Understanding consumer behaviour in The Vodka market

There has been an increasing growth of the distilled beverages consumption in Portugal, mostly among young generations. Recent studies proved young consumers drink almost four times more vodka than the average Portuguese consumer. The present research focuses on understanding consumer behaviour in the vodka market through interviews with market experts and vodka consumers and conducting structured surveys. Applying market research techniques such as maps and conjoint analysis, it was possible to understand how consumers perceive some existing brands – Eristoff, Smirnoff, Misss, Grey Goose, Cirôc and Absolut -, their preferences regarding product features and also to identify the main consumer decision making styles. It was verified that quality is associated with price, being the two most important attributes in the consumer decision-making of vodka and that although Portuguese vodka consumers are essentially price driven, they have minimum standards for quality. In addition, Cirôc and Grey Goose were perceived as the highest quality and sophisticated brands, while Eristoff and Absolut are more associated to excitement and enthusiasm

Investigating the effects of product type on online decision-making styles

Decision-making styles have received attention from consumer behaviour researchers as a factor that influences consumer purchasing behaviour. This study explored whether online decision-making styles vary for different products, specifically tangible, standardized products (consumer electronics) and intangible, non-standardized products (accommodations). The findings showed a statistically significant effect for product type on perfectionism consciousness, brand consciousness, novelty and variety consciousness, as well as confusion by over-choice. The study concludes that online shopping for travel accommodation involves specific decision-making styles which need to be recognized by marketers and system designers

Conception d’un outil de gestion de la performance d’un système de gestion de la destination touristique

Cette recherche porte sur la performance des systèmes d’information inter organisationnels dans le domaine du tourisme et, plus particulièrement, sur la performance des systèmes d’information utilisés par les organismes de gestion de la destination touristique. La démarche suivie dans l’élaboration d’un outil d’évaluation de la performance d'un système de gestion de la destination représente la principale contribution de la thèse. Cet outil analyse les effets du système de gestion de la destination sur les processus opérationnels et de gestion et ensuite, établit un lien entre l’amélioration de ces processus et la satisfaction des détenteurs d’enjeux. L’outil d’évaluation de la performance du système de gestion de la destination devient un outil de gestion qui met en évidence les possibilités d’amélioration du système de gestion de la destination.Abstract: This research focuses on the performance of inter-organizational information systems in the field of tourism and, more specifically, on the performance of information systems used by destination management organizations (DMOs). The interest for these systems, the destination management systems (DMS), comes from the importance of investments and the challenges they represent for the tourism industry and for the development of the regional economy. Empirical research analysis revealed the limited success of DMS, the disappointing participation of tourism product suppliers and destination promoters in DMS, and the key challenges faced by managers at the destination management organization, resulting in the following managerial question: "How to help managers of tourist destinations manage the performance of a destination management system, taking into account the achievement of the objectives of the stakeholders? ". Given the diversity of its theoretical foundations, the research on the evaluation of information systems presents several models and still reports difficulties in assessing the impact of information technologies. To evaluate the performance of DMS, the conceptual framework of this thesis combines a process model of IS business value (Melville, Kraemer and Gurbaxani, 2004) with an integrated method of organizational performance measurement (Neely, Adams and Kennerley, 2002). The prism of the performance of Neely et al. (2002) was designed to take into account a significant number of stakeholders. The research framework was developed to produce rich data for discovery purposes. It uses an exploratory qualitative approach based on inductive reasoning and favors the case study method to answer a descriptive question. The choice of a single case with multiple groups (Embedded Case Study Research) facilitates a new understanding of the performance of a given DMS, from different perspectives, being those of the stakeholders involved. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted, of which eighteen were conducted within the DMO and eight were conducted with the tourist SMEs of the destination chosen for the study. The data were coded using CAQDAS Atlas.ti reflective software and aggregated using a matrix analysis. […