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464 product positioning
of Tourism Research 21�3): 582±95. �Explains the
elements of the tourism product.)
product positioning
ALASTAIR M. MORRISON, USA
Product positioning and market segmentation
are strategic issues of the marketing planning
process. Deciding on the target position of a
product brand, the marketing manager determines
the key attributes of the product brand or service
and the main contents of advertising messages.
Positioning always refers to one or more particular
groups of customers �market segments), thus
making the two domains of marketing strategy
dependent on each other. Targeting an offer to
meet the customers' needs requires prior information
on how the consumers react to the attributes of
the brands in a product class. In tourism and
hospitality, the concept of positioning has been
adopted for all major application areas including
destinations and individual businesses like hotels,
travel agencies, tour operators or theme
parks. In addition to the typical perceptual
mapping exercises, the tourism sectors have
acquired experience in analysing consumer preferences
with conjoint measurement techniques.
Positioning analysis centres on the consumers'
evaluative processes involving perceptions and
preferences. Consumer behaviour theory provides
the hypotheses linking the perceptual and
preferential position of a product brand �or a
business as a whole) to the expected brand choice
reactions. Various techniques of multivariate analysis
assist in locating these positions by processing
empirical data. Perceptual mapping techniques are
common in the diagnostic phase of a positioning
study. They are particularly useful in deriving a
spatial representation of the brand evaluations and
in communicating these visualised results to
managers. Positioning models may go one step
further in adopting an additional normative
component which aims at optimising the mix of
product features. As positioning analysis operates
with the perceptions and preference judgements of
consumers, the perceptual findings must be
translated into the language of product and service
engineers to prompt innovations and improvements
in product/service design.
See also: master plan
Further reading
Carmichael, B. �1992) `Using conjoint modelling to
measure tourist image and analyse ski resort
choice', in P. Johnson and B. Thomas �eds),
Choice and Demand in Tourism, London: Mansell,
93±106.
Fenton, M. and Pearce, P. �1988) `Multidimensional
scaling and tourism research', Annals of Tourism
Research 15: 236±54.
Fodness, D.D., and Milner, L.M. �1992) `A
perceptual mapping approach to theme park
visitor segmentation', Tourism Management 13: 95±
101.
Urban, G.L. and Hauser, J.R. �1993) Design and
Marketing of New Products, 2nd edn, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
productivity
JOSEF A. MAZANEC, AUSTRIA
In its simplest form, productivity is an economic
concept, defined as the ratio of output to input,
shown by the mathematical formula:
Productivity of
an operation
ˆ Value of what is produced
Value of production cost
Overall productivity can be regarded as the sum of
partial productivities. In other words, both the
upper term �numerator) and lower term �denominator)
in the above relationship can be broken
down as follows.
Productivity of
an operation ˆ
Value of components
A+ B+ C etc
Value of costs �labour,
materials, energy, etc)
This relationship can be further reduced by
considering only one part of the numerator �to give
the productivity in respect of one component) or
only one part of the denominator �to give the