websites and mobile phone applications from these three brands were assessed using a combination of descriptive analyses and structured data collection during June and July 2013. Information on target audience, main focus of the activity, marketing strategies employed and connectivity were collected. Promotional activities were assessed against industry self-regulatory codes. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Cadbury Dairy Milk were audited, with 21 promotional activities identified. These promotional activities appeared to use a number of marketing strategies, with frequent use of indirect product association, engagement techniques and branding. We identified strategic targeting of both children and adolescents. We found that while all promotional activities technically met self-regulatory codes (usually due to media-specific age restrictions) a number appeared to employ unhealthy food or beverage marketing directed to children. Brands are using engaging content via new media aimed at children and adolescents to promote unhealthy food and beverages. Given the limitations of self-regulatory codes in the context of new media, strategies need to be developed to reduce exposure of children and adolescents to marketing of unhealthy food and beverage products via these avenues.

Serviço ao cliente como estratégia de marketing nos hotéis 4 e 5 estrelas de Foz Iguaçu

O presente estudo propô-se a identificar o conjunto de serviços ao cliente considerados pelos hóspedes na escolha de hotéis 4 e 5 estrelas de Foz do Iguaçu, focando os serviços mais valorizados e avaliando os serviços ao cliente mais importantes na escolha de um hotel. Seu referencial bibliográfico está baseado no histórico da indústria hoteleira mundial, nacional e local, turismo de lazer, marketing hoteleiro, marketing de serviço e serviço ao cliente. Para este estudo foram entrevistados 320 hóspedes de hotéis 4 e 5 estrelas de Foz do Iguaçu, através de entrevistas pessoais com questões fechadas. Esta fase quantitativa, foi precedida por uma qualitativa, à base de entrevistas de profundidade realizadas com roteiro semi-estruturado, aplicados aos gerentes gerais de cada hotel objeto do estudo e a dez hóspedes de cada unidade, além do diretor regional da ABIH - Associação Brasileira da Indústria Hoteleira - e do presidente do Sindicato dos Hotéis de Foz do Iguaçu. As variáveis estabelecidas para o questionário quantitativo, foram agrupadas em cinco dimensões de serviço ao cliente, sendo estabelecida, para cada dimensão, as escalas de importância e avaliação em consonância com os objetivos propostos. Com os dados obtidos, foi realizado análise de variância, com o propósito de estabelecer o conjunto de serviços ao cliente mais valorizados pelos hóspedes na escolha de hotéis 4 e 5 estrelas em Foz do Iguaçu e avaliar os serviços ao cliente mais importantes nessa escolha. Foram considerados apenas os serviços que apresentaram diferença estatística (menor ou igual a 0,05) segundo o sexo, idade e origem dos respondentes e os hotéis abordados. Por fim, referenciando-se nos resultados obtidos e nos modelos de classificação de serviços ao cliente de Berman e Evans analisaram-se as variáveis pelo total das médias entre 1 e 5, com nível de significância menor ou igual a 0,05 estabelecendo-se análise cruzada de importância e diferenciação, classificando-as em baixa e alta.

Serviços ao cliente e marketing de relacionamento no setor hoteleiro de Porto Alegre

Nos últimos vinte anos, diversos fatores vêm moldando o panorama econômico e mercadológico, entre os quais destacam-se a globalização, tecnologia e competição cada vez mais acirrada. Neste cenário, a oferta de serviços ao cliente e as relações comerciais com foco no longo prazo, baseados em benefícios mútuos, figuram como importantes fontes de vantagem competitiva sustentável. Seguindo as tendências de pesquisas contemporâneas, grandes atenções por parte da academia têm-se voltado para o desenvolvimento de modelos teóricos que visam explicar o comportamento das dimensões determinantes para o estabelecimento e manutenção de trocas relacionais. Ao mesmo tempo, os serviços ao cliente vêm sendo estudados como uma atividade de relevância estratégica para potenciais de diferenciação. Este estudo objetiva examinar as correlações existentes entre a oferta de serviços ao cliente e os atributos de Marketing de Relacionamento nas transações entre redes hoteleiras de Porto Alegre e seus clientes organizacionais. A mensuração do Marketing de Relacionamento é feita através de constructos como dependência do cliente, nível de comparação com clientes alternativos, investimentos no relacionamento, troca de informações, confiança e comprometimento. O nível de serviços ao cliente é obtido através de indicadores gerados em entrevistas em profundidade com informantes-chave dos hotéis e alguns de seus clientes organizacionais. Os resultados obtidos através da utilização de modelagem de equações estruturais sugerem bons índices de ajustamento para a estrutura teórica proposta sobre o comportamento dos atributos de Marketing de Relacionamento e serviços ao cliente, apontando para a confirmação inicial das hipóteses de pesquisa.

Hotel Dall'Onder uma empresa sociotélica

Nesta dissertação procura-se demonstrar que os conceitos de empresas visionárias, de Collins e Porras (2000), e de empresas missionárias, de Mintzberg (2001), podem ser aplicados para entender o comportamento do Hotel Dall’Onder. Foi aplicada a metodologia do estudo exploratório de caso único, por ser um caso revelador e por representar um teste local de uma teoria significativa. A coleta de informações em vários documentos publicados pela imprensa, em livros, artigos e reportagens, além do que se pôde obter nas entrevistas de profundidade com pessoas representativas do empresariado, com micro-empresários, com colaboradores da empresa e com seus acionistas e diretores, representaram, neste, trabalho “provas testemunhais”, não sendo, assim, necessária qualquer análise estatística qualitativa ou quantitativa. A história da colonização italiana no Rio Grande do Sul aportou elementos para o melhor entendimento da formação da cultura do “colono”. O meio ambiente, embora adverso, facilitou a “acumulação primitiva” e forçou a procura de novos mercados. Foram analisados a missão, a ideologia e o comportamento histórico e presente do Hotel Dall’Onder, suas semelhanças e diferenças com os conceitos de Mintzberg (2001) e Collins e Porras (2000) e sua aderência a princípios éticos e de respeito social e ambiental, considerando a sua inserção nos projetos administrados pela Atuaserra e pelo projeto que ele próprio criou: Caminhos de Pedra. As conclusões são de que o Hotel Dall’Onder supera as exigências de Collins e Porras (op. cit.) e Mintzberg (op. cit.), podendo ser classificada como uma empresa visionário e missionária plus, pois adota os princípios éticos de Abela (op. cit) e res peita o meio ambiente, na linha do Sistema de Produto Inteligente de Blue e outros. Além disso, aplicou intuitivamente as bases teóricas do marketing social como instrumento de transformação social, visando a melhoria de vida das pessoas envolvidas, e a implantação de um novo modo de agir, criando o turismo cultural, apoiado na arquitetura, na gastronomia, na vitivinicultura, na agroindústria caseira, nos costumes e nas idiossincrasias, sem utilizar nenhum mecanismo de propaganda, difusão ou uso de mídia paga. Por isso se propõe sua qualificação como empresa sociotélica, ou seja, voltada para uma missão externa a si própria e de profundo cunho social. Apresenta diferenciais enormes: a distribuição de 10% do faturamento bruto, todos os meses, para todos os colaboradores; o estímulo ao surgimento de concorrentes em seu próprio ramo de negócios; o investimento, o apoio e a criação de atrativos turísticos sem mercado cativo e o investimento maciço no desenvolvimento do turismo regional, mesmo em prejuízo dos investimentos que lhe dariam maior escala e melhor condição competitiva, e isso por acreditar na máxima em dialeto vêneto dos colonos: Quanto pi baletere, tanto pi tordi (Quanto mais frutas, mais pássaros).

The effect of innovation on hotel market value

The purpose of this article is to analyze the effect of hotel innovations on firm value. Specifically, this study fills a research gap in the previous literature by examining this effect through market value and by distinguishing the potentially different impacts of distinct innovation types: product, process, organization and marketing. This research contributes to consolidating the empirical evidence of hotel innovation and performance by analyzing whether distinct types of innovation lead to different levels of results. The findings show that innovations are perceived to have a positive impact on the future sales of the company: in a four-day period (0,+3), there is an increase in stock exchange returns of 1.53%. In terms of innovation types, process and marketing innovations are found to have a higher positive effect on hotel market value than product and organization innovations; which is explained by potential cost differences among innovations.

Comunicação Corporativa, Marketing & Política Cultural - Brasil & Espanha-

A tese apresenta um estudo comparativo entre a atuação das organizações públicas e privadas do Brasil e, as caixas de poupança e as empresas privadas da Espanha, no que concerne à política de marketing cultural e suas estratégias de comunicação corporativa, tendo como pano de fundo os recursos incentivados pelos governos através das leis de isenção fiscal. Com dois objetivos principais, procurou-se identificar, primeiramente, a parceria entre o Estado e as companhias na promoção da cultura. O segundo e principal intuito foi descobrir as múltiplas estratégias de visibilidade cultural no mundo corporativo através da comunicação e do marketing. Além disso, se verificou os reflexos dessa relação na responsabilidade social corporativa e na reputação, como também, no mercado cultural. O trabalho foi pautado, principalmente, na análise de conteúdo qualitativa por emparelhamento e ainda na AIM- Auditoria de Imagem na Mídia. Ao final, conclui-se que embora as leis de isenção sejam divergentes nos dois países, o comportamento das companhias é similar tanto no que concerne aos investimentos em cultura, como no que se refere às estratégias de comunicação. Contudo, no Brasil o dinheiro é quase, majoritariamente, vindo da renúncia fiscal do Estado, enquanto que na Espanha vem das próprias organizações.

A study of the relationship between U.S. hotel companies and travel agency companies: Determinants of the success of the relationship

The primary objectives of this study were to describe the relationship that U.S. hotel companies have with travel agency companies and to identify the determinants of a successful relationship.^ The unit of analysis was hotel companies operating in U.S. One hundred and three hotel companies contributed information for this research. The data were collected through a questionnaire developed from previous empirical studies and from interviews with hospitality management professors and hotel sales and marketing directors.^ Simple and multiple regression analyses indicated that in order to have successful relationships with travel agency companies, hotel companies should (a) show more commitment or dedication to working with the travel agents, (b) have more trust in the travel agents themselves, and (c) be less dependent on any one travel agent for their business.^ Additionally, the results suggest that hotel companies who coordinate activities with travel agents companies and who communicate with them in a timely, accurate, adequate, complete and credible manner have more successful interorganizational relationships than those who do not.^ Furthermore, hotel companies who share proprietary sales and any other information with travel agents reported better relationships. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) ^