abstract: Currently, show management for convention centers have several resources to help determine where to place their efforts in facility services for exhibitors, one of which is to use research results from an importance-performance analysis study. In order to help show management refine their understanding of the needs of exhibitors before a trade show, this study explores the relationship between the exhibitor’s ranking of importance placed on facility services through the Importance-Performance Analysis, and the goals exhibitors have for the trade show. A survey was conducted at three different trade shows taking place in two convention centers. Using a sample of 115 exhibitors, the underlying factors were determined for the importance exhibitors placed on facility attributes and their goals. The findings from the research show that the correlations between importance factors and goals are statistically weak, albeit some notable correlations were made. The importance performance analysis remains a strong and useful tool for show management to use and implementing the iso-rating line provides more detail for a show manager to work with. The finding of this study offer insights into the factor analysis of facility attributes as well as the importance-goals analysis conducted. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2017

O mercado de erva-mate vem crescendo e ganhando importância nos países e Estados produtores, não apenas com o uso da erva-mate para chimarrão, mas com os diversos usos alternativos que vem surgindo devido às suas importantes propriedades. Devido ao aumento da demanda em mercados diferenciados julga-se necessário a realização de pesquisas que determinam e avaliam os fatores condicionantes de desempenho visando a gerar informações para subsidiar ações prioritárias de melhoramento para o setor e aumento da sua eficiência. Neste sentido, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar os fatores que condicionam o desempenho das indústrias ervateiras do Alto Taquari/RS. Como aporte teórico para subsidiar a análise dos dados utilizou-se a teoria da Economia Industrial, a Economia dos Custos de Transação e a teoria associada ao uso da Matriz Importância - Desempenho. Os dados primários foram coletados através de questionários estruturados, de forma quantitativa, com o uso da escala Likert de 1-7 pontos. Os questionários foram aplicados via Google Docs e posteriormente de forma presencial com os agentes das indústrias no polo ervateiro do Alto Taquari/RS. O questionário foi estruturado em sete seções, a primeira e a segunda foi referente as informações sobre os entrevistados e as indústrias ervateiras, na qual teve como objetivo descrever e caracterizar o objeto de estudo. As próximas quatro seções referiram-se as dimensões condicionantes de desempenho, são elas: Fatores de Produção/ Mercados/ Logística/ Ambiente Institucional/ e a sétima e última seção sobre a visão da cadeia produtiva da erva-mate pela perspectiva das indústrias ervateiras. O método de análise dos dados constituiu-se na aplicação da matriz importância - desempenho proposta por Slack, Chambers e Johnston (2002), na qual fornecem informações sobre o nível de importância e de desempenho atribuído aos fatores que compõem cada uma destas dimensões. Os dados foram organizados em planilhas do Excel e submetidos à análise da estatística descritiva, com os valores da média referente ao grau de importância e a média referente ao nível de desempenho de cada fator para a construção de uma matriz importância – desempenho para cada dimensão analisada. Com os resultados da pesquisa conclui-se que na dimensão “fatores de produção” os itens que necessitam de ações melhoramento são a disponibilidade de matéria-prima, o custo de aquisição de maquinários, a disponibilidade de mão de obra e o porte e capacidade dos maquinários. Na dimensão “mercados” os itens que necessitam de ações de melhoramento são os 9 fatores sobre produtos substitutos, a colocação do produto no mercado externo, o grau de concentração dos fornecedores de matéria-prima e a qualidade do produto final. Na dimensão “logística” alguns fatores ficaram alocados na zona de ação urgente, como o custo do transporte até a indústria, capacidade de armazenamento até a indústria, condições de transporte até a indústria e as condições de armazenamento até a indústria. Nesta mesma dimensão, alguns fatores como os fluxos de informações tecnológicas, contrato entre o produtor e a indústria, contrato entre a indústria e o varejo e os custos de armazenamento para a indústria necessitam de ações de melhoramento. Na dimensão “ambiente institucional”, os fatores referentes aos indicadores macroeconômicos, legislação ambiental e o processamento agroindustrial, a legislação ambiental e a produção rural, inspeção sanitária e o processamento agroindustrial e o acesso às condições de crédito para a indústria também necessitam de ações de melhoramento para aumentar o seu desempenho. Estas conclusões devem fornecer subsídios e informações que contribuirão na tomada de decisão e no estabelecimento de estratégias empresariais a fim de aumentar o desempenho das atividades dentro da indústria ervateira, tornando-a mais competitiva no mercado que estão inseridas. / The yerba mate Market has been growing and getting featured in the most important countries and states which produces it, using the yerba mate not only for it’s traditional drink, “the chimarrão”, but with other alternative uses that has been appearing because of it’s important properties. Due to the increasing of the demand in different kinds of markets, they request the need of researches which evaluate and confirms the conditioning facts of the performance aiming to generate informations to subsidize priority actions of the improvement for it’s increasing sector. In this case, the actual research had as objective to identify the factors which condition the “ervateiras” industries performance from Alto Taquari/RS. As the theoretical contribution for the subsidized review of the data had used the Economical Industry theory, the Costs Economy of transactions and the theory which had involved the use of Importance-Performance Matrix. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaires in a quantitative way, using the likert scale of 1-7 points. The questionnaires were applied via Google Docs and after that shown physically through the industry agents in the “ervateiro” pole from Alto Taquari/RS. The questionnaire was structured in seven sections, both first and second questions referred to the gathered information about the interviewed people and the “ervateiras” industries, which had as objective describe and characterize the studied objetct. The four other sections referred to the conditioning dimensions of the performance, which are they: Production Factors/ Markets/ Logistics/ Institutional Ambient/ and the seventh section was about the view of the productive chain of yerba mate seen by the “ervateiras” industries. The analytical method of the data was consisted in the application of the matrix importance-performance suggested by Slack, Chambers and Johnston (2002), in which provide information about the importance level and assigned performance of the factors that made each one of these dimensions. The data was organized in spreadsheets of the excel and submitted to a describing statistic analysis, with average values referred to the degree of importance and the average referred to the level of performance for each dimension analyzed. With the result of research it is concluded that the dimension of “production factors” the necessary items of the improvement actions are the availability of the raw material , the acquisition cost of the machinery, the availability of labor and the possession and capacity of the machinery. In the “market” dimension, the items that have the need of 11 improvement actions are the factors about the swapped products, the placement of the product in outside market, the degree of concentrations of the raw material developers and the final product’s quality. In the logistic dimension some factors were placed in the urgent-action-zone, like the cost of means of transportation to the industry, the storage capacity to the industry, conditions of the transport to de industry and the conditions of the storage to the industry. In the same dimension, some factors like the flow of technological information, the contract between the industry and the producer, the contract between and the retail, the costs of the storage for the industries needs the improvement actions. In the “Institutional Ambient” dimension, the factors which refers to the macroeconomic indicators, environmental legislation and the agroindustrial process, the environmental legislation and the rural production, sanitary inspection and the agroindustrial process and the access to the credit condition for the industries still need the actions of improvement to increase it’s performance. This condition should provide subsidies and information that will contribute with the decision taken and in the establishment of business strategies with the desire of increasing the performance of the activities inside the “ervateiras” industries, turning into the most competitive one in the market which they are part of.

Os vazamentos de petróleo podem causar sérios impactos econômicos e ambientais, sendo que a preservação do meio ambiente torna-se cada vez mais uma prioridade para a sociedade. A partir da repercussão de grandes vazamentos, governos e indústrias de petróleo se prepararam para atuar na resposta a estes eventos, mantendo recursos em centros de atendimento a emergências, estrategicamente instalados e especialmente preparados para uma atuação rápida e eficaz, evidenciando uma maior qualidade nos serviços prestados. Garantir que um centro tenha sucesso frente a um vazamento de petróleo é um desafio, uma vez que tais ocorrências são raras, mas por demais indesejadas, diminuindo as possibilidades de um conhecimento maior de seu desempenho. O objetivo geral deste trabalho é determinar o desempenho dos centros de atendimento a emergências ambientais com vazamento de petróleo, considerando atributos relevantes para uma atuação rápida e eficaz no que diz respeito à minimização dos impactos. Além disso, os objetivos específicos do trabalho dizem respeito à identificação dos atributos de desempenho mais importantes para os clientes e especialistas, definição de sua importância relativa, definição dos principais requisitos técnicos, bem como a priorização de ações de melhoria. Para tal, foram identificados os atributos relevantes e as lacunas de desempenho na literatura, bem como a capacidade de resposta à emergência. Posteriormente, foi realizada uma pesquisa survey com clientes, especialistas e principais prestadores deste serviço no Brasil. Os resultados permitiram gerar requisitos técnicos e os respectivos níveis de desempenho, evidenciando oportunidades de melhoria. A avaliação permitiu, através de uma matriz de importância e desempenho, evidenciar a capacidade de resposta dos centros, tratando de forma objetiva aspectos antes considerados subjetivos e intangíveis. / Oil spills may cause serious economic and environmental impacts, and protect the environment becomes increasingly a Company’s priority. After the impact of large spills, governments and oil industries become better prepared for the oil spill response, keeping resources in emergency response centers, strategically installed and specially prepared for quick and effective action, improving the quality of services. Ensure that a center will be successful against an oil spill is a challenge, since such occurrences are rare and unwanted, which reduces the chances to evaluate their performance. The aim of this study is to determine the oil spills response centers performance, considering relevant attributes for quick and effective action for impacts mitigation. In addition, the specific objectives of the study includes the identification of the most important performance factors for customers and experts, defining their relative importance and the main technical requirements, as well as the improvement actions prioritization. For that, a literature search was performed to identify the relevant attributes and performance gaps in emergency response capability. Subsequently, a customer survey was conducted through experts and the main service providers in Brazil. The results have produced technical requirements and their performance levels, showing improvement opportunities. The evaluation through a matrix of importance and performance demonstrates the centers response capability, treating objectively aspects previously considered subjective and intangible.

Os vazamentos de petróleo podem causar sérios impactos econômicos e ambientais, sendo que a preservação do meio ambiente torna-se cada vez mais uma prioridade para a sociedade. A partir da repercussão de grandes vazamentos, governos e indústrias de petróleo se prepararam para atuar na resposta a estes eventos, mantendo recursos em centros de atendimento a emergências, estrategicamente instalados e especialmente preparados para uma atuação rápida e eficaz, evidenciando uma maior qualidade nos serviços prestados. Garantir que um centro tenha sucesso frente a um vazamento de petróleo é um desafio, uma vez que tais ocorrências são raras, mas por demais indesejadas, diminuindo as possibilidades de um conhecimento maior de seu desempenho. O objetivo geral deste trabalho é determinar o desempenho dos centros de atendimento a emergências ambientais com vazamento de petróleo, considerando atributos relevantes para uma atuação rápida e eficaz no que diz respeito à minimização dos impactos. Além disso, os objetivos específicos do trabalho dizem respeito à identificação dos atributos de desempenho mais importantes para os clientes e especialistas, definição de sua importância relativa, definição dos principais requisitos técnicos, bem como a priorização de ações de melhoria. Para tal, foram identificados os atributos relevantes e as lacunas de desempenho na literatura, bem como a capacidade de resposta à emergência. Posteriormente, foi realizada uma pesquisa survey com clientes, especialistas e principais prestadores deste serviço no Brasil. Os resultados permitiram gerar requisitos técnicos e os respectivos níveis de desempenho, evidenciando oportunidades de melhoria. A avaliação permitiu, através de uma matriz de importância e desempenho, evidenciar a capacidade de resposta dos centros, tratando de forma objetiva aspectos antes considerados subjetivos e intangíveis. / Oil spills may cause serious economic and environmental impacts, and protect the environment becomes increasingly a Company’s priority. After the impact of large spills, governments and oil industries become better prepared for the oil spill response, keeping resources in emergency response centers, strategically installed and specially prepared for quick and effective action, improving the quality of services. Ensure that a center will be successful against an oil spill is a challenge, since such occurrences are rare and unwanted, which reduces the chances to evaluate their performance. The aim of this study is to determine the oil spills response centers performance, considering relevant attributes for quick and effective action for impacts mitigation. In addition, the specific objectives of the study includes the identification of the most important performance factors for customers and experts, defining their relative importance and the main technical requirements, as well as the improvement actions prioritization. For that, a literature search was performed to identify the relevant attributes and performance gaps in emergency response capability. Subsequently, a customer survey was conducted through experts and the main service providers in Brazil. The results have produced technical requirements and their performance levels, showing improvement opportunities. The evaluation through a matrix of importance and performance demonstrates the centers response capability, treating objectively aspects previously considered subjective and intangible.

This study assesses the relative strengths and weaknesses of a hotel, Holiday Inn, as viewed by two customer segments: business travelers and vacationers. The evaluation is based on the analytical framework of importance-performance analysis using 28 hotel attributes. Despite some differences, there are a number of similarities between the two segments in terms of the attributes they rely on when choosing a hotel and how they evaluate Holiday Inn on these attributes. These insights are important to the management in designing pointed strategies to better serve the needs of their guests.

The changing and highly competitive job market is putting pressure on both the private and public sectors to maintain and prepare an educated and well-trained human resource. In this context, a well-integrated educational and training strategy must be formulated and implemented, jointly, by the public and private sectors. This study presents the effort of Portugal in this direction. It emphasises a process orientation to achieve the goal of upgrading the educational skills of Portuguese employees, part of whom are entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this study cluster analysis, regression analysis and the important performance analysis were used. Based on the findings, the implications of the cooperation between the public and private sectors are discussed and a conceptual framework to aid policymakers, decision makers, and future researchers is offered. The benchmarking implications of this process are underscored.

The dissemination of project management practices is consolidating project as a great mean of achieving an organization's strategic plan (PMI, 2008, p. 10). But there are no resources and funds available to all, and competition among alternative projects is increasing. Funding institutions, government agencies, and credit rating organizations started considering project risk in project evaluation, instead of only using financial metrics such as ROI (Return on Investment) or NPV (Net Present Value). In order to obtain resources needed to implement projects, and thus contribute to an organization's objectives, it is necessary to identify the risks that have greater influence on project approval. This study applied the Importance-Performance Analysis (Martilla & James, 1977) to identify the main risk identification deficiencies for Information Technology (IT) project managers who apply for resources or funding approval. The identification was made possible by measuring IT project managers' perceptions of (1) the level of importance, or positive influence, which different risk categories have in project approval; (2) the level of performance they believe to have in the identification of these risks, meaning prior detection and registering; and (3) the gap between the measured levels of importance and performance. A survey listing 28 risk categories belonging to a validated risk taxonomy and 5-point Likert scales with different levels of importance and performance were presented to IT project managers from the central Illinois area. A total of 38 professionals answered the survey instrument, and verification of exclusion criteria resulted in an adjusted sample of 32 subjects. Descriptive statistics were used to compare mean values for each category, determining the gap between importance and performance levels for every category. The risk categories that presented the top three scores for importance were Scope uncertainty, Legal/regulatory, and Financial. The risk categories that represented the three greatest deficiencies or gaps (importance versus performance) for IT project approval were Contractual, Complexity, and Scope uncertainty.

The potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market is substantial; however, research on this market to Canada is limited. This may be due, in part, to the lack of Approved Destination Status (ADS). This study examined the possible perceived image of Canada obtained by potential Chinese tourists, and to compare to the marketing position of Canada by CTC China Division-in effect, to conduct a product-market match between two concepts. Content analysis and an importance and performance analysis were used in the study. A questionnaire distributed at the Beijing Capital International Airport solicited perceptions of tourism in Canada, importance of selected attributes in travel decision making, performance of selected attributes on Canada, and trip preferences. The marketing position of Canada was examined through a content analysis of the promotional materials circulated from CTC China Division in Beijing, China. The coherences and gaps between perceived image of Canada and marketing position of Canada provide some marketing implications. This study concludes that the general tourism image of Canada is vague but positive, which is probably derived from the historically favorable image of Canada in china. Potential Chinese tourists had little knowledge on specific tourism sights; however, they recognized star attractions of Vancouver, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. Potential Chinese tourists prefer slow-paced trips; group tours; two weeks in length; in fall season; featuring mid-budget accommodation, preferably bed-and-breakfasts; on motor coach; visiting nature based sights at majority; and providing foods of various cultures. The current marketing position of Canada reflected through promotional materials by CTC and its partners has coherences in promoting tourism attractions in Canada to the image of Canada. Gaps exist on the promotion of travel issues and unconventional attractions, which inspires the marketing implications. Promotional resources should be allocate to unconventional tourism attractions with consideration rather than the presence of Chinese and mandarin speaking environment in Canada because of Chinese tourists’ demand for culture diversity. Promotion should include more information about travel expense and visas to establish reasonable consumer expectations.

The potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market is substantial; however, research on this market to Canada is limited. This may be due, in part, to the lack of Approved Destination Status (ADS). This study examined the possible perceived image of Canada obtained by potential Chinese tourists, and to compare to the marketing position of Canada by CTC China Division-in effect, to conduct a product-market match between two concepts. Content analysis and an importance and performance analysis were used in the study. A questionnaire distributed at the Beijing Capital International Airport solicited perceptions of tourism in Canada, importance of selected attributes in travel decision making, performance of selected attributes on Canada, and trip preferences. The marketing position of Canada was examined through a content analysis of the promotional materials circulated from CTC China Division in Beijing, China. The coherences and gaps between perceived image of Canada and marketing position of Canada provide some marketing implications. This study concludes that the general tourism image of Canada is vague but positive, which is probably derived from the historically favorable image of Canada in china. Potential Chinese tourists had little knowledge on specific tourism sights; however, they recognized star attractions of Vancouver, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. Potential Chinese tourists prefer slow-paced trips; group tours; two weeks in length; in fall season; featuring mid-budget accommodation, preferably bed-and-breakfasts; on motor coach; visiting nature based sights at majority; and providing foods of various cultures. The current marketing position of Canada reflected through promotional materials by CTC and its partners has coherences in promoting tourism attractions in Canada to the image of Canada. Gaps exist on the promotion of travel issues and unconventional attractions, which inspires the marketing implications. Promotional resources should be allocate to unconventional tourism attractions with consideration rather than the presence of Chinese and mandarin speaking environment in Canada because of Chinese tourists’ demand for culture diversity. Promotion should include more information about travel expense and visas to establish reasonable consumer expectations.

This study firstly aims to identify facility features of the convention centers and then propose a method in order to identify users&rsquo / priorities and evaluate what extent these were provided by the convention centre. Data has been collected using self-administered questionnaires from three group of users / attendees, employees and meeting planners. The study has been conducted in istanbul L&uuml / tfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center as a case, because of being the most remarkable convention center of Turkey. Each participant will be required to assess this convention center in terms of their priorities of expectations and features provided. The results have been evaluated statistically, and significant differences between the level of importance and performance of the facility features have been presented. This research is expected to be useful for constitution of design criteria of convention centers and effective management of the facilities, in terms of both identifying the features of convention centers and providing a method evaluating the performance of the facilities from the users&rsquo / perspective.