Explore the vast range of titles available.

Marketing assets are a source of competitive advantage for hospitality and tourism companies and an essential driver of their performance. The concept of marketing assets is conceptualized as intellectual assets, physical or tangible assets, and cultural or intangible assets. Using six studies, we illustrate the reliability and validity of the data used. Constructed on a resource-based view, we identify the key communication aspect of marketing capability and its components (i.e. market sensing, customer relationship, corporate/brand identity management, design/innovation management, performance management, as well as communication/social media capability). Marketing assets and competences affect marketing capability; however, gender and age also impact the research constructs.

This case study is an anthropological reflection on the impact of multiple disaster events on the culture and economy of the Hamadōri coastal area of Fukushima, Japan. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown; the pandemic of 2020; and today’s global warming have affected this area’s economic, touristic, and cultural practices, such as the Soma Nomaoi Calvary tradition. Outcomes exemplify the concept of punctuated entropy: a permanent decline in the adaptive flexibility of a human cultural system to the environment brought on by the cumulative impact of periodic disaster events. In the case of Fukushima, efforts to mitigate and recover from these closely occurring disaster events have been only partially successful, and the outcomes provide profound lessons learned regarding the complexity of the recovery process when deep-seated and sustaining cultural practices are disrupted or lost.

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on the re-presentation of the cultural phenomena hygge in Denmark and fika in Sweden in destination branding and address the inevitability of their essentialization through the branding process.Design/methodology/approachThree relevant semi-structured interviews with destination marketing organisation’s employees were conducted, as well as a content-based analysis of three social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). A total of 465 posts in total were analysed (140 Facebook posts, 109 Twitter posts, 216 Instagram posts).FindingsThis study demonstrates how, when communicated through social media, intangible cultural assets are transformed into tangible elements. It explains why the re-presentation and place branding processes necessarily simplify and essentialize the destination.Originality/valueDestination branding scholars have traditionally criticised the flattening and essentialization of culture in destination branding and have called for a more nuanced approach to presenting a destination. This paper situates destination branding as a process that necessitates the manipulation of the presentation of the destination, which inevitably essentializes the place; this is intended. Critical destination branding researchers need to rethink their criticisms and acknowledge the inherent essentialization goal of destination branding.

In the face of globalisation’s homogenising wave, this study serves as a beacon, illuminating the intricate web of factors that safeguard culinary heritage in India. The study hypothesised that a myriad of elements interweaves to form the fabric of food traditions, which in turn fortify collective identity. To validate this, the study engaged 696 individuals via an online survey, employing advanced statistical tools such as path analysis and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to unearth the core determinants of gastronomic lineage. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was utilised to measure the impact of these culinary practices on personal and cultural identity. The study’s revelations are profound, demonstrating that each of the 18 determinants meticulously chosen for this research significantly contributes to the crafting of Indian food heritage, thereby seasoning the identity of the future with the flavours of the past.

In recent decades, religious spaces have increasingly become subject to heritage processes, encompassing both their tangible dimension and the emerging concept of intangible cultural heritage. This article examines the legal strategies available for protecting the (in)tangible cultural heritage that minority religious communities can employ to safeguard their religious sites. Focusing on the case of African-derived religions in Brazil, this study argues that the recognition of their (in)tangible heritage serves as a strategic legal instrument for protecting their religious spaces, despite the conflicts that such recognition may provoke. This article contributes to the field of cultural heritage law, engaging with religious studies and exploring the complexities of legally safeguarding minority cultural practices.

The rising share of intangibles in economies worldwide highlights the crucial role of knowledge-intensive and creative industries in current and future wealth generation. The recognition of this trend has led to intense competition in these industries. At the micro-level, firms from both advanced and emerging economies are globally dispersing their value chains to control costs and leverage capabilities. The geography of innovation is the outcome of a dynamic process whereby firms from emerging economies strive to catch-up with advanced economy competitors, creating strong pressures for continued innovation. However, two distinct strategies can be discerned with regard to the control of the value chain. A vertical integration strategy emphasizes taking advantage of 'linkage economies' whereby controlling multiple value chain activities enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of each one of them. In contrast, a specialization strategy focuses on identifying and controlling the creative heart of the value chain, while outsourcing all other activities. The global mobile handset industry is used as the template to illustrate the theory.

Economic and social activities are undergoing radical changes, which can be labelled as 'knowledge economy and/or society'. In this sense, intellectual capital (IC), or knowledge assets, as the fourth factor of production, is replacing the other ones-job, land and capital. This article tries to offer the origins and nature of the firm's IC that can be labelled as 'An Intellectual Capital-Based View of the Firm Competition'. This framework tries to highlight the strategic role of different intangible assets like talented and committed workers, cultural values, or long-term relationships among the firm and its stakeholders-customers, allies, suppliers and society in general - in gaining and sustaining competitive advantages, being the management of IC a key issue in the management agenda.

Purpose – Intellectual capital (IC) has been argued to be the key element of value creation in contemporary economies and this argument has been widely supported by empirical research, but mainly based on data from developed markets. The question of how IC and its elements work in other contexts remains under-researched and the limited empirical evidence that exists contradicts the conclusions drawn from developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insight into the relationship between three main elements of IC (human, relational and structural) and organizational performance in the particular context of Russian manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach – The sample comprises 240 Russian manufacturing companies. The data are collected by survey using the scales already validated in the international context. The authors use a two-step analysis – factor and regression analyses – to answer the research questions. Findings – The findings demonstrate that structural and human capitals positively influence organizational performance, explaining a quarter of its variation, while relational capital does not. Practical implications – The core managerial implication of this study is that developing structural capital is of particular importance for Russian manufacturing companies. Originality/value – The paper contributes to further development of IC theory by investigating its application in the new institutional and cultural context of Russia.

Sociological research increasingly examines the diversity of cultural and religious resources that various community groups contribute to urban spaces and the public sphere. A key focus within this field is the reinterpretation of shared religious and spiritual spaces as part of the tangible and intangible religious cultural heritage. Adopting a spatial perspective, this analysis focuses on the specific case of top-down multi-religious places. Through an exploration of representative examples, this article investigates the different typologies of these places—from complexes that host distinct spaces for different faiths or religions to interfaith chapels and prayer and meditation rooms located in non-religious settings—using the framework of religious cultural heritage. The central conceptual bases of this framework—namely, the historical and memorial value, aesthetic considerations, sacredness and social function—are discussed in terms of their partial and complex association with the qualities of these unconventional spaces. This article suggests that the significance of multi-religious places from the perspective of religious cultural heritage is greater when these places do not serve merely a symbolic function or a purely pragmatic one. This article emphasizes the significance of spatial elements shaped by architectural design and construction choices, which can play a crucial role in integrating multi-religious spaces into the collective memory and foster appreciation for unique forms of sacred beauty.

Rural tourism has developed in the recent years due to the desire of people to return to their roots and to connect more to nature, away from the crowdedness of the city. Moreover, the fact that a lot of entrepreneurs tend to develop their business in the rural area has led to an extension of rural services and products. The growth of tourists' interest for visiting rural areas encouraged the residents of inland villages to the new development and new entrepreneurial orientation-tourism. Regardless of the rural area or the country where the rural tourism is practiced, the rural tourist profile tends to have a series of common elements. These include the desire to escape from the city and to integrate into the rural life from the village, the desire to relax, the desire to spend free time with family or any other person in a natural setting and not least, the desire to know the culture of the rural space, with all that it entails. In Romania the rural tourist bases its consumption decision on the intangible and tangible assets that can represent a heritage to be explored, mainly in the perspective of untouched and well-preserved traditions at which one can assist. As a result, the tourist who visits these places is supposed to be eager to know the Romanian traditions, to participate in an active way in the life of the village, as it is lived by the members of the community and to enjoy beautiful scenery. So, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the rural consumption decision, the factors that can influence it and to recognize some general tourism models that can be applied in rural area.