RISULTATI RICERCA

Marketing, logistics, and ethics in packaging innovation In the new competitive marketplace, product packaging has become a strategic tool that needs to be managed as a project on the basis of a strong systemic approach. Three main dimensions can influence packaging design: marketing, logistics, and ethics. From this point of view, we assume packaging innovation projects (primary and secondary) as the unit of analysis. The aim of this study is to identify: a) the specific issues that are the basis of marketing, logistics, and ethics for packaging innovation management and b) the main trends in packaging design projects referring to marketing, logistics, and ethics dimensions, especially in term of their integration. Combining desk and field research, it is possible to delineate integration trends in packaging innovation projects and to identify new perspectives in packaging design. Keywords: packaging, innovation, marketing, logistics, ethics, integration.

Reason and emotion in consumer' preferences: The Halo effect.Consumer research often considers decision making as a process aiming to combine and compare information the attributes characterizing different alternatives. Recent studies suggest that affect and emotion also have an influence on decision making. The aim of the present study is to show that the affect toward different brands could be influenced by specific comparisons and, in turn, have a role in shaping consumers’ preferences. In this perspective, the emotion becomes an attribute itself, a sort of halo able to connote products or brands in a distinctive way. In two studies, we investigate the influence of the halo effect on people’s judgments (1) and choices (2). Results show that a positive or negative halo influences people preferences for different brands. The findings of the present study are discussed in details. Moreover, an implication for marketing strategies is that the affective valence people attach to a brand or product may determinate their following preferences when specific contextual comparisons are present. Keywords: Affect, context effect, heuristics and biases,

Tourist Destinations and Products Management: an Analysis of some Experiences The literature and managerial approaches to government tourism often tend to overlap concepts of tourism destination and tourism product, or to imagine that it is enough to outline the administrative boundaries of a system to activate tourism business processes to create value for tourism and for other stakeholders. The aim of the article is primarily conceptual point out the differences between destination and tourism product. Among these concepts there is a dialectical relationship closely, as the tourist product, the highly experiential which owns, is strongly influenced by the place where it is produced and delivered (destination). Another objective of the study is to illustrate how to create value for travellers and how it can be derived from formulas government of destinations starting from the development of territorial resources (like the STL), or that are the result of strategic routes born under the unifying thrust of the tourism product aimed at specific target market (like the Club of product). An analysis of some experiences aggregations guided by organizational resources or towed from business opportunities developed in the Marche and Emilia Romagna reveals that there isn’t a one best way and that the solutions to improve the competitiveness of destinations and tourism products may provide the formula of coexistence among themselves entirely complementary and dialectics. The challenge for tourism policy is to identify the combination capable of enhancing the destination resource exploitation and to produce, promote and sell the economic supplies (products) in order to create value both for tourists and territorial stakeholders. Keywords: Destination Management; prodotti turistici; turismo; sistemi turistici locali; club di prodotto; marketing turistico.

Determinants of consumer’s loyal behaviours within the retail context: the role of brand identification This study develops and tests a new theoretical framework allowing to analyse consumer loyalty in an extensive perspective. We assess that brand loyalty can be supported by firms through spreading values and beliefs able to create brand identification and sense of sharing among consumers. Furthermore we capture the complex structure of consumer’s loyal behaviours by introducing a new construct. To do this we extend the Theory of Reasoned Action improving its predictive ability with a new dimension able to measure consumer’s brand identification. We also check for actual behaviours through the specific variable named brand related behaviours. Within this frame we estimate the influence of brand identification on consumer’s intention to act in favour of the retailer and, therefore, on consumer loyalty. The data, coming from a retail context, supports our theoretical proposition. Moreover results offer interesting managerial and theoretical insights and noteworthy research implications. Keywords: brand identification, consumer loyalty, retail context.

Packaging as a communication tool for Private LabelThe aim of this paper is to in-depth analyse the communication role of packaging for private label products in grocery retailing. Traditionally, store brands were characterized for a lack of communication investments in comparison with manufacturer brands. This caused perceived risks associated to private label purchase higher than to other branded products. However, in recent years the most own brand-oriented international retailers have been able to fill this gap of consumer trust by investing in improvements of packaging graphic and stylistic elements. Moving from this empirical evidences, the paper identifies the most effective packaging attributes in capturing consumer attention and purchasing inclination both for standard store brands lines and for premium/value private label lines. Then, a comparison between different business models is conducted to show the delay of Italian retailers compared with the most successful international ones. In the end, managerial implications are presented, underlining the opportunity for grocery retailers of a strategic marketing approach in packaging activities in order to develop consumer store loyalty. Keywords: Private Label, packaging, communication, store brand image, store loyalty.

Quality Management to Develop Talent and Creativity Firm’s competitiveness has a primary source in its intellectual capital: People are the most valuable firm’s resource, as they activate learning processes and value generation processes. The work analyses the relationship among quality management, talent management and creativity. We affirm the need to develop a systemic approach to talent management, arising from a clear strategy in order to empower employees and to improve their capabilities and creativity. In this perspective quality management is seen as a managerial model to individual development and to firm’s competences improvement. The article addresses quality management practices aimed at developing creativity and talent at individual and team level. Keywords: Quality management, talent, creativity, individual, human resource