ارائه الگوی بازآفرینی برند ملی سوریه در حوزه گردشگری

نوع مقاله : پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 دانشجوی دکتری، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران.

2 دانشیار، دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، تهران، ایران

چکیده

بحران‌های غیرقابل‌پیش‌بینی و کنترل در سطوح مختلف کسب‌وکارها، موجب اهمیت مفهوم بازآفرینی برند­ شده است که می‌­تواند به بازسازی برند­ها در هر موضوع، مکان و زمانی در هر سطحی از فعالیت کمک کند. برند‌سازی مکان در سطح ملی که با نام کشورها شناخته می‌­شود، به جهت آثار جنبی آن بر سطوح خرد فعالیت­‌های سیاسی، اقتصادی، فرهنگی، اجتماعی و غیره یکی از حوزه‌­های مهم و مغفول نیازمند تبیین است. سوریه به‌عنوان کشوری دارای پیشینه تاریخی، فرهنگی، سیاسی و موقعیت جغرافیایی راهبردی و جذاب برای گردشگران در غرب آسیا به جهت درگیری در بحران جنگ داخلی، موردی قابل‌تأمل در موضوع بازآفرینی برند در سطح ملی است. پژوهش حاضر با هدف شناسایی مولفه‌­ها و تبیین آن­ها در قالب الگوی بازآفرینی برند‌‌ملی در صنعت گردشگری انجام شده است. با استفاده از روش­‌شناسی نظریه داده‌­بنیاد با رویکرد کلاسیک، جامعه آماری شامل خبرگان دولتی و خصوصی صنعت گردشگری سوریه را انتخاب و با روش نمونه‌گیری غیر احتمالی گلوله برفی تعداد 13 نفر نمونه انتخاب‌شده است. استفاده از  مصاحبه بدون ساختار عمیق با هدف دستیابی به مفاهیم مورد نظر جهت گردآوری داده‌­ها در دستور کار قرار گرفت. نتایج پژوهش نشان داد مهم‌­ترین مولفه­‌های تشکیل‌­دهنده الگوی بازآفرینی برند‌‌ملی شامل هفت مفهوم  «بهبود شرایط زمینه کشور، تشکیل ستاد بازآفرینی برند‌‌ملی، مدیریت ذی‌نفعان، ارزیابی تأثیر بحران بر برند‌‌ملی، تدوین برنامه ترمیمی، جایگاه­‌یابی مجدد و ارزیابی برند‌‌ملی» هستند.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات


عنوان مقاله [English]

Identifying and Explaining the Components of Nation Rebranding of Syria in the Tourism Industry

نویسندگان [English]

  • Hassan Alaji 1
  • Bahman Hajipour 2
  • Shahriar Azizi 2
1 Marketing Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University
2 Associate Professor / Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
چکیده [English]

Aim and Introduction: The unpredictable and uncontrollable crises at different levels of business lead to the emergence of the concept of re-branding, which can help in rebuilding brands in any subject, place, and time at any level of activity. Nation branding of places at the national level, which known as countries, needs to be explained due to its side effects on the micro levels of political, economic, cultural, social activities, etc. As a country with a historical, cultural, political background and a strategic and attractive geographical location for tourists in West Asia due to its involvement in the civil war crisis, Syria is a case in point for the issue of re-branding at the national level. Some researchers have stated that there is a lack of studies and theoretical gaps in identifying the appropriate components, strategies, and marketing initiatives for destinations suffering from a long-term negative image. Therefore, the present study conducted with the aim of identifying components and explaining them in a nation's re-branding pattern in the tourism industry.
Methodology: The present study in terms of purpose; is practical and qualitative in terms of exploratory method. The strategy used is the classical Grounded Theory Approach. At the same time, from the perspective of the data collection method, this research has been done in the form of library and field studies using in-depth unstructured interview tools. The statistical population of the study consists of managers, experts, professors, and relevant researchers in the field of branding, marketing, tourism management in Syria. The statistical population of the study consists of managers, experts, professors, and researchers in the field of branding, marketing, tourism management in Syria. A purposeful judgmental and snowball approach to the point of information saturation used. Therefore, thirteen experts identified as the statistical sample of the research and participated in the interview process.
Findings: Findings showed the most important components of the nation's rebranding pattern in the field of tourism, including the seven-component process "improving the context, formation, crisis impact assessment, stakeholder management, restoration, relocation, and evaluation". Findings showed that the strategy of nation rebranding requires acceptable stability in environmental and contextual factors of the country such as political stability, safety and security, and reducing conflict. In the first place, identifying and formulating the structure of the staff responsible for planning and implementing  nation-rebranding strategy, determining tasks and missions, and identifying relevant stakeholders are important factors in the success of the nation rebranding strategy. Success in the nation's rebranding strategy also requires the analysis of internal and external factors to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that lead to an understanding of the image of Syrian tourism in the minds of target market audiences. Based on this analysis, a remedial plan is proposed that includes defining a strategic vision, identifying target markets, learning from the experiences of similar countries, redefining brand identity, and building national brand awareness by emphasizing success stories in the war, and funding. the effective nation rebranding of Syria requires ensuring the integration and coordination of communication and marketing strategies in order to successfully reposition the Syrian national brand. finally, a successful nation rebranding program requires continuous evaluation of the performance of all points of contact with the new national brand.
Discussion and Conclusion: The research showed that before starting the project of nation rebranding, the government should make progress in "improving the context of the country" as a precondition. Syria in general (both in the tourism sector and in other sectors) needs to pass laws and find quality mechanisms to attract investment and restore the trust of national and foreign investors (especially the Syrian diaspora networks) as a Prerequisite is the reconstruction and rehabilitation of destroyed infrastructure. Establishing an institution or organization that is responsible for managing the nation's brand as a whole is an important factor in the success of the nation's rebranding strategy. The success of a national rebranding strategy also depends on identifying target markets. In the case of Syria, we can focus on things like restoring traditional markets, targeting the markets of friendly countries like Iran, Russia, and China, and developing appropriate communication strategies. The National Brand Reconstruction Headquarters must define a new identity and transfer it to target markets locally and globally. To achieve this goal, there are several options, including historical and cultural tourism, religious tourism, dark tourism, adventure tourism, and so on. In order to raise national brand awareness locally and internationally, Syria can emphasize its success stories in the war, such as the victory over ISIS, the defeat of terrorism, or the cradle of civilizations and religions, and so on. These variables: Promotional activities, cost leadership strategies, inviting ideological leaders, journalists, bloggers to visit Syria showed  the key roles, contrary to what has been portrayed in the foreign media about the situation in Syria, and the use of national brand ambassadors (such as sports, artistic, cultural, etc.) also play an important role in reflecting the country's personality and the positive traits that the nation wants to highlight. Event marketing, through the organization and financial support of cultural, artistic, and music festivals, play an important role in correcting and modifying the bad perceptions of the place. Activation of diaspora networks, in addition to financial benefits (foreign direct investment and individual transfers), has the potential to create a reputation for the mother country. Nation brand evaluation also has a significant impact on learning, correcting assumptions, and taking corrective action to address performance issues. The nation rebranding pattern provides a comprehensive guide and constructive guidance to the managers and nation branding professionals to develop a coherent Syrian brand recreation program in the field of tourism at the national level in order to reconstruct or alter the negative image. One of the limitations of the present study was the lack of access to a wide range of Syrian tourism industrial experts due to the current critical situation in Syria.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Nation rebranding
  • Nation brand
  • Grounded theory
  • Syria
  • Tourism
  1. Anholt, S. (2005). Anholt nation brands index: how does the world see America? Journal of Advertising Research, 45(3), 296-304.
  2. Avraham, E. (2018). Nation branding and marketing strategies for combatting tourism crises and stereotypes toward destinations. Current Issues in Tourism.
  3. Avraham, E. (2020). Combating tourism crisis following terror attacks: image repair strategies for European destinations since 2014. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-14.
  4. Baker, C. (2008). Wild dances and dying wolves: simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular communication, 6(3), 173-189.
  5. Balakrishnan, M. S. (2009). Strategic branding of destinations: a framework. European journal of marketing.
  6. Balakrishnan, M. S., & Kerr, G. (2013). The 4d model of place brand management Branded spaces (pp. 31-42): Springer.
  7. Cai, L. A. (2002). Cooperative branding for rural destinations. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(3), 720-742.
  8. Cooper, A. F., & Momani, B. (2009). The challenge of re-branding progressive countries in the Gulf and Middle East: Opportunities through new networked engagements versus constraints of embedded negative images. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 5(2), 103-117.
  9. Danaeifard, H., & Emami, S. M. (2007). Strategies of Qualitative Research: A Reflection on Grounded Theory. Journal of Strategic Management Thought, 2, 69-97.
  10. Daymon, C., & Holloway, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods in public relations and marketing communications: Routledge.
  11. Dinnie, K. (2015). Nation branding: Concepts, issues, practice: Routledge.
  12. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. (2020). Syria at War: Eight Years.
  13. Elliot, S., & Papadopoulos, N. (2016). Of products and tourism destinations: An integrative, cross-national study of place image. Journal of Business Research, 69(3), 1157-1165.
  14. Endziņa, I., & Luņeva, L. (2004). Development of a national branding strategy: The case of Latvia. Place branding, 1(1), 94-105.
  15. Fan, Y. (2006). Branding the nation: What is being branded? Journal of vacation marketing, 12(1), 5-14.
  16. Gertner, D., & Kotler, P. (2004). How can a place correct a negative image? Place branding, 1(1), 50-57.
  17. Gilmore, F. (2002). A country—Can it be repositioned? Spain—The success story of country branding. Journal of Brand Management, 9(4), 281-293.
  18. Glaser Barney, G. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: advances in the methodology of grounded theory: Mill Valley, California: The Sociology Press.
  19. Glaser, B. G., & Holton, J. (2007). Remodeling grounded theory. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung. Supplement, 47-68.
  20. Gnoth, J. (2002). Leveraging export brands through a tourism destination brand. Journal of Brand Management, 9(4), 262-280.
  21. Hankinson, G. (2004). Relational network brands: Towards a conceptual model of place brands. Journal of vacation marketing, 10(2), 109-121.
  22. Hankinson, G. (2007). The management of destination brands: Five guiding principles based on recent developments in corporate branding theory. Journal of Brand Management, 14(3), 240-254.
  23. Hanna, S., & Rowley, J. (2011). Towards a strategic place brand-management model. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(5-6), 458-476.
  24. Hanna, S., & Rowley, J. (2013). A practitioner-led strategic place brand-management model. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(15-16), 1782-1815.
  25. Hanon, W., & Wang, E. (2020). Comparing the impact of political instability and terrorism on inbound tourism demand in Syria before and after the political crisis in 2011. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 25(6), 651-661.
  26. Hao, A. W., Paul, J., Trott, S., Guo, C., & Wu, H.-H. (2019). Two decades of research on nation branding: A review and future research agenda. International Marketing Review.
  27. Harengel, P., & Gbadamosi, A. (2014). ‘Launching’a new nation: The unfolding brand of South Sudan. Place Branding Public Diplomacy, 10(1), 35-54.
  28. Hudson, S. (2016). Let the journey begin (again): The branding of Myanmar. Journal of destination marketing, 5(4), 305-313.
  29. Imran, S. (2017). Effects of Nation Branding on National Identity of Azerbaijan. Journal of Economic Sciences: Theory Practice, 74(1).
  30. Jansen, S. C. (2008). Designer nations: Neo-liberal nation branding–Brand Estonia. Social identities, 14(1), 121-142.
  31. Kaneva, N. (2007). Meet the" New" Europeans: EU Accession and the Branding of Bulgaria. Advertising Society Review8(4).
  32. Kaneva, N., & Popescu, D. (2011). National identity lite: Nation branding in post-Communist Romania and Bulgaria. International journal of Cultural Studies, 14(2), 191-207.
  33. Knott, B., Fyall, A., & Jones, I. (2015). The nation branding opportunities provided by a sport mega-event: South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Journal of destination marketing, 4(1), 46-56.
  34. Kotsi, F., Balakrishnan, M. S., Michael, I., & Ramsøy, T. Z. (2018). Place branding: Aligning multiple stakeholder perception of visual and auditory communication elements. Journal of destination marketing, 7, 112-130.
  35. Lincoln, Y. S. (2007). Naturalistic inquiry. The Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology.
  36. Mehdi, E., Zargham Borujeni, H., & Sokhandan, E. (2016). Tourism Destinations Crisis Management Process Performance Evaluation. Quarterly Journal of Strategic Management Studies, 7(28), 103-123.
  37. Moilanen, T., & Rainisto, S. (2009). How to brand cities, nations and destinations: A planning book for place branding: Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
  38. Ndlovu, J., & Heath, E. T. (2013). Re-branding of Zimbabwe to enhance sustainable tourism development: Panacea or Villain.
  39. Neuman, W. (2005). Social research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches Allyn and Bacon.
  40. Nuttavuthisit, K. (2007). Branding Thailand: Correcting the negative image of sex tourism. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 3(1), 21-30.
  41. Osei, C., & Gbadamosi, A. (2011). Re‐branding Africa. Marketing Intelligence Planning.
  42. Papadopoulos, N., Hamzaoui-Essoussi, L., & El Banna, A. (2016). Nation branding for foreign direct investment: an Integrative review and directions for research and strategy. Journal of Product Brand Management.
  43. Pappu, R., & Quester, P. (2010). Country equity: Conceptualization and empirical evidence. International Business Review, 19(3), 276-291.
  44. Rojas-Méndez, J. I., Papadopoulos, N., & Alwan, M. (2015). Testing self-congruity theory in the context of nation brand personality. Journal of Product Brand Management.
  45. Sadeghi, S., Kazemi, A., & M., a. L., K. (2015). The Syrian crisis and the geopolitical conflict of regional powers. Political Studies of the Islamic World, 4 (4), 107-128.
  46. Song, K. B. (2017). Brand Singapore: Nation branding after Lee Kuan Yew, in a divisive world: Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd.
  47. Syrian Statistics Office. (2019). Statistical Group 2019.
  48. Szondi, G. (2008). Public diplomacy and nation branding: Conceptual similarities and differences: JSTOR.
  49. Telegraph, T. (march 2014). Syria three years on: what for the future of tourism? Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middle-east/syria/articles/Syria-three-years-on-what-for-the-future-of-tourism/
  50. The National News. (2011). Syria sees tourist numbers leap 40%, The National News. Retrieved from thenationalnews.com/business/travel-and-tourism/syria-sees-tourist-numbers-leap-40-1.583832
  51. The Syrian Ministry Of Tourism. (2016). The Ministry's strategy 2016-2018. Retrieved 13 oct., 2020, from syriatourism.org/en/page12724/The-Ministrys-strategy
  52. Traub, J. (2000). Inventing East Timor. Foreign Affairs, 74-89.
  53. (2011). Syrian Arab Republic World Heritage Site: UNESCO.
  54. (14 Oct 2020). UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response: UNHCR.
  55. Van Ham, P. (2008). Place branding: The state of the art. The Annals of the American Academy of Political, 616(1), 126-149.
  56. Yousaf, S., & Li, H. (2015). Social identity, collective self esteem and country reputation: The case of Pakistan. ournal of Product Brand Management.
  57. Zeineddine, C. (2017). Employing nation branding in the middle east-united arab emirates (Uae) and qatar. Management Marketing 12(2), 208.