Building of regional brand on selected examples

In the era of increasing competition it is extremely important to be distinguishable on the market and to gain the trust of customers. One of the tools to achieve this goal is building the brand. A strong brand determines the existence of an enterprise and distinguishes it on the global market. Most often brand is defined as “name, term, symbol, design or combination thereof, designed to identify the goods or services of sellers or a group of sellers, and to distinguish them from the competition”1. L. de Chernatony extends the concept of brand and defines it as “an identifiable product, service, person or place, augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant, unique added values which match their needs most closely”.Globalization and the growing competition between the regions forces territorial units to take action to create their own competitive advantage. One of the tools of competitive struggle and a way for a region to distinguish itself is building a regional brand. A strong brand not only arouses interest and attracts tourists and investors, but is also a very strong support for the development of innovation and competitiveness of local enterprises

The Market Orientation of Local Governments as a Function of Entrepreneurship: a Theoretical Approach

Nowadays, in conditions of globalisation, and simultaneously with tendencies to decentralise management at the level of states and regions, individual territorial units (cities, municipalities, regions) are forced to adopt a more proactive, market-oriented approach to development. This process requires constant analysis of the environment and response to emerging changes; consideration of the offers of the competition and customer’s expectations. The purpose of this article is to show a market approach to managing the development of territorial units as a function of entrepreneurship. In particular, to show the relationship between the market orientation of local governments and entrepreneurship. This is understood, on the one hand, as a process of identifying and using opportunities and on the other, as a process of creating new enterprises, where special attention is paid to the emerging idea of territorial units as entrepreneurs. The latter concept appears increasingly frequently in the literature and colloquial language. Market orientation is an expression of the entrepreneurship of local government. Its impact on entrepreneurship on a given territorial unit is a new and important research area that requires exploration. The paper is based on the theoretical discussion using selected literature on the subject

Marketing terytorialny jako forma działań przedsiębiorczych samorządów terytorialnych w Polsce

Nowadays, functioning of local governments is mostly affected by two phenomena: globalization and locality. Globalizations processes, and among them, tendency to increase the freedom and speed of movement of capital, people, goods and services; give businesses and citizens particular opportunities. These opportunities among others are related with the freedom to choose their place of business, residence, place of work or a place of rest. The above create a specific outlook for the places of reception of investments, businesses or individuals, and so for territorial units managed by local governments. In order to meet the global market requirements, local governments must demonstrate flexibility, innovation and market-based approach, adapting to the needs of interested groups of customers: businesses, tourists, residents, investors. Counterweight to what entails the processes of globalization is observable tendency to expose what is local by communities to emphasize their own identity and affiliation to the region. Local governments in Poland since the late 90’s have gained greater powers and greater freedom of action, which enabled them to implement their role as “managers” of territorial units, which manage, and thus have influence on the directions of development of their “small homelands”. To take advantage of emerging, therefore, opportunities, local authorities - as mentioned above - have to demonstrate entrepreneurial and innovative approach. The use of the concept of territorial marketing can be regarded without a doubt as an entrepreneurship attitude of local governments in the conditions of globalization. Market-based approach founded on the marketing concept allows one to increase the efficiency of activities related to resource management of individual territorial units, thus being a useful tool to enhance their competitiveness. This paper contains reflections on application of the concepts of territorial marketing by public authorities to manage their own development

The Wooden Architecture Route as an Example of a Regional Tourism Product in Poland

In the modern economy, there is a significant increase in interest in tourism, both at the level of states, regions, communes and individual places. Tourism is seen primarily as an opportunity for economic development, but also for social development and activation of local communities. Well-managed tourism can become a way to preserve and protect the natural, cultural and historical heritage of specific places or regions by exploring and nurturing it. Heritage elements become, on the one hand, attractions around which unique tourism products are created, and on the other hand, a kind of distinguishing feature of a given place or region, based on which local communities build their identity and sense of belonging. The concept of creating regional tourism products could integrate these two factors, i.e., tourism and heritage. The article presents the concept of a regional tourist product on the example of the Wooden Architecture Route (case study)

Tourism in conditions of global economic crisis

The market of tourist services is constantly changing due to various impulses coming from international environment as well as from factors of national, regional and local level. The determinants of change in global tourism are primarily associated with the processes of globalization (including the global economic crisis’ years 2008−2010). The aim of this study is to analyze the tourism sector in conditions of global economic crisis. The analysis of demand and supply data – for the period of years 2006−2010 with forecasts for 2011 – made it possible to determine the economic condition of the sector. It seems that tourism was sensitive to the contemporary global economic crisis, while decreases in the indicators analyzed were relatively small and were mainly observed in 2009

Touristic attractiveness of regions: the case study of France

Technological and economic transformation of the past few decades resulted in a significant re-evaluation of the factors affecting the location of economic activity. General trend in these changes is the declining importance of the so-called “hard factors”, “cost factors” (such as transport costs, labour costs and the amount of taxes), as opposed to the so-called “soft factors”; special emphasis among these factors is placed on human capital. An important aspect of the human factor in the process of innovative economy development, is the quality of life in the area. The high quality of life in a given place encourages people with high creative potential to live in this place. According to Richard Florida’s theories, people do not migrate to find work, but work follows people. Therefore, the so-called “good climate for people” is one of the most important factors for growth in the regions. Qualities, such as cultural heritage, clean air, high level of safety, and the atmosphere of openness and tolerance, are the factors that are increasingly important for the choice of residence. Moreover, there are also features of attractive tourist sites. According to the above statements, it seems that touristic regions in economically developed countries, in addition to large cities, are one of the more desirable places to live for creative people, which is a potential source of innovation for local and regional economies. Assuming that the abovementioned correlations exist, this paper attempts to assess the attractiveness of tourist regions of France. The size and the structure of accommodation was chosen as the indicator of tourist attractiveness.Technological and economic transformation of the past few decades resulted in a significant re-evaluation of the factors affecting the location of economic activity. General trend in these changes is the declining importance of the so-called “hard factors”, “cost factors” (such as transport costs, labour costs and the amount of taxes), as opposed to the so-called “soft factors”; special emphasis among these factors is placed on human capital. An important aspect of the human factor in the process of innovative economy development, is the quality of life in the area. The high quality of life in a given place encourages people with high creative potential to live in this place. According to Richard Florida’s theories, people do not migrate to find work, but work follows people. Therefore, the so-called “good climate for people” is one of the most important factors for growth in the regions. Qualities, such as cultural heritage, clean air, high level of safety, and the atmosphere of openness and tolerance, are the factors that are increasingly important for the choice of residence. Moreover, there are also features of attractive tourist sites. According to the above statements, it seems that touristic regions in economically developed countries, in addition to large cities, are one of the more desirable places to live for creative people, which is a potential source of innovation for local and regional economies. Assuming that the abovementioned correlations exist, this paper attempts to assess the attractiveness of tourist regions of France. The size and the structure of accommodation was chosen as the indicator of tourist attractiveness.Technological and economic transformation of the past few decades resulted in a significant re-evaluation of the factors affecting the location of economic activity. General trend in these changes is the declining importance of the so-called “hard factors”, “cost factors” (such as transport costs, labour costs and the amount of taxes), as opposed to the so-called “soft factors”; special emphasis among these factors is placed on human capital. An important aspect of the human factor in the process of innovative economy development, is the quality of life in the area. The high quality of life in a given place encourages people with high creative potential to live in this place. According to Richard Florida’s theories, people do not migrate to find work, but work follows people. Therefore, the so-called “good climate for people” is one of the most important factors for growth in the regions. Qualities, such as cultural heritage, clean air, high level of safety, and the atmosphere of openness and tolerance, are the factors that are increasingly important for the choice of residence. Moreover, there are also features of attractive tourist sites. According to the above statements, it seems that touristic regions in economically developed countries, in addition to large cities, are one of the more desirable places to live for creative people, which is a potential source of innovation for local and regional economies. Assuming that the abovementioned correlations exist, this paper attempts to assess the attractiveness of tourist regions of France. The size and the structure of accommodation was chosen as the indicator of tourist attractiveness

Family Agritourist Enterprises in Poland: Preliminary Survey Results

The main goal of the paper is the evaluation of agritouristic enterprises, as a specific type of family owned businesses, in terms of their market and entrepreneurial behaviour and the behaviour connected with generating innovation. The attempt has been made to define the advantages and disadvantages of family-run business in the opinion of the agritouristic enterprises. Achievement of the above-mentioned goal was based on the analysis of professional literature, and direct research supported by direct questionnaire surveys and individual in-depth interviews. The empirical research was conducted in the period from January to March 2012. In the opinion of the authors of this paper, agritourist farms are a very special example of family entrepreneurship. Agritourist enterprises are self-defined as family enterprises. They can see and appreciate benefits from running a family business as well as their advantage in being innovative and strive to introduce changes in their businesses. Issues analysed in this study are relatively new and poorly covered by the literature in the field. It is a certain novelty to analyse family entrepreneurship in agritourism in addition to being an interesting area of scientific exploration

Agritourism Enterprises in a Knowledge-based Economy

Przedsiębiorstwa agroturystyczne są istotną gałęzią aktywności gospodarczej zarówno w skali lokalnej, krajowej, jak i międzynarodowej. Agroturystyka stanowi ważną formę dywersyfikacji działalności gospodarstw rolnych (pod terminem „dywersyfikacja” należy rozumieć wykorzystanie środków, jakimi dysponuje gospodarstwo rolne na prowadzenie działalności niezwiązanej z rolnictwem; Kłodziński, 2001). Odgrywa ona istotną rolę w aktywizacji gospodarczej obszarów wiejskich, wpływa na lokalne struktury gospodarcze i ich ożywienie, a w efekcie przyczynia się do wzrostu liczby miejsc pracy i pozyskiwania nowych źródeł dochodu. Zasadniczym celem niniejszego artykułu jest diagnoza stanu przedsiębiorstw agroturystycznych w Polsce, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem charakterystyki i określenia struktury oferty tych przedsiębiorstw,oceny ich zachowań rynkowych, przedsiębiorczych i innowacyjnych w gospodarce opartej na wiedzy. Podstawę analizy stanowią zarówno informacje pochodzące ze źródeł wtórnych, jak i bezpośrednie badania kwestionariuszowe oraz indywidualne wywiady pogłębione, przeprowadzone na próbie gospodarstw agroturystycznych funkcjonujących na terenie całej Polski

The R.I.E. procedure as a tool for sustainable development in municipality of Bolzano (Italy)

Human progress implies in its conception a progressively more invasive intervention in the sphere of nature. Without an endeavour to conciliate progress with the idea of sustainable development, a substantial number of areas, above all the ones recognized as problematic, would be subjected to an important ecological damage. Legal regulations represent the most binding and cogent instrument to relate the idea of sustainable development to man’s will of progress, mirroring the involvement of local authorities in improving the quality of life. The aim of the article is to present positive practices of the application of the R.I.E. procedure (It. Riduzione dell’Impatto Edilizio, En. Reduction of Construction Impact).The implementation of the R.I.E. procedure allows for appropriate solutions to help maintain the highest level of ground permeability. This aspect of new investments’ planning is of fundamental importance, i.e., in areas struggling with the problem of floods or overflows. The present publication adopts the case study method in order to demonstrate the applicability and the positive consequences of the implementation of the R.I.E. procedure as an obligatory tool of the local law practiced since the year 2004 in the Italian municipality of Bolzano