The role of place branding and image in the development of sectoral clusters: the case of Dubai

This paper contextualizes how place branding and image influence the development of Dubai’s key sectoral clusters, including the key determinants of growth and success under the impression of Porter’s cluster theory. The approach is exploratory and of a qualitative inductive nature. Data was collected through conducting 21 semi-structured interviews with Dubai’s marketing/communication managers and stakeholders. Findings suggest that Dubai’s traditional clusters, namely, trading, tourism and logistics that have strong place branding and image show strong signs of success owing to Dubai’s geographical location (i.e., physical conditions). Among the new clusters, the financial sector is also benefitting from place branding. The results suggest that the success of traditional clusters have a positive spill over effect on the new clusters, in particular on construction and real estate. For policy makers it is worth to note that the recent success of the financial services cluster in Dubai will have positive impact on both, the traditional as well new clusters. The marketing and brand communication managers must consider the correlation and interplay of strength of activities amongst trading, tourism and logistics clusters and its implication while undertaking place branding for clients in their sector

Customer involvement through social media: the cases of some telecommunication firms

This study highlights the contribution of the role of social media in supporting customer involvement for service innovation. It is commonplace that many service firms and processes have characteristics that differ from manufacturing. Analyzing the literature, we note that there are many contributions on innovation in the manufacturing industry while few researches are concentrated on the service industry. Hence, we chose to deepen the analysis on marketing innovation, with specific reference to the involvement of the customer, through social media, in service firms. One of the key aspects of many service activities is the high involvement of the client/customer/user in the production of the final service. Without this coproduction process (i.e. interactivity of service production), the service would have often not been created. This customer involvement, together with the intangibility of many service products, leads service innovation to assume characteristics that are different from those learned by studies on manufacturing innovation. Service innovation is hard to capture in traditional categories like product or process innovation: the coproduction process and the interactions between the service provider and his client originate from so many touch points that it becomes difficult to identify what is the focus of innovation in service firms. Hence, the focus is on the role of innovation in marketing activities in favoring the customer's involvement in the service creation process through web tools, stimulating a closer relationship between the firm and its customers. The study develops into the following steps: we start from the objectives and the definition of the research question through the study of the literature; we try to find some assumptions that can be useful to analyze the selected case studies. Results help us to discuss the analysis and to get to some conclusions

Participation in social internet-based activities: Five seniors' intervention processes

Objective: To explore how client-centred occupational therapy intervention processes for participation in meaningful Social Internet-Based Activities (SIBAs) can be designed, and to explore the influences of participation in SIBAs on seniors' social activities and social contacts. Method: A qualitative, descriptive, multiple-case study was conducted, and an intervention was provided to the five participants, who were aged 65-85. Data were collected through assessment tools, field notes, and interviews. Results: The participants' needs and challenges related to SIBAs varied during the intervention processes. Individual-adapted support was provided for the seniors (by the occupational therapist) to managing the introduction to different SIBAs, their appearance on the internet, and the lack of privacy. The association between the seniors' participation in SIBAs and their satisfaction with these activities, as well as their social contacts, requires further exploration. Conclusions: Client-centred occupational therapy interventions can support seniors' participation in SIBAs and their self-reliance when performing these activities.</p

Femtosecond electronic response of atoms to ultra-intense x-rays

An era of exploring the interactions of high-intensity, hard X-rays with matter has begun with the start-up of a hard-X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Understanding how electrons in matter respond to ultra-intense X-ray radiation is essential for all applications. Here we reveal the nature of the electronic response in a free atom to unprecedented high-intensity, short-wavelength, high-fluence radiation (respectively 10(18) W cm(-2), 1.5-0.6 nm, approximately 10(5) X-ray photons per A(2)). At this fluence, the neon target inevitably changes during the course of a single femtosecond-duration X-ray pulse-by sequentially ejecting electrons-to produce fully-stripped neon through absorption of six photons. Rapid photoejection of inner-shell electrons produces 'hollow' atoms and an intensity-induced X-ray transparency. Such transparency, due to the presence of inner-shell vacancies, can be induced in all atomic, molecular and condensed matter systems at high intensity. Quantitative comparison with theory allows us to extract LCLS fluence and pulse duration. Our successful modelling of X-ray/atom interactions using a straightforward rate equation approach augurs favourably for extension to complex systems