A Strategy for Tourism Growth, Rebound, and Revival: Promoting Portugal as a Destination Post-COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact around the world on health, economies, businesses, equality and the movement of people in the form of tourism. In this context, this paper looks at the strategy chosen by Turismo de Portugal to adapt to the crisis in a country where tourism plays an important role in supporting the local economy, having grown significantly since 2010. The chosen strategy encouraged tourists not to visit Portugal during the pandemic, a turnaround from their previous digital marketing strategy, which invited tourists to discover the country. We undertook a survey that had 170 answers, predominantly from Ecuador, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Portugal but also from several other countries in Europe and Latin America. We aimed to understand whether their strategy was successful in encouraging people to consider Portugal as a holiday destination post-COVID-19. The Can’t Skip Hope campaign was created in a work-from-home environment, with the voiceover recorded on a smartphone. Previously recorded footage was re-edited. Our survey found that respondents said the video matched their views of Portugal and that 79.5% would consider Portugal as a holiday destination when they next booked a holiday. In terms of inferential statistics, we performed chi-square tests of significance on the survey data. Thus, this paper contributes to the body of work because it offers insight into marketing strategy adaptation by a local tourist board during a period of crisis.

Stress-adaptation among Family of Adolescent with Substance Misuse: Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND: Families of an adolescent with substance use disorders report significant burden and stress. Adequate coping strategies can modify the impact of stressful situations and increase family function. AIM: The aim of the study was to systematically review the literature related to the coping strategies and adaptations used by family members of the adolescent with substance use disorders to manage their stress. METHODS: We conducted electronic searches using MEDLINE (PubMed), EBSCO, databases to select studies on family stress, and coping strategies that were published from January 2000 to December 2020. The search terms were family, parent, father, mother, coping, caregiver, strategy, adaptation, adolescent, and substance use disorders. RESULTS: We found 961 articles. After application of exclusion criteria and exclusion of redundant references, ten articles were thematically analyzed. The studies were organized into five categories: Engaged, tolerance, withdrawal, problem-focused, and emotion-focused coping strategies. The family members felt devastated by the incidents of violence and aggressive outbursts, and felt they failed as parents. As a result, the parents felt very isolated from other family members and friends, and ashamed of their children’s behavior. Most families used problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies in different combinations. CONCLUSION: The identified studies show that the use of emotional focus coping is the coping strategy most often done by families. Problem focus coping involved family efforts to find sources of information and seek treatment services as a mechanism for adaptive coping strategy. However, a mixed methods study is still needed that clearly illustrates the types of coping strategies used in various cultural perspectives and social status.

Stress Adaptation Among Family of Adolescent with Substance Use Disorders: Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND: Families of an adolescent with substance use disorders report significant burden and stress. Adequate coping strategies can modify the impact of stressful situations and increase family function. AIM: The objective of the study was to systematically review literature related to the coping strategies and adaptations used by family members of the adolescent with substance use disorders to manage their stress. METHODS: We conducted electronic searches using MEDLINE (PubMed), EBSCO, databases to select studies on family stress, and coping strategies that were published from January 2000 to December 2020. The search terms were family, parent, father, mother, coping, caregiver, strategy, adaptation, adolescent, and substance use disorders. RESULTS: We found 961 articles. After application of exclusion criteria and exclusion of redundant references, 10 articles were thematically analyzed. The studies were organized into five categories: Engaged, tolerance, withdrawal, problem-focused, and emotion-focused coping strategies. The family members felt devastated by the incidents of violence and aggressive outbursts, and felt that they failed as parents. As a result, the parents felt very isolated from other family members and friends, and ashamed of their children’s behavior. Most families used problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies in different combinations. CONCLUSION: The identified studies show that the use of emotional focus coping is the coping strategy most often done by families. Problem focus coping involved family efforts to find sources of information and seek treatment services as a mechanism for adaptive coping strategy. However, a mixed methods study is still needed that clearly illustrates the types of coping strategies used in various cultural perspectives and social status.

Acid pH Strategy Adaptation through NRG1 in Ustilago maydis

The role of the Ustilago maydis putative homolog of the transcriptional repressor ScNRG1, previously described in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, was analyzed by means of its mutation. In S. cerevisiae this gene regulates a set of stress-responsive genes, and in C. neoformans it is involved in pathogenesis. It was observed that the U. maydisNRG1 gene regulates several aspects of the cell response to acid pH, such as the production of mannosyl-erythritol lipids, inhibition of the expression of the siderophore cluster genes, filamentous growth, virulence and oxidative stress. A comparison of the gene expression pattern of the wild type strain versus the nrg1 mutant strain of the fungus, through RNA Seq analyses, showed that this transcriptional factor alters the expression of 368 genes when growing at acid pH (205 up-regulated, 163 down-regulated). The most relevant genes affected by NRG1 were those previously reported as the key ones for particular cellular stress responses, such as HOG1 for osmotic stress and RIM101 for alkaline pH. Four of the seven genes included WCO1 codifying PAS domain ( These has been shown as the key structural motif involved in protein-protein interactions of the circadian clock, and it is also a common motif found in signaling proteins, where it functions as a signaling sensor) domains sensors of blue light, two of the three previously reported to encode opsins, one vacuolar and non-pH-responsive, and another one whose role in the acid pH response was already known. It appears that all these light-reactive cell components are possibly involved in membrane potential equilibrium and as virulence sensors. Among previously described specific functions of this transcriptional regulator, it was found to be involved in glucose repression, metabolic adaptation to adverse conditions, cellular transport, cell rescue, defense and interaction with an acidic pH environment.

A Review of Self-Regulated Learning and Self-Efficacy: The Key to Tertiary Transition in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

The ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective study strategies based on feedback is of utmost importance for secondary school leavers transitioning to tertiary education (Brinkworth et al., 2009; Salisbury & Karasmanis, 2011). Often accompanying this learning environment transition is academic difficulty and an increased possibility of failure, and it is therefore essential for undergraduate students, in particular those studying the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), to establish a solid repertoire of learning strategies early in their academic career. Self-regulation is a key component of learning that can be fostered to encourage a successful transition from secondary school to university (Vosniadou, 2020). Self-regulated learning refers to learning that is fostered by one’s metacognition, strategy adaptability, and motivation. Of these constructs, metacognition is fundamental, as having self-awareness allows one to identify the requirement for corrective action in the learning process, allowing learners to monitor their behaviour and reflect on the success of their learning strategies, where the motivation to do this should lead to strategy adaptation. In addition, students must make accurate self-efficacious judgements about their learning in order to evaluate the effectiveness of their learning strategies or to decide when they have sufficiently completed a learning task. Therefore, in order to develop a means of improving students’ transition from secondary school to university, one must first appreciate the impacts of self-regulated learning and self-efficacy on academic performance. This review aims to focus on self-regulated learning and self-efficacy, of which self-regulated learning is a construct of metacognition, motivation and strategy adaptability. This review will also evaluate self-regulated learning with an emphasis on Zimmerman’s model, the calibration of self-efficacy, and how students might break the cycle of poor learning with a focus on STEM.

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT MARKET

The current state of the international transport market is considered in the article. It has been established that the transport industry has been significantly affected by quarantine restrictions through Covid-19. At present, in a harsh crisis environment caused by quarantine restrictions through Covid-19, all sectors of the world economy have been affected. As expected, passenger turnover decreased in January and May to half of last year and will resume in direct dependence on quarantine measures. The most serious losses are in the railways and aviation, while road transport and public transport in the cities feel somewhat better. Significant reductions are expected in terms of traffic. Thus, international transportation will be reduced by 30–40% due to quarantine restrictions and falling industrial production. Currently, the international transportation market is in crisis. The use of the main strategies of modern transport enterprises operating in the market of international transport was studied. Such strategies are: offensive strategy; adaptation strategy; defense strategy; survival strategy. It is established that these strategies do not fully satisfy the activity of transport enterprises in modern conditions. Analysis of the economic aspect of the external environment allows us to understand how economic resources are formed and distributed at the state level. For most companies, this is the most important condition for their business activity. The main problems of the modern transport industry in the current crisis are identified. It was also determined that the strategies that are popular in the activities of international transport companies, after quarantine restrictions do not perform their function and require careful rethinking. This makes it necessary to use the strategy of “Innovative development of the transport industry and global investment design”. It is proposed to use the strategy of innovative development of the transport industry and global investment design in post-flood conditions, which will create a favorable investment climate in the international transport market.

Delays Impair Learning and Can Drive Convergence to Inefficient Strategies

With so many possible choices, why do managers adopt the strategies they do? We identify delays between adopting a strategy and observing the full implications of that choice as a critical factor influencing strategic choices. Using a simulation of a service firm, we conduct two behavioral experiments to investigate how delays interact with outcome uncertainty to shape learning, strategy adaptation, and performance outcomes. Two mechanisms emerge from how different subject groups perceive, react to, and learn in the presence of delayed feedback and uncertainty. First, when multiple viable strategies exist, longer delays lead both general participants and experienced managers toward alternatives that have rapid returns. When those alternatives are suboptimal, delays may strengthen convergence to inefficient strategies. Second, delays and uncertainty may also induce learners to persist with their a priori strategies. Managers show larger confidence in their priors and thus underperform general participants when the underlying task structure diverges from those priors. Both mechanisms can undermine performance. Moreover, delays and uncertainty may reduce heterogeneity in strategies and performance in more dynamic, uncertain environments, leading to convergence as tasks grow more complex and where decision makers possess similar priors.

A pragmatic approach to the analysis of marketing adaptation to Russian national culture

There are a great number of transnational corporations operating all over the world. All of them are facing the issue of national culture, and cross-cultural difference is of vital importance. Choosing appropriate marketing strategy assures success or failure on the international market. The concept of culture is very dynamic and requires constant observation. The tasks marketing managers started to deal with became more complex, requiring cultural sensitivity and ability to overcome cross-cultural differences.The research, presented in this paper, attempts to analyze whether national culture affects marketing strategy of international companies. The framework of cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede was taken as a basis for the analysis of Russian national culture. The author resorts to the quantitative approach based on the conducted survey and analyzes data collected in the Russian Federation. At first cultural values were used to identify Russia. Cultural values were measured at the individual level and compared to the previous findings on Russian culture. Analysis of differences in cultural values on the individual level among Russian population has shown that there is some kind of difference between previous findings related to Russia and findings obtained during the research. The level of adaptation was evaluated from the consumers’ point of view. Questionnaire was designed based on the analyzed literature, and obtained data was statistically analyzed with SPSS. Linear regression and correlation analysis were used to prove the hypotheses of the research work. Though Russian national culture was depicted as unique with a great number of peculiarities, in the industries, analyzed in this paper, the connection between marketing strategy adaptation and uncertainty avoidance, and marketing strategy adaptation and dimension of collectivism for fast moving consumer goods was proved statistically.The second stage of the research included the analysis of the empirical evidence of the cultural adaptation of the advertisement of fast moving consumer goods for the Russian consumer. A number of samples were analyzed, and two cases are presented in the paper. The pragmatic approach was used for the analysis of the empirical data.The results of the study add to the theoretical knowledge about the relationship between cultural dimensions in Russia and marketing strategies employed by transnational companies. They also contribute to the knowledge about Russian consumers’ behavior patterns. The framework can be potentially applied to other spheres of professional business in Russia.

The internationalization of African fintech firms: marketing strategies for successful intra-Africa expansion

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how African fintech firms adapt their marketing strategies for successful market expansion into new African countries.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory study is qualitative in nature and utilizes semi-structured interviews at 14 African fintech firms.FindingsThe study reveals that, during intra-Africa expansion, firms adapt their marketing strategies by working with local people, prioritizing customer education, creating personal relationships with customers, adapting their communication strategies and pricing strategies and using social media. The strategies that have been most effective involve including the community in the marketing process, prioritizing relationships, segmenting customers geographically, educating customers about products, using local distribution partners and having a flexible approach to strategy adaptation.Practical implicationsIt has been argued that technological innovation in Africa in areas such as financial services is a critical driver of its future development, because of the opportunity it presents to promote financial inclusion. Through an increase in venture capital investment on the continent, technological innovations in financial services have grown exponentially, and this study contributes to the understanding of the marketing strategies employed to gain market traction.Originality/valueThis study proposes that African fintech firms adopt a bottom-up, value proposition-driven marketing strategy to successfully navigate the environment. The proposed framework provides a lens through which to understand the components of successful strategy adaptation in Africa, against the backdrop of the unique market challenges inherent in this emerging market continent.