Sustainable packaging in footwear industry: Case study of PUMA

Purpose. Modern companies are more focused on the life cycle of their products, so it comes also with sustainable packaging of products. Some companies do this on their own initiative, others because of customer's pressure. There are already several experiments, where companies introduced packaging that can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way or reused. The main goal of the paper is to describe case study of sustainable packaging in the footwear industry. Main findings and implications. Even big producers of shoes are facing troubles with sustainable packaging solutions. The case study shows why PUMA abandoned the new sustainable packaging of shoes. After trying sustainable packaging, PUMA returned to the classic cardboard box in 2015

Social Media Use Among Czech University Students During the Travel Process

Purpose – The paper aims to determine how students, ranking among one of the important tourism market segments, use social media during the overall travel process, as well as to explore the possible impact of cultural differences on the use of social media during the students’ travel process. Design, methodology, approach – A structured questionnaire was employed for the quantitative research focusing on the use of social media during the three different phases of the travel process—pre-travel, on-travel, and post-travel. The data were collected by means of an online survey via Google Drive, and descriptive statistics was used to interpret the acquired data. Findings – The research offers an important insight into the use of social media among students. It shows what drives Czech students to use social media during the three phases of the travel process, and what the main reason is for social media use. Interestingly, 54% of students make use of social media during the travel process, because they want to get other people´s opinions. Research has shown that the most popular social media site among traveling students was Facebook (82%), followed by Instagram (56%) and YouTube (35%). The research also showed that despite the abundant use of social media by students, conventional sources of information were still important, too. Contrary to theoretical assumptions, the research did not prove that cultural differences fundamentally influenced the use of social media among Czech and Croatian students. Originality of the research – The results are useful for marketing professionals as the research yields highly valuable data on social media use by a particular group of Czech students. At the same time, the results are an important extension of the current theory on the use of social media during the travel process

Mijenja li ambalaža percipirani okus piva? Rezultati eksperimenta s pivom

Purpose – The purpose of this research was to verify actual consumer behavior concerning different beer packaging material and how it influences the perception of beer taste. More precisely, the main aim of the paper was to explore whether beer packaging can influence consumers’ subjectively perceived taste of the beer they drink. Design/Methodology/Approach – Following the literature research, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of average Czech beer consumers (n=220). A subsequent experiment involving a sample of Czech college students (n=30) aimed at exploring the actual consumer behavior. Findings and implications – The results of the experiment show that beer consumer behavior can be influenced by the beer packaging material. If consumers knew that the beer had been poured from a glass bottle, they assessed its taste better than if they had no information on the type of beer packaging. Similarly, the opposite was found to be true of the plastic bottle – if consumers knew that the beer had been poured from a plastic bottle, they said it tasted worse than if they had no such information. No statistically significant difference was found in the tasting of canned beer with or without the knowledge of the packaging material. Limitation – The main research limitations lie in its regionality as the survey and the experiment were conducted only in the Czech Republic, with college students as participants. Originality – As there is only a limited amount of research available on beer packaging and its influence on consumer behavior, this paper provides a valuable overview of the issue.Svrha – Svrha istraživanja bila je provjeriti ponašanje potrošača ovisno o različitim vrstama ambalaže piva te kako ona utječe na percepciju okusa piva. Preciznije, glavni cilj rada bio je otkriti može li ambalaža piva utjecati na potrošačevu subjektivnu percepciju njegova okusa. Metodološki pristup – Nakon pregleda literature provedeno je anketiranje na uzorku prosječnih čeških potrošača piva (n = 220). Kako bi se otkrilo stvarno ponašanje potrošača, proveden je eksperiment na uzroku čeških studenata (n=30). Rezultati i implikacije – Rezultati eksperimenta pokazuju da ambalaža može utjecati na ponašanje potrošača piva. U situaciji kada su potrošači znali da je pivo točeno iz staklene boce, ocijenili su ga ukusnijim u odnosu na situaciju kada nisu imali informaciju o ambalaži piva, odnosno obratno vrijedi za plastične boce. Kada su potrošači znali da je pivo iz plastične boce, ocijenili su da ima lošiji okus nego kad nisu imali tu informaciju. Nisu pronađene statistički značajne razlike u degustaciji piva iz limenke u odnosu na (ne)posjedovanje informacije o vrsti ambalaže. Ograničenja – Glavna ograničenja istraživanja vezana su uz regionalnost, jer su istraživanje i eksperiment provedeni samo u Republici Češkoj, te činjenicu da su sudionici eksperimenta bili studenti. Doprinos – S obzirom na postojanje ograničenoga broja istraživanja o ambalaži piva i utjecaju na ponašanje potrošača, rad pruža vrijedan pregled problematike

SUSTAINABILITY AS A PART OF BALANCED SCORECARD

Sustainability is a trend, which is more seriously discussed on the international and national level. But also companies in the local level are pushed to have strategies and visions, which enable better future for society, our planet and local economy. Sustainability is one of the conditions – it allows companies to implicate social, economic and environmental pillars to the company´s strategy and management. The question, which remains today is, how to measure social, economic and environmental impact on society? And more – how to enable future generations to have the same conditions as we have today? The paper provides format for a possible bridge between current strategic Balanced Scorecard system and future trend of sustainability. One of the special tools, which can be used for measuring sustainability, is Balanced Scorecard (by Kaplan and Norton in 1990s) with the complement of sustainable metrics. The paper introduces three possible methods, which can be used by implementing sustainability into the Balanced Scorecard. One of these methods is described in detail. There is a focus on the sustainable indicators included as the fifth area in Balanced Scorecard model

Risks and Threats of Social Networks Communication

This paper focuses on social networks as a source of information and a tool for its sharing. The first part of the paper defines the theoretical background while the second part is devoted to the evaluation of research which was conducted among university students in the Czech Republic. The main aim of this research is to get a deeper understanding of how students work with information obtained from social networks and to identify the main risks and threats connected with it

Youtube as a New Means of Marketing Communication

This paper discusses a new trend in marketing communication represented by a new generation of YouTubers. The target group, young people aged 12-16, is absorbed in following the YouTubers who set the trends in shopping; not only what one should buy but also when. There is often some kind of cooperation between the YouTubers and some of the well-known companies that provide sample bags with their products for the YouTubers for free. This paper analyzes the Czech YouTube environment, YouTube blogs from channels in English and the results of a questionnaire survey which was conducted on a sample of students who could be described as the Generation Y

Honey bee: a consumer’s point of view

This article concerns the way bee products are perceived by customers. It is mainly focused on honey, which is considered the main output product of beekeeping. Beekeeping is a very popular activity in the Czech Republic. Based on current data there are over 48 thousand people engaged in beekeeping in the Czech Republic. Hand in hand with the increasing number of beekeepers the popularity of bee products - especially honey - among Czech consumers is also growing. Recently, the consumption of honey in the Czech Republic has been slightly increasing. A big problem today is that honey sold in Czech supermarkets is frequently falsified. At the same time, it is increasingly popular to buy honey directly from beekeepers. The aim of this research was to describe the situation about the honey market in the Czech Republic, and also to examine the relationship between consumers on the one hand, and honey/beekeepers on the other. We have also considered customer's trust in organic honey and honey sold in supermarket chains. Results show that consumers view bee products as generally healthy and prefer to buy bee products from a beekeeper because of greater convenience as locally sourced honey is perceived to be of higher quality. The majority of consumers agree with paying a higher price for a product of higher quality. The article confirmed the hypothesis that most people think that bee products sold by a beekeeper are healthier than those bought at ordinary shops