فهرست مطالب رضوان چوبندیان

The innovative environment of social networks is an ideal platform for travelers to access travel information and an important distribution channel that provides many opportunities for online travel agencies and facilitates and strengthens their branding process. The present study aims to present a model for online travel agencies in social networks. The grounded theory strategy (Glaser’s apparent approach) is employed to test the model presented. This is applied and developmental research from the perspective of orientation, exploratory in terms of purpose as well as qualitative and abductive in terms of approach. The data are analyzed using open, selective, and theoretical coding approaches. The data are collected through a semi-structured interview. Participants consist of chief executive officers of online travel agencies and professors familiar with tourism and digital branding. In total, 13 participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods and interviewed to achieve theoretical saturation. The results indicate the branding model of online travel agencies in social networks includes 7 main categories, challenges and barriers, environmental conditions, organizational contexts, resources, facilities and inputs, central branding phenomenon in social networks, mechanisms and actions and consequences, each of which consist of specific concepts and codes. By using the proposed model, agencies can, before creating their brand, consider the barriers and harmful factors and, taking into account the environmental and organizational contexts, necessary resources facilities, and mechanisms, with a broader view and a brand-oriented attitude towards creating, develop and sustain their brands in social networks.

Recently, branding plays a significant role for service companies. However, many service companies do not have a distinct and well-known brand because services are heterogeneous, intangible, and based on experience. On the other hand, the literature in the field of service branding are greatly scattered. Therefore, this study seeks to address and fill this gap by providing a comprehensive and systematic framework for the strategic development of the branding process based on the CIPP model.  

The present qualitative research was conducted based on the meta-synthesis approach. Accordingly, 226 previous studies related to the subject of the study were reviewed based on the model proposed by Sandlowski and Barso. The research population consisted of all articles published in ISI journals, books, as well as domestic and foreign dissertations related to branding in the service industry during 1996 and 2020.

According to the CIPP model, the authors identified 16 concepts and 176 codes for the context, input, process, and output of the related literature. Research findings indicate that, as the "contextual" indicator, the environment proximity is effective on the strategic development of the branding process. The "inputs" of strategic development of the branding process include the following four factors: structural, managerial, financial, and employee factors. The crucial issue of strategic development of the branding process is the "process", which consists of formation of brand strategy, brand analysis and evaluation, planning and instructions, program development, and executive measures. The desired outcome of the proposed research model is to achieve the "output" (outcome) of strategic development, which includes organizational, managerial, financial, human resources, and marketing performance.

The findings of this study help researchers and stakeholders in the field of service branding to develop a comprehensive understanding of the strategic development of the branding process. It includes the variables and considerations to take into account in four categories of contexts, inputs, process, and outputs. Hence, this study contributes to the literature by filling the potential gaps and enhancing the depth of knowledge in the field of service branding.

Based on their outstanding and excellent features، entrepreneurs are able to provide necessary resources in business competitiveness، growth and development and also to deliver quality products and services through the analysis of competitive environment. The research aims at investigation of competitive intelligence from the entrepreneurs` perspective. The study deals with how behaviors are influenced by market orientation and entrepreneurial attitude and the entrepreneurs’ competitiveness. The study sample includes 412 entrepreneurs of 4th national festival superior entrepreneurs from whom 258 completed questionnaires are obtained. Data analysis is undertaken employing LISREL software under windows environment. The hypotheses testing results show that there is a positive and significant relation between the model hidden variables. The structural equation findings reveal that market orientation and entrepreneurship attitude have effects on the scope and frequency of competitive intelligence scanning behaviors. Accordingly، the entrepreneurs with high level of market orientation and entrepreneurship attitudes tend to scan wider scope of competitive intelligence with higher frequency and this means that their effective attempts are maximized in some companies which value the competitive intelligence. On the other hand، utilizing the competitive intelligence، the entrepreneurs achieve a competitive advantage which other competitors lack and also they obtain more comprehensive understanding in relation to strengths and weak nesses of themeselves and competitors.