Marketing Commons^™

Questionnaire Used In The Dublin Visitor Suvey 2009, Gerard Dunne, Sheila Flanagan

Reports

No abstract provided.

Motivation And Decision Making In City Break Travel, Gerard Dunne

Articles

The demand for city breaks has been one of the major growth areas in travel and tourism in recent years. The city break product is generally considered to be different from other holiday products, particularly in a spatial and temporal context. However marketing strategies targeting this important tourism niche continue to be based on data that is often anecdotal and frequently inaccurate. This book explores the distinctive characteristics of this form of travel and in particular the motivations and decision making involved in taking such trips. The book presents a decision making continuum that highlights the variation that exists between …

Internal Branding And Brand Commitment: A Quantitative Investigation Into Corporate Brand Building In A Retail Store Network, Edmund O'Callaghan

Conference proceedings

The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived effectiveness of internal branding activities on brand commitment among owner managers within a retail store network of previously independent retailers. Brand commitment was hypothesized as essential for coherent and consistent corporate brand building within this context. Two new scales were developed and tested to measure internal branding and brand commitment. Perceived clarity of vision, core values and brand communications were highly correlated with strong brand commitment, while lack of perceived business supports and adequate reward systems were potential inhibitors. Interalia, findings validate the significance of internal …

An Overview Of Discourse Analytical Approaches To Research, Brendan O'Rourke

Books/Book Chapters

The field of discourse analysis (DA) is vast, varied and contested with traditions ranging from conversational analysis (Sacks, 1995, [1964-1972]), to more Foucauldian inspired approaches (e.g. Kendall & Wickham, 1999), to critical discourse approaches (Van Dijk, 2001; Fairclough, 2003). This diversity means that this overview is necessarily selective. Nonetheless, this introduction should provide a platform from where readers can then further investigate those currents of DA that are of particular interest. In order to locate DA within the range of methodology discussed in this volume, and to argue for the unity of various DA approaches, a short history is outlined. …

Supreme Seafoods, Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Fintan Barrett’s four year old daughter would often turn to him while playing and exclaim “what to do, Daddy?” Indeed, this very question of what to do next had frequently swirled around his own head as he considered the options that were now available to him and his business Supreme Seafoods. Some commentators had described the recent economic crisis as ‘a perfect storm’ and that analogy was particularly apt for someone operating in the fish industry. Although Fintan’s family had worked in the fishing industry for many generations, whether out at sea or processing and selling fish on land, the …

The Coke Side Of Life:An Exploration Of Pre-Schoolers' Constructions Of Product And Selves Through Talk-In-Interaction Around Coca-Cola, Olivia Freeman

Articles

Abstract Purpose – This paper proposes the activity-based focus group as a useful method with which to generate talk-in-interaction among pre-schoolers. Analytically, it aims to illustrate, how transcribed talk-in-interaction can be subjected to a discourse analytic lens, to produce insights into how pre-schoolers use ‘Coca-Cola’ as a conversational resource with which to build product-related meanings and social selves. Design/methodology/approach - Fourteen activity-based discussion groups with pre-schoolers aged between two and five years have been conducted in a number of settings including privately run Montessori schools and community based preschools in Dublin. The talk generated through these groups has been transcribed …

Fathers: A Contemporary Perspective On Their Role In Child-Driven Materialism, Catriona Nash, Serge Basini

Conference proceedings

This paper explores the contemporary role of fathers in child-driven materialistic consumption, a little explored territory. Commencing with an exploration of the child consumer and their influence in personal and family spending, both of which have grown considerably over that last number of decades, followed by an analysis of changes in families and the role fathers now play in the aforementioned. It is also acknowledged that fathers have previously been ignored to a large extent in the majority of research studies concerning parent-child consumption and purchases. As such, valuable insights emerged through an interpretative framework utilised to explore this area. …

Beyond Economics: A Behavioural Approach To Energy Efficiency In Domestic Buildings, Marius Claudy, Aidan O'Driscoll

Articles

This paper argues that the moderate success of policies aiming to stimulate the uptake of Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) in the domestic sector is grounded in a poor understanding of the ‘consumer’. The predominant economic approach behind most policies assumes that improving the cost-benefit ratio of technologies via grants and subsidies and providing sufficient information will automatically incentivise householders’ to invest into SES. Yet, policymakers often neglect behavioural determinants such as attitudes, social norms or personal capabilities. Drawing on key findings from the economics, technology and behavioural literature, this paper proposes an integrated model to identify behavioural and contextual influences …

Dublin Visitor Survey 2008 Report, Sheila Flanagan, John Carty, Gerard Dunne

Reports

This report represents a joint research initiative by the Tourism Research Centre and the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism at the Technological University Dublin with the support of Dublin Tourism. The study has been conducted annually since 1999 and has amassed a wealth of rich data over the years. This report highlights the principal 2008 findings from the annual visitor survey including the characteristics and attitudes of out of state tourists visiting Dublin city. The key objectives of the survey are to improve the quality of urban tourism information within a Dublin city context and to provide those engaged …

Young Irish Adults In Civil Society: Volunteering, Reflexive Identity Work And Social Capital, Geoffrey Robert Weller

Doctoral

This thesis seeks to explain how young Irish adults are capable of achieving identities as episodic volunteers. Participation in civil society in Ireland is changing, with new forms of volunteering emerging (Donoghue et al 2006). Issues of identity and identity construction appear to be symptomatic of these changes (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002). This research focuses upon young Irish adults identity work as they discursively construct their episodic volunteering (Macduff 2005). The research uses a discourse analysis lens (Wetherell 1998; Wetherell and Edley 1998, 1999; Edley and Wetherell 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999; Edley 2001). It is based upon 17 intensive interviews …

How Does Advertising Articulate The Tropes Of The Posthuman That Exist In Contemporary Culture?, Norah Campbell

Doctoral

The posthuman is a concept that has accrued much currency in disciplines as diverse as legal theory, artificial life science and philosophy. This thesis explores the meaning of the concept by initially examining what it means to be human, finding that art and science have so far failed to provide a long-lasting definition of humanness. Instead of a temporal “coming-after” stage of humanity, posthumanism might be more usefully seen as a concept that draws attention to the cracks that have always existed in the apparently water-tight description of the human- how the “human” has changed radically and continues to change …

The Influence Of The Servicescape On Post-Consumption Processes, Daire Hooper

Doctoral

The physical and atmospheric cues in service environments have long been accepted as potent contributors to consumers’ overall evaluations of their service experiences. Theoretical frameworks conceptualising how these environmental cues impact on both emotional and cognitive processes have been put forward, yet the empirical work supporting these theories has become highly disjointed with a great deal of confusion regarding what should be classified as an environmental stimulus. By integrating the extant literature, this dissertation attempts to overcome theoretical ambiguities and proposes a second order factor model of service environments, also known as the servicescape, which is subsequently tested using a …

Servicescapes: A Review Of Contemporary Empirical Research, Treasa Kearney, Aileen Kennedy, Joseph Coughlan

Conference papers

This paper reviews forty three extant contemporary empirical servicescape studies conducted in the area. The review is limited to articles which focus on the servicescape as defined by Bitner (1992) and Mehrabian and Russell (1974) Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance (PAD) dimensions from environmental psychology. The publication time frame covers the period from 1980 to 2007. The review observes key patterns and trends within the literature. The content was analysed on the basis of issues such as research variables, methodological approaches, sampling methods, research origin and the theoretical frameworks underpinning the research. The analysis highlights gaps and further research directions that …

Factors Affecting Retailer Adoption Of The Internet In Ireland, Roisin Vize, Joseph Coughlan, Aileen Kennedy

Conference papers

To date, most of the commentary on the impact of the Internet on retailing in Ireland has been anecdotal and there is a paucity of academic empirical research examining the factors affecting Internet adoption by retailers in Ireland. The primary aims of this research are to identify the key factors perceived as being influential in determining the resultant level of adoption among traditional retailers in Ireland and to examine the extent and level of its’ adoption in the Irish retail sector. This paper represents the results from an exploratory investigation employing multiple case studies as the first of a two-stage …

The Effect Of Different Inputs To Factor Analysis: An Example Using Service Quality In Uk Branch Banking, Joseph Coughlan, Estelle Shale, Robert Dyson

Conference papers

Factor analysis has long been used in service quality research to understand the dimensions of the construct. This research reinvestigates this construct using two different methodologies (classical test theory and item response theory) in order to assess the homogeneity of the dimensions across the methodologies in a retail branch banking sample taken from a larger network in the UK. The findings show that the two methodologies give different results. Furthermore the choice of correlation matrix to input into Confirmatory Factor Analysis may be more important than is currently thought in the literature as they give different results in this sample.

City Break Motivation: The Case Of Dublin, A Successful National Capital, Gerard Dunne, Sheila Flanagan, Joan Buckley

Articles

This paper investigates why people take city break trips. The main objective of the study was to reveal the underlying push and pull motivational factors associated with taking a city break holiday to Dublin. In-depth interviews with 40 city break visitors uncovered six push factors and eight pull factors. The main push motives involved were, ‘escape,’ ‘socialising,’ and ‘self esteem (gift giving).’ City breaks were generally viewed as active or ‘doing’ holidays, with the ‘relaxation’ motive hardly featuring at all as a reason to visit. Pull factors were found to be particularly important in terms of the travel decision. Factors …

Irish Marketing Review, Vol. 19, Nos. 1 & 2, 2007, Unknown

Issues

The Irish Marketing Review deals with issues, development and research in the ares of marketing.

De Boerinn (Netherlands), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Hendrik Jan Hoogendoom and his parents sat around the family dinner table and once again discussed the key problem facing the business in which they all worked. There had been many changes in the use of their land over the past two decades but they knew that they had not yet achieved the maximum economic return from it. Currently, the primary income came from recreation activities, which were extremely successful for six months of the year. But the challenge remained on how they could keep the business equally active during the long cold winter months.

Towards A Conceptual Framework Of Corporate Branding In Retailing, Edmund O'Callaghan

Conference proceedings

The view that corporate brand building in retailing is different to any other context (Burt and Sparks, 2002) is predicated in the belief that ‘goods’ retailers need to manage a range of corporate components, its multiple relationships with customers and its dependence on employees to personify and deliver much of the corporate identity. These differences in operations are perceived as adding a degree of complexity to an already challenging process of corporate brand development. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the corporate brand building process within an SME retail context. It develops on the work of Hatch & Schultz’s …

The National Game And Irish Society: The Gaa As A Cultural Brand, Aine Carroll

Masters

The link between brands and culture is well documented (McCracken, 1986; Ritson and Elliott, 1999). However the purposeful creation of brands related to culture is less evident (Vincent, 2002; Holt, 2004). It is this lack of theoretical understanding of cultural brands that drives this study. The objective of this study is to investigate the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) as an iconic brand within the socio-economic context of Ireland. The literature has been divided into two chapters, the first is an overview of consumer culture as the context within which brands have taken on great importance, in the construction of self …

Ionad Cois Locha: 20 Years On, Gerry Mortimer

Case studies

Early in 2007, Seamus Gallagher watched from his modest attic office at Ionad Cois Locha as the last main steel beam was lifted into place right outside his window. The new venue was at last taking shape. Already it was a month or more behind schedule because the violent storms of late 2006 had meant that the steel frame could not be erected until now, and it would be at least May before the building would be completed. It had been planned to be ready by April before the main tourist season.

Heylen Bvba (Belgium), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

As Tom Heylen reflects upon his early days in business, he often wonders how his company Heylen bvba survived. He had left university after just one year of studying biology in order to pursue a business opportunity that he believed existed in the market and that needed to be acted upon without delay. About that time, nature had become modified to such an extent (particularly in Europe) that biodiversity could only be conserved through active management and restoration of the few natural areas which remained. Such management required innovation, specialised equipment, and knowledge in order to be successful. But those …

South Hill Enterprise (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Billy Barrett was facing challenges as a consultant that he had never previously experienced. All of the goals that are expected in business practice were not amongst the main priorities here. Confused, he asked Maura Melia (Manager of South Hill Enterprise) if he could clarify the situation.

Guardian Angel (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was the summer of 2006 and three friends of many years had come up with a business idea that they believed could be a money-spinner for all of them. Maria Harrison, Krystle Malone and Marie Lyons had all been students at the Technological University Dublin and had recently completed their degree in Marketing. As part of their programme, they had taken a course on Entrepreneurship by way of interest rather than any deep-rooted desire to start their own business. But now, they are about to meet a venture capital company to ask for €300,000 to get the business started. …

Ecoserve (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Roisin Nash had just finished reading a new report that had recently been launched by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey at the headquarters of the Marine Institute at Oranmore in County Galway. The report, entitled ‘Sea Change – A Marine Knowledge, Research and Innovation Strategy for Ireland 2007- 2013’, presented a national agenda (comprising of science, research, innovation, and management) aimed at a complete transformation of the Irish maritime economy. Roisin felt that the report provided a clear and realistic picture of future opportunities and challenges within the Irish marine industry, and that it would …

Echinades Fish Farm (Greece), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

The past decade had seen a dramatic decline in the regional economy along the west coast of the Greece as agriculture faded and few incentives existed for manufacturing companies to locate there given its relatively poor infrastructure. Since the long-established Greek strength of tourism was still focused on the islands and in areas where large natural beaches offered holidaymakers the opportunity to lay out in the glorious Mediterranean sunshine, this region of barren land and traditional lifestyle offered little to entice the modern tourist. Despite this pessimistic background, Nikos Anagnopoulos stood on the deck of the small boat that had …

Digicel Foundation (Haiti), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was a beautiful day on March 5th 2007 and the official launch of the Digicel Foundation Haiti was drawing to a close. The Foundation had been inaugurated at a special ceremony to mark the completion of the Foundation's first project, the rebuilding in record time of the Ecole Mixte Lageho (a primary school in the hurricane ravaged Pont Janvier rural community of Thomazeau), thanks primarily to the combined efforts of Digicel staff and local community members. Denis O'Brien (Digicel Group Founder / Chairman and Patron of the Digicel Foundation) was joined at the ceremony by the Prime Minister of …

Daft.Ie (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Eamonn and Brian Fallon sat in their office at the Digital Hub near the Guinness Brewery in Dublin and reflected upon their success. It was a beautiful day outside and the sun shone warmly through the windows. About them on the walls was an array of awards that they had collected over the past two years. Indeed they had received a telephone call earlier that day informing them that the radio programme ‘Down To Business’ on NewsTalk 106 had selected them as a leading example of best business practice and wanted to interview them. It was yet further recognition that …

Informed Retail Location Decisions: A Critical Concern For Irish Smes, Edmund O'Callaghan

Articles

No abstract provided.

Landscape And Geotourism: Market Typologies And Visitor Needs, Catherine Elizabeth Gorman

Conference papers

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Geotourism (landscape tourism) in the context of the Irish tourism experience, to develop visitor typologies and propose an approach that will ensure greater sustainability by addressing market value and requirements through the use of marketing techniques and tools.

Methodology/Approach: An evaluation of existing geotourism resources and information was undertaken. A gap was identified in terms of marketing the Geotourism product. This gap is identified as a break the delivery of the experience to the most suitable customer and is addressed by identifying specific typologies, their requirements and making suggestions …