abstract volum mbd 2014

International Conference “Marketing and Business Development”, Bucharest 2014

www.marketingevents.ro/mbd

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Bucharest University of Economic Studies Publishing House

ISSN: 2344-5130

ISSN-L: 2344-5130



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This volume comprises the abstracts of the scientific papers accepted by the Scientific Committee

of the 2nd Edition of the International Conference “Marketing and Business Development” MBD 2014, June

26-28, 2014, Bucharest, Romania

The publication of the papers in the International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories,

ISSN: 2247 – 7225 (online) indexed in the following international databases EBSCO, Copernicus, Open J-

Gate, WorldCat, DOAJ, EconPapers, Journal TOCs, New Jour, IDEAS, Cabells, Google Scholar, Open

Archives, Science Central, OCLC, BOSE, PDF Cast, Scribdt, ISeeK, Mocrosoft Academic Search,

Academic Index and PKP Open Archives Harvester and respectively on the site of the journal:

http://www.ijept.org in electronic format, with free access to full text, will be made after the Conference,

as a result of a peer review type evaluation process.

The papers published in this volume are exclusively engaging authors.



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Conference Chairperson

Proffesor Ionel Dumitru, PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Scientific Committee

Professor Carmen Bălan PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Professor Gabriel Brătucu PhD, Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania

Professor Luigi Dumitrescu PhD, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

Professor Ionel Dumitru PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Professor Gheorghe Epuran PhD, Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania

Professor Daniel Șerbanică PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Professor Normand Turgeon PhD, HEC Montréal, Canada

Professor Călin Petrică Vegheș PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Associate Professor Andreea Mihaela Barbu PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Associate Professor Mihaela Constantinescu PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Associate Professor Anca Francisca Cruceru PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Associate Professor Alina Filip PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Associate Professor Sabka Pashova PhD, University of Economics-Varna, Bulgaria

Associate Professor Diana Maria Vrânceanu PhD, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

Assistant Tiffany S. Ho PhD, Yale University, United States of America

Organizing Committee

Professor Ionel Dumitru PhD, Committee president

Associate Professor Andreea Mihaela Barbu PhD, Committee member

Associate Professor Cătălin Boja PhD, Committee member

Associate Professor Ștefan Claudiu Căescu PhD, Committee member

Associate Professor Mihaela Constantinescu PhD, Committee member

Associate Professor Alina Filip PhD, Committee member

Lecturer Alin Valentin Angheluță PhD, Committee member

Lecturer Cristian Ionuț Tatu PhD, Committee member

Economist Lucian-Florin Onișor PhDc, Committee member



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2nd International Conference on

Marketing and Business Development

Conference Program

26th-28th June, 2014

Bucharest, Romania



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Thursday, June 26th 2014

09:00-10:00 Registration

10:00-11:40 Opening Ceremony and Keynote Speakers

Prof. Pavel Năstase

Rector of Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Alina Stepan

Managing Director Ipsos Research

Dan & Marius Ştefan

Autonom rent-a-car

11:40-12:00 Coffee Break

12:00-14:00 Parallel Sessions (I & II)

14:00-15:30 Lunch

15:30-17:30 Parallel Sessions (III & IV)

Friday, June 27th 2014

11:00-13:00 Parallel Sessions (V & VI)

13:00-14:30 Lunch

14:30-16:30 Parallel Sessions (VII & VIII)

19:00-22:00 Gala Dinner



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Session I-12:00-14:00, V. Madgearu Room – Thursday, 26th of June

Chairperson:

Mara Gabriela Ploeşteanu

Paper

ID Authors Paper Title

102 Ekaterine Tavberidze "Big Data" Opportunities on the Example of Yandex

Mobile Applications

126

Diana Foris

Cristina Nicolau

Tiberiu Foris

Vasile Grecu

Qualitative Marketing Research to Improve Mountain

Shelter Product Development for Romanian Mountain

Tourism

107 Ionela – Valeria POPESCU The Influence of Brands on Consumer Behavior in

Selecting a Travel Package

108 John Magnus Roos Personal marketing appeals: How personality

dimensions influence feelings toward emotional images

132 Nicoleta Popescu (Spârchez) Culture and Religion in Marketing Communication

110 Fayçal Boukamcha Persuasion Knowledge: A Cognitive Resource against

Anti-Smoking Persuasion

111 Aygul ISAYEVA Ethics in International Marketing

112 Maryse Koehl

Theories and Practices of Customer Listening: an

Exploratory Qualitative Study with Banking Telesales

Agents in France



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Session II-12:00-14:00, Council Room – Thursday, 26th of June

Chairpersons:

Alin Stancu

Paper


113 Maria Johann The Importance-Performance Analysis: an Evaluation of

Tourist Satisfaction with the Destination Attributes

114 Wojciech Grzegorczyk Marketing Strategies of Polish Companies on International

Markets

118 Petrică Elena-Irina

Quantitative researches of marketing concerning consumer

behavior of educational services offered by private

universities in Romania

143 Ahmed Anis Charfi

Muhammad Atif

Virtual Agent: A Determinant of Online Social Presence

and Consumer Trust in Websites

182 Carmen Bălan “Pay What You Want”: A Participative Price Setting

Mechanism

122 Drago Dubrovski The Role of Marketing Restructuring in a Company Crisis

123 Katarzyna Rupik

Tomasz Żyminkowski

Analytical and Behavioural Elements of Marketing

Planning Model – Empirical Evidence from Polish Firms

124

Timea Demeter

Gabriel Brătucu

Alexandra Palade

Romania, as a Tourist Destination, Seen from the

Perspective of the Online Media

186 Andreea Larisa Boboc

Gheorghe Orzan

Conceptual Model of Perceived Product Quality and Its

Impact on Customer Satisfaction



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Session III-15:30-17:30, V. Madgearu Room–Thursday, 26th of June

Chairperson:

Mihai Orzan

Paper


109 Milind Fadnavis Marketing Concept of ‘Luxury’ to Ulterior High Net

Worth Individuals (UHNI)

127 Monica Popa Re-Examining the Marketing Basics: The Mirage of

the Routes to Persuasion?

128

Mădălina-Adina Opriş(Stănilă)

Gabriel Brătucu

Alexandra Palade

The Impact of Eco-Marketing - A Quantitative

Research on the Brasov’s Adult Population

129 Emel Demir Askeroğlu

Zeynep Bahar

Contribution of Foundations to Reputation in

Corporate Social Responsibility Applications:

Vodafone Turkey Foundation Review

130 Marek Drzazga Current Conceptions of Marketing Activities in

European Trade Companies

131 Michał Sędkowski Social Media and Universities – an Unexplored

Territory – Case Study of Poland

133 Paraschiv Daniel-Claudiu A Preview of the Mobile Marketing Research

134 Roxana Elena Popșa Implications of Knowledge-Based Management on

Service Quality Management

185

Anamaria Cătălina Radu

Andra Ileana Dobrescu

Gheorghe Orzan

The use of web technologies in communicating the

results obtained from accessing the European funds

at the level of a tourist destination



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Session IV-15:30- 17:30, Council Room – Thursday, 26th of June

Chairperson:

Daniela Ioniţă

Paper


137 Federica Bressan

Paola Signori

International Relationship Marketing: Stakeholders

Selection Remains a Weakness in Emerging Markets

142 Anca Francisca Cruceru Violeta

Rădulescu Marketing Productivity Analysis

144 Ghassan Shakhshir Food Products in the Retail Market: Conceptual

Boundaries and Classifications

147 Roxana-Denisa Stoenescu Country-of-Origin and its Influence on Consumers’

Buying Intention – A Conceptual Study

148 Moise Daniel

Cruceru Anca Francisca

The relationship between the organizations that

communicate through events with the help of

outsourcing companies

119 Ioana Simona Ivasciuc Organic Growth Marketing Strategies in Hospitality

Industry

153 Adina-Roxana Munteanu The place of social responsibility in the business

model of a SME



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Session V-11:00-13:00, V. Madgearu Room – Friday, 27th of June

Chairperson:

Mara Gabriela Ploeşteanu

Paper


120 Intekhab (Ian) Alam Moving Beyond the Stage Gate Models for Service

Innovation: The Trend and the Future

138 Bistra Vassileva Marketing Education: Building Capacity Beyond

Competencies

106 Romina Cheraghalizadeh The Effect of Intrinsic Motivation on Job Satisfaction:

Mediation Role of Service Recovery Performance

155 Gostian Claudiu-Dan

Monitoring Instruments for Marketing Promotional

Activities on the Internet Applicable in Adult’s Education

Services and More

156 Marco Pister Porter`s Models – are they still of relevance?

159 Hanna Niklasson Art Market Practices. A Move Towards Practice-Based

Arts Marketing Research

160 Wioleta Dryl

Anna Dziadkiewicz Design in Luxury Business

161 Adina Cristea Positioning Strategies for Obtaining and Sustaining

Competitive Advantage



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Session VI-11:00-13:00, Council Room – Friday, 27th of June

Chairperson:

Alin Stancu

Paper


162 Normand Turgeon The Theory of the Business as the Starting Point of Business

Development Strategy: Evidence from the Media Industry

166 Lenka Kocifajová Education and its Influence on Corporate Performance

169 Cristian Ionuț Tatu

Bogdan Velicu

The Savings and Investment Customs of the Modern Day

Romanian Youth

173 Nadezhda Kalinova Service Quality and Market Performance of Bulgarian

Banks

175

Kamel Ben Youssef

Marco Fazzini

Thomas Majd

Crowdsourcing as Tools for Launching a Wikibrand “The

Case of Ligury: A Wikibrand for a Wikidestination”

176 Somdee Hongphisanvivat

Building Responsible Consumption through Holistic Value

Creation: A Promising Perspective toward Competitiveness

and Sustainability

177

Alina Filip

Diana Maria Vranceanu

Lelia Voinea

Priorities of Romanian Consumers in the Process of Bank

Selection



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Session VII-14:30-16:30, V. Madgearu Room – Friday, 27th of June

Chairperson:

Mihai Orzan

Paper


179 Irene Ionita New Technologies Impact in Nowadays Shopping Centers

Marketing

180 Bogdan Georgescu

Razvan Dina

Total Quality Management in Terms of Organizational

Culture

181 Carmen Acatrinei Online Advertising Instruments and their Influence,

Relevance and Usefulness for the Romanian Consumers

136 Mădălina-Alexandra Coțiu

Horațiu Sorin Dan

A Comparative Multicultural Study of Patient Satisfaction

in the European Union

183

Lucian-Florin Onișor

Ionuț Huc

Anișoara Tătar

Marketing and Innovation: Playground for Education

184

Calin Petrica Veghes

Mihai Orzan

Octav Macovei

Privacy Concerns and Personal Information Disclosure

Strategies of Social Networking Websites Users’ in the Age

of Big Data

145 Renate Åkerhielm Whiteness Constructed in a Multi-Cultural World

121

Adrian Dumitru Tanţău

Maria Alexandra Nichifor

Horaţiu Regneală

Strategic Issues in Managing Photovoltaic Business in the

Context of the European Union. Case Study-Romania



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Session VIII-14:30-16:30, Council Room – Friday, 27th of June

Chairperson:

Daniela Ioniţă

Paper


139 Bistra Vassileva Building Brand Identity in IT Markets: a Conceptual Model

116

Dilaver Tengilimoglu

Demet Taş

Elif Eşiyok Sönmez

İsmail Bircan

Alper Guzel

Health Tourism And Patient Satisfaction In Turkey: The

Ankara Example

104 Pier-Andre Bouchard St-

Amant Externalities, Social Value and Word-of-Mouth

105 Normand Turgeon

Gheorghe Epuran What’s in Business Development Jobs: Exploring Titles, Roles

and Qualifications across Industries and Continents

115

Amira Berriche

Francis Salerno

Mihai Calciu

Mediating Effects of Decisional Balance in the

Transtheoretical. Model of Change for Customers who

Mismanage their Money

117 Gabriela Căpățînă New Product Launch: A Critical Review and Research

Directions

152 Anne Theresa Eidhoff

Jana Poelzl Business Development: What’s Behind the Name?

187 Mihaela Constantinescu

Ștefan Claudiu Căescu The young sport consumer - doing or watching sports?



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TABLE OF CONTENTS

"BIG DATA" OPPORTUNITIES ON THE EXAMPLE OF YANDEX MOBILE APPLICATIONS ............................ 20

EKATERINE TAVBERIDZE ....................................................................................................................................................... 20

QUALITATIVE MARKETING RESEARCH TO IMPROVE MOUNTAIN SHELTER PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

FOR ROMANIAN MOUNTAIN TOURISM .................................................................................................................... 21

DIANA FORIS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 21

CRISTINA NICOLAU ................................................................................................................................................................. 21

TIBERIU FORIS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 21

VASILE GRECU ........................................................................................................................................................................ 21

THE INFLUENCE OF BRANDS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN SELECTING A TRAVEL PACKAGE ............... 22

IONELA – VALERIA POPESCU .............................................................................................................................................. 22

PERSONAL MARKETING APPEALS: HOW PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS INFLUENCE FEELINGS TOWARD

EMOTIONAL IMAGES .................................................................................................................................................... 23

JOHN MAGNUS ROOS .............................................................................................................................................................. 23

CULTURE AND RELIGION IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION .......................................................................... 24

NICOLETA POPESCU (SPÂRCHEZ) .......................................................................................................................................... 24

PERSUASION KNOWLEDGE: A COGNITIVE RESOURCE AGAINST ANTI-SMOKING PERSUASION ............. 25

FAYÇAL BOUKAMCHA............................................................................................................................................................. 25

ETHICS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETING .............................................................................................................. 26

AYGUL ISAYEVA ...................................................................................................................................................................... 26

THEORIES AND PRACTICES OF CUSTOMER LISTENING: AN EXPLORATORY QUALITATIVE STUDY

WITH BANKING TELESALES AGENTS IN FRANCE ................................................................................................. 27

MARYSE KOEHL ...................................................................................................................................................................... 27

THE IMPORTANCE-PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: AN EVALUATION OF TOURIST SATISFACTION WITH

THE DESTINATION ATTRIBUTES................................................................................................................................ 28

MARIA JOHANN ....................................................................................................................................................................... 28

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF POLISH COMPANIES ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETS ................................. 29

WOJCIECH GRZEGORCZYK .................................................................................................................................................... 29

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCHES OF MARKETING CONCERNING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR OF

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES OFFERED BY PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN ROMANIA ............................................ 30

ELENA-IRINA PETRICĂ ........................................................................................................................................................ 30

VIRTUAL AGENT: A DETERMINANT OF ONLINE SOCIAL PRESENCE AND CONSUMER TRUST IN

WEBSITES ......................................................................................................................................................................... 31

AHMED ANIS CHARFI ........................................................................................................................................................... 31

MUHAMMAD ATIF .................................................................................................................................................................. 31

“PAY WHAT YOU WANT”: A PARTICIPATIVE PRICE SETTING MECHANISM .................................................. 32

CARMEN BĂLAN ...................................................................................................................................................................... 32

THE ROLE OF MARKETING RESTRUCTURING IN A COMPANY CRISIS ............................................................ 33

DRAGO DUBROVSKI ................................................................................................................................................................ 33



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ANALYTICAL AND BEHAVIOURAL ELEMENTS OF MARKETING PLANNING MODEL – EMPIRICAL

EVIDENCE FROM POLISH FIRMS ............................................................................................................................... 34

KATARZYNA RUPIK ................................................................................................................................................................. 34

TOMASZ ŻYMINKOWSKI ......................................................................................................................................................... 34

ROMANIA, AS A TOURIST DESTINATION, SEEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ONLINE MEDIA ........ 35

TIMEA DEMETER..................................................................................................................................................................... 35

GABRIEL BRĂTUCU ................................................................................................................................................................. 35

ALEXANDRA PALADE .............................................................................................................................................................. 35

CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF PERCEIVED PRODUCT QUALITY AND ITS IMPACT ON CUSTOMER

SATISFACTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 36

MARKETING CONCEPT OF ‘LUXURY’ TO ULTERIOR HIGH NET WORTH INDIVIDUALS (UHNI) ................ 37

MILIND FADNAVIS ................................................................................................................................................................... 37

RE-EXAMINING THE MARKETING BASICS: THE MIRAGE OF THE ROUTES TO PERSUASION? .................. 38

MONICA POPA ......................................................................................................................................................................... 38

THE IMPACT OF ECO-MARKETING - A QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE BRASOV’S ADULT

POPULATION ................................................................................................................................................................... 39

MĂDĂLINA-ADINA OPRIŞ(STĂNILĂ) ...................................................................................................................................... 39

GABRIEL BRĂTUCU ................................................................................................................................................................. 39

ALEXANDRA PALADE .............................................................................................................................................................. 39

CONTRIBUTION OF FOUNDATIONS TO REPUTATION IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

APPLICATIONS: VODAFONE TURKEY FOUNDATION REVIEW ........................................................................... 40

EMEL DEMİR ASKEROĞLU ............................................................................................................................................... 40

ZEYNEP BAHAR ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40

CURRENT CONCEPTIONS OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES IN EUROPEAN TRADE COMPANIES ..................... 41

MAREK DRZAZGA ................................................................................................................................................................... 41

SOCIAL MEDIA AND UNIVERSITIES – AN UNEXPLORED TERRITORY – CASE STUDY OF POLAND ........... 42

MICHAŁ SĘDKOWSKI .............................................................................................................................................................. 42

A PREVIEW OF THE MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 43

DANIEL-CLAUDIU PARASCHIV ............................................................................................................................................... 43

IMPLICATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED MANAGEMENT ON SERVICE QUALITY MANAGEMENT ........... 44

ROXANA ELENA POPȘA ........................................................................................................................................................... 44

THE USE OF WEB TECHNOLOGIES IN COMMUNICATING THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM ACCESSING

THE EUROPEAN FUNDS AT THE LEVEL OF A TOURIST DESTINATION ............................................................ 45

RADU ANAMARIA CĂTĂLINA .................................................................................................................................................. 45

[email protected] ......................................................................................................................................... 45

DOBRESCU ANDRA ILEANA ..................................................................................................................................................... 45

ORZAN GHEORGHE ................................................................................................................................................................. 45

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: STAKEHOLDERS SELECTION REMAINS A WEAKNESS

IN EMERGING MARKETS .............................................................................................................................................. 46

FEDERICA BRESSAN ................................................................................................................................................................ 46

PAOLA SIGNORI ....................................................................................................................................................................... 46

MARKETING PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 47



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ANCA FRANCISCA CRUCERU .................................................................................................................................................. 47

VIOLETA RĂDULESCU ............................................................................................................................................................. 47

FOOD PRODUCTS IN THE RETAIL MARKET: CONCEPTUAL BOUNDARIES AND CLASSIFICATIONS ........ 48

GHASSAN SHAKHSHIR ............................................................................................................................................................. 48

COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CONSUMERS’ BUYING INTENTION – A CONCEPTUAL

STUDY ................................................................................................................................................................................ 49

ROXANA-DENISA STOENESCU ................................................................................................................................................ 49

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT COMMUNICATE THROUGH EVENTS WITH

THE HELP OF OUTSOURCING COMPANIES ............................................................................................................. 50

MOISE DANIEL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 50

CRUCERU ANCA FRANCISCA .................................................................................................................................................. 50

ORGANIC GROWTH MARKETING STRATEGIES IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY ................................................ 51

IOANA SIMONA IVASCIUC ....................................................................................................................................................... 51

THE PLACE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE BUSINESS MODEL OF A SME ............................................ 52

ADINA ROXANA MUNTEANU ................................................................................................................................................... 52

MOVING BEYOND THE STAGE GATE MODELS FOR SERVICE INNOVATION: THE TREND AND THE

FUTURE ............................................................................................................................................................................. 53

INTEKHAB (IAN) ALAM ........................................................................................................................................................... 53

MARKETING EDUCATION: BUILDING CAPACITY BEYOND COMPETENCIES ................................................. 54

BISTRA VASSILEVA ................................................................................................................................................................. 54

THE EFFECT OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION ON JOB SATISFACTION: MEDIATION ROLE OF SERVICE

RECOVERY PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................................................ 55

ROMINA CHERAGHALIZADEH ................................................................................................................................................ 55

MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR MARKETING PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES ON THE INTERNET

APPLICABLE IN ADULT’S EDUCATION SERVICES AND MORE ........................................................................... 56

CLAUDIU-DAN GOSTIAN ......................................................................................................................................................... 56

PORTER`S MODELS – ARE THEY STILL OF RELEVANCE? ................................................................................... 57

MARCO PISTER ....................................................................................................................................................................... 57

ART MARKET PRACTICES. A MOVE TOWARDS PRACTICE-BASED ARTS MARKETING RESEARCH ......... 58

HANNA NIKLASSON ................................................................................................................................................................. 58

DESIGN IN LUXURY BUSINESS .................................................................................................................................... 59

WIOLETA DRYL ....................................................................................................................................................................... 59

ANNA DZIADKIEWICZ ............................................................................................................................................................. 59

POSITIONING STRATEGIES FOR OBTAINING AND SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE .................. 60

ADINA CRISTEA ....................................................................................................................................................................... 60

THE THEORY OF THE BUSINESS AS THE STARTING POINT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY:

EVIDENCE FROM THE MEDIA INDUSTRY ................................................................................................................ 61

NORMAND TURGEON .............................................................................................................................................................. 61

EDUCATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE ............................................................... 62

LENKA KOCIFAJOVÁ ............................................................................................................................................................... 62



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THE SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT CUSTOMS OF THE MODERN DAY ROMANIAN YOUTH ........................... 63

CRISTIAN IONUȚ TATU ........................................................................................................................................................... 63

BOGDAN VELICU ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63

SERVICE QUALITY AND MARKET PERFORMANCE OF BULGARIAN BANKS ................................................... 64

NADEZHDA KALINOVA ............................................................................................................................................................ 64

CROWDSOURCING AS TOOLS FOR LAUNCHING A WIKIBRAND “THE CASE OF LIGURY: A WIKIBRAND

FOR A WIKIDESTINATION” .......................................................................................................................................... 65

KAMEL BEN YOUSSEF ............................................................................................................................................................. 65

MARCO FAZZINI ...................................................................................................................................................................... 65

THOMAS MAJD ........................................................................................................................................................................ 65

BUILDING RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION THROUGH HOLISTIC VALUE CREATION: A PROMISING

PERSPECTIVE TOWARD COMPETITIVENESS AND SUSTAINABILITY ............................................................... 66

SOMDEE HONGPHISANVIVAT .................................................................................................................................................. 66

PRIORITIES OF ROMANIAN CONSUMERS IN THE PROCESS OF BANK SELECTION ...................................... 67

ALINA FILIP ............................................................................................................................................................................. 67

DIANA MARIA VRANCEANU .................................................................................................................................................... 67

LELIA VOINEA ......................................................................................................................................................................... 67

NEW TECHNOLOGIES IMPACT IN NOWADAYS SHOPPING CENTERS MARKETING ...................................... 68

IRENE MIHAELA IONIŢĂ (MOLDOVEANU) ............................................................................................................................. 68

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN TERMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ............................................. 69

BOGDAN GEORGESCU ............................................................................................................................................................. 69

RAZVAN DINA .......................................................................................................................................................................... 69

ONLINE ADVERTISING INSTRUMENTS AND THEIR INFLUENCE, RELEVANCE AND USEFULNESS FOR

THE ROMANIAN CONSUMERS ..................................................................................................................................... 70

CARMEN ACATRINEI ............................................................................................................................................................... 70

A COMPARATIVE MULTICULTURAL STUDY OF PATIENT SATISFACTION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION .... 71

MĂDĂLINA-ALEXANDRA COȚIU ............................................................................................................................................. 71

HORAȚIU SORIN DAN .............................................................................................................................................................. 71

MARKETING AND INNOVATION: PLAYGROUND FOR EDUCATION ................................................................... 72

LUCIAN-FLORIN ONIȘOR ........................................................................................................................................................ 72

IONUȚ HUC .............................................................................................................................................................................. 72

ANIȘOARA TĂTAR ................................................................................................................................................................... 72

PRIVACY CONCERNS AND PERSONAL INFORMATION DISCLOSURE STRATEGIES OF SOCIAL

NETWORKING WEBSITES USERS’ IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA ............................................................................. 73

CĂLIN PETRICĂ VEGHEȘ ........................................................................................................................................................ 73

MIHAI ORZAN ......................................................................................................................................................................... 73

OCTAV MACOVEI .................................................................................................................................................................... 73

WHITENESS CONSTRUCTED IN A MULTI-CULTURAL WORLD ........................................................................... 74

RENATE AAKERHIELM ............................................................................................................................................................ 74

STRATEGIC ISSUES IN MANAGING PHOTOVOLTAIC BUSINESS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN

UNION. CASE STUDY-ROMANIA .................................................................................................................................. 75

ADRIAN DUMITRU TANŢĂU .................................................................................................................................................... 75



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MARIA ALEXANDRA NICHIFOR .............................................................................................................................................. 75

HORAŢIU REGNEALĂ .............................................................................................................................................................. 75

BUILDING BRAND IDENTITY IN IT MARKETS: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL ......................................................... 76

BISTRA VASSILEVA ................................................................................................................................................................. 76

HEALTH TOURISM AND PATIENT SATISFACTION IN TURKEY: THE ANKARA EXAMPLE ........................... 77

DILAVER TENGILIMOGLU ....................................................................................................................................................... 77

[email protected] .................................................................................................................................... 77

DEMET TAŞ.............................................................................................................................................................................. 77

[email protected] .................................................................................................................................................. 77

ELIF EŞIYOK SÖNMEZ ............................................................................................................................................................. 77

[email protected] ................................................................................................................................................. 77

İSMAIL BIRCAN ....................................................................................................................................................................... 77

ALPER GUZEL ......................................................................................................................................................................... 77

EXTERNALITIES, SOCIAL VALUE AND WORD-OF-MOUTH .................................................................................. 78

PIER-ANDRÉ BOUCHARD ST-AMANT ..................................................................................................................................... 78

WHAT’S IN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT JOBS: EXPLORING TITLES, ROLES AND QUALIFICATIONS

ACROSS INDUSTRIES AND CONTINENTS .................................................................................................................. 79

NORMAND TURGEON .............................................................................................................................................................. 79

GHEORGHE EPURAN ............................................................................................................................................................... 79

MEDIATING EFFECTS OF DECISIONAL BALANCE IN THE TRANSTHEORETICAL. MODEL OF CHANGE

FOR CUSTOMERS WHO MISMANAGE THEIR MONEY ........................................................................................... 80

AMIRA BERRICHE ................................................................................................................................................................... 80

FRANCIS SALERNO .................................................................................................................................................................. 80

MIHAI CALCIU ........................................................................................................................................................................ 80

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH: A CRITICAL REVIEW AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS ............................................. 81

GABRIELA CĂPĂȚÎNĂ .............................................................................................................................................................. 81

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: WHAT’S BEHIND THE NAME? ................................................................................... 82

ANNE THERESA EIDHOFF ....................................................................................................................................................... 82

JANA POELZL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 82

THE YOUNG SPORT CONSUMER - DOING OR WATCHING SPORTS? .................................................................. 83

MIHAELA CONSTANTINESCU .................................................................................................................................................. 83

ȘTEFAN CLAUDIU CĂESCU ...................................................................................................................................................... 83



20

Session I

"Big Data" Opportunities on the Example of Yandex Mobile Applications

Ekaterine Tavberidze

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi

[email protected]

Key words: Big Data, online-marketing, Yandex mobile applications

JEL classification: M390.

With the spread as Big Data philosophy so its analysis tools, opinion leaders in various sectors of the

economy and industry have been using a fantastic opportunity of Big Data. Another thing is to build a whole company

or even a single marketing strategy for Big Data, leadership requires a lot of courage - apart from very serious

analytical costs. However, Big Data - it is not remote and abstract, it is our today, if not yesterday, and we need to

develop new revolutionary way. Never before data stream was not so large and diverse. Using multiple digital

channels we obtain vast amounts of digital data. One can argue marketing has become digital in its basis, it becomes

classical natural science. The main objective of marketing - to understand where is the happiness of users (clients,

customers). And we are in a situation where the user or the buyer often does not understand what it is his happiness.

On the example of Mobile Application of Yandex, we will see, how volatile consumer's behavior, how seller has to

respond at the positive or negative changes, and will see importance of control all kinds of sources of information,

because traditional market research, usually use unnatural acts, such as surveys, interviews, shopping centers, focus

groups. Big Data learn that in fact people say and what they have done or are going to do. Also, in real time data is

received on what people are currently busy, and that they were planning. Only Big Data capabilities allow to handle

such volumes of unstructured data is constantly arriving at the input of analytical systems.



21

Qualitative Marketing Research to Improve Mountain Shelter Product Development

for Romanian Mountain Tourism

Diana Foris

Transilvania University of Brașov, Faculty of Food and Tourism

[email protected]

Cristina Nicolau

Transilvania University of Brașov, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration

[email protected]

Tiberiu Foris

Transilvania University of Brașov, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration

[email protected]

Vasile Grecu

S.C. RedDome Shelter S.R.L. (trading company)

[email protected]

Key words: eco modular shelter, mountain tourism, qualitative research, tourist safety.

JEL classification: M31, D12, L26.

This paper aims at underlining the importance of mountain tourism within Romanian tourism, being centred

on the research and development of mountain shelters so as to increase the tourists' safety and convenience. In this

respect, we shall analyse the Romanian market of mountain shelters, identifying the features of supply and demand

of shelters both at public and private level and underlying the needs of developing a new product, hereinafter called

eco modular shelter. As this new product has been previously designed and commissioned as a prototype by a

professional team of engineers and professors, it will be the objective of this paper to identify how the eco modular

shelter would meet its basic needs from the point of view of the authorities implied in the process of rescuing

endangered lives. Therefore, there will be conducted a qualitative research with some members of the authorities

who have been using these shelters both personally and professionally so as to determine if the eco modular shelter

meets market needs and to identify its possible customers.



22

The Influence of Brands on Consumer Behavior in Selecting a Travel Package

Ionela – Valeria POPESCU

The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: brand influence, consumer behavior, tourism brands, tourist package.


When selecting a travel package, consumers consider certain important criteria to identify the most suitable

holiday according to their preferences, expectations, budget, time and mood. A series of factors occur in the selection

process, related to the travel service providers, as well as the travel destination where the tourist has chosen to spend

its free time. Whether related to the country, the selected travel agency, the transport company or any other company

involved in the provision of services up to the destination and during its holiday, the consumer can choose between

various brands available on the market. The work aims to discover the influence held by the brands of companies

that are active in the tourist sector, over the manner in which consumers choose a travel package, if it is available,

and the extent to which it is a determining factor in selecting a provider in the detriment of others, or of a destination

in the detriment of others. The research that was carried out aims to capture the process of selecting a travel service

package by tourists, the steps that are taken, the priority criteria to be considered, the significance of the brand in

relation to such criteria and determining the influence of brands and of their associated values over the buying

behavior.



23

Personal marketing appeals: How personality dimensions influence feelings toward

emotional images

John Magnus Roos

Centre for Consumer Science (CFK) and Department of Business and Administration,

School of Business Economics and Commercial Law, University of Gothenburg

Veryday

[email protected]

[email protected]

Key words: Affect, Appraisal, Emotion, Marketing and Advertising, Personality.


The aim of this study is to explore how the five-factor model of personality (openness, conscientiousness,

extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) influences emotional responses to visual stimuli. An experimental

design was used where 148 students completed a personality test and reported their emotional response to fourteen

visual images. The key-findings are (1) high degree of extraversion influences pleasant affect (i.e. happiness), (2)

high degree of neuroticism influences unpleasant affect (i.e. fear and disgust), (3) low degree of openness,

extraversion and/or neuroticism influences the absence of emotions (i.e. neutral response). Our results demonstrate

that consumers´ immediate perceptions of visual images as stimuli at least partly depend on their personality

dimensions, which are shaped by nature and nurture.



24

Culture and Religion in Marketing Communication

Nicoleta Popescu (Spârchez)

The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: Marketing, Religion, Culture, Communication, Service.

JEL classification: M20, M31, M39.

For the majority of the organizations, dialogue and communication, collaboration and cooperation,

responsibility and competence, authority and trust in promoting the values, respect and loyalty represent one of the

most important intangible values of the intellectual capital. In this period, the one of globalizing the business, the

communication plays an essential role in the progress and development of any entity both internally and externally.

The development of the modern marketing presupposes the awareness of certain barriers of cultural and religious

nature, and the communication represents a fundamental problem which can determine the success or failure of a

very attractive product or service, by quality and price. Within the relationships with the external environment, there

are several forms of communication whose challenge is the development of the image, values, products and services

specific to the organization. Considering the forms of external communication of any organization, but also the

strategic actions regarding the development and the diversification of the goods and services, the objective of this

step consists in understanding the influences of certain particularities regarding the race, nationalism, history,

territory, religion, language and other cultural aspects. In this regard, it will be presented a qualitative research, based

on an interview that determines the most important communications channels necessary for launching a new concept

of service in our country.



25

Persuasion Knowledge: A Cognitive Resource against Anti-Smoking Persuasion

Fayçal Boukamcha

Institute of Business Administration, University of Gafsa, Tunisia

[email protected]

Key words: Attitude strength, Cognitive mechanism, Partial Least Square, Resistance to persuasion,

Smoking.

JEL classification: M31, M37.

The purpose of the paper is to explain resistance to anti-smoking persuasion by integrating persuasion

knowledge as a cognitive resource that likely affects persuasive message efficiency. A research model was designed

including an anti-smoking persuasive message, persuasion knowledge, coping self-efficacy and attitude certainty as

predictors of resistance to anti-smoking persuasion. A survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 617

Tunisian smokers. The sample was divided into two subgroups: the first one was exposed to a high negative anti-

smoking print ad; the second was exposed a low negative anti-smoking print ad. The constructs were measured on a

5 points’ Likert scales and were one-dimensional except for the resistance to persuasion scale that contained 3

attitudinal dimensions: cognitive, affective and behavioral. To assess the research model, the Partial Least Square

(PLS) method was used. According to the findings, the print ads weren’t effective in activating persuasion

knowledge. Nevertheless, persuasion knowledge was high and positively correlated with the cognitive and the

behavioral component of resistance to the anti-smoking persuasion when channeled through attitude certainty.



26

Ethics in International Marketing

Aygul Isayeva

International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia

[email protected]

Key words: ethics, ethical and unethical behavior, international marketing.


The importance of ethics in international marketing, but not only, has managed across time to maintain itself

as a well disputed and investigated subject. This study sets for itself to create a general view of the issue by relying

on previous examinations of the matter conducted by researchers all over the world and adding some complementary

practical information through a detailed analyzed case study. The aim of this article is to illustrate the constantly

increasing importance of an ethically conscientious marketing and to draw the attention towards acting in a

responsible manner.



27

Theories and Practices of Customer Listening: an Exploratory Qualitative Study

with Banking Telesales Agents in France

Maryse Koehl

Lycée Monge (Charleville-Mézières)

[email protected]

Key words: call center, customer, customer relationship management, listening, telesales agents.


Listening has a determining role in the commercial negotiation. Listening creates a positive relation between

seller and customer. It generates trust, satisfaction and success in the conclusion of a sale. The research works about

listening in a sale context are generally focused on a face to face relation and not on a phone relation but with the

development of multichannel communication, telesales has a particular place in customer relationship management

(CRM). So, it is interesting to study customer listening in a context of a sale without face to face between seller and

customer justifying the selection of the context of telesales for this research. The objectives are to research what is

customer listening for telesales agents and how they practice customer listening when they manage phone calls with

customers. To satisfy these objectives, a qualitative exploratory study is realized by interviews with telesales agents

who work in an internal call center of a french national bank. These telesales agents give their own approach about

customer listening and describe their practices of customer listening. Their responses allow to have a professional

approach of customer listening that is compared with theories. The paper delimits firstly the concept of customer

listening in theories. Then, it describes the conditions of the qualitative study with banking telesales agents and

presents the content of interviews. Thirdly, analyses of the qualitative study are presented before to conclude in an

optics of customer relationship management.



28

Session II

The Importance-Performance Analysis: an Evaluation of Tourist Satisfaction with

the Destination Attributes

Maria Johann

Warsaw School of Economics

[email protected]

Key words: Importance-Performance Analysis, tourism product attributes, destination attributes,

customer satisfaction.


The paper presents the results of a primary data analysis examining tourists’ perceptions of Poland as a tourist

destination. The researcher analyzed the data collected in 2013 regarding tourists’ satisfaction with the package

holidays in Poland. The aim of the research study was to analyze tourists’ opinions concerning the most important

destination attributes crucial for travelers in terms of their importance for tourists as well as their performance. The

researcher distinguished two groups of tourism product attributes: package holiday services (internal tourism product

attributes) and other destination attributes (external tourism product attributes) influencing tourists’ holiday

experience. The Importance-Performance Analysis was used to evaluate the distinguished tourism product attributes.

The surveyed sample of tourists spent their holiday on the coach tours in Poland. The total sample volume was 463

travelers. The conclusions of the study are concerned with the recommendations regarding the tourism product

development process and the necessity of developing cooperation between tour operators and local authorities,

tourism organizations as well as other entities offering tourist services.



29

Marketing Strategies of Polish Companies on International Markets

Wojciech Grzegorczyk

University of Lodz

[email protected]

Key words: export, foreign markets, international marketing, marketing mix, marketing strategies.


The aim of this article is to characterize marketing mix strategies of Polish companies on international

markets. The article is based on the author’s research and research results published in Polish and foreign professional

journals. The main forms of expansion into foreign markets are export and improvement trade, but also capital or

non-capital cooperation with foreign partners or direct investments. Polish companies mainly focus on export.

Exports to foreign markets in 2013 amounted to over 158 billion Euro and was over 177% higher than in 2004.

Cooperation with foreign partners is a rather rare method of expansion. On the other hand, Polish foreign direct

investments (focused in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe), in 2012 for example, amounted to over 38

billion Euro. Marketing mix strategies of Polish companies can be classified as selective development and

concentration strategies. Polish companies focus on selected foreign markets and customer segments in these

markets. Product policy focal points are standardization and adaptation to conditions abroad. The prices for the

products are usually shaped at an average level of prices in international markets. When it comes to distribution,

Polish companies use foreign distribution channels, which often significantly differ from the channels used in Poland.

Promotional activities are undertaken through intermediaries in the distribution channels or advertising agencies in

foreign markets. In conclusion, the marketing mix activities of Polish companies on international markets brought

positive financial results.



30

Quantitative researches of marketing concerning consumer behavior of educational

services offered by private universities in Romania

Elena-Irina PETRICĂ

Universitatea Transilvania din Braşov

[email protected]

Key words: consumer behavior, marketing research, educational services, private universities.


Studying the behavior of access and use the educational services offered by universities in Romania

represents for their managers a real source of information that can be valued in the process of foundation of marketing

policies and strategies which have a decisive role in increasing the efficiency of institutions of higher education. For

achieving this demarche is required designing and implementing quantitative marketing researches to determine the

main characteristics of the segments of candidates targeted by the universities. Addressed in this paper is a

quantitative research aimed at studying the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of students and graduates concerning

the educational services offered by private universities in Romania.



31

Virtual Agent: A Determinant of Online Social Presence and Consumer Trust in

Websites

Ahmed Anis CHARFI

European Business School-Paris, Paris, France

[email protected]

Muhammad ATIF

EM Normandie, Caen, France

[email protected]

Key words: Virtual Agents, Virtual atmosphere, Social Presence, Consumer Trust, Online Behavioral

Intentions, Word-of-Mouth.

JEL Classification: M39.

In the backdrop of rapidly changing technologically environment and rising consumer expectations,

questions about the factors that make consumer more trustful of websites remain a subject interest for the researchers.

One of these factors is the virtual presence of an agent on a website; a way to reduce the physical and social distance

between consumers and companies. The objective of this study is to unearth the effects of such virtual agents on

online social presence of websites. The study explores the effects of variables of social presence, consumer trust,

online behavioral intentions, and the word-of-mouth. These formed the antecedents of the causal model which

utilized SOR framework (Mehrabian and Russell , 1974; Bitner , 1992). Two well known commercial website were

chosen for the study. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted on a representative sample of 481 French

adults. The results showed a strong support for the relationship between virtual agents, social presence, and consumer

trust. While consumer trust was found to influence online consumer behavior and word-of-mouth, thus confirming

the previous research.



32

“Pay What You Want”: A Participative Price Setting Mechanism

Carmen Bălan

The Bucharest University of Economic Studies

[email protected]

Key words: marketing, pricing, pay what you want, participative mechanism

JEL Classification: M30, M31.

Traditionally, price is a major component of the marketing mix of companies, irrespective of their industry.

Price used to be set by suppliers. In contrast, new approaches are visible in the practice of several companies;

respectively customers take the initiative of price setting. The present paper aims to explore the pricing mechanism

“Pay What You Want” that is focused on customers. The main objectives of the paper refer to the identification of:

(i) the specific features of this pricing approach; (ii) the advantages for companies and customers; (iii) the economic

sectors that may consider this approach; (iv) challenges raised for economic operators; (v) the impact on the results

of companies. Several cases of companies from the international markets that applied such methods are also

presented. The paper makes recommendations relative to the implementation of the “Pay What You Want” pricing

mechanism that is based on the direct participation of customers.



33

The Role of Marketing Restructuring in a Company Crisis

Drago Dubrovski

University of Primorska, Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, 6000 Koper, Slovenia

[email protected]

Key words: crisis, marketing restructuring, recovery, renewal.


A company crisis can be defined as a short-term, undesired, unfavourable and critical state in the company

(organization) which has derived from both internal and external causes and which directly endangers the further

existence and growth of the company. In crisis not only short-term measures but also long-term vision and business

directions must be prepared and implemented in order to be able to provide further existence and development. One

of the most important area is marketing restructuring which represents a transition from the prior structural

combination of programmes and markets to a new structure that must enable greater profitability and effectiveness

of operations. In regard to such a restructuring, one must take into account the inter-linked relationship of the market

(the chosen segment of customers) and of the programme (product, service), since, in principle, it is true that the

identical programme of offer cannot be placed on the new market or the new programme in the prior market

(segment). If the marketing restructuring is one of the most important restructuring area in the company in times of

crisis it should be based upon marketing concept in order to follow the right direction of the renewal. However,

empirical evidence from the author’s research has shown that companies in acute crisis pay surprisingly little attention

to their marketing restructuring, even though in this case this is the most important area of reorganization. In the

article some guidelines for the marketing restructuring for achieving the company renewal based on marketing

knowledge and practice are presented.



34

Analytical and Behavioural Elements of Marketing Planning Model – Empirical

Evidence from Polish Firms

Katarzyna Rupik

University of Economics in Katowice, Poland

[email protected]

Tomasz Żyminkowski

The State School of Higher Professional Education in Konin, Poland

[email protected]

Key words: Marketing P, Planning Process, Model, Empirical Research.


The phenomenon of marketing planning has received considerable attention over the last decades. However,

the traditional, synoptic approach predominates in the existing literature. Empirical research on behavioural aspects

of marketing planning process is still scarce although there are some important theoretical achievement within the

behavioural approach. This paper aims to fill in this gap by addressing the problem of marketing planning system

structure and relationships between its elements. The conceptual framework for our empirical model of firm’s

marketing planning system is grounded on theoretical assumptions originated from both traditional, synoptic as well

as behavioural perspectives. Our empirical assessment, conducted in 101 large Polish companies, reveals the

existence of significant correlations between analytical dimension of marketing planning (i.e. comprehensiveness,

information and formalization) and its behavioural aspects (participation and attitudes). Our findings also prove that

marketing planning process has impact on ultimate marketing effects (firm’s market orientation and performance).

This paper contributes to the field of marketing management (particularly to its effectiveness stream) and supports

the notion on manageability of both analytical and behavioural dimensions of marketing planning process.



35

Romania, as a Tourist Destination, Seen from the Perspective of the Online Media

Timea Demeter

Transilvania University from Brașov, Romania

[email protected]

Gabriel Brătucu


[email protected]

Alexandra Palade


[email protected]

Key words: online media, Romania, tourist destination, marketing, youth, social media.

JEL classification: L83, M31.

In the age of information, the internet is one of the most often consulted sources when it comes to gathering

materials about specific tourist destinations. According to the World Tourism Organization, 80% of young travellers

use it to search for information before their trip. Therefore the data available in the online media has a significant

impact on the decision-making process of young tourists, and the internet can be used as an essential marketing tool

for the tourism industry. This paper presents the in-depth analysis of the information about Romania, as a tourist

destination, available on the major non-Romanian websites, which operate in the field of tourism worldwide,

including both owner and user generated content. Well acknowledged, online newspapers are also included in the

study, together with two significant social media networks, namely Facebook and Twitter. The results show the

image, which is presented to the international traveller about Romania as a tourist destination, trough the online

environment. This research may serve as a starting point for companies or researchers, who plan to develop and

implement strategies to promote Romanian tourism by means of the internet to the potential foreign visitors. The

novelty of this paper consists in the fact that, very few scientific studies have been conducted for Romania, concerning

this or closely related topics.



36

Conceptual Model of Perceived Product Quality and Its Impact on Customer

Satisfaction

Boboc Andreea Larisa


[email protected]

Orzan Gheorghe


[email protected]

Key words: customer satisfaction, product quality, marketing.


The quality of products and services play an important role in consumer purchase decision process, becoming

a complex criterion, subject to continuous assessment in terms of perceptions and expectations. In the current market

conditions, due to the large diversity of supply of goods and a continual increase in consumer demands, consumers

have become more aware and concerned about the quality of products and services, which favors the competitiveness

of enterprises. The topics addressed in this paper are regarding different aspects of conceptual quality and

methodological quality and what perspective is on continuous improvement and consumer satisfaction.



37

Session III

Marketing Concept of ‘Luxury’ to Ulterior High Net Worth Individuals (UHNI)

Milind Fadnavis

Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur-India

[email protected], [email protected]

Key words: luxury, UHNI, segment, wealth, customer.


The term coined- Ulterior High Net worth Individuals refers to those filthy rich people who have amassed

wealth through illegal means. This set of customers comprise of drug peddlers, land mafias, real estate tycoons,

politicians, smugglers , dictators and others who are engaged in illegal activities. They have huge purchasing power

but marketers of luxury goods/services normally do not reach out to them. They have rags-to-riches stories of their

own and as a result may not be comfortable with concept of luxury although they can certainly afford. An effort is

made in this paper to present a five- step model (conceptual) – AEIOU to tap this attractive segment for both private

and public luxury products and services. Paper first deals with typical characteristics of these customers, which may

not necessarily be common across world. At second stage, the model AEIOU is discussed in details. A stands for

APPROACH, E- EXPLAIN concept of luxury, I- INDUCE these customers, O- OBVIATE crucial step which means

prevent/remove potential difficulties in advance and lastly U- UPGRADE. All these steps are crucial, considering

potential customers to be tapped. If this segment is won by successfully following above steps, marketers can benefit

immensely. However, this goldmine is laid with thorns and there are issued involved such as ethics and values,

customer satisfaction, issue of after sales service, impact on image of an organization once this set of customers start

using their products on regular basis . Marketers of luxury products are always careful while choosing their own set

of customers and question before a luxury product/service marketer is whether conscious efforts are to be made to

catch this attractive pie?



38

Re-Examining the Marketing Basics: The Mirage of the Routes to Persuasion?

Monica Popa

Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

[email protected]

Key words: attitudes, elaboration-likelihood-model, marketing, persuasion.


One of the key predictions advanced in mainstream models of persuasion (e.g., the Elaboration Likelihood

Model) is that attitude changes induced in highly involved individuals via the central route (systematic processing)

are relatively persistent and predictive of behavior, whereas attitudes induced under low involvement conditions

through the peripheral route (heuristic processing) are relatively temporary and unpredictive of behavior. Despite its

central role in marketing theory, the proposition has not been tested in product advertising. Supporters argue that this

prediction should hold irrespective of how involvement is conceptualized and across domains of persuasion (e.g.,

Petty and Cacioppo 1983, 1990). A critical investigation is conducted herein, motivated by the observed gap between

scholarly mantra and marketing practice. Also, this paper argues that the exact opposite of the mainstream theory

should be obtained in marketing contexts when involvement is based on consumers' intrinsic personal relevance,

suggesting that the instinct of marketing executives may not be misguided after all.



39

The Impact of Eco-Marketing - A Quantitative Research on the Brasov’s Adult

Population

Mădălina-Adina Opriş(Stănilă)

Transilvania University from Brasov, Romania

[email protected]

Gabriel Brătucu


[email protected]

Alexandra Palade


[email protected]

Key words: Consumer, Consumer behavior, Eco-Marketing, Eco-Marketing Campaign, Eco product,

Environment, Quantitative Research.

JEL classification: M30, M31, M39.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the ecological crises and of the current concerns for

maintaining a clean and safe environment. The entire economic activity is related to the environment, being at least,

the place for producing the goods. The consumers are growing their interest on the world behind the product, they

want to know how, where and who manufactured the product they want to buy, in order to determine the price they

want to pay, and to make the purchase decision. The main part of this article contains a marketing research made on

the Brasov’s adult population, having the main objective to establish the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of the

Brasov citizens on the eco-marketing campaigns. In order to determine this, a quantitative research was conducted,

on 384 subjects. This research contains questions about the interest manifested by the population from Brasov on the

ecological problems, the actions that were taken by different age groups concerning the ecological problems, the

influence of the revenue on the actions on the eco-marketing campaigns and the degree of involvement of different

economic actors in the eco-marketing plans. The results of this quantitative research are able to establish some main

directions for an efficient eco-marketing campaign on the Brasov market.



40

Contribution of Foundations to Reputation in Corporate Social Responsibility

Applications: Vodafone Turkey Foundation Review

Emel DEMİR ASKEROĞLU

University of Namık Kemal

[email protected]

Zeynep BAHAR

University of Maltepe

[email protected]

Key Words: The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, Reputation, Corporate Reputation.

JEL classification: M14, L14.

Today's highly competitive business environments and the existence of conscious consumers have increased

importance given to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate businesses that owe their existence to

consumers and conscious of their responsibilities towards environment have greater chances of success than their

competitors. The concept of social responsibility starts from the first step of producing goods and services of a

businesses and based on the principle of the society benefit. In corporate social responsibility projects, corporates

often act with civil society organizations which are chosen depending on policies and strategies of the corporate in

line with the scope of corporate social responsibility. Studies are conducted in collaboration with independent civil

society organizations beside corporates may prefer establishing their own foundations and carry out their social

responsibility through these foundations. The use of corporate social responsibility got undisputed great importance

for the corporate reputation and credibility of the foundations which cannot ignore public interest. Whether with civil

society organizations or for their own foundations, credibility of corporate social responsibility is indispensable. The

aim of this study is to emphasize the theoretical framework of the concept of corporate social responsibility, and to

explain the contribution of the corporate brand reputation. Secondly, revision and examination of “Vodafone Turkey

Foundation” as one of the Foundations that perform various tasks in corporate social responsibilities through its own

foundation, and review by the concept of social responsibility and its contribution on brand reputation.



41

Current Conceptions of Marketing Activities in European Trade Companies

Marek Drzazga

University of Economics in Katowice, Poland

[email protected]

Key words: new media, customer value, multi-channel marketing, mobile marketing, customer social

responsibility.


In the past years fundamental changes of the contents and center of gravity in the theory of marketing

influenced by changes taking place in the environment of a company have been observed. New conceptions that are

employed by retail trade companies result from the changes taking place in the macroeconomic environment of these

companies. Retail trade companies make frequent use of the following marketing conceptions: customer relationship

marketing, customer value, multi-channel marketing, mobile marketing, customer social responsibility. The extent

to which these conceptions are employed in marketing activities of trade companies varies and depends on, among

others, the appropriate knowledge on the part of the companies’ managers, as well as on the resources of the

companies and the line of business of these companies.



42

Social Media and Universities – an Unexplored Territory – Case Study of Poland

Michał Sędkowski

University of Lodz, Poland

[email protected]

Key words: communication, social media, relationship building, university.

JEL classification: M39; I23.

Social media are ubiquitous and more people adopt them to their own needs and requirements. The basic

need is to stay in touch with your friends, relatives and business associates. Furthermore social media allow to control

the flow of information and block communicates that have little or no interest to the recipient. Universities in Poland

seem to ignore the trend, as social media are being utilized in a standard, non-interactive mode, where University

sends the message and closes the connection. A case study of 4 Polish public universities is presented: University of

Warsaw, Jagiellonian University, University of Lodz and University of Jan Kochanowski in Kielce. Author analyses

how social media are being utilized to communicate and form a relationship between the university and its

stakeholders, is the communication process fluent and effective. To compare, a case study of Faculty of International

Relations and Political Studies, University of Lodz is presented. The department developed its own unique

communication system, based on a custom solution. The author evaluates the potential of the approach.



43

A Preview of the Mobile Marketing Research

Daniel-Claudiu Paraschiv

“Babes-Bolyai” University from Cluj-Napoca, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: Mobile Marketing Research, Mobile Research.


The purpose of this paper is to have general overview over the mobile industry from the marketing research

point of view. This paper aims to highlight the importance of the mobile marketing research and to understand the

evolution trend of mobile technology for future marketing research projects. The potential of the mobile technology

is making mobile marketing research win more terrain in the detriment of the classic, but still intensively used,

marketing research tools. The preview is based on the few papers which are approaching this new but fast growing

niche. There is the need of having a general guideline for the mobile marketing research but the existing literature is

falling short on creating the framework for the mobile marketing research. There are few papers which are

approaching this area of interest, creating an inconsistent and a fragmented description of probably the main direction

of the marketing research development.



44

Implications of Knowledge-Based Management on Service Quality Management

Roxana Elena Popșa

Faculty of Economic Sciences, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: knowledge-based management, organizations providing services, quality of service.

JEL classification: L80, M10, M11.

Modern management creates opportunities for quality management in organizations providing services in

the current economic environment characterized by the revolution of knowledge and technological progress. The

transition from the industrial age to knowledge-based period indicates that the source of competitive advantage is

today the acquisition of knowledge inside and outside the organization, a prerequisite for achieving excellence and

performance. The trend of knowledge-based management of organizations can be observed in most areas of activity.

Thus, contemporary business is going through a process of adaptation to the new management concept, centered on

providing quality services through continuous development of intellectual capital. However, new technologies offer

the management of organizations providing services the ability to adapt to ever-changing customer demands and

preferences. In this context, this research topic is based on an extensive study of applied and fundamental research

works in order to determine how knowledge-based management influences value creation and competitive advantage

by service providers.



45

The use of web technologies in communicating the results obtained from accessing

the European funds at the level of a tourist destination

Radu Anamaria Cătălina


[email protected]

Dobrescu Andra Ileana


[email protected]

Orzan Gheorghe


[email protected]

Key words: web technologies, communication, tourist destination.


The projects financed by European funds are those that have the capacity to develop the activity sector in

which are implemented. In tourism sector, these projects will contribute especially to the development of destination,

in order to improve the tourist activity and also, for the rehabilitation of certain tourist attractions, etc. The

implementation of European funded projects in regions with high potential of development are contributing at the

improving of area's tourist activity and generate a great impact at the national tourism. This paper aims to determine

the importance of the projects financed from European funds to the development of Romanian North-East region.

The researched region includes six counties, as following: Bacau, Botosani, Suceava, Neamt, Iasi and Vaslui. The

research aims to determine the students’ opinion in terms of how the results of European funds projects are used in

the North-East region and also, is focus on the importance of web technologies in online communication of the

results. The results analysis aims to identify the most important features that contribute to the improvement of the

tourist destination.



46

Session IV

International Relationship Marketing: Stakeholders Selection Remains a Weakness

in Emerging Markets

Federica Bressan

Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Italy

[email protected]

Paola Signori

Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Italy

[email protected]

Key words: competitiveness, emerging markets, international relationship marketing, partners selection,

relationship marketing.

JEL classification: M31, F23, L14.

Emerging markets represent an important growth opportunity that is often overlooked. However, the

internationalization process within highly different cultural and geographical contexts becomes more complex and

requires in depth information of local market characteristics, impacting stakeholder selection. Relying on a

Relationship Marketing approach, the purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of how to obtain strategic

information about emerging markets and the role of stakeholders that companies strategically involve. In the first

research phase, an exploratory CAWI survey was conducted to understand emerging markets' relationship

orientations in a particular industry: specifically the global kitchen furniture industry, characterized by strong

orientations toward product design and service. All 56 Italian companies registered to the main furniture association

were contacted, with a 70% response rate. The second research phase was qualitative, particularly suitable to extend

a theory in different cultural contexts. Twelve top managers from eight companies of the first sample were

interviewed, using a semi-structured survey protocol. Based on this mixed methodology, a pattern of strategically

selected relationships for companies in an internationalization phase is developed. While a Relationship Marketing

approach suggests the creation of a holistic stakeholder strategy, empirical research demonstrates that companies at

the beginning take into consideration different priorities, keeping a low number of interactions with few stakeholders

because relationship management is time consuming and expensive. As such, they select only a few partners, each

one for specific objectives, and sometimes in an ad hoc fashion. Further research is needed to extend results to service

companies.



47

Marketing Productivity Analysis

Anca Francisca Cruceru


[email protected]

Violeta Rădulescu


[email protected]

Key words: marketing productivity, marketing performance, marketing audit, strategic marketing

planning.


In terms of competitive pressures, managers must find solutions to increase organizational performance.

Marketing activities involve evaluation of each market segment. From this perspective, marketing productivity

analysis is a useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the marketing actions. Achieving marketing objectives,

strategies and tactics for marketing and other elements of their marketing productivity chain will be evaluated

periodically to increase marketing performance. Managers need to learn how to allocate marketing resources and

how to develop marketing skills to consider activities and expenses incurred as a long term investment. This article

presents a framework for measuring marketing productivity and assessment methods for efficiency of marketing

activities.



48

Food Products in the Retail Market: Conceptual Boundaries and Classifications

Ghassan Shakhshir

University Of Babeș-Bolyai

[email protected]

Key words: food products, retail, food category, packaging.

JEL classification: L11, Q1, M31.

This study presents a literature review on the food products and their delimitations in the retail sector. Food

categories are separated in the international literature in complex and multidimensional groups. We can see that some

researchers divide food based on nutritional values and health issues, while others classify them in the international

trade legislation based on fiscal and import regulation. The seasonality and taste are also categories considered for

the division of food products. In this paper research will be conducted by analyzing various articles to determine the

food classes in the retail industry. The main aspects to be addressed in our paper are the ones based on consumer

perceptions when buying a food product in the market, more specifically in the retail shop. Hence the authors will

analyze food categories in connection with their placement in the main retail shops, based on consumer buying

behaviour. The principal groups in which the food products will be separated are based on freshness level, processed

level, or the extent and function of industrial processing the food products have gone through, and finally, the type

of packaging. Another important category the authors will address is the private label brand which has positioned

itself on a separate classification. Results suggest that this kind of food classification is an important aspect to be

used in retail food brands analysis and their positioning in consumers' minds.



49

Country-of-Origin and its Influence on Consumers’ Buying Intention – A Conceptual

Study

Roxana-Denisa Stoenescu

Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: brand image, buying intention, consumer behavior, country-of-origin, ethnocentrism, quality

perception.


The concept of country-of-origin has been examined from various perspectives, given the extended influence

on the marketing mix. The technologies present in modern society facilitated the process of collecting information

for consumers, making research about their buying behavior more important than in anterior times. This paper’s

purpose is to review the existing literature for a more accurate understanding of the country-of-origin concept and to

analyze its effects on determining the consumers’ buying intention. Furthermore, the study explores consumers’

perception about a country’s image as a factor of influence in the purchase decision, focusing on a cognitive, affective

and normative perspective. The aim is to outline new aspects on which companies should concentrate in gaining

consumer’s trust, developing a durable competitive advantage. The findings suggest further directions in minimizing

negative effects for some countries of origin, the attention being directed on the methods of reducing the halo effect

of a country’s image on consumers’ perception. The conceptual approach of the subject completes the scientific

literature by adding new connections between variables and by linking the explored findings with practical examples.

The study also offers some recommendations for future research.



50

The relationship between the organizations that communicate through events with

the help of outsourcing companies

Moise Daniel


[email protected]

Cruceru Anca Francisca


[email protected]

Key words: events, communication, mechanism model.


The aim of the article is to reveal the connections and implications of the organizations whenever they

communicate with their stakeholders through events, no matter if they are from the internal or external environment,

appealing to specialized companies in order to reach communication general marketing objectives. Communication

through events is placed on one of the top positions in the management system in which strategic marketing planning

is a component of the marketing mix and communication sub-mix. A research is conducted in order to highlight the

proportion of control upon the outsource company and also the degree of implication regarding the strategies taken

into consideration by the organization. Drawn from the conclusion of the research, a mechanism model is suggest for

strategic planning in events communication.



51

Organic Growth Marketing Strategies in Hospitality Industry

Ioana Simona Ivasciuc

Transilvania University of Braşov

[email protected]

Key words: organic growth, qualitative research, hospitality industry, tourism marketing.


Hospitality industry is the world’s fastest growing industry accountable of earning incredible profits in the

international market. Though each region and nation faces its own challenges and can take advantage of particular

opportunities, certain basic operating principles will allow the international hospitality industry to expand and prosper

regardless of specific location. In order to fulfil a strategic direction a hospitality business will need to consider

various strategic methods. This may include the formation of an alliance and merger with, or the acquisition of

another organization. Alternatively the organization may decide to achieve its selected strategy alone by growing

organically. Organic growth represents the true growth for the core of the company. Achieving sustainable and

profitable organic growth requires more than new ideas, innovation, and strong execution. Rather, organic growth

exemplars embed a set of institutional capabilities and a growth culture that define the organization and that are key

enablers to realizing advantaged performance. In order to understand how hotel managers in Romania use organic

growth principles in their organizations and how they overcome the growth barriers, a qualitative research was used

to collect data from a sample of hotel managers. The central themes they were question about are: organizational

structures and processes, role of people and leadership in their organization, reasons for growing, best ways for

growing, measuring instruments for growing, risks of growing and what marketing strategies do they use to manage

those risks.



52

The place of social responsibility in the business model of a SME

Adina Roxana Munteanu


[email protected]

Key words: CSR, social responsibility, small and medium enterprises, Romania, business model.


Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is mostly connected to large companies and their

sustainability. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also play an important part in a society that is more

and more concerned with sustainable development. In this respect, several studies show that the rationale for socially

responsible acts, dynamics of the budget allocated, and impacts of these actions differ significantly for SMEs

compared to large companies. The question that this article explores is what is the place of CSR concepts in the

business model of a SME? Whenever the concepts of social responsibility become part of the day-to-day business of

a SME, how do they fit in the business model and what benefits do they bring? Generally, at the SME level the

perception of CSR or socially responsible entrepreneurship is not immediately connected with the business model.

This article explores the rationale of the socially responsible actions of a Romanian SME and tries to connect these

actions with the business model framework of Osterwalder & Pigneur (2010). In a detailed case study we estimate

through qualitative and quantitative approaches the impact of the actions undertaken by a SME over a period of five

years. The main result is the development of a CSR strategy and the integration of this strategy in the overall strategy

of the company via the business model framework. Finally, we sketch further research areas.



53

Session V

Moving Beyond the Stage Gate Models for Service Innovation: The Trend and the

Future

Intekhab (Ian) Alam

School of Business, State University of New York (SUNY), 1, College Circle, Geneseo, New York-

14454, USA

[email protected]

Key words: New Service Development, Service Innovation, Longitudinal Study, Emerging Market.


Extant research has studied the key issue of service innovation process and stages also known as New Service

Development (NSD) models extensively, yet most of the studies were carried out almost a decade ago and that too

in a single country or region. Thus, a key question emerges: how far these new service models and techniques are

applicable in the present day turbulent and dynamic market place. Against this background the purpose of this

research is to rekindle the debate on how the service innovation takes place and propose a new set of guidelines for

developing new services. We answer the above research questions by conducting a multi-country study of the process

of NSD. For this research, we investigate 158 new service projects in 79 financial service firms located in two

developed nations, USA and Australia and one emerging economic power, India. The findings suggest that the

existing NSD models and the innovation process reported in the extant literature are deficient in meeting the needs

of the service firms located both in the developed and emerging markets of the world. Instead of the stage gate and

linear process model, we suggest an overlapping, phase wise, informal and shorter NSD process model.



54

Marketing Education: Building Capacity Beyond Competencies

Bistra Vassileva

Department of Marketing, University of Economics-Varna, Bulgaria

[email protected]

Key words: marketing leadership, capacity development, marketing leadership framework.


This paper seeks to bring together the notion of marketing leadership and both individual and organisational

capabilities by developing marketing leadership framework. The author presents marketing leadership as a way to

respond to the changing marketing environment and to the “identity crisis” of marketing science and practice. A

combined research and development process is conducted in order to derive a conceptual model of the components

of marketing leadership as well as to propose a marketing leadership framework based on both organisational and

individual capacity development. This process integrates a broad literature search, both within and outside marketing,

followed by a longitudinal study of marketing managers/CEOs to identify the problem areas in marketing leadership

and capacity development as well as to find the most important relationship between them. A sequence of qualitative

interviews and brainstorming sessions are conducted in order to develop marketing leadership conceptual map. The

conceptual map is presented as a framework. Three key capacity areas are identified within the marketing leadership

framework namely (1) strategic intent; (2) culture / behaviour; and (3) business processes. The components

comprising each of these areas are defined as well as four types of marketing leadership. The author concludes by

discussing marketing leadership types and opportunities for further research.



55

The Effect of Intrinsic Motivation on Job Satisfaction: Mediation Role of Service

Recovery Performance

Romina Cheraghalizadeh

School of Business, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkish Republic of Northern

Cyprus

[email protected]

Key words: Hotel Industry, Intrinsic Motivation, Job Satisfaction, Service Recovery Performance.


The aim of this research is to consider the effect of intrinsic motivation on job satisfaction of frontline hotel

employees and also to evaluate the influence of service recovery performance as a mediator in this relationship. This

study targeted frontline hotel employees in Iran and data of research gathered through questionnaire. One hundred

eighteen responses evaluated for the purpose of this study. Mediated regression has been utilized to test the effect of

intrinsic motivation on job satisfaction, and the mediating role of service recovery performance in this association.

Findings of research proved the significant correlation between intrinsic motivation and service recovery

performance. Also results confirmed service recovery performance significantly and positively associated with job

satisfaction. Results of regression analysis showed service recovery performance fully mediates the relationship

between intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction. In addition, current study support that intrinsic motivation is the

antecedent of job satisfaction. At the end limitation, managerial implications and practices are discussed.



56

Monitoring Instruments for Marketing Promotional Activities on the Internet

Applicable in Adult’s Education Services and More

Claudiu-Dan Gostian

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration/Marketing Department/”Babes-Bolyai” University

Cluj-Napoca

[email protected]

Key words: internet website activity KPI, online marketing, keywords search, PPC, advertising display

impressions, targeted audience, involving customer, campaigns efficiency.


The interactive character and the deeply human relationship between vocational training services suppliers

and their customers has determined us to suggest and propose in this paper a useful and efficient measuring toolkit

(Key Performance Indicators) in online marketing with an eye to generate cost savings, essential for small and

medium enterprises. The technology advance has influenced marketing and promotion techniques over the time. If

initially marketing used newspapers, radio and then television, today we can talk about a new opportunity in

marketing: the internet. It possibly is the fifth estate. Nowadays, sophisticated keywords-based search techniques,

targeted audience, PPC ads, paid placement destination for our ads, social media, quality landing pages into our

websites, allow companies to address exactly the types of consumers they target, in a very accurate way. If traditional

marketing was a mass marketing process, online marketing is focused only toward the interested public, already

segmented. It’s like on a highway we put advertising panels that display the message that we want to address, and

we direct on that road only the targeted and previously segmented public. We wish to adapt online marketing to the

sales activity. The main goal of online marketing is that a well thought ad campaign allows companies to pay just as

much as their ads are seen by the potential clients. In practice, this goal is not entirely achieved because companies

still pay more than necessary for their ads, because they don’t target their campaigns in a more efficient way.

Marketing measurements can still be improved. Moreover, it’s necessary that new KPI indicators are identified and

then integrated to achieve an advantageous ROI. As a conclusion for this paper, we propose a set of principles for an

internet promotion campaign that is accurately adapted to the vocational training services.



57

Porter`s Models – are they still of relevance?

Marco Pister

Faculty of Economics and Management – Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

[email protected]

Key Words: Michael Porter, Strategy Models, Strategic Management, Criticism, Porters Models.

JEL classification: L10, M10, M31.

The foundation for the modern strategy development was made in 1979 by Michael Porter. He developed

several model like “Five Forces”, “General Strategies” or “Diamond of National Advantage”. Such models are well

known around the world. Michael Porter was the founder of many other important management topics like

competitive analysis or the development of competitive advantage. Our world today world should be much more

complex as in 1979.Therefore we have to raise the question “Are the models which a “Harvard Professor” developed

in a library more than 30 years ago still relevant in today’s business world? The “Five Forces Model” and the “Generic

Strategies Model” according to Porter belong to the classics as such in strategic management. The following paper

shall help to answer the question – if such models are still relevant. Therefore the initial focus is on the topic of

strategy and strategy finding, followed by a detailed look at the two most important Porter Models, which are finally

examined with regard to their relevance.



58

Art Market Practices. A Move Towards Practice-Based Arts Marketing Research

Hanna Niklasson

University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law

[email protected]

Key words: arts marketing, market practice, art market practice.


The research field of arts marketing has been growing since the 1990’s and there are today journals, textbooks

and conferences entirely dedicated to the field. Relatively absent within arts marketing research, however, are

theoretical and methodological approaches that explicitly direct its attention to practices. This conceptual paper

suggests a move towards a practice perspective in arts marketing research. As art markets constantly change mainly

in terms of technology, competition, collaborations, legislations and etcetera, it could be assumed that networks

within the art markets too are in constant flux. The paper stresses that market studies informed by market practice

theory can provide an appreciation of the constructing and reconstructing mechanisms of different art markets.

Practices can broadly be defined in categories of exchange, normalizing and representational practices. The purpose

of this conceptual paper is hence to discuss and suggest a practice approach to arts marketing research that studies

market practices in order to understand how they involve in shaping different art markets. Questions that become

important to ask in future research are: how are these networks constructed, who are the key actors, what are the

practices, how are they performing marketing and how is marketing reconstructing the art markets? It is concluded

that studies on practices in art markets will enrich the understanding of how art markets are constructed and will

contribute to the body of knowledge in arts marketing literature and marketing theory in general.



59

Design in Luxury Business

Wioleta Dryl

Gdansk University, Faculty of Management, Marketing Department

[email protected]

Anna Dziadkiewicz

Gdansk University, Faculty of Management, Marketing Department

[email protected]

Key words: customers’ behaviour, design management, luxury goods, luxury market, product design,

innovation.

JEL Classification: D12, M11, M31.

Nowadays, we can see never lasting development of debate about design standards. It is obviously clear,

because design as a concept has become one of the most constant element in the term of shaping new product strategy.

It is recognized as one of the most important factor of innovation in those companies, that are orientated on design

thinking, team building and communications’ designing. Its role has become reinforced on the luxury market, due to

constantly increasing interest of these goods. Firstly, a modern approach to the role of design in the luxury market

means a broad project perspective, centered about the analysis and the use of different resources of knowledge,

competencies and tools of designing. The main aim of this report is to present luxury goods’ market, the analysis of

these products’ nature and the way of their perception by modern customers. It is also indicated the increasing role

of design as a factor in determining customers’ decisions.



60

Positioning Strategies for Obtaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

Adina Cristea


[email protected]

Key words: brand positioning, positioning strategies, brand differentiation, competitive advantage.


Brand positioning is essential for brand differentiation and building brand equity. Obtaining and sustaining

competitive advantage through brand positioning is a complex process in the context of increasing competition and

complicated consumers. However, many positioning strategies are prone to follow similar pitfalls by aligning to

market tendencies and thus failing to provide significant brand differentiation. This paper analyzes new positioning

strategies for gaining sustainable competitive advantage. By using anti-market reactions such as transformation,

subtraction and division, companies are able to build effective positioning strategies by making the problem of

competition irrelevant. We relate these new positioning strategies to the classic positioning process and identify the

key elements which make them successful. We describe the value proposition of new positioning strategies from the

means-end theory perspective. Finally, the managerial implications of new positioning strategies are reviewed. We

suggest directions for effective positioning and propose avenues for future positioning research.



61

Session VI

The Theory of the Business as the Starting Point of Business Development Strategy:

Evidence from the Media Industry

Normand Turgeon

HEC Montréal

[email protected]

Key words: Business development, Theory of the business, Media industry, Strategic Market

Management Framework, interpretive research.

JEL Classification: M13, L21, L26.

This article stresses the pivotal role of the theory of the business in the strategic decision network that daily

entrepreneurs and managers require for their business to survive and grow in the marketplace. A valid theory of the

business is useful in the definition, choice and amendment of the vision, mission, strategy, objective and business

model adopted. The theory of the business also orients the tactical decisions to be implemented. Because the lifespan

of a theory of the business varies greatly, revisiting the theory is necessary in the life cycle of any organization. A

conceptual framework is offered to help managers and entrepreneurs align their strategic and tactical choices. The

approach used in this article is interpretive, and the tone retrospective, with select examples that have marked the

history of the media industry.



62

Education and its Influence on Corporate Performance

Lenka Kocifajová

Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Zilina

[email protected]

Key words: education, performance, corporate performance management.


Every company must continuously increase its performance. There are various methods, models and ICT

solutions enabling a company improving its performance. Not only can a company increase its performance based

on process management, innovations management and new technologies, but also based on human resources

development and education. The aim of the article is to describe how educational process in a company influences a

corporate performance. The first part of the article deals with theoretical background regarding education,

performance management and Corporate Performance Management. In the second part there is a model depicting

interaction between current performance and a change in future performance triggered by educational process based

on literature analysis. The third part deals with main problem which is how to manage particular components of

educational process (preparation, realization and evaluation) in order to improve employees ‘performance as well as

corporate performance. The summary of the article is in Conclusion.



63

The Savings and Investment Customs of the Modern Day Romanian Youth

Cristian Ionuț Tatu

Bucharest University of Economic Studies

[email protected]

Bogdan Velicu

Volksbank Romania

[email protected]

Key words: savings, investment, youth, employee satisfaction, life style.


In their first year of college students (should) learn that wealth comes from saving and investing and

unfortunately this remains just another paragraph from the economics book that some read and fewer understand.

One can say that patience and wisdom come with the age but this can only be completely true for those that have the

desire to behave in a particular way but have not the knowledge of how to do it right. Modern day youth focuses its

energy and resources on owning iconic consumer goods that are a must for a certain desired life style and living for

today. While “carp diem” might not seem so bad at first the problem is what becomes of this youth of a nation when

they turn into full grown adults? This article is based on a quantitative online research conducted on youth between

18 and 25 years and focuses on determining what is their approach on saving and investing, on finding what are the

most popular reasons for not to save money and what are the threats associated with making an investment.



64

Service Quality and Market Performance of Bulgarian Banks

Nadezhda Kalinova

University of Economics- Varna, Bulgaria

[email protected]

Key words: bank services, service quality, bank market performance.


This paper seeks to scrutinize major bank marketing issues in Bulgarian bank market and especially bank

service quality. A combination of secondary and primary data is used to research and diagnose the business and

marketing results of leading banking brands in the country. The author suggests a balanced pool of key performance

indicators including financial and market measures. An emphasis is put on the specifics of bank services and a number

of threshold factors influencing customer satisfaction. The research process combines a broad review of bank stress

tests and brand study scales and approaches, including Forbes rating, Interbrand ratings, World Bank data, Mystery

Shopping reports etc. Primary research, is applied to collect data for market performance, including service quality.

The author concludes by summarizing Bulgarian bank brands’ financial performance in the context of the Bulgarian

bank market situation. By a complete examination of the financial sector the article closes with an overall assessment

of banks’ market performance.



65

Crowdsourcing as Tools for Launching a Wikibrand “The Case of Ligury: A

Wikibrand for a Wikidestination”

Kamel Ben Youssef

Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Paris, France

[email protected]

Marco Fazzini

Università Europea di Roma, Italy

[email protected]

Thomas Majd

Champagne Business School, Troyes, France

[email protected]

Key words: Crowdsourcing, wikibrand, wikidestination, consumer behavior, territorial marketing.


«The FLIRT (Focus, Language, Incentives, Rules and Tools) model of Crowdsourcing building upon

Viitamäki (2007) updated by Moffitt and Dover (2011) permit to develop models allowing to highlight the

contribution of the customers / population in the development and improvement of new brands set up by the

companies. Thus, these models were used to build a wikibrand relying on a community highly involved in the process

of value creation and success of products. Interested in the region of Liguy in Italy, the objective of this paper is to

verify how Moffit et al. (2011)’s model can be used in the context of territorial marketing as a tool of wiki destination.



66

Building Responsible Consumption through Holistic Value Creation: A Promising

Perspective toward Competitiveness and Sustainability

Somdee Hongphisanvivat

Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

[email protected], [email protected]

Key words: responsible consumption, responsible marketing, holistic value creation, competitiveness,

sustainability.

JEL classification: M31, O31, Q01.

The rising prominence of sustainability in the growing global concern calls for more effective

implementation on responsible consumption as the negative consequences of marketing practices on ecology and

society appear to in turn influence business. Evidently, the very few firms take a proactive adoption of environmental

consciousness. Until 1990s, many companies begin to incorporate ecological issues into their products and

operations. However, such achievement requires holistic views through multiple value creations driving to more

sustainable lifestyle and ethical behavior. While there has been a shift from self-centric consumption toward more

value-centric consumption since creating value linked to the rapid change in environments becomes a major source

of competitiveness and increased organizational performance. Therefore, this paper aims to employ the holistic

perspective through value creation among relevant stakeholders, in particular the new generation to gain superior and

sustainable outcomes. The paper explores two critical issues: 1) what are the key drivers to responsible consumption

toward superiority and sustainability, and 2) how to implement the new promising alternative. The study uses multiple

research methods focusing on qualitative approaches to obtain insightful and useful information from informants

experiencing in the research areas. Then an appropriate model is developed. Finally, managerial implications are

discussed and future research is recommended.



67

Priorities of Romanian Consumers in the Process of Bank Selection

Alina Filip


[email protected]

Diana Maria Vranceanu


[email protected]

Lelia Voinea


[email protected]

Key words: bank selection process, conceptual model, customer priorities, customer satisfaction,

qualitative research.


Determinants of buying decisional processes are key variables in customer satisfaction research, because in-

depth knowledge on individual priorities is essential for understanding consumer expectations, providing clues of the

business relationship path. The present paper develops a conceptual model applicable in retail banking market,

highlighting customer priorities in the process of bank selection and specific buying behaviour. The model is based

on the results of a qualitative marketing research conducted among Romanian consumers of banking services. The

research method applied was the in-depth semi-structured interview, chosen because of consumer heterogeneity in

terms of attitudes and behaviors towards banking institutions and for achieving detailed knowlegde on the decision-

making process. The researched group consisted of 40 users of retail banking services, selected based on sex, age

and income characteristics. According to our behavioural model, factors affecting consumer decision in bank

selection are classified in four major categories, which are directly related to the struture of the classical and global

accepted marketing mix, in order to facilitate the development of marketing strategies by banking companies.

Research results show that Romanian consumers tend to behave quite rationally in choosing banks, given that

selection decisions are made primarily on the benefits of the products and services themselves and to a lower extent

on distribution and promotion criteria. The model provides useful information on how banks must adapt their

marketing programs and build competitive advantage.



68

Session VII

New Technologies Impact in Nowadays Shopping Centers Marketing

Irene Mihaela Ioniţă (Moldoveanu)


[email protected]

Key words: Shopping Centers, Retail Industry, Digital Challenge, Technology Change, E-Business

JEL Classification: M31, O33.

Shopping centers are an important aspect of the extremely dynamic life of the 21st century consumer.

Nowadays, worldwide, shopping centers represent significant investments, remarking themselves with bold

architectures and structures and an individual brand image. Retail markets are currently under transformation by a

confluence of new retailing technologies, dramatic shifts in the demographic profile and preferences of more affluent

and educated shoppers. Still in process of recovering from the devastating recession, retailers and landlords are facing

a new set of challenges as Internet technology is transforming both consumer behavior and retailing business models.

E-commerce2 is upending traditional retailing strategies by greatly expanding shopping convenience, selection and

affordability. Computers and mobile devices will mix the virtual and real shopping experiences and will affect how

shopping centers are planned and managed, better accommodating the needs of individual shoppers to an “E”-model.



69

Total Quality Management in Terms of Organizational Culture

Bogdan Georgescu


[email protected]

Razvan Dina


[email protected]

Key words: TQM, Quality, Quality Standards.


The principal article aims is to identify the key defining aspects of total quality management and quality

standards . Total Quality Management is coming to make a profound change at organizational level in terms of

improvement of all relations with the external environment and present in internal environment , considering the

feedback process . The success of the implementation of the concept of quality offered to the customer depends on

the awareness of ideas and current trends , issues , trends , policies, strategies and laws that directly affect the quality

of relationships with consumers. It is known that the quality of the concept is on consumer benefits , target audience

through the products and services offered by them. We summarize the total quality management includes many aspest

about a total and permanent staff involvement, organizational involvement and total targeted customer engagement ,

standardized processes established through an integrated system, continuous development and communication.



70

Online Advertising Instruments and their Influence, Relevance and Usefulness for

the Romanian Consumers

Carmen Acatrinei


[email protected]

Key words: online advertising formats, Romanian consumers' behavior, sources of information, buying

intention.


The paper presents the online advertising tools that an organization can use in order to promote itself, its

products or services and the results of a research made among Romanian consumers regarding their perception about

the online instruments they have been exposed to. There are presented the search, display and video advertising

formats that can be employed by organizations in their online communications. The purpose of the survey was to

assess to what degree do the usefulness and relevance of the ads influence the consumers to respond immediately to

the action wanted by the organization or to make the decision of buying the promoted product or service. The results

show that the most relevant are the sponsored links that appear in Google as opposed to the videos that are played in

YouTube, before, during or at the end of a movie watched. Out of all the tools, the Facebook ads are the ones that

convince more the consumers to access them. The respondents do not recognize to be much influenced to make the

decision of buying the products or services promoted, but still, they consider the companies that design online

advertising campaigns to be modern, professional, serious and to offer trust.



71

A Comparative Multicultural Study of Patient Satisfaction in the European Union

Mădălina-Alexandra Coțiu

Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

[email protected]

Horațiu Sorin Dan

Technical University in Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Electrical Engineering

PhD, Babeș-Bolyai University

[email protected]

Key words: patient satisfaction, cultural values, EU countries, multiculturalism

JEL classification: I11, M31, Z190, H4.

Patient satisfaction is increasingly regarded as an important element in healthcare systems management and

reforms. It has become even more important in the context of increasing competition because of the rapidly

developing private clinics, an increasingly ageing population, complex healthcare system reforms and increased

public scrutiny. This has led to a series of studies, reports and surveys being conducted all over Europe in an attempt

to identify and rank those factors affecting satisfaction and identify strategies for the development and improvement

of European healthcare systems. However, very few of the studies considered the impact cultural elements have on

patients` answers, rankings and evaluations of their satisfaction and healthcare systems. The article takes on this

challenge and aims to identify and discuss the impact cultural elements have on perceived patient satisfaction with

the goal of suggesting marketing and business development solutions and further research ideas. The research was

conducted through secondary data analysis based on a set of several studies dealing with patient satisfaction with

healthcare. Data has then been discussed considering the cultural dimension of the European Union (EU) countries

selected for this analysis. Results show that satisfaction levels vary among EU countries and are influenced by the

different cultural dimensions. It is our belief that healthcare system reforms and evaluations should be market oriented

and should closely consider cultural particularities, while at the same time remaining committed to delivering high

quality medical services across the EU, thus reducing disparities between healthcare systems and how they are

perceived in different Member States.



72

Marketing and Innovation: Playground for Education

Lucian-Florin Onișor


[email protected]

Ionuț Huc


[email protected]

Anișoara Tătar


[email protected]

Key words: marketing, innovation, playground, education, development.

JEL classification: M31, D83, I25, O31, Z12.

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research, made partially at an invention salon and partially

at a rural school, on children and adolescents that are taking part or not in extracurricular innovation circles activities.

Starting from the idea that children learn better when they are playing, the study aims to highlight, by making use of

marketing science, that only by adopting ever more techniques and innovative learning methods in the early years of

school, it will be possible for students to be better adjusted to the new realities of the moment. Interviews were made

with children’s of different ages, professors from extracurricular innovation study groups and children’s parents.

After carrying out analysis of content, the authors propose a possible educational scheme, leading to a greater increase

adaptability to innovation. As marketers on one hand, considers that the consumer and his needs occupy the first

place, and on the other hand, for a harmonious psycho-physical-mental development of children in early years, the

game has recognized to play an essential role, playground activities were brought in the foreground for the exploration

in the process of learning through play. It was found that children who exercise and create by playing around during

daylight classes hours, using cutting-edge technology, are recording better results than children that are studying in

a classic way, where playing is permitted only after school hours or during the breaks between classes. Education

thus, is not seen as a way to learn how to play, but rather playground is regarded as a way to learn and accumulate

by building up on new knowledge. The link between education and innovation is made through the vision of

marketing by combining elements needed to learn, with elements searched by children, who always want to play in

a variety of ways.



73

Privacy Concerns and Personal Information Disclosure Strategies of Social

Networking Websites Users’ in the Age of Big Data

Călin Petrică Vegheș


[email protected]

Mihai Orzan


[email protected]

Octav Macovei

Lumina – The South European University

[email protected]

Key words: social networking, big data, strategy.


Social networking websites have become in the last decade the main avenue of Internet users’ online presence

(over 80% of worldwide users have at least one social media account), as well as a well of rich personal information

for marketers. Online marketing have brought greatly increased consumer targeting tools and data on an

unprecedented scale, allowing marketers to access not only specific consumer behaviors, gathered not only from

certain websites, but from behaviors all over the Internet, through the integrating power of big data analysis and from

behaviors of online friends, based on their connecting networks. However, various studies have shown that users are

becoming increasingly concerned about invasions into their private space and, in order to protect it, give away fake

data about themselves in public and private online profiles, thus rendering useless a lot of the marketing expenditures,

which amount to billions of dollars. Our research is aimed at explaining the relationship between privacy concerns,

perceived benefits and perceived risks of social networking websites, taking into account moderating factors such as

normative beliefs, perceived behavioral control and trust.



74

Whiteness Constructed in a Multi-Cultural World

Renate Aakerhielm

Sodertorn University

[email protected]

Key words: global advertising, global branding, global marketing.


Many garment producers act on a global market, where people from different cultures often move from

countries to others, as well as surf in a world-wide virtual space. In this context, garment producers design their

marketing communication efforts considering identity and personality related to the target group aimed at. Often they

choose models for their ads, which mirror ideals that the generally defined target group is attracted by. Garment

producers often succeed in picking models or icons, which fit well into the social class standards, which the target

group identifies with. Nevertheless, they often do this without reflecting on the icons’ identity-and personality-value

across cultural differences as color of the skin, gender and sexuality. Consequently, global standardized

advertisements contain stereotypes or standardized personalities. It is common these stereotypes are dominated by

whiteness. A possible understanding of “whiteness” is as follows: “lifestyles of white human beings, non-colored

persons”. One question is how whiteness is being constructed in the contemporary visual culture of marketing fashion

design. By examining four advertisements of brands providing life-style values, this paper aims at better

understanding the lifestyle concept of whiteness. This understanding is of actual interest to a garment producer when

designing advertisements. A lack of understanding diminishes the producer’s chance of digging all the market-

potential. Three brands closely connected to adored white ideal lifestyles are examined. Furthermore, the brands are

in a middle-prize segment and act world-wide on a global market. The study shows, whiteness is represented by

wealth, financial independence, power, old traditions, cultural interest and education, sport, leisure, power for life

and happiness in life. Further, it appears from the study, whiteness is connected to the American dream. In summary,

whiteness is plenty of stereotyping. A conclusion is, the concept of whiteness is far to narrow to fit a global garment

producer.



75

Strategic Issues in Managing Photovoltaic Business in the Context of the European

Union. Case Study-Romania

Adrian Dumitru Tanţău


[email protected]

Maria Alexandra Nichifor


[email protected]

Horaţiu Regneală


[email protected]

Key words: business models, photovoltaics, strategic issues.

JEL classification: O1, O13.

Global demand on renewable sources of energy is increasing more than ever. Apart from the high level of

pollution, the diminishing levels of traditional sources of energy, such as coal and gas, are determining a new shift

towards the integration of renewable energy in the traditional systems for the purpose of a sustainable way of

existence in all member states of the European Union. The PV industry has been the main source of installed

renewable energy in the European Union for the last two years, representing an important subject of political

discussions and scientific conferences due to its future development potential. However, these debates have only

inquired aspects regarding financial results or the capacity of the solar industry, leaving the field of the actual

practiced business models of the PV companies unexplored and thus, worthy of our attention. The current paper aims

to research the current and future business models of PV companies and the effects of strategic issues in the PV field

on these business models. By using the Delphi method, based on questionnaires and interviews with experts in the

field, this study reveals the expected evolution of PV business models depending on the permanent changes of the

external environment, which has been a significant source of influence for the solar energy producers in the last three

years. The relevance of this study lies in the interdependence of PV business models and the external environment,

which has been a main source of concern for companies in the field in every member state of the European Union

and that is inquired in the present paper in the case study of Romania.



76

Session VIII

Building Brand Identity in IT Markets: a Conceptual Model

Bistra Vassileva

Department of Marketing, University of Economics-Varna, Bulgaria

[email protected]

Key words: brand identity, brand building, IT brands.


The purpose of this conceptual paper is to identify the key elements of brand building based on a literature

review, preliminary surveys and a case study of successful IT brand in Bulgaria. The paper suggests a framework for

building brand identity based on M2BC (Multimodal Brand Communication) model. A combined research and

development process is conducted in order to derive M2BC conceptual model. This process integrates a broad

literature search, incl. analysis of secondary data from Interbrand reports, followed by a different types of surveys

based on RepBrand methodology, NetPromoter scale and other techniques for measuring brand reputation and brand

identity. A case study of a popular Bulgarian IT brand is used to illustrate the importance of the key elements in

building brands in highly competitive markets. The author concludes by discussing the possibilities for building

brand identity in highly dynamic markets as well as the opportunities for further research.



77

Health Tourism And Patient Satisfaction In Turkey: The Ankara Example

Dilaver Tengilimoglu

Atilim University, Faculty of Management, Department of Management

[email protected]

Demet Taş

Atilim University, Social Sciences Institude, Department of Healthcare Management

[email protected]

Elif Eşiyok Sönmez

Atilim University, Faculty of Management, Department of Public Relations and Advertising

[email protected]

İsmail Bircan

Atilim University, Faculty of Management, Department of Public Relations and Advertising

Alper Guzel

Gazi University, Health Services Vocational School

Keywords: Health Tourism, Medical Tourism, Customer Satisfaction, Foreign Patients, Marketing.


During the last ten years health tourism and medical tourism started to grow very fastly all over the world.

Indıa has taken first place with low prices in the medical tourism market. Other destination countries following India

are Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the USA. Turkey make progress each year and increase the number of patients

every year to take part in this ranking. While number of patients are 156,176 in 2011 this number increased to 262,999

in 2012. Most of the patients admitted from Germany, Libya and Russia. The emerging developments and demand

for health tourism both increase competition, the quality of serving institutions and the alternatives for the patients.

In this competitive environment organizations aimed to attract foreign patients and began to consider the

patients’/clients’ wishes, expectations, satisfaction, and complaints. Since health sector provides service, satisfaction

of the customers/ patients is very important in order sustain their relation with the instution. In this study, the aim is

to identify the marketing strategies for Turkey in order to have high market share in health tourism. Since customer

satisfaction has an importance in word of mouth communication and customer loyalty the importance of satisfaction

tried to explored out also in this study. As a research methodology survey was conducted. Total 180 participants

attented to the survey. The participants of the survey are the patients who admitted public hospitals and got inpatient

treatment in Ankara city where is ranked among top three on medical tourism. It explored that the patients’ (who

prefer the Turkey at medical tourism) age, sex, marital status, education, hospital expenses coverage status,

professsion, nationality, initial state and advertising are the factors that effet their level of satisfaction.



78

Externalities, Social Value and Word-of-Mouth

Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant

Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

[email protected]

Key words: social value, word-of-mouth, externalities.


I examine an environment where advertisers can „seed” word-of-mouth advertising by providing initial

information to specific users of a social network. Discussion over a social network generates spillover effects for

firms when consumers can use the social network to inform each other. When a firm can exploit a social network's

structure, it can increase its sales. However, when the network formation process is costly, firms free-ride on such

costs at the expense of agents on the network. Even if agents can form coalitions and ask for payments, I show that

they cannot recoup the value of this externality. When users actively modify the information, generating word-of-

mouth advertising about a product provides a „social value”. This social value stems from the discussions that agents

have about the product, without any intervention. Since this process occurs regardless of the firm's actions, the firm

cannot capture such valuation. The opinion leaders, or highly regarded agents on the network, play a key role in the

formation of this social value.



79

What’s in Business Development Jobs: Exploring Titles, Roles and Qualifications

across Industries and Continents

Normand Turgeon

HEC Montréal, Canada

[email protected]

Gheorghe Epuran

Transilviana University of Brasov, Romania

[email protected]

Key words: Business development jobs, titles, roles, qualifications, career opportunities, exploratory

research, typology.

JEL Classification: M12, M31, M16.

Business development job opportunities have exploded across industries worldwide in the last decade.

However, how these jobs fit the theory in the business development conceptual domain needs further investigation.

For example, are these new job offers only a rebranding of what salespeople used to do as part of their daily routine:

cold calls, sales pitches, client qualification and so on? Is the business development title used on business cards just

a new term that replaces that of product or brand manager? The objectives of this study are to shed additional light

on these questions and to propose a preliminary typology of business development career opportunities. Results are

from exploratory research on business development job offers selected from multiple sources in different regions of

the world. Managerial and theoretical implications are drawn to help managers and researchers better situate the roles

and the qualifications needed by this new breed of employees in the job market.



80

Mediating Effects of Decisional Balance in the Transtheoretical. Model of Change for

Customers who Mismanage their Money

Amira Berriche

IAE University Business School, Lille

[email protected]

Francis Salerno


[email protected]

Mihai Calciu


[email protected]

Key words: transtheoretical model of change, approach-avoidance strategies, decisional balance, money

management.

JEL classification: G02.

This research introduces a Transtheoretical model of change for customer financial behaviour that focuses

on approach-avoidance money management strategies. Approach strategies include processes for increasing savings

while avoidance strategies involve processes for reducing spending. The mediating effects of decisional balance on

the relationships between predictor variables (stages of change) and the outcome variables (strategies of change) are

examined. The empirical study analyses consumers who mismanage their money and find themselves coping with

this issue in early stages of change like precontemplation and contemplation. Regression analysis was used in order

to examine the relationship between those early stages of change and approach-avoidance strategies and to test the

mediating effects of decisional balance. Results indicate progression of approach-avoidance strategies by stages of

change. Decisional balance between pros and cons to change seams to mediate the relationship between the

characteristics of precontemplation and contemplation stages and approach-avoidance strategies. The outcomes of

the study provided valuable information on how each predictor variable is connected to the adoption of approach-

avoidance money management strategies of change. Previous studies have mainly delineated the relationships

between stages of change and the other two constructs while mediating paths serve to clarify the psychological

process that generates behaviour change. By understanding the mechanisms of behaviour change, professionals who

are marketing financial services can develop effective financial education strategies that take into account the role of

decisional balance while changing money management behaviour. Decisional balance can be used to measure the

progress of customers in the behaviour change process.



81

New Product Launch: A Critical Review and Research Directions

Gabriela Căpățînă


[email protected]

Key words: new product, launch, consumers, organizations, strategy.


New product launch is one of the most important issues in business research today. For many years,

conceptual and empirical research has been undertaken to explore the main fields of this area. The objective of this

work is to summarize the most important findings in a compact and structured way. Therefore, this paper reviews the

findings of empirical work and identifies 9 topics relevant for marketing science, which are classified under 3 research

fields. The review begins with understanding consumers: consumer innovativeness, growth of new products and

network externalities. The following section deals with understanding the relationship between new products launch

and organizations and brings together the factors that influence the capability of firms to launch new product:

organizational resources, demographics, structure and environment. The last section provides more complete

understanding of launch strategies that are seen as combinations of strategic and tactical decisions. This paper tries

to collect the main ideas on the considered issue, to highlight knowledge problems, and suggest directions for future

research.



82

Business Development: What’s Behind the Name?

Anne Theresa Eidhoff

University of Hohenheim, Germany

[email protected]

Jana Poelzl

University of Hohenheim, Germany

[email protected]

Key words: business development, business-to-business, marketing.


Growth is one of the biggest challenges for companies in the context of increasing global competition and

highly differentiated customer needs. Many markets have reached their saturation and can no longer continue to

grow. Therefore, companies have to adapt to new market demands and need to identify new opportunities to further

develop their business beyond current market boundaries. Identifying growth opportunities is the core challenge

business development units face. Although business development is now a widely spread term in the business world,

yet little is known about its nature from an academic point of view. The purpose of this paper is to explore on the

basis of in-depth field interviews with practitioners from German B2B companies to analyse the concept and scope

of business development. The research design aims at analysing five main areas to explore the new phenomenon,

namely: understanding, organisation, employees, instruments and trends of business development. In detail we first

look at what business development encompasses, second how it is organised within the company and its interaction

with other departments, in particular with the marketing department. Third, what qualification do the employees who

work in business development have and what competences are crucial. Fourth, which instruments are used and fifth

which current trends in this respect can be identified.



83

The young sport consumer - doing or watching sports?

Mihaela Constantinescu


[email protected]

Ștefan Claudiu Căescu


[email protected]

Key words: sports marketing, youth, market segmentation.


One of the most important issue nowadays concerns sedentarism, especially when talking about young

people. They tend to migrate from an active involvement in sport activities to a passive one (as a spectator or a TV

viewer). This paper presents the results of a quantitative research regarding youth sport behavior, in order to identify

which are the sports that are still appealing for young people and how do they commit to this activity - playing or

rather watching from the side. These results can be used in a marketing campaign promoting an active life and

reducing sedentarism.

abstract volum mbd 2014

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yale university

university of economics

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