Strategic Marketing in the UAE Annotated Bibliography

Essays on Strategic Marketing in the UAE Annotated Bibliography The paper "  Strategic Marketing in the UAE" is an amazing example of an annotated bibliography on marketing.Balakrishnan, M. â€Å"Dubai – A star in the east: a case study in strategic destinationBranding.† Journal of Place Management and Development. 1.1 (2008): 62-91. PrintThe title of this article is catchy, self-explanatory and metaphorical in nature. It directly addresses what strategic marketing of Dubai as an international destination has achieved; turning Dubai into a star, visible to everyone and ‘bright.’ The article starts off with an abstract that has the purpose, design, findings and research limitations and originality sections each with a brief description of the section. In the introduction, the author underscores the relevance of the paper by indicating that the destination branding industry is worth US$ 1,480 billion with some countries earning US$ 2 billion annually from successful branding. Towards the end of the introduction is the p urpose statement.  The author uses secondary sources, such as government reports, past studies, and books as his source of data in the literature review section. The in-text references are also internet links of the references though there is no reference list at the end. This simplifies the audience’s attempt to clarify information from the sources. There are also bullets where information in points is presented. This provides ease of reading and breaks the monotony of the paper. The subheadings on the other hand also break the monotony and classify information appropriately for ease of reading. Each section has its own recommendations.The paper is organized well with an abstract, introduction, discussion and conclusion and recommendations sections. The paper deviates from the normal structure as it lacks methodology because it is secondary research. The article has very little to offer in terms of product and service marketing. However, it presents very relevant tips for tourism and business destination marketers using strategies used in product marketing. Most tips, in this case, lie on the economic aspects that attract business investors and not leisure travelers. The author indicates that destinations have to spread their brand portfolio to reduce the investment risk something that makes Dubai more competitive than other destinations. Unlike Singapore which is famous for business and not leisure, Dubai combines both. While the majority of the literature deals with marketing a destination as a tourist or business one, this paper combines both.The presentation of the paper as a whole is very clear. The author makes use of text references that allow further research and credits his work. The paper is well structured with subheadings useful in locating specific information. However, the article is very long and may make boring reading. It is highly recommended that the author uses tables and figures that are easy to grasp and also break the monotony. For instance, he should have used graphs showing growth in investment in Dubai after each branding initiative such as economic policies.

Effectiveness and Impact of Virtual Teams free essay sample

Technology is consistently evolving and impacting many organizations worldwide. It has changed many aspects in the workplace, including work styles, communication, and teamwork. Communication has been transformed into the ways of the virtual world, directly affecting group dynamics. Organizations often form teams of employees to serve a variety of purposes and reach goals in a more effective manner than independent work. Teams used to work strictly through face-to-face interactions, but with growing technology, virtual teams have been created and are used fairly often. â€Å"A virtual team is any team whose member interactions are mediated by time, distance, and technology. The core feature is not the technology, but that the team works together on a task while physically separated. Group members can communicate through e-mail, voice mail, video conferencing, electronic bulletin boards, and intranets.† (Levi, 2007, p. 258) Many research studies have been done to assess the effectiveness of virtual teams, examining the positive and negative aspects. We will write a custom essay sample on Effectiveness and Impact of Virtual Teams or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This literature review is aimed to analyze several articles where researchers have explored many components of virtual teams and their impact. Vroman and Kovacich (2002) wrote an article that analyzed â€Å"the interactions of a virtual interdisciplinary team.† They explain computer-mediated communication (CMC) to be the basis of virtual teams, which they then compare to face-to-face teams. They examined the Interdisciplinary Training for Health Care for Rural Areas (ITHCRA) project, which is a team comprised of many different types of health professionals (e.g. clinical psychologist, nurse practitioner, nutritionist, etc.) The team’s ultimate goal was to develop an interdisciplinary health care curriculum, solely using CMC. ITHCRA functioned the same as any other team working together would, and faced the same challenges and developmental processes (forming, storming, norming, performing, and transforming). They additionally had to learn the ways of the new communication technology, which was an obstacle for many of the group members. The developmental process of the virtual team was similar to that of a face-to-face team, however, a number of differences were found. The forming phase was very  typical for team development. Team building and norm development took precedent of the project tasks initially. They had met face-to-face once, and after looking at their communication after this occurred, it was obvious they had formed social relationships and were more committed. This raised the question: what would have happened if the face-to-face meeting did not take place? It may have been more effective to have two groups in this study so comparisons could be made (e.g. one group solely virtual, the other group allowed 1-3 face-to-face meetings). It is hard to determine whether certain aspects of team development would have taken place without the opportunity to see their team members in a more personal way. Storming took place as well, which is when teams face certain conflicts. There were no apparent differences for this development in the virtual team. Norming, performing, and transforming phases of development all contributed to the team’s success and helped them complete their tasks and reach their goals. Vroman and Kovacich (2002) provided a good analysis of ITHCRA and the ways in which it was successful and where the members were challenged. They portrayed virtual teams as being more convenient, effective, and less time consuming when completing tasks. However, it allows for less personal contact and can be more difficult for some to communicate and fulfill the expectations of the group project. It may have been more effective to have ITHCRA communicate solely through CMC and compare them to a team with the same tasks and goals, but who communicated through a combination of CMC and face-to-face meetings. More valid results would be accessible to draw more accurate conclusions. It was interesting to use a interdisciplinary team, however, it may have acted as another variable besides CMC, which would then alter the results. Kirkman, Rosen, Tesluk, and Gibson (2004) conducted a research study on the impact of team empowerment on virtual team performance. â€Å"Team empowerment is defined as increased task motivation that is due to team members’ collective, positive assessments of their organizational tasks (Kirkman Rosen, 2002). They examined team empowerment through the teams potency, meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact to determine its’ impact on process improvement and customer satisfaction. Kirkman et al. (2004) studied a service organization that utilized high technology and frequently formed virtual teams to complete the company’s tasks and goals. Each team member had different roles within the organization and was separated from each  other geographically. The researchers moderated the effects of face-to-face meetings to examine the relationship between team empowerment and both process improvement and customer satisaction. Kirkman et al. (2004) used surveys, observation, a team empowerment measure they had created, and customer satisfaction and process improvement scorecards to test their hypotheses, which were that 1. Team empowerment will have a positive relation to virtual team process improvement, 2. Team empowerment will have a positive relation to virtual team customer satisfaction, and 3. The number of team’s face-to-face meetings will alter the relationship between team empowerment and process improvement (the fewer face-to-face meetings the stronger the relationship), and 4. The number of team’s face-to-face meetings will alter the relationship between team empowerment and customer satisfaction (the fewer face-to-face meetings the stronger the relationship). Their results indicated support for hypotheses one, two, and three, but did not support the fourth hypothesis. The researchers produced a well-designed study with significant, meaningful results that help contribute to the understanding of virtual teams. They operationally defined all of the terms and measures to provide an equal understanding for everyone. It seems that virtual teams have many positive characteristics that are more effective compared to the common face-to-face teams. With the rising technology, virtual teams may become the norm as researchers continue to understand their components and wire them for optimal success. Montoya-Weiss, Massey, and Song (2001) wrote an article on the findings of their research study. They â€Å"examined the effects of temporal coordination on virtual teams supported by an asynchronous communication technology.† They measured the mechanism â€Å"process structure† to determine the relationship between conflict management behavior and virtual team performance. They measured conflict management individually for each team member through a questionnaire they created. They defined their dependent variable, virtual team performance, as â€Å"the quality of the team rationale used to support the team decision.† They examined the range, depth, and organization for each team decision. Lastly, they observed and analyzed all communication among the virtual team. Montoya-Weiss et al. (2001) had five hypotheses total, which were tested through statistical analysis. They predicted that for all conflict management behaviors, a positive interaction would result.