The 21st Century Land Grant Economist

The land grant system is a value-added infrastructure, designed to extend the boundaries of traditional colleges and universities to bring science to bear on the pressing needs and problems of underserved citizens and communities. With supplemental resources to support mission-oriented research and outreach, the system has addressed a market failure in higher education. It has been a key asset in achieving for the United States a vibrant agricultural economy, a prominent position in world trade, significant rural development, healthy families and communities, and the increasingly sustainable natural resource base that are characteristic of "the great American Society." This paper explores some of the recent challenges facing the land grant system, provides a framework for examining these challenges, and stresses the need for a new cadre of "land grant economists" to provide leadership as land grants struggle to identify new visions, missions, programs, and innovations that would serve as the bedrock of a new system. Selected areas of emerging opportunities for land grant intervention are also identified.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Climbing the value chain: strategies to create a new product development capability in mature SMEs

PURPOSE. Increasing productivity gaps and declining manufacturing bases create complex challenges for mature small to medium enterprises (SMEs). One solution advocated by academia is to reposition along the value chain – moving to a position of greater value. The purpose of this paper is to examine strategies used by firms to reposition through creating a new product development (NPD) capability. In doing so, the paper seeks to resolve gaps in extant literature on NPD in mature SMEs. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH. An exploratory approach is taken, analysing in‐depth case studies of three mature UK manufacturing SMEs. FINDINGS. Four strategic approaches to enable the creation of a NPD capability (strategic alliances, licensing key technologies and ideas, outsourcing and deploying an internal development process) are found. Each may facilitate an SME to reposition but the findings highlight that these strategies are not mutually exclusive as different combinations were employed to accelerate and leverage change. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS. Limited number of case studies constrains wider understanding despite providing richness. The findings highlight four different strategies for repositioning but there may be other routes. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS. Deeper understanding of how to climb the value chain, providing valuable lessons for mature SMEs facing a need to reposition to generate new growth opportunities. ORIGINALITY/VALUE. The paper provides an understanding of how mature manufacturers utilise different strategies to overcome resource constraints and generate a NPD capability to assist in repositioning. This resolves weaknesses in current literature that so far have not adequately examined the process of shaping a NPD capability and the strategies used to reposition

The “Pink Night” festival revisited: meta-events and the role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism

This paper adopts a managerial perspective to revisit an original case study of the “Pink Night” festival presented by Giovanardi et al. (2014) in an earlier issue of this journal. Our in-depth qualitative study contributes to the event tourism planning and management literature in three ways. First, we shed light on how and why competing Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) cooperate to plan, develop and manage event tourism. Second, we introduce and describe the brand new concept of the meta-event, which is the main theoretical contribution of this work. Third, we elucidate the role of meta-events as brand architecture tools to rebrand and reposition wide tourism areas. We illustrate the theoretical and managerial implications of the meta-event concept for event tourism studies and destination managers

How Organizations and Their Brands Leverage Marketing Partnerships to Enhance Their Success: The Guidelines to Navigating Both Reaffirming and Repositioning Strategic Partnerships

Understanding the different factors, influencers, and outcomes that form a successful brand partnership allow for marketers to make informed decisions that benefit their company. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature regarding partnership marketing and issues a set of guidelines for marketers to strategically market their brand by way of collaboration. With two distinct strategic frameworks, reaffirming partnerships and repositioning partnerships, this paper seeks illustrate the efficacy of brand collaboration and how to achieve success based on varying brand goals

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE U.S. FRESH PRODUCE INDUSTRY

Crop Production/Industries,

Can the strategy of the Italian fashion luxury brand Gucci sustain the brand´s middle term future among its target?

Gucci is one of the most famous Italian luxury fashion brands, which in the last five years saw an exponential increase in its revenues because of the new rebranding. However, despite the rise in profitability, sales and interest for the brand have been slowing down during the last year. This Work Project aims to investigate if the present brand strategy could still sustain the brand in the middle term future. The research methodology focused on qualitative in-depth interviews with luxury consumers and luxury experts. Insights on future strategies for the brand are proposed at the end of the Thesis

Tap and Reposition Youth (TRY): Providing Social Support Savings and Microcredit Opportunities for Young Women in Areas with High HIV Prevalence

This document describes providing social support savings and microcredit opportunities for young women in areas with high HIV prevelence. Tap and Reposition Youth (TRY) was a multiphase microfinance initiative which aimed to reduce adolescents' vulnerabilities to adverse social and reproductive health outcomes, including HIV infection, by improving their livelihoods options. The project was launched in low-income and slum areas of Nairobi, Kenya, where rates of HIV infection are high and where young women are disproportionately affected. TRY targeted out-of-school adolescent girls and young women aged 16-22. Through continual review and modification, the TRY microfinance model evolved from a limited savings and credit model, to one that expanded upon social support, such as friendship and mentorship

Tactical branding and positioning

Whether you are in a resource-based commodities business, the manufacturer of a product, or a provider of services, the issue of branding and positioning your offering in a highly competitive market is of critical importance. Where Chapter 2 focused on the corporate brand and its importance to strategic marketing, this chapter considers the tactical branding and positioning efforts that impact the success of brands in the market, whether individual products and services, or as part of a portfolio of brands. Positioning is also one of the key elements of the classical strategic marketing process of segmentation, targeting attractive segments, and positioning brands in the targeted segments (see Chapter 5). This chapter builds on Chapter 5 and examines the important role of brands and branding as a key element of the segment positioning process. In the process, you will learn how to enhance brand equity and thus the intangible value of brand on the organization\u27s balance sheet

A moving baseline for evaluation of advanced coal extraction systems

Results from the initial effort to establish baseline economic performance comparators for a program whose intent is to define, develop, and demonstrate advanced systems suitable for coal resource extraction beyond the year 2000 are reported. Systems used were selected from contemporary coal mining technology and from conservation conjectures of year 2000 technology. The analysis was also based on a seam thickness of 6 ft. Therefore, the results are specific to the study systems and the selected seam extended to other seam thicknesses