The Analysis of Consumer Behavior in Relationship to a Global Brand in the Lodging Industry, Across Europe and North America Abstract: The world is changing at a fast pace and more concepts related to globalization emerge. Like, for instance, global marketing which implies an increase pressure to understand consumer behavior and its underlying changes, at a much broader level. Research, nowadays, has to uncover and comprehend certain issues like how customers in some countries are the same and different in others; how they respond positively to a particular brand, but not to umbrella branding; how they perceive quality and how they spend their available resources (of time, money, effort), giving the current economic situation. As this paper covers a case study based on a multinational corporation in the lodging industry, we will further explore certain consumer behavior dimensions in relation to the perceived image and the buying pattern of the global brand examined.

consumer behavior, market segmentation, primary research, global brand, differentiation.

DISCLOSING THE PROMISING POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA – AN IMPORTANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOL

The newest channels for communicating and selling to consumers are electronic. The Internet provides consumers and marketers with more opportunities than ever in achieving a greater interaction and individualization of services. Companies can send tailored messages that engage consumers by reflecting their special interests and behavior. Nowadays, very few marketing programs are considered complete without some type of prominent online component, which is gaining ground at the expense of traditional marketing. Attaining a successful marketing program compels companies to fully connect with their targeted customers. Thus, a holistic marketing approach must be adopted in order to comprehend the potential clients, by gaining a perspective of their daily lives, their customs of purchase and consumption, their plans for the future and the changes that actually occur in their lifetimes, so that the appropriate products are marketed to the right customers in the appropriate manner. The social media represents such a major cost effective opportunity for marketers to enter into dialogue with their customers and get an insight into their lives. Social network services such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter aggregate an abundance of information about their members that marketers find highly valuable, and they have paved the way for new forms of communication and collaboration between marketers and consumers. These new communications platforms are already making an impact as businesses use them as a means to connect with their audiences, find out more about their likes and dislikes related to their market offerings, and spread brand messages virally.social media, customer empowerment, digital marketing, interactive marketing

CAUSE RELATED MARKETING – TRUE HEART-FELT CORPORATE BENEVOLENCE?

Nowadays, globally, consumers’ expectations have reached a new high, as they expect companies to act responsibly in changing the world. More than often these expectations are not met solely out of the kindness and generosity of corporations, but they are mixed in with corporate social responsibility programs and cause-related marketing. Consumers want more of the products and services they buy to support worthy social and environmental issues.Cause Related Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumption Philanthropy, Corporate Philanthropy

Measuring Customer Engagement in Social Media Marketing: A Higher-Order Model

Customer engagement has emerged as a vital component in social media marketing strategies, prompting considerable interest from both marketers and academics. This study investigates customer engagement (CE) in a framework that includes three antecedents and a main outcome (loyalty). Based on the survey method, we test a proposed model on social media users. The data analysis focuses on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses, and a multi-group analysis. The results validate CE as a multidimensional construct and support all hypotheses of the conceptual model. As key contributions, the study reveals involvement as the strongest antecedent of customer engagement and emphasizes the importance of CE in predicting and fostering customer loyalty. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge on customer–brand relationships by establishing the main drivers for customer engagement in digital settings, with valuable theoretical and practical perspectives. Finally, our findings provide managerial recommendations on the development of social media marketing strategies conveyed to enhance customer engagement

Analysis of the Economic Research Context after the Outbreak of the Economic Crisis of 2007-2009

In this paper it, we have conducted a factor analysis which implied determining the international research directions that have characterized the period following the outbreak of the crisis in 2007 and 2008-2011. In this research, we used secondary data that were extracted from 342 articles, which were based on 665 individual researches. Following this research, we have identified three main research in the macroeconomic areas which explained 56% of all the analyzed research. Also, the results showed the trends in macroeconomic research after the start of the crisis in 2007