Thesis (doctoral)--Helsinki University of Technology, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 9, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-256). Also issued in print.

ABSTRACT       Authors:                                 Nikki Lindgren and Claes Lindgren   Professor:                               Stig Sörling   Title:                                       Marketing’s Evolution as an Economic Development Strategy: A Washington County, Utah Case Study   Background:                          Economic development has been a priority of areas for some time. In the mid-1980s, economic policies and marketing practices joined forces. During this time, cities, regions, states and countries began a clear shift from narrow economic development views to a broader set of strategies to attract new and maintain old businesses, boost tourism, attract investors and expand overseas trade. Today, places have increased their use of highly sophisticated marketing strategies aimed at building competitive markets while targeting specific buyers and positioning the community’s resources to respond to specialized buyer needs and desires.   Aim and Purpose:                 The purpose of the study is twofold: first, to explore how place marketing fits into general marketing efforts and secondly, to provide insights into what factors influence the success of places. Three questions were developed to assist in the direction of the research and to assist in gaining practical and tactical insights obtainable through a case study analysis.   Methodology:                         Theoretical and empirical data is provided and analyzed using the actor’s approach. Primary data is collected via direct observations, email, phone interviews and open dialogues. Secondary data is collected via Internet, magazines and newspapers and meeting notes to provide further depth and to elaborate upon the theoretical findings.   Results:                                   We expect the study to highlight important phenomena that occur when viewing place marketing as a general marketing effort. We also expect to uncover practical “success factor” insights into place marketing from which civic and private entities can learn.

During last few years, place marketing becomes a major task of many mayors and county magistrates when they get their policies moving. The goal is to strengthen the policies statement, promote the whole image of locality, reputation and the power of competition in order to strive for the electors¡¦ support. However, each county is implementing different methods to reach their goal. Some of the counties give the priority to the tourism promotion, while some counties choose to attract the business investment instead. Pingtung County is the one of the counties which focuses on the tourism promotion to market places. Due to the promotion of the Pingtung Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival, the blue fin tuna is well-known in Taiwan now. Also Kenting Wind-bell Feast skillfully made good use of the winter tempest to blow the ding dong sound of the wind-bell which is famous to all areas over Taiwan now and bring thousands tourists to Kenting during the winter time. Pingtung County is the sample of this study and the researcher searched and collected information from the newspapers to know the frequency and contents of the report about the Pingtung Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival, Kenting Wind-bell Feast and Pingtung Peninsula Arts Festival. Also in this study, the undertaker of the festivals, local resident, shop owner, journalist and tourists were interviewed in order to understand their opinions about these three festivals. The purpose of this study is through all of these information were collected to analyze how these three festivals impacted the promotion of the Pingtung¡¦s reputation and place-marketing, also to discuss if the experiences of Pingtung County can be applied in other counties. And the result of this study shows: 1. The festival indeed to bring the tourists and push forward the local construct, promote the local reputation and image. It¡¦s a good way to bring the profits in economy and settle a sound foundation for place marketing. 2. The main reason for the success of the Pingtung County¡¦s festivals is all the festival activities design or the marketing strategies were very creative and considerate, not only considered the need of the tourists, sponsors but also the journalists. The festival organizations¡¦ strategies of forming an alliance with different businesses were also the key to the success. Another factor was the professional team work and experiences transition.

M. Tech. Tourism and Hospitality Management. / Travel is often used to reward those who achieved specific business goals and objectives. Although an incentive travel experience creates unforgettable memories, the process of deciding whether to revisit a destination again is in itself a complex process with many factors influencing the decision. This is even more so in case of an incentive destination, as the incentive traveler usually does not have a choice in selecting the incentive destination. The incentive destination is at the heart of any incentive travel program and constitutes an amalgam of products and service, as well as a series of experiences that the incentive traveler creates. Understanding the influence that the destination experience has on the incentive traveler is therefore of great importance to destination marketers, as many destination marketing organisations view repeat visitors as a stable source of revenue. The primary objective of this study is to gain insight and understanding into the influence of destination experiences on the decision-making process to revisit the incentive destination.

Traditionally, branding is all about differentiate the product from its competi-tors. When the brand is a place another level of complexity is added. A place has several different stakeholders that all have to communicate the same mes-sage in order to create a strong brand. Place marketing is a rather new theoreti-cal field and not many researchers have explored this phenomenon, therefore, there does not exist any common practice within this line of study. Compared to a product the stakeholders of a city often have quite different objectives, and therefore there is a risk that they communicate messages that contradict each other. Which features of a city is needed to create a strong brand? The purpose of this thesis was to expore how the stakeholders within the city of Jönköping can cooperate in order to build a strong city brand. The authors have chosen to focus on a qualitative method and personal inter-views as the primary source of information. The respondents that participated in this study were influential persons in leading positions within the main stakeholder groups in Jönköping, that is the public sector, the private sector and the university. Further the Managing Director of FMJ was interview. In order to determine, which of these stakeholders that were of interest the authours have used the snowball approach. To complement these findings secondary data, including three attitude surveys, have been analysed. The authors have concluded that Jönköping does possess a few quite strong brand associations, however, the problem that the city has is the lack of an suf-ficient product to sell. A couple of years ago Jönköping established FMJ to take care of the external marketing and since than it has been many improve-ments, nevertheless the authors believe that another form of cooperation is needed. The city would have to develop a new organization with the base within the municipality, but it should include all the important stakeholders. The main tasks of this cooperation would be to integrate these stakeholders and build a strong product, which should emphasis the most important fea-tures of the Jönköping.

Vätternrundan is an annual sporting event that takes place in the Swedish town Motala since 1966. It is one of the world largest recreational bicycle rides and attracts over 20 000 participants each year. This study focuses on event effects and how an event can be of value within the principles of place marketing. Within this study five representatives were interviewed with semi-structured interviews. The results show that the representatives describe Vätternrundan as a positive event which mostly generates positive effects for the city itself and for the people living and working there. The effects consist of the events ability to create awareness of the place, the possibility to extend the tourism season and several social effects like solidarity and interaction. The result also shows that Vätternrundan is a well-known brand and because of this it can be used as an advantage in place marketing. The event also provides the place with an activity and a reason to travel there. The combination of the long sporting history in Motala and the sporting event Vätternrundan also provide Motala with a chance to differentiate themselves in relation to other places where sport is a unique part of the city.

<p>Traditionally, branding is all about differentiate the product from its competi-tors. When the brand is a place another level of complexity is added. A place has several different stakeholders that all have to communicate the same mes-sage in order to create a strong brand. Place marketing is a rather new theoreti-cal field and not many researchers have explored this phenomenon, therefore, there does not exist any common practice within this line of study. Compared to a product the stakeholders of a city often have quite different objectives, and therefore there is a risk that they communicate messages that contradict each other. Which features of a city is needed to create a strong brand?</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to expore how the stakeholders within the city of Jönköping can cooperate in order to build a strong city brand.</p><p>The authors have chosen to focus on a qualitative method and personal inter-views as the primary source of information. The respondents that participated in this study were influential persons in leading positions within the main stakeholder groups in Jönköping, that is the public sector, the private sector and the university. Further the Managing Director of FMJ was interview. In order to determine, which of these stakeholders that were of interest the authours have used the snowball approach. To complement these findings secondary data, including three attitude surveys, have been analysed.</p><p>The authors have concluded that Jönköping does possess a few quite strong brand associations, however, the problem that the city has is the lack of an suf-ficient product to sell. A couple of years ago Jönköping established FMJ to take care of the external marketing and since than it has been many improve-ments, nevertheless the authors believe that another form of cooperation is needed. The city would have to develop a new organization with the base within the municipality, but it should include all the important stakeholders. The main tasks of this cooperation would be to integrate these stakeholders and build a strong product, which should emphasis the most important fea-tures of the Jönköping.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy) Bibliography: leaves 369-375.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Tourism Management))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

The effect of globalization is recognized as the impetus which is forcing places to compete globally. Place marketing approach is an alternative for places to attract their target markets. Review on past literature indicates sustainable competitive concept is a possible solution to handling problem of place competition. The gap in knowledge indicated by rare studies on sustainable competitiveness implies the need to identify factors that describe sustainable competitive places. The sustainable competitive concept is explained through the assessment of the roles and the relationships among factors of place sustainability, place competitiveness, place attachment, place satisfaction, and place loyalty. Conceptual model of sustainable competitive factors demonstrates the relationships of these factors. Quantitative technique based on samples of two medium-sized Malaysian cities provides usable data on residents’ perception of the sustainable competitive factors. Variance based Structural Equation Modeling reveals the conceptual model’s explanatory power and predictive capability to explain sustainable competitiveness of places. The findings mark the importance of place attachment in explaining sustainable competitive places. Economic and social factors are the main components of place sustainability, and quality of life is the main component of place competitiveness. The findings reveal place loyalty as the main factor that influences sustainable competitive place. Inconsistencies in the conclusions of previous studies suggest that they fail to notice the aspect of attachment as an important predictor in investigating place - human relationships. Implications of the thesis findings are given to policymakers.