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The well-being of national communities increasingly depends on the interactions between medium-sized Local Territorial Systems (LTS) – cities, districts, regions – which form their economic, social, and environmental fabric. Territorial marketing is an approach aimed at encouraging the users of these LTS – residents, tourists, local or external businesses – to collaborate in their sustainable development.

The course aims to provide students with theoretical and practical tools to implement a territorial marketing plan aimed at the sustainable development (social, economic, and spatial) of a Local Territorial System (LTS), taking into account the peculiarities and multi-selling nature of the "territory" product. 

Expected Learning Outcomes according to the Dublin Descriptors

Knowledge and understanding: Students will acquire foundational disciplinary knowledge and the main theoretical and operational tools of territorial marketing. The knowledge and skills gained will be useful for the training of managers and professionals capable of analyzing the context in which local territorial systems operate, as well as designing, implementing, and evaluating marketing strategies oriented toward sustainable development. 

Applying knowledge and understanding: In terms of applying knowledge, students will be able to conduct exploratory and descriptive analyses of LTSs, both qualitative and quantitative, and develop marketing plans focused on the sustainable development of the territories in question. 

Making judgements: Students will develop the ability to evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of various analytical and decision-making tools.

Communication skills: Students will master the stages of developing a marketing plan and the typical tools of territorial marketing. They will also learn to communicate models and strategies developed within the context of these plans.  Learning skills: Students will be able to acquire the basic theoretical and practical elements of the discipline and deepen specific topics independently. 

Cross-cutting skills: By the end of the course, students will be able to:  a) apply what they have learned to real-life situations; b) independently assess the effectiveness of a local development strategy; c) work in teams, coordinating with others and integrating their skills to jointly solve concrete problems; d) develop ideas, design their implementation, and organize their realization. 

The course offers an original and integrated method for developing successful strategies based on a comprehensive understanding of Local Tourism Systems (STLs). In addition to studying the theoretical model, a real territorial marketing plan will be implemented by applying the strategic model to the case of Salento's STLs. 

The learning process is multidisciplinary, problem-oriented, and interactive, aiming to foster knowledge through diverse experiences and educational activities (such as seminars, hands-on laboratory exercises, and group projects). Each phase of the planning process is presented using real data and by teaching commands for various statistical software programs. This approach aims to define: the boundaries of the STLs, their specialization, the dominant network, strategic business areas, the comparison between identity and perception of the offer, resulting adaptation strategies, and, finally, the achieved level of development.

Assessment method: The assessment of knowledge and understanding is conducted through a written exam. 

"Students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (SLD) who wish to request individualized support for the exam must contact the Disability Integration Office of the University of Salento at paola.martino@unisalento.it."

https://www.dse.unisalento.it/guida-alla-didattica/calendario-esami

The professor can be reached at the following email address: luigi.piper@unisalento.it.

Office hours are scheduled every Wednesday from 9:00 to 11:00 by appointment.

After defining the unit of analysis (the STL) from a static perspective (region, local production system, area-system) and a dynamic perspective (innovative milieu, networks), the course introduces an interpretative model of the evolutionary dynamics of territorial economy based on a strategic territorial marketing approach oriented towards sustainable development. The new model is structured in four phases:

1) Definition of the basic elements of the strategy: a) Identification of the strategic scope (industrial-exporting or tourism-residential vocation); b) Identification of the main strategic actor (depending on the dominant rationale: public or private actor); c) Identification of internal strategic resources (infrastructure, localization factors, agglomeration economies, and sectoral economies) or external ones (exports and network economies); d) Identification of the strategic object: relative cost advantages (external economies and incentives), differentiation advantages (stemming from the distinctiveness of the image), or specialization advantages (industrial or tourism-based).

2) Relational and strategic analysis of the local territorial system: a) Relational analysis: technical tools, local indices, and global indices; b) Strategic analysis of the clientele, in two stages: recognition of market segments and determination of power positions; c) Strategic analysis of competitive capacity, in stages: definition of competitive factors of the supply and evaluation of competitive factors of the production system; d) Strategic analysis of technology, in two stages: analysis of the composition of the technological assets and its development; e) Strategic analysis of the development potential of the system: SWOT Analysis; f) Identification of Product-Market Units of an STL.

3) Competitive analysis and formulation of local development strategies: a) Comparison between identity and image of a system: meaning of identity vs. image, type of STL offering, level of user involvement, strategic positioning matrix; b) Productive development strategies: identification of strategic needs, determination of strategic leverage, identification of productive development strategies; c) Induction marketing strategies: identification of satisfaction determinants, determination of the stages of STL user experience, identification of induction marketing strategies.

4) Strategic control: a) Implementation of local development strategies: determination of management policies, criteria guiding the implementation of local development strategies; b) Evaluation of the level of sustainable development: monitoring the dimensions of sustainable development and adopting fuzzy logic to measure the level of sustainable development.

Teaching materials provided by the instructor will be made available.