Rethinking place branding governance: the implications of a stakeholder-orientated approach when managing the presentation of complex places

城市、地区和国家的品牌塑造方式正在发生变化。与其用脚本化的标识、口号和标语来传达形象，不如将品牌塑造以在其范围内生活、工作和投资的人们的看法和活动为中心。在这些变化的基础上，我的博士研究展示了不同的群体如何看待和优先考虑他们的城市，并研究了这些群体参与品牌活动的程度。尽管呼吁扩大包容性，但调查结果表明，大型企业占据主导地位，它们能够获得影响品牌活动方向所需的知识、资源和关系。该奖学金旨在通过四个互补的工作流程来加强这些发现及其影响：WS1：建立行业合作该奖学金的第一个主要目标是通过与威尔士发展银行和小企业联合会的行业合作来增强我的研究的实际和政策影响。我们将共同设计一份报告和为期一天的活动，探讨小企业在为不同利益相关者群体创造共同愿景时发挥领导作用的潜力。将特别审查这些办法的社会经济影响。共同设计的研究符合工业战略的地点和商业环境基础，支持企业发展和展示他们的竞争优势，同时合作促进繁荣的地方。WS2：加强研究的传播和发展第二个总体目标是发展使我成为一名专业研究人员所需的技能和产出。这些目标的核心是传播我的博士论文。这将涉及在地方品牌、市场营销和旅游领域备受尊敬的学术期刊上发表三篇文章。为了扩大影响范围，我的目标是以更容易理解和更吸引人的形式发表我的发现，包括为地方管理研究所和城市- redi（区域和经济发展中心研究所）撰写博客、政策简报和一篇对话文章。进一步的目标受众是学生，我的研究被翻译成讲座材料，并教授给英国和爱尔兰大学的本科生和硕士生。WS3：补充数据收集和分析第三，我将通过关注小企业合作开发和协调品牌战略的潜力来补充和加强我的博士研究成果。这将涉及与我的行业合作者共同设计一个研究策略，基于对加的夫地区小企业的采访，观察行业活动中业务利益相关者之间的参与，并通过访问行业合作伙伴持有的现有数据。这些发现将支持我的目标，即为未来的职业发展建立一个多学科基础，并扩大社会经济影响的范围。基于这一初步研究，我将与我的奖学金导师Max Munday教授一起计划进一步的多学科出版和后续资助。WS4：网络和合作最终的总体目标是利用奖学金提供的资源来发展学术、行业和政策网络和合作。这门课程的关键是邀请我到曼彻斯特的场所管理学院（Institute of Place Management）进行机构访问。政策和实践者研究中心专注于地方管理研究，拥有丰富的资源、人脉和培训机会。此次访问还将加强现有联系，为今后的合作奠定基础。建立网络和合作的其他途径是参加学术会议并提供反馈，内容涉及地方品牌、市场营销和区域经济发展。

The way cities, regions and nations are branded is changing. Instead of communicating images with scripted logos, slogans and taglines, there are calls for branding to centre on the perceptions and activities of the people who live, work, and invest within its boundaries. Building on these changes, my PhD research showed how different groups perceived and prioritised their city and examined the extent these groups can participate in branding activities. Despite the calls for greater inclusion, the findings pointed to the dominance of large businesses who have access to the knowledge, resources and connections needed to influence the direction of branding activities. The fellowship aims to strengthen these findings and their impact through four complementary work streams:WS1: Establishing industry collaborationsThe first major aim of the fellowship is to enhance the practical and policy impact of my research through industry collaborations with the Development Bank of Wales and Federation of Small Businesses. Together, we will co-design a report and one-day event looking at the potential for small businesses to provide leadership for different groups of stakeholders when creating a shared vision of places. In particular, the socio-economic impacts of these approaches will be examined. The co-designed research aligns to the place and business environment foundations of the Industrial Strategy, supporting businesses to develop and present their competitive strengths while working collaboratively to promote prosperous places.WS2: Strengthening research dissemination and developmentA second overarching aim centres on developing skills and outputs required to establish myself as a professional researcher. Central to these aims is the dissemination of publications from my PhD. This will involve three publications in well regarded academic journal articles in the fields of place branding, marketing and tourism. Extending the reach, I aim to publish my findings in more accessible and engaging formats, including blogs for the Institute of Place Management and City-REDI (Centre for Regional and Economic Development Institute), policy briefings and a Conversation article. A further audience to be targeted is students, with my research being translated into lecture material and taught to undergraduate and masters level students at universities in the UK and Ireland.WS3: Supplementary data collection and analysisThirdly, I will supplement and strengthen my PhD findings by focusing on the potential for small businesses to work together to develop and coordinate branding strategies. This will involve co- designing a research strategy with my industry collaborators based around interviews with small businesses in the Cardiff area, observing engagement between business stakeholders at industry events and through access to existing data held by the industry partners. These findings will support my aim of developing a multidisciplinary base for future career development and extending the scope of the socio- economic impacts. Based on this pilot study I will plan a further multidisciplinary publication and subsequent funding with my fellowship mentor, Prof Max Munday.WS4: Networks and collaborationsThe final overarching aim utilises the resources available through the fellowship to develop academic, industry and policy networks and collaborations. Pivotal to this WS is the invitation to undertake an institutional visit at the Institute of Place Management in Manchester. The policy and practitioner focused research centre specialise in place management research and has access to a wealth of resources, connections and training opportunities. The visit will also strengthen existing connections and provide a base for collaborative working in the future. Other routes to networks and collaborations are through attendance and feedback at academic conferences, covering place branding, marketing and regional economic development.