The Place Marketing Concept of Rural Towns in Northern Sweden: What is the Unique Selling Point?

Abstract The place marketing concept is one of the popular concepts to analyze and promote countries, regions, cities and towns. The intensification of competition for investment, tourism and human resources among European cities and towns has increased the importance of being unique. Most of studies on place marketing however focus on the unique selling points and brands of countries, the capitals and the big cities, while rural towns need more marketing attention due to overcoming the lack of material and nonmaterial resources in the towns. This is based on the idea of promotion to target markets of unique selling point of the town. This paper aims to discuss to what extent the place marketing concept as a necessary condition for an effective promotion of 75 rural towns in the seven northernmost regions in Sweden. The paper presents reasons for using the place marketing concept by rural towns in Northern Sweden. Also it contains features of the place marketing concept and its key elements for rural towns, describes the target audience for rural towns with their specific needs and wants. JEL: M31, R58, Z1

Assessment of physicians’ and senior medical students’ knowledge in treatment of patients with community acquired pneumonia: Current results of the KNOCAP project

Introduction. Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains one of the most acute problems of bronchopulmonary pathology being the 4th in the mortality structure (after cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms) and the 1st among all fatalities from infectious diseases. Thanks to the scientific progress achieved in the antibiotic therapy and vaccine prophylaxis, the death toll has decreased four times compared to its rate during the “pre-antibiotic era“. However, nowadays there is a steadily increasing trend in the pneumonia mortality rate in Russia. The only possible way to increase efficacy of CAP treatment is timely initiated rational antibiotic therapy, considering the possible etiologies, risk factors and the severity of the patient’s condition. Materials and methods. The article represents the results of anonymous prospective surveys within the framework of the KNOCAP multi-centered research project aimed at accessing the knowledge on the fundamental issues in diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. The survey involved 222 students in their fifth- and sixth years in medical institute from Belgorod, Dnepr (Dnipro), Voronezh, Kiev (Kyiv) and Saratov and 110 physicians from Krasnodar, Saratov, Belgorod and Dnepr.Results and discussion. According to the results of the survey, such levels of correct answers were given by doctors and students, respectively: the inadmissibility of antimicrobial therapy (AMT) delay in CAP - 82% and 59%; the main criterion for withholding AMT - 56% and 37%; “sequential therapy” - 61% and 59%. At the same time, only 24% of the students and 23% of the physicians surveyed correctly reported typical mistakes in the treatment of a non-severe CAP with 50% or more accuracy; and in case of initial treatment, the number of correct responses was less than 28% for students and 45% for doctors. Conclusion. The survey showed that both senior medical students majoring in Medical Care and general practitioners had a low level of knowledge in CAP treatment. Hence, curricula need to be adjusted both in medical universities and in health institutions for practitioners in order to inform them and, thus, improve the quality of their knowledge in this field

Comparative assessment of physicians’ and senior medical students’ basic knowledge in treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common pathologies of the respira-tory system. This disease ranks third in the group of the main causes of death in the world. The effective treatment of COPD has been developed by today. However, a significant part of physicians has an insufficient amount of education in this matter

Assessment of physicians’ and senior medical students’ knowledge in treatment of patients with community-acquired pneumonia: Current results of the KNOCAP project

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains one of the most acute problems of bronchopulmonary pathology being the 4th in the mortality structure (after cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms) and the 1st among all fatalities from infectious diseases. Thanks to the scientific progress achieved in the antibiotic therapy and vaccine prophylaxis, the death toll has decreased four times compared to its rate during the “pre-antibiotic era“. However, nowadays there is a steadily increasing trend in the pneumonia mortality rate in Russia. The only possible way to increase efficacy of CAP treatment is timely initiated rational antibiotic therapy, considering the possible etiologies, risk factors and the severity of the patient’s condition

A ‘bottom-up’ place marketing initiative : Destination Lund Sweden

Background. While New York Times and Vogue described Lund and the southernmost region in Sweden as an undiscovered pearl waiting to be explored, the local tourism office of Lund asked tourists to go to visit places outside Lund. This is not due to a huge and steady flow of tourists visiting the city of Lund. Lund is one of the oldest town in Scandinavia, with a rich and fascinating history. Aim. This paper aims at discussing the citizen initiative to place market the city of Lund. Main approach. Destination Lund can be seen as a ‘bottom-up’ response by residents in 2016 to the politically controlled local tourism office’s attempts to involve residents in ‘top-down’ activities and dismantling of the city brand. A unique material has been collected through participating observation. Key arguments/findings. By using smart tourism technologies and the fact that many of the members are experienced travellers, a set of downloadable material for smart phones and tablets in several languages have been developed: maps, guides, films and useful links. All material is free of charge on the Facebook page and at the blog. The local tourism office run by the municipality oppose – and even combat – these efforts, as they want the tourists to come to their office and buy their printed products; their focus is on the surrounding countryside. The digital map of sights and attractions, practical information (ATMs, toilets, bike stations etc.) has been a virtual success. The biking tour around the battlefield of the Battle of Lund has been highlighted by the Swedish Tourism Association. Moreover, some busloads of tourists have arrived to Lund. Conclusion. Several lessons can be learned from Lund. The locals are the best ambassadors for a place; Kotler is right indeed. Know-how and enthusiasm can achieve more in place marketing than the official tourism office with a budget. Moreover, the third sector can play an important role in place marketing activities. A key to successful place marketing lays in a good product and to master marketing through social media.All papers were peer-reviewed before accepted</p

Can a bishop from the nineteenth century be used for city branding? Cocreating cultural experience for residents by residents

Using personality association is a well-known instrument in place branding. Starting with a “Gaudí gambit” and Barcelona, different places are constantly in search for successful individuals who has an attachment to the place. Some categories of “place celebrities”, such as writers, artists, musicians, and sportsmen, are proven to be more suitable for place branding than others like politicians and scientists, who are a quite vulnerable one. But what about a person with a clergy attachment to the place?    

Wine tourism in southern Sweden : Opportunities and challenges

According to research, the most challenging and influencing factor for the world wine sector is a climate change (Säfwenberg, 2019; Crouch, 2015; Hultgren Karell, 2015; Rowlands, 2013; Smith &amp; Bentzen, 2011). While it causes negative effects to the Old World wine regions, it stimulates and enables viticulture in cool climate wine countries bringing opportunities not just for winegrowing and wine production but also for the wine tourism sector emerging (Rauhut Kompaniets &amp; Nilson, 2019; Säfwenberg, 2019; Malm et al, 2013; Rytkonen, 2012).Sweden is the youngest and the northernmost wine country, officially registered by EU in 1999 with a quota of 250,000 litres p.a. For the past twenty years, the Swedish wine sector has commercialised, increased its professional competence and won significant number of awards. The Swedish wine sector has transformed from being a retirement hobby into a career option (Henley, 2020; Säfwenberg, 2019). However, Swedish wine sector considered insignificant and ‘invisible’ for EU wine sector, with a threshold criteria as no less than 500 ha of vineyards (Eurostat, 2017), while total national area of Swedish vineyards is just about 100 hectares (Morrison, 2019). On the other hand, this insignificance helps Swedish wine sector to circumvent the EU regulatory wine politic regarding all areas of wine industry (Bergström, 2008; Rytkonen, 2012)