Business, Law, Economics, and Consumer Behaviour

Purpose -How do we measure the success of a hotel business? What factors determine performances? This paper seeks to explore the responses which researchers and practitioners have given to these questions in the last 20 years. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on the analysis of 152 contributions and uses the balanced scorecard as a model to rationalize the main streams of research. Findings -The analysis of literature shows the gradually assumed importance of the balanced scorecard as a satisfactory performance measurement system. The findings related to the determinants of results are instead highly complex and far-reaching. The determining factors are generally looked for within the enterprise. Four main functional research fields have been identified (strategy, production, marketing and organization) and for each one main research goals, findings and open questions are defined. The horizontal axis of the balanced scorecard (customer perspective, strategy and process perspective) is the area of greatest research (over half of the papers). This evidence appears in line with the structural features of the hotel business and with the importance held, respectively, by customer relations and the protection of the efficiency of management processes.

Purpose -This paper aims to identify revenue per available room (RevPAR) determinants of individual firms located in a destination. Independent variables are to be sought along "what" and "where" dimensions. Design/methodology/approach -The sample is composed of 72 individual firms, operating in the 3-5 star range and data have been collected from financial statements and questionnaires. Findings -The empirical findings identify four main significant determinants linked to the "what" positioning -number of rooms, number of employees, number of years since the last refurbishment, market orientation -and confirm the relevance of location ("where"), and especially of centrality within the destination.

This paper attempts to fill three gaps how to: (i) operationalize the concept of structural social capital (SSC) for hotels; (ii) compare the effectiveness of different SSC measures at collective level; (iii) observe the ability of SSC to influence organizational performance.

Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Gli strumenti online La diffusione della rete ha aperto la strada al suo utilizzo anche nelle ricerche di mercato dagli USA agli altri paesi Utilizzo per metodi quantitativi e qualitativi Estensione della banda larga Aumento della penetrazione di smartphone e tablet Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Gli strumenti online Dalla scelta di un target selezionato (professionisti o target evoluti) alla diffusione a tutti i target Quasi 50 milioni le persone online in Italia su base regolare, e 35 milioni quelle presenti ed attive sui canali social Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Tempi di partecipazione: gli intervistati devono collegarsi e partecipare tutti contemporaneamente (modalità sincronica) oppure possono collegarsi in tempi diversi (modalità diacronica). Gli strumenti di rilevazione in modalità diacronica consentono flessibilità negli orari di collegamento e ciò rende la partecipazione degli intervistati adattabile ai ritmi di vita personali, favorendo una partecipazione comoda, attenta e proficua. Modalità di risposta: gli intervistati devono comunicare scrivendo oppure parlando, inoltre può esserci la possibilità di scaricare immagini e video. Contatto visivo: quando gli intervistati partecipano secondo la modalità sincronica, grazie alla webcam si può far sì che ogni partecipante veda gli altri, incluso il moderatore. Gli strumenti online-qualitativi Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Focus group Forum (dura più giorni, ogni partecipante può collegarsi in momenti diversi dagli altri e può dare la sua opinione rispetto a temi proposti dal moderatore) Chat (modalità sincronica: risposte e commenti scritti) Etnografie online Gli strumenti online-qualitativi Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Online Coinvolgimento partecipanti Spontaneità e libertà d'espressione Tempi (strumenti diacronici) Flessibili: adattabilità alle esigenze degli intervistati Prolungati: spazio per riflettere sul tema, materiali da raccogliere e condividere Facile reperibilità degli intervistati Rapidità e precisione nella raccolta dei dati Gli strumenti online-qualitativi Offline Stimolazione reciproca dei partecipanti (focus Group vs forum) Controllo da parte del moderatore Approfondimento dettagli Analisi materiali e temi complessi Ricchezza del linguaggio non verbale Ricerche di mercato ed etnografia culturale Gli strumenti online-caratteristiche L'anonimato viene garantito dall'utilizzo di nicknames o del solo nome di battesimo (topic sensibili) Il reclutamento può essere effettuato ad hoc per la singola ricerca oppure si possono costituire panel o piccole community a cui attingere. I partecipanti sono in genere molto coinvolti, mostrano di trovare piacevole la partecipazione ad una ricerca qualitativa tramite il canale online e ciò è un buon presupposto per la ricchezza dei risultati. Il web si caratterizza come un ambiente nel quale spontaneità e libertà di espressione trovano ampio spazio. Nascosti dietro lo schermo, gli intervistati sembrano meno soggetti ad autocensure nei loro commenti e giudizi. La tecnologia web abbatte le barriere geografiche. Infine la registrazione dei dati non richiede alcuna mediazione da parte del ricercatore stesso, perché le risposte e i materiali degli intervistati vengono registrati dal software così come vengono caricati dagli intervistati, quindi con precisione assoluta.

Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. In this context the design education and the methods of teaching have to be constantly reviewed and updated. In order to complete this task, a research into the pedagogical practices has to be carried on, and to become almost as a “behind the curtains” activity for the teachers. A considerable extent of literature shows how design students work (Cross, Dorst, McDonnel, Stempfle); however most of the times the studies place the researcher/observer in a distanced position with respect to the working group. The following paper will consider several pedagogical situations, in which the active involvement of the teachers as designers was necessary. Furthermore analyzing the examples presented it will be shown how a series of research methods have to be used in order to insure the objectivity of the observation. For this reason it will be shown how the action research methodology can provide important insights for creating a methodological framework specific to the characteristic of the study. In the attempt to avoid any ambiguities about the notion of “action research” it will be underlined how the pedagogical action research refers to the studies and approach of Kemmis, Whitehead, and Nofke. In conclusion we suggest that instead of regarding the pedagogical content as a monolithic body of knowledge presented to the students, the richness of the pedagogical experience comes from the human interaction with the working group and can be seen as a work in progress puzzle that has to be solved with the active involvement of the students and teachers.

The most common design process in the interaction design industry is user research-concept design-prototype testing.This process can help designers to identify target users, design products, and services.However many students have trouble applying the results of user research to improve their design using this process.The Hunan Univ.-Nokia joint curriculum aims to improve this by combining fast concept design and user research into a single process. This new process features immersive teaching and individual-team alternating iterative method, which solves the problem without sacrificing the creativity of the student.

The design discipline is nowadays extending
its boundaries, becoming more than a profession, a way of
thinking and a problem solving approach. This process implies
bringing together multiple models of reasoning, modalities of
practice and divergent perspectives. A large amount of literature
has been dedicated to the adoption of design thinking in other
disciplines [1] [2] [3], and to its successfully application in
business practices [4]. However, less attention has been put on the
contrasts and frictions provoked by the designerly system of
thinking. Before understanding and accepting an approach
specific to the design profession, as a valid and reliable working
principle, the confrontation between the different actors in a
multidisciplinary team has to pass through a conflictual phase [5]
[6]. Taking into consideration a series of experiences that involve
multidisciplinary teams, the next paper concentrates on the
conflict as a powerful and essential step in the creative process. In
this sense the conflict management will be presented in terms of
understanding the root of the contrasts, proposing that rather
than leveling the differences, through mitigation, the conflictual,
moment has to be exploited as an important step in the working
process[7].
The main question asked in the paper is: what if design
could be used as a provoking factor, in order to create entropy
and induce, more creative problem solving approaches?
The paper will unfold in several parts: first the design
thinking approach will be explained. The second part will stress
out the increasing ethnic and disciplinary diversity of the
workgroups and the benefits of the differences. In the third part
the critical moments in the project management flow will be
underlined. The discussion will show different methods to
channel conflict towards a creative change in the reasoning
system introducing design as a creative element. We will conclude
by proposing a different way of looking at the design thinking,
emphasizing its potential as a disruptive

Either dealing with products, communication or services, design projects present an increased complexity that calls for the collaboration of multidisciplinary experts. This generates a large pool of creative ideas coming from different perspectives, which have to be stirred towards a concrete outcome. In the same time an important factor that leads to a successful project is the team management and the apprehension of the frictions that could influence the creative flow of the collaboration. After a review of several literatures which have taken into consideration the importance of conflict mitigation and the role of designers as process facilitator in the creative team, the paper intends to address the following question: what if the exercise of power and influence could lead to more innovative solutions, revealing meaningful contributions otherwise discarded in the effort to reach consensus? The main objective of the paper is to propose a different perspective on the creative design management, suggesting that controversy can be seen as an important factor, which has the potential to control the leadership within the team and reveal new alternatives in the design process.