Market orientation adoption strategies for small restaurants : a study in the Eastern Sri Lanka

The main aim of the study is to investigate the adoption and application of market orientation by small restaurants in the Eastern Sri Lanka. In order to achieve this aim, 21 small restaurants were drawn from the Eastern part of Sri Lanka. Findings suggest that small restaurants are unable to adopt market orientation strategies. Components of market orientation such as customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter functional coordination are with insignificant correlation and hence, the components of market orientation are not adopted by small restaurants. Monitoring the changes in the customer needs is essential for the success of these firms in the industry. Though these firms are small, competitors’ analysis has to be done and the results should be used as input for the development of competitive strategy. Inter functional coordination is also playing major role in this business to become market oriente

Exploring customer based brand equity: a study among the tourist hotels in the East coast of Sri Lanka

Industries face with issues in managing brand equity and its significant is that it helps firms to enhance their cash flow and service differentiation to enjoy and obtain benefits out of competitive advantage. Thus, brand equity is treated as the most valuable intangible asset according to literatures. Brand creates the most powerful point of difference among service suppliers. Therefore, it is imperative to explore the dimensions of brand equity such as brand awareness, brand association, brand perceived quality and brand loyalty. There has been a boom in the tourism industry after the prolong war in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. This helps hoteliers create innovative marketing strategies and enjoy competitive advantage in the industry. Hence, the objective of the research was to explore the customer based brand equity among the tourist hotels in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. In order to explore the elements of customer based brand equity of the hotel industry, researcher obtained filled questionnaires from 115 respondents who enjoyed the services of hotels in the Eastern province. Multivariate analysis was carried out to explore the elements of the customer based brand equity. Findings suggest that all dimensions of the customer based brand equity significantly contribute to the brand equity of the tourist hotels in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. Further, the extent to which the dimensions create the brand equity is also investigated in this research

Developing regional tourism: business networks for competitive advantage

Tourism is regarded as one means of fostering regional economic development and ameliorating these inequalities. Many destinations possess natural advantages that could form the basis for regional competitive advantage through local and global networking, but have experienced difficulty in drawing both domestic and international visitors away from the popular destinations. The development of local and global networking for tourism firms is a way of fostering competitive advantage in regional Sri Lanka. Tourism sector requires network linkages due to having strong complementarities due to the characteristics it include. This paper considers the potential for activating regional tourism networks and gaining competitive advantage over other regions in the country. This is especially relevant with recent development initiatives in the eastern province. There is much work to be done at a micro-business level in fostering network development between tourism institutions such as hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, tourism associations, and supportive tourism activities. It was proposed that activating business networking is a suitable means of fostering a structure within which related and supporting industries can interact. Through business network initiatives local communities can be enabled to contribute to their own development. A more self-sufficient ‗bottom-up‘ approach to regional development with horizontal linkages incorporating private/public sector partnerships and partnerships between international, national and locally owned businesses seems desirable in developing regional tourism. The activation of business networks could support linkages between related and supporting industries in gaining competitive advantages. In recommending networking strategies the attitudes towards competitive advantage, competitive behavior and intention of networking between tourism firms were measured among the main and supportive actors of tourism in the region. Therefore, the successful tourism firms are the one which have strong innovative local and global networks

Rice marketing : lesson and driver for Sri Lankan producers

The major objective of this research is to study rice marketing environment and suggest mechanisms for marketing Sri Lankan rice locally and internationally. Secondary data collected from various authenticated sources has been used for the study. A qualitative study also was carried out among farmers. Sri Lanka achieved self sufficiency in rice production and it has surplus of rice. While increasing production and export of rice in international market, Sri Lanka has to find a way to market excess production of paddy. As an ultimate way of making farmers more profitable Sri Lanka has to enter into foreign markets and market rice products in Sri Lanka. For that, farmers and millers have to obtain assistance from the government in order to produce rice varieties and rice products which have growing demand locally and globall

Polarisation du territoire : le rôle des emplois et des équipements

Le jeu combiné de la concentration spatiale des ressources (emplois, commerces, services) et l'attractivité qu'elles exercent sur les populations permettent de définir des lieux de polarisation et leurs aires d'influence : la concentration géographique des emplois et les migrations alternantes qu'elle induit sont à l'origine de la définition du Zonage en aires urbaines et en aires d'emploi de l'espace rural (ZAUER) ; le regroupement des équipements (commerces et services) ainsi que les logiques de leurs fréquentations révèlent une organisation territoriale en bassins animés par des pôles de services et répondant à des degrés divers aux besoins des populations locales.

Services aux populations : l'importance de l'économie résidentielle

Le poids croissant des emplois dans les services aux populations fait de ces secteurs une composante essentielle des économies rurales contemporaines. Leur développement qui, au cours de la dernière décennie, s'est affirmé dans les communes périurbaines et l'espace à dominante rurale, contribue fortement à la dynamique économique des espaces ruraux et périurbains, les services administrés jouant là un rôle central. Cette diffusion rapide tend à rapprocher les commerces et services des populations qu'ils desservent, l'accessibilité à ceux-ci dépendant cependant de la nature des équipements et de leurs logiques d'implantation.

Option values in the market for periurban developable land

We study the developable land market in French periurban and rural areas under urban influence. Theoretical aspects and empirical results are derived from urban economics to analyse the main determinants of the price of developable land: distance from the urban centres, population, inhabitantsí income, etc. We focus especially on option values that come from irreversibility of development of farmland into residential plots, with uncertainly and inflow of information from the market. The classical option value, due to temporal price volatility (ìprice riskî), is introduced into an econometric model. The novel contribution of the paper is to introduce also uncertainly regarding the spatial volatility of the demographic evolution in a spatial buffer around each transaction (ìpopulation riskî), which generates a second option value. We use three individual data sets that describe the market of developable land: a very complete database available for the North department3 (31551 observations from 1989 to 2003); comparisons are made with two others database available for the CÙte-díOr department (3303 observations) and the Toulouse region (10293 observations). We use an econometric random effects model: random variables capture the effects of unobservable or omitted variables characterising each commune (level 2 of the French Local Administrative Units) or urban areas (commuting or shopping zones). Price uncertainly is introduced from the classical approach of a Brownian movement with drift (Dixit et Pindyck, 1994; cf. discussion in Cunningham, 2006): the conversion decision is made from the observed variability of the residential land price during the preceding months. We model in the same way the ìpopulation riskî: it depends on population evolution in neighbouring communes between the population censuses of 1982 and 1999; the price of waiting for more information from migrations when population is fluctuating turns into an option value capitalized into the price of developable land. The findings show, on the one hand, the decreasing slope of the price of developable plots according to both distance from urban centres and distance from the centre of each commune, the role of population and of its evolution, etc. On the other hand, significant option values appear. They are linked, first, to the ìprice riskî. In the Nord department, when the standard deviation of the price of developable plots during the six previous quarters rises by a standard deviation, the land price increase by 7.4% during the downward period of the real estate cycle (1989-1997) and in 15.3% during the upward period (1998-2002). Option values also are linked to the ìpopulation riskî: prices significantly rise with population volatility. In the Nord department, during the upward period, an increase by one standard deviation of the standard deviation of 1982-1999 population variation entails an increase by 6% of the developable land price

Numerical Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Beams Strengthened with CFRP Sheets under Impact Loading

This paper investigates numerically the behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams, strengthened using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) sheets, subjected to impact loading. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was performed and its results were verified against experimental ones available in the literature showing good agreement. Then, a comprehensive parametric study was performed to investigate the effect of studied parameters on the strengthened RC beams. The main studied parameters were type and size of reinforcing bars, geometric characteristics of externally bonded CFRP sheets (width, length, and thickness), impact velocity, and the position of the impactor with respect to the beam. Results showed that the use of externally bonded CFRP sheets enhanced the beam capacity and failure mode, and reduced the mid-span deflection. Moreover, a reduction in the mid-span deflection was observed due to the use of CFRP bars as internal reinforcement. On the other hand, the deflection was increased due to the increase of the impact velocity, and the change of the impact load position

Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanostructures

ZnO-based nanomaterials have been proven to be of great use for several leading applications since the beginning of nanoscience due to the abundance of zinc element and the relatively easy conversion of its oxide to nanostructures. Nowadays, ZnO as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanofibers as well as plenty of other sophisticated nanostructures takes place among the pioneer nanomaterials employed in the photovoltaic systems, fuel cells, and biomedical fields. Nevertheless, optimizing energy consumption and being eco-friendly are the challenging requirements that are still to be overcome for their synthesis. Green chemistry has been strongly presented recently in the scientific arena as an adequate potential alternative; worldwide investigations have been held on subjects involving bacteria, fungus, or algae-based synthesis as efficient options, and some of the intriguing scientific findings on this subject are reported hereafter