International place branding through sporting events: a British perspective of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The goal of this study is to examine if hosting major sporting events represents a relevant strategy to brand a place ‘internationally’ through brand association transfer and to identify whether or not it should be seen as co-branding process. Based on social representation theory and an abductive research strategy, a survey was carried out among British citizens to identify their opinions about the Olympic Games and the city of Beijing following the organisation of the Games in August 2008. The content and the structure of the social representations were analysed and then compared to determine whether or not a double transfer of associations occurred between the place and the sporting event. The analysis concludes that although there was a transfer of elements from the sporting event to the place, few clearly positive elements were transferred and several negative associations remain. The results do not explicitly corroborate the transfer of associations from the place to the sporting event. The paper confirms the value of sporting events in place branding strategies but highlights some limitations such as the transfer of negative elements and the lack of media control. It also highlights the importance of the place selection process to protect the sporting brand

Proposition d'un cadre d'analyse des relations intergroupes conflictuelles potentiellement violentes ou discriminatoires dans le spectacle sportif

Depuis une dizaine d'années, nous assistons à une mondialisation et à une diversification du spectacle sportif aussi bien dans les sites dédiés à leur manifestation que dans les lieux investis pour le suivi de leur retransmission. Les contextes sociaux liés à la réception du spectacle sportif sont devenus des lieux de constructions et d'expressions identitaires qui se manifestent par des appartenances à des groupes plus ou moins organisés. Même si cette situation n'est pas inédite, elle semble avoir pris des proportions considérables dans certains pays européens et dans certains sports avec l'émergence de formes de violence (symbolique, verbale, physique...) et de discrimination (territoire, race, genre...) qui dépassent parfois les enceintes sportives. Or, ces formes de déviance sont surtout liées aux supporters dits " traditionnels " (de football essentiellement) qui se déplacent au stade pour soutenir et encourager leur équipe. Face à ces phénomènes de déviance, nous souhaitons proposer un nouveau cadre d'analyse des relations conflictuelles entre les groupes de spectateurs qui se rendent dans ces enceintes et qui peuvent potentiellement déboucher sur des réactions violentes ou discriminatoires. Issu du modèle de la situation de communication de Brown et Fraser (1979), il permet d'étudier les comportements des spectateurs qui s'inscrivent alors dans une scène qui a son cadre : " les espaces disponibles dans les tribunes ", son temps : " la durée du match ", ses observateurs : " les medias et les forces de sécurité ", ses buts : " se divertir ou soutenir une équipe ou un athlète " et ses participants : " des individus ou des groupes en interaction "

The impact of societal cultural values and individual social beliefs on the perceived effectiveness of managerial influence strategies: a meso approach

This paper reports the findings of a 12-nation study designed to test empirically the relationships between societal cultural values, individual social beliefs, and the perceived effectiveness of different influence strategies. The relationships between three types of broad influence strategy (persuasive, assertive, and relationship based) and four dimensions of individual beliefs (cynicism, fate control, reward for application, and religiosity) were examined. Three of Project GLOBE's cultural values (in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and future orientation) were selected to investigate their direct effects on the rated effectiveness of influence strategies, and their possible interaction with dimensions of individual beliefs. Results showed that different dimensions of individual social beliefs predict the perceived effectiveness of the three types of influence strategy, and that cultural values can moderate the strength of the relationship between these dimensions of individual social beliefs and the perceived effectiveness of influence strategies

Brand social representations: strategic perspectives for a fitness club

International audienceThe aim of this study was to identify an accurate tool to enable fitness club managers to discover those opinions or stereotypes which represent obstacles to joining their organisations. Starting with brand image, the analysis then considered social representations as relevant constructs for apprehending these opinions or prejudices. The use of a word association task and the model of basic cognitive schemes (Rouquette, 1990; 1994) provided access to the salient elements of the social representations of a particular sport brand and the way they are structured. The procedure combining these two stages represented a diagnostic tool for identifying the attractive and unattractive aspects of a French fitness club brand, which enabled the proposal of advice to the manager in terms of strategic and operational marketing orientations for recruiting new members