Purpose – Purpose of this study is to understand how diaspora tourists as a specific tourist segment symbolically extend their holiday in the country of origin upon returning to the country of current living. Methodology – Aim of the research was to disclose underlying meanings of this specific consumption pattern. Data was collected through 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews with diaspora members from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Analysis was inductive, starting with microanalysis, proceeding then with axial coding around the revealed concept. Throughout analysis the comparative method was applied, alongside researcher's diary and memos as analytic tools. Findings – The concept of ‘bridging’ explains how diaspora tourists cross over from one reality to another on a symbolical level, i.e. when travelling back from the country of origin. It also is a symbolical bridging between complex of identities: the past identities and the present identity, which they have constructed in countries of current living. They seem to use two major strategies: storytelling and product stocking. Contribution – This paper reveals a new concept among diaspora tourists, i.e. their approach to extend their visit to the country of their origin on a symbolical level by using symbolically laden products. The research is further contributing by disclosing that diaspora tourists apply two different strategies in order to symbolically extend their home country holiday: the story telling strategy and the stocking strategy. Finally, it also suggests that the stocking strategy has two phases; the first phase being 'symbolic representation filling phase' and the second phase labelled as 'mainstream trend purchase phase'.

The aim of this chapter is to enable marketing managers to gain basic knowledge of the capabilities of the latest data management technology, big data, which has the potential of digitally storing huge amounts of data, processing and utilizing the results of processing different types of data, as well as data of different formats in real-time. Due to the enormous potential of implementing the big data, there are also tremendous expectations in terms of the direct financial benefits of its implementation. Realizing all these expectations is a very complex task, which is set to marketing and other managers. The knowledge and skills of managers acquired by education will greatly help to understand the benefits of faster adoption and implementation of new data management paradigms. This chapter emphasizes the differences between the big data concept and conventional data processing technologies, as well as the benefits and potentials that this concept offers, especially when it comes to the process of making quick marketing decisions or making decisions in a reasonably short time.

In the last ten years, three new information technologies have emerged, representing the realization of old (by the time of emergence) theoretical concepts, but new in creativity and innovation, as well as incredible potential for the realization of revolutionary ideas and changes in all areas of human activity, which by one name they call 4th Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0. They are: Big Data Analytics technology, Cloud Computing and Blockchain technology. Each of them individually represents the realization of new paradigms of computer data processing, which could not be practically implemented until the development of information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, Web applications, new operating systems, network technologies, mobile telephony, technologies of advancement of hardware performances, internet of things, etc. The primary aim of this paper is to get acquainted with the characteristics of these technologies and their potentials, their advantages and disadvantages in relation to traditional technologies, identification of areas and ways of their both current and future applications. The ultimate goal is to explain the incredible potential of these technologies, creating the foundation for their combined application in the creation of new Industry 4.0 products, which should result in a synergistic effect.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to create the taxonomy of firms based on the nature of the relationship between market-based resources and marketing capabilities. Anchored in the configuration theory, the present study aims to explore simultaneous roles of market-based resources, i.e. customer orientation and competitor orientation, and marketing capabilities, i.e. the execution of marketing practices and activities within a firm, on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from chief executive officers or top managers of 220 firms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a transitional economy in South Eastern Europe. Findings Drawing on a configuration approach via the latent class analysis, the authors empirically derive four distinct strategic marketing patterns, namely, marketing super achievers, marketing-focused virtuosi, marketing drifters and marketing mass pushers. The findings also highlight how business performance outcomes differ as a function of a class membership. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional research design and focus on a single country are main limitations of the present study. Thus, longitudinal studies in the context of developed and fast-reforming transition economies are advisable for future work. Practical implications This study enhances the knowledge on how a firm can configure or bundle its market-based resources and marketing capabilities to produce desired outcomes. Findings suggest that joint attention to building market-oriented culture and developing marketing capabilities seems to pay off. However, the authors found that a lack of market knowledge can be substituted by the firms’ ability to build effective promotional and branding capabilities. Thus, the present study adds to the emerging dialog on the relative importance of alternative strategic orientations in achieving superior business performance. Originality/value This study contributes to the strategic marketing literature by examining the synergistic effect of market-based resources and marketing capabilities on firm performance using a configurational approach. It also provides support for the equifinality proposition, suggesting that different “bundles” of market-based resources and marketing capabilities can lead to similar level of performance outcomes.

Abstarct Based on data published in international journals, it appears that the five carbon sugar alcohol Xylitol has high potential to provide such an alternative preventive therapy since it is equally effective regardless of bacterial antibiotic sensitivity pattern. Xylitol derivative (Xylitol phosphate) produced by the phosphorylation of Xylitol in mitis group Streptococci even in pre-competent phase blocks their two component signal transduction pathway of growth. These diplococcic Gram-positive bacteria in the pre-competent phase, inside mother’s womb and or newly born but in chain with their mothers are also affected by Xylitol phosphate. Thinning of cell wall affects the cleavage that forms at the mid-cell position during development of the competent status. This is also the junction of septal and equatorial biosynthesis of PG (cell wall biosynthesis). Therefore, the progeny still in pre-competent phase needs to be fully understood because Xylitol phosphate formed in this phase affects bacterial maturation starting from the pre-competent phase. The bacterium S. pneumoniae responsible for the increasingly high mortality rate of children from the diseases like, bacterial pneumonia, meningitis, otitis media because it has become increasingly resistant to antibiotics like penicillin and their derivatives. Even newly developed polyvalent vaccines are not very effective against this pathogen apparently for their serological variation (?) and therefore an alternative, low cost preventive therapy is immediately necessary.