Cooperative marketing for the New Zealand tourism industry

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with an assessment of the viability of cooperative marketing arrangements, in particular, horizontal cooperative advertising. An examination of the linkages between the components of the tourism product is conducted with a view to exploiting those linkages by implementing horizontal cooperative advertising. The realisation that the tourism product is a composite of complementary services suggests it might be an ideal arena for this type of arrangement.

A review of the concept of tourism, the philosophy of the marketing-oriented organisation and the application of the concept of marketing to tourism begins the research. The practices of advertising and promotion are introduced and reviewed. Cooperative business strategies are also discussed in detail. The general nature of this discussion is modified and applied to advertising as a type of cooperative business operation. A model of horizontal cooperative advertising is developed once the more prevalent practice of vertical cooperative advertising is discussed and analysed.

This thesis considers an example of horizontal cooperative advertising based on the attractions sector of the tourism industry. Its development, structure and operation provide the basis of the analysis of the viability of this mode of inter-firm cooperative arrangement. This thesis concludes with a discussion and summary of the research analysis therein.