MARIA DOLORES DE JUAN VIGARAY

n general, Spanish University steadily relies on a teaching style based on conceptualization, which is a fundamentally theoretical approach. For this reason, adapting our syllabus to the objectives posed by the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) constitutes a real challenge, since non-theoretical skills play a preponderant role in the new European University schemes. At Spanish Universities, after more than ten years of adaptation attempts, there are still some difficulties while trying to adapt the syllabus and the teaching. Difficulties are not only linked with the new learning structure (a 4-year degree with 240 ECTS) but also with the innovative philosophy that lies beneath the whole EHEA process. Less than a year before the establishment of the new degrees, our feeling is that still neither teachers nor students have a clear idea of their role in the new system. In order to facilitate this adaptation process, Spanish Universities are articulating courses and seminars that aim at palliating the impact of such changes.
These courses cover new teaching methodologies, new technologies and new ways of understanding the learning process. However, this training does not make differences among disciplines nor degrees. On the contrary, the implicit assumption between these programs is that “a single solution serves to all” and, therefore, that similarities clearly outnumber differences among learning profiles in different degrees and disciplines.
However, could we assume that students’ learning styles are homogeneous among disciplines? Even if they are not, should we assume that teaching methodologies such as portfolios or case-driven methodologies are bound to improve the learning process regardless of the students’ learning style?
Existing empirical research suggests that learning styles (1) differ among disciplines and even among degrees, and that (2) they do play a role in the kind of learning activities through which students learn better. In this paper we will try to corroborate these hypotheses with respect to the University of Alicante. For this purpose, our study has surveyed 326 students belonging to two different disciplines: Social Sciences and Engineering. The assessment of the learning style has been done with the LSI instrument, which has scored high at both internal and external validity. The results of this study corroborate the hypothesis that different degrees involve different learning profiles, and therefore it suggests the need for a customised strategy to organize their learning processes. We believe that universities need to take into account these divergences among disciplines when designing their training programs in order to increase both the effectiveness and confidence of both teachers and students in the smoothness of the transition to the new EHEA context.

The pairing of tourism and shopping, and particularly the area of tourist shopping motivations, has led to a prolific output in terms of literature. However, the related studies are fundamentally descriptive and do not discuss the background variables in detail. The aim of this study is to develop and test an explanatory structural model of the influence of socio-demographics and acculturation on International Residential Tourist (IRT) shopping motivations. The results obtained confirm the influence of certain socio-demographic variables on acculturation, of the latter on shopping acculturation and in turn on shopping motivations. Likewise, the decisive role that nationality plays when defining the sense and intensity of structural relationships can also be verified. The model tested is foreseen to be of special interest to IRT destinations, as it allows shopping motivations to be predicted, meaning that the commercial offer can be strategically adapted.

This research provides a case study of a niche market in Marina Alta and Marina Baja counties located on the coast of the province of Alicante, Spain. These counties attract foreign residents from Germany, United Kingdom, and Scandinavia who are the frequent consumers of organic products. Accordingly, retailers choose the store location based on demand for organic products and detects a niche market in Spain. In addition, the study reveals the consumption patterns of organic-oriented consumers. In-depth interview is conducted with store managers and a researcher-administered survey is applied to the customers to identify the market. The study reveals the relationship between the presence of foreign residents who are more familiar to organic products and organic retailers’ choice of store location. Results are given and discussed.

The pairing of tourism and shopping, and particularly the area of tourist shopping motivations, has led to a prolific output in terms of literature. However, the related studies are fundamentally descriptive and do not discuss the background variables in detail. The aim of this study is to develop and test an explanatory structural model of the influence of socio-demographics and acculturation on International Residential Tourist (IRT) shopping motivations. The results obtained confirm the influence of certain socio-demographic variables on acculturation, of the latter on shopping acculturation and in turn on shopping motivations. Likewise, the decisive role that nationality plays when defining the sense and intensity of structural relationships can also be verified. The model tested is foreseen to be of special interest to IRT destinations, as it allows shopping motivations to be predicted, meaning that the commercial offer can be strategically adapted.

En esta memoria se presentan los resultados obtenidos por los integrantes de la red EUCE. Esta red engloba a 10 asignaturas de los estudios en Ciencias Empresariales de caracteristicas diferenciadas (troncales, obligatorias, optativas) que representan en la practica al abanico completo que contienen estos estudios. El objetivo del proyecto ha sido el ajuste de la puesta en marcha de las guias docentes, que se elaboraron e implementaron en los dos cursos anteriores. Este ajuste nos ha obligado a replantearnos algunas actividades, a profundizar en otras y a comparar resultados. El estudio tiene una parte cualitativa en la que los distintos miembros del equipo ilustran su experiencia en el ajuste y se comparten experiencias. Este analisis comparativo de experiencias y opiniones lleva a un fructifero intercambio, que nos hace replantear nuestra propia experiencia. Una segunda parte del trabajo tiene caracter cuantitativo en el que observamos los resultados obtenidos por los estudiantes en sus evaluaciones y los comparamos con los obtenidos en anos previos. El trabajo se cierra con tres interesantes apartados dedicados, respectivamente, a obtener unas conclusiones globales, analizar algunas dificultades observadas y a plantear la continuidad futura del trabajo realizado, una vez consolidado el equipo.

Cuando termines este capítulo deberás ser capaz de:
1. Conocer qué es el merchandising y sus funciones.
2. Diferenciar entre merchandising de surtido, de presentación, de animación o seducción, de gestión y de relación.
3. Conocer las técnicas y aplicaciones de merchandising en el exterior y en el interior del punto de venta.
4. Diseñar correctamente las secciones de un establecimiento.

The goal of this study is to examine the factors which influence the consumers' attraction to shopping malls, and attempt to predict the consumers' behavior in choosing a shopping mall for their retail needs.The gravitational approaches and linear regression models, which are commonly used in this research area, cannot sufficiently explain the impact of factors on the choice of shopping centers; therefore, a review of these approaches and an empirical application of them is considered. The purpose is to construct a model of consumer attraction to malls, through distance and retail image, using a Conditional Logit Model.

... Localización: VIII Jornades de Xarxes d'Investigació en Docència Universitària [Recurso electrónico] : noves titulacions i canvi universitari = VIII Jornadas de Redes de Investigación enDocencia Universitaria : nuevas titulaciones y cambio universitario / coord. ...

The Web is intrinsically a global medium. Consequently, deciding how a Web site should express potentially culturespecific content to worldwide visitors is an important consideration in Web site design. In this article, the authors examine some of the site content characteristics that can lead Web site visitors to an optimal navigation experience, or flow, in a cross-cultural context. In particular, a cognitive framework focuses on the effect of culture on attitudes toward the site and flow. The authors suggest that the congruity of a Web site with a visitor’s culture is a site content characteristic that influences the likelihood of experiencing flow. The authors develop a conceptual model to account for the impact of culture and other site content characteristics on flow and describe preliminary evidence supporting their model.

The literature acknowledges the importance of the education in Economics and Business Administration for the competitiveness of all countries. However, what exactly is educational quality in this discipline has been insufficiently studied. The objective of this paper is to contribute in this area by putting forward a conceptual model to assess and monitor quality in higher education. Our study intends to provide information that is significant to the lecturers and higher education managers that compete in an international knowledge-based economy, and particularly in Europe, and more precisely in Spain, in the European Higher Education Area.

En un entorno laboral como el publicitario, donde la rutina es el trabajo en equipo, la adquisición y el fortalecimiento de habilidades sociales debe ser incluida en la curricula universitaria. Así, en el Libro Blanco de Títulos de Grado en Comunicación (Aneca, 2005), ...

... Habilidades Sociales” de los individuos es ya una práctica que están tomando en cuenta muchas empresas para seleccionar y/o conocer tanto a sus trabajadores como a los que van a contratar ... Para el tratamiento de los análisis estadísticos se utilizó el programa DYANE V3. ...