Region's reputation and the price of regional products: a hedonic analysis of Portuguese quality cheese

Resources (tangible and intangible) can be mobilized to increase region's reputation and image giving a competitive advantage to certain products with origin in that region. The returns of a region's resources depend upon the ability of local firms to appropriate the rents earned and whether the consumers value the characteristics of the region that are associated with the product, being disposed to pay a price premium. The estimation of a hedonic price function, which relates the price of Portuguese regional cheeses to its various attributes provided empirical support to test the importance of designation of origin on price. The study showsthat some designations of origin and milk types have a significant impact on price, while retailer format (hypermarket versus online store)and cheese characteristics (cured versus not cured)are nor significant. Specifically, while cheeses from regions of Minho e Trás os Montes and Alentejo are expected to have price premiums, cheeses from regions of Beiras and Ilhas are expected to have discounts. Also, cheeses made with mixed milk and goat's and ewe's milk all have positive effects on price regarding cow's milk (base category).

Retail Macro-location Factors: Empirical Evidence from the Portuguese Shopping Centres

Shopping Centres have appeared in Portugal in the beginning of the seventies and have consolidated their presence from the eighties onwards. This study aims to identify the retail macro-location factors that attracts or deters the location of shopping centres at regional (municipality) level. Using OLS regression, we tested some hypothesis as pointed out by the theory, namely the number of potential consumers, their purchasing power, the presence of competitiors, accessibility to the shopping centre and costs (e.g., land, installation). The results allow for the acceptance of the hypothesis which unveil that the promoters of shopping centres seems to value highly the size of the market, both in terms of potential consumers and purchasing power. On the other hand, due to lack of atatistical significance, we cannot infer about the other hypothesis formulated above.

Portuguese olive oil and the price of regional products: does designation of origin really matter?

Resources (tangible and intangible) can be mobilised to increase region’s reputation and confer a competitive advantage to certain products with origin in that region. The returns of a region’s resources depend upon the ability of local firms to appropriate the rents earned and whether the consumers value the characteristics of the region that are associated with the product, being disposed to pay a price premium. The results we got through the estimation of a hedonic price function, which relates the price of portuguese regional olive oil to its various attributes, provided empirical support to this idea. The study shows that designation of origin, producer’s brand and olive oil characteristics (biological and mixed with herbs) have strong impact on price. Specifically, olive oil from regions of “Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro”, “Beiras e Ribatejo” and “Alentejo” are expected to have price premiums relative to other olive oil without region indication (base category). It also allows to conclude that olive oil acidity has a negative impact on price.

Sport Tourism: Regional Promotion Strategies

The main purposes of this paper are (i) to analyze the regional promotion strategies of the UEFA Euro 2004 and (ii) to contribute for the improvement of planning and implementation strategies of tourism marketing at regional level. Data regarding these strategies were collected and synthesided. We verified if these match some of the theoretical issues of promotion and tourism marketing. Despite the fact that already many studies have been made, internationally, on the impact of sport events, the present study contains something new as it introduces an ante analysis on the regional pronotion strategies of major sport events.Unlikely, the results show that no specific and integrated regional promotion strategy was pursuit, and no substantial additional financial effort was made. In what concerns the private regional tourism agents, no promotion could be found. The main tourism promotion competition came from across the boarder, whit dynamic promotion actions of the nearby Spanish regional responsibles.UEFA Euro 2004, tourism, promotion, marketing, regional, Minho, Portugal, Spain and major sport events.

Portuguese quality wine and the region-of-origin effect: consumers' and retailers' perceptions

This study investigates the relative importance of region of origin associated with extrinsic (price, brand, promotion) and intrinsic (grape, type of wine, colour, age, special references) cues in the decisions of final consumers and small retailers to buy Portuguese quality wine. In order to attain this goal we conducted a survey through face-to-face interviews in the Minho region. The results show that the dominant factor of influence in the acquisition of wine is the region of origin, both for final consumers and small retailers. Despite its importance, brand was not the principal variable to influence consumers’ wine choice, while price has been regarded as a less important extrinsic quality cue. One interesting result is the type of wine (“maduro” or “verde”) which seems to be the most preferred intrinsic cue for final consumers and small retailers. The findings also indicate that the regions of Alentejo, Douro and Verde are clearly the leaders in terms of customer acceptance.

Territory and regional products: an attempt to evaluate the effects of territory information on product price

Regions are not mere geographical spaces, being also endowed with specific resources that can be mobilized to increase local producer’s value. Experimental research on Portuguese wine prices contradicted this idea, since region of origin information highlighted on the label or the brand does not have significant impact on price. Even when compared with other product attributes, region of origin information, as a whole, is generally of low importance. However, other product attributes like colour (red wine), age (more than 3 years) and special attributes (grape or reserve) all have positive effects on price.

An investigation of the relationship between counterfeiting and culture: evidence from the European Union

International counterfeiting affects adversely producers, consumers and domestic economies. Some attempts have been made in the last years by international organisations (European Union, World Trade Organisation) to deal with this complex problem. Though some success has been achieved, the number of seizures of counterfeited goods detected in the external borders of EU has increased. This study examines the impact of Hofstede’s cultural variables (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance) on the level of counterfeiting in European countries.

Issues on the residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism development: the case-study of Guimarães

In recent years peripheral regions, such as Guimarães, in the Northwest of Portugal, has been experiencing the expansion of its tourism industry. This occurred, may be, as part of the wish felt by a large number of tourists of reaching “unspoilt†landscapes and more “authentical†experiences (Nepal, 2008). After the nomination by U.N.E.S.C.O., in 2001, of its historical centre as world heritage, the city of Guimarães is now in the process of hosting the 2012 European Capital of Culture. These recent facts helped to reinforce its external visibility and cultural significance and put it in the trail to become a more consolidated cultural tourism destination. This paper aims presenting a few results of a survey that envisaged capturing the Guimarães residents’ perceptions of tourism effects and attitudes regarding the tourists. The survey was implemented between January and March 2010 to a convenience sample of 540 inhabitants of the municipality of Guimarães. The results show that the Guimarães` residents keep a strong positive perception of the tourism benefits. The more or less favourable perception of tourism impacts the survey respondents kept are strongly correlated with some demographic features, such as age, gender and level of education. As expected, we got a more positive perception among the younger cohorts of age and the ones endowed with a higher level of education.

UEFA Euro 2004 Visitors Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to establish the profile of the foreign visitor that attended the UEFA Euro 2004 Championship in Portugal, namely in the Minho region. Data were collected through a one-to-one inquiry carried out before the matches that took place in Braga e Guimarães. The survey instrument included aspects like the visitors´past comsumption behaviour, media audience and live attendance sport habits. The results we got show that sport event tourists living in countries with higher per capita income spent more in the UEFA Euro 2004. They also stayed in country longer than other visitors. Other valuable information for both tourism operators and tournament managers we got is that most sport event tourists decided to overnight on sites with efficient and direct accesses to the matches. Otherwise, they may be characterized as usual sport consumers in terms of active and passive sport comsumption behaviour. The return of visitors to the sites where the UEFA Euro 2004 took place remains unsolved. Future studies should concentrate on community reimbursement and mid/long term benefits.UEFA Euro 2004, economic impact of major sport events, sports tourism.

UEFA Euro 2004 Tourism Impact Analysis

The purpose of this paper is exactly to approximate the tourism economic impact of the UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal. The survey concentrates on the immediate, direct and short-term additional revenue brought into one region by the foreign sport event spectators. One innovating aspect of this paper is the direct data collection on the foreign visitors spending, contouring simulation and forecast problems. Results show an immediate short-term return investment costs generated an immediate and short-term revenue of less than one tenth of the investment costs and overall revenue leakage (or income export) of nearly 325% (50,142 million Euro) of the revenue within the defined regional spatial circuit.UEFA Euro 2004, tourism impact of major sport events, sport event tourism.