The fundamental goal of this article is to show the implications that place branding has for regional public management through a case study of the brand “Vic, a city with a human dimension” [Vic, ciutat a la mesura humana, in Catalan language], a project commissioned by the city council of Vic and carried out by the city’s university (University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia). Vic is the capital of the Osona region, in the centre of Catalonia, with a population of 45,040 inhabitants. Methodologically, this research utilised 14 focus group discussions, two in-depth interviews and a survey addressed to citizens and answered by 855 people. In regards to results, the research shows that the practice of place branding transcends the traditional action areas of place marketing and place promotion, in order to be fully integrated in the region’s overall management policies, that is to say, its urban governance. The article also concludes that the processes of conceptualisation and implementation of new place brands must be framed within a bottom-up approach, integrating all the stakeholders (public–private cooperation) in the decision-making process.
La Farga Yourcoppersolutions is a bicentennial Catalan company that manufactures semi-finished copper products. As copper is a 100% recyclable material, much of the sector’s production comes from secondary copper, scrap, not from mined copper. In the case of La Farga, not only a good part of its output comes from recycled copper, but it is also a world leader in copper-recycling technology. The objective of the paper is to describe La Farga’s business model from the point of view of sustainability and the circular economy. What have been the causes and effects of recycling on the business model? Regarding the methodology, the work follows the research strategy of the case study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from a variety of primary and secondary sources. Economic, social and environmental sustainability of the firm was assessed through financial and non-financial indicators; value-added generation and distribution were calculated from accounting data; and the circular business model was analysed via a thematic analysis: its components, innovation, enablers and barriers. Results show that the presence of barriers forces the implementation of circularity to be gradual and to combine linear and circular models to maintain competitiveness.
Catalan universities scientific collaboration in tourism is analyzed, from 2000 to 2010. Through coauthorship data, simple collaboration indicators are calculated and the collaboration network is examined. Collaboration among researchers, institutions and territories is investigated. Results show an increase in collaboration, differences among journals, and absence of relationship between collaboration and multidisciplinarity. The collaboration network presents a low density and several subnetworks.
Innovation ecosystems enable small-and medium-sized enterprises to compete with innovations that include the knowledge of others. Integrating external knowledge in innovation is however a complex process, and there are many pitfalls to consider. This chapter analyses a small company that leverages its innovation ecosystem to compete in a dynamic global industry characterized by rapid technological change. The company faces the challenge of creating and commercializing a breakthrough innovation for digital education, with educational content for teachers and easyto-use authoring tools for modifying this content. As the company attempts to benefit from lead-user experiences, home bias towards knowledge from local users appears as an unexpected hurdle. The analysis of the case encompasses the firm, the industry, and the ecosystem levels, and indicates key concepts for innovation in ecosystem settings.
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