Best Practices in Territorial Branding and Quality of Life: Multidimensional Analyses and Applications
Book Editors:
João Leitão, University of Beira Interior, NECE, Research Center in Business Sciences, Covilhã, Portugal <jleitao@ubi.pt>
Helena Alves, University of Beira Interior, NECE, Research Center in Business Sciences, Covilhã, Portugal <halves@ubi.pt>
Walter Wymer, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada <walter.wymer@uleth.ca>
Synopsis:
Territorial branding is an evolutionary process that must arise from the combination of interests and needs of complex ecosystem actors with respect to decision-making, creation, production, distribution and commercialization activities; focusing on the promotion of the territory's citizens' quality of life. Nations, regions or cities are now nuclear units in the promotion of a participatory culture that, on the one hand, enhances regional competitiveness and, on the other hand, levers the intangible value of endogenous resources and products. This edited book examines the still unexplored relationship between territorial branding and quality of life, presenting best practices and new multidimensional research perspectives from distinct disciplines such as marketing, economics, quality of life, entrepreneurship, innovation, regional science and public policy, emphasizing international cases of reference and lessons from countries, regions, cities and citizens.
Theoretical framework:
The concept of territorial marketing was introduced by Kotler et al. (1993), having been termed as strategic place marketing; according to which cities are now compared to a product for competitive analysis purposes. This competitive analysis of the territory aims, above all, to position it in the market with a growing integration of elements of differentiation and competitive differentials. Territorial marketing creates, promotes, delivers and streamlines strategic and operational (through business model innovation) planning; focused on territory and products, services and experiences. Thus, given the challenges arising from globalization and interconnectivity between economies, places or territories face a number of challenges of a diverse nature: political; technological; environmental, circular, social, cultural, and economic.
It is urgent to (re)design and adopt a strategic positioning by social, political and economic leaders, as well as public and private managers, which take into account the inventory of assets (tangible and intangible) constituents of the so-called territorial heritage or even the so-called Le terroir. This inventory should reflect the set of assets and resources that make up the territorial heritage, and safeguard, in a regime of open and democratic co-creation with the main actors, the design of the aimed territory and the brand image that is intended others associate to the referred territory. In short, the attitude of strategic positioning of territorial actors, referred to above, is intrinsically linked to the construction and dissemination of the territorial brand, in cooperative terms, based on a strong community sense (Spielmann and Williams, 2016).
The identification of the components of the territorial heritage is an imperative for the future and distinctive recognition of the territory. In this way, it is necessary to institutionalize a process of identification or recognition of the values and attributes of the territory (Dallabrida, 2016), in order to build, in evolutionary terms, the territorial brand. In alternative terms, this process is based on the collection of a set of assets and resources of a territory, capable of supporting and adding value to territorial dimensions, taking into account the increasing homogeneity of territorial offerings at a global level (López-Lita and Benlloch, 2005). It is therefore a question of innovation in global thinking and 'territorialisation' of sensory and life experiences, with distinctive and highly differentiated marks.
The foundational elements of the territory, represented by its territorial heritage, are the reference for any type of territorial intervention, especially when referring to land management processes (Dallabrida, 2015b). These processes, considering the diversity of actors and interests present in the territory, require a social dialogue, which is an exercise of territorial governance (Dallabrida, 2015a), which today must be based on the pillars of transparency, innovation and open governance (Leitão and Alves, 2016; Leitão et al., 2016). It is a set of challenging processes, which require integrative business approaches, in order to better manage conflicts, and, in simultaneous terms, generate agreements or conclude collective agreements that indicate future strategies. There are also unambiguous signs and communication elements aimed at target audiences of previously selected relevant markets, which will allow the necessary awareness and promotion of the territory's image in innovative branding processes geared towards the creation of truly genuine territorial brands.
Publishable topics:
We welcome book chapter contributions on best practices and quality of life centered (but not exclusively) on the following topics:
- Territorial branding
- Place branding
- Public branding in nations, regions, cities and endogenous products
- Regional competitiveness funded on territorial branding
- Higher education institutions and regional branding
- Co-creation and territorial branding
- Innovation branding and regional entrepreneurship
- Innovative case studies on territorial branding strategies
- Determinants of quality of life including territorial branding
- Quality of life and territorial branding in nations, regions and cities
- Open/participative governance, territorial branding and quality of life
- Transparency, territorial branding and quality of life
- The future of the cross-fertilized research on territorial branding and quality of life
Schedule and important dates:
Book chapter proposal: December 14, 2018
Accept/Reject notification: January 15, 2019
Full chapter submission: April 16, 2019
Accept/Reject notification: June 28, 2019
Final publication (planned): October 31, 2019
Submission Procedures:
Chapter proposal submissions are invited from researchers and practitioners on/or before December 14, 2018. Proposals should be limited to between 1000-2000 words, explaining the mission and objectives of the chapter and how it fits into the theoretical framework of the book. Only electronic submissions in Word format will be considered.
Please send your proposal to the following email: <tbqlbook@gmail.com>; <jleitao@ubi.pt>; <halves@ubi.pt>; <walter.wymer@uleth.ca>
Your submission must be made until or before the due date specified. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed. Notifications regarding the status of the chapter proposal will be made available to authors by January 15, 2019. Based on accepted chapter proposals, chapter submissions will be accepted on/or before April 16, 2019. Two or more scholars will review all submitted chapters.
Chapter submissions must be prepared in accordance with the submission guidelines (please consult Springer's book manuscript guidelines webpage: https://www.springer.com/de/authors-editors/book-authors-editors/book-manuscript-guidelines) and must not exceed 25 pages, including references and any appendix. Only electronic submissions in Word format will be considered.
References:
Dallabrida, V. (2015a), 'Governança territorial: do debate teórico à avaliação da sua prática', Análise Social, Lisboa, 215(2): 304-328.
Dallabrida, V. (2015b), 'Territory Planning and Management: the theory debate in Brazil and a prospect of practice according to theoretical contributions on Territorial Governance', Revista Brasileira de Gestão e Desenvolvimento Regional, Taubaté, 11(4): 51-77.
Dallabrida, V. (2016), Território, governança e desenvolvimento territorial: indicativos teóricometodológicos, tendo a indicação geográfica como referência, LiberArs, São Paulo.
Kotler, P.; Haider, D.; & Rein, I. (1993), Marketing places: attracting investment, industry, and tourim to cities, states, and nations, Free Press, New York.
Leitão, J. & H. Alves (Eds.) (2016). Entrepreneurial and Innovative Practices in Public Institutions: A Quality of Life Approach, Series: Applying Research in Quality of Life: Best Practices, Springer.
Leitão, J.; Alves, H.; & Pereira, D. (2016), 'Open Innovative Governance, Municipality's Transparency and Citizens' Quality of Life: Are they a perfectly matched trilogy?', In Leitão, J. & H. Alves (Eds.) (2016). Entrepreneurial and Innovative Practices in Public Institutions: A Quality of Life Approach, Series: Applying Research in Quality of Life: Best Practices, Springer.
López-Lita, R.; & Benlloch, M. (2005), 'De la marca comercial a la marca territorio', Recerca: Revista de Pensament i Anàlise, 5: 87-100.
Spielmann, N.; & Williams, C. (2016), 'It goes with the territory: Communal leverage as a marketing resource', Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, 69(12): 5636-5643.