Abstract: In the process of urbanization and globalization, value oriented city marketing strategy plays a critical role in the city development. This research defines and classifies the concept of city value from the viewpoint of subject utility, involving three high homogeneity factors and six low homogeneity factors. In ideal conditions, city value increment is spontaneous. However in reality, an increment process requires active interventions of different marketing subjects and the adjustments of the dynamic model. Specifically speaking, the adjustments are described in this article as the customer requirements’ identification, city marketing strategy making, value linkage together with integration, and the aim improvement. The case analysis of Paris verifies the dynamic model of value increment during city marketing.
Key words: City value, City marketing , Value increment
I. INTRODUCTION
Development in China is in the process of urbanization and globalization. The urbanization has brought large numbers of people into the city, with economic and social activities further aggregating to the city, while the limitation of the regional cooperation is broken by globalization which accelerate the integration of worldwide economic factors.
Globalization of industrial layout and the new construction of international division of labor show the importance of competition which is the dominant mechanism of the global economic development. The importance of regional and city development is increasingly obvious in this process. Global capital movement and commodity exchange have been promoted during globalization. In the circumstance, city marketing has become an important strategy to obtain the better position and more profits in the new international division of labor and industry layout [1].
In order to maximize the benefit of city and achieve the sustainable development, we must stick to the value-oriented city marketing strategy and focus on the comprehensiveness and persistence. However many researches on city marketing lack the consideration about the complexity and sustainability of city marketing. How to achieve comprehensive and sustainable value enhancement is becoming the most important issue to solve.
This paper will analyze the composition of city marketing and the value increment mechanism, and come up with the dynamic model of city value increment which can promote the development of the city marketing theory.
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This research is supported by the Liaoning Philosophy and Social Science Foundation (L09BJY015).
II. FROMATION AND CONNOTATION OF CITY VALUE
A . F ormation of systematic city value
From the evolution of the theory of the urban developing, the understanding of the city development experience the process of ignorant-idealized- planning and rationalism-consideration of the public interests-globalization, finally becoming regional concept [2].The city is a huge and complex system taking the human as the fundamental body and consisting many elements (such as material, culture, information etc.) and composition (such government, individual, enterprise etc.). The goal of the urban developing is diversification. The city is regarded as a concept of aggregation, therefore the sustain development of city, the happy life of citizens, the prosperous of culture , the increment of social welfare etc should all be set as one objective of city development. Should all become the goals of the city development [3]. The criteria of international assessment about the city is becoming various, the city index system proposed by U.N. include economy and society development, environment, political activity, housing and traffic etc. [4]. The process of urban developing is due to comprehensive effect of many elements. The city is the platform of many elements aggregating which become the dynamic of the city urban formation and development [5]. While the open environment of city developing make it become a new form for world city [6]. New systematic urban view need take the relationship of the various parts of the city dominant elements as a whole and achieve the superiority accumulating and sustained development of urban competitiveness, which means sustained value increment of city value.
B . D efinition of c ity value
The introduction of the city values is the reflection of the essential problem “what city is, how it works" which emerged in the process of city development. City development strategy should depend on the customer needs, which means the customer request should be regarded as the starting point of a city development and the basic motive of the city marketing strategy. Consideration about city value, there are still diverse views among the academia domestic and abroad. Ni PengFei [7] defined the city values from the concept of the city benefits. Xu Feng [8] put forward the view of Value Realization of the City Production Theory, which pointed that there were three perspectives of the city production values-Exchange Value, Production Value and Consumption Value. Liu Yanping thought that city values inherent in the relationship between city products and city customers, in the city development and competition, and in the relationship between the public values and personal values. Moreover, he believed that the essential of the city marketing is the process of delivering the customer value to obtain the customer’s satisfaction and loyalty.
Even though there are dispute about the definition of city value in academia, but still, the essential elements of city value can be figured out through different voice. First is the utility subject of city value; Second is utility constitute and implementation of city value. Third is the measurement of city value. Fourth is the uniqueness of the city value compared with other product value.
C . R elationship between city values and city marketing
As the direct embodiment of customer utility, city value fully reflects five valuable activities of city: the overall strength of a city in a specific period, the power of market in resource allocation, the ability and efficiency of the fully use of resources, the ability to gain advantages in the future and potential competition, and the influence to the outside world-including attraction and affinity [9]. City value determines the ability of the further development of a city, so city value reflects a city’s comprehensive competitiveness. Consequently, the essential purpose of city marketing is increasing the city value.
III COMPOSITION AND MECHANISMS OF VALUE INCREMENT OF WHOLE CITY VALUE
A . Elements of whole city value
The key to realize the city value is to make the recognition and management of all the possible opportunity and its nodes, to explore development in the value net of regional and global levels, which further introduced the concept of City Value Chain (CVC). Porter [10] raised the Value Chain (VC) model in the industry at the earliest, which consists of a series of closely linked economic activities including basic activities and support activities. In the VC model, the enterprise plays the main role. Analogized in the Porter's value chain model, domestic scholars put forward the city value chain model [11]. Other scholars form the view of local government role defined the city value chain as the enrichment activity of the strategy formulation, function analysis evaluation, development plan of the government in the process of city value enrichment [12]. Liu YanPing modified the value chain model. He pointed the model should face the direction of creation of the city marginal values. The model expanded the value stream, added the urban infrastructure, the company cooperation management and defined it as value support activities. Furthermore, According to the characteristics of space, the value creating activities were separated as internal endogenous activity, exogenous endogenous activity, endogenous exogenous activity and external exogenous activity [1].
It can be seen from the discussion of the above, the close connections between the various elements need to consider the overall value, the city value creation process requires the synergy of the various elements, and the government need play a significant role in this process [13].
B . M echanisms of Value-added of whole city value
In the process of city value appreciation presents two kinds of opposite mechanism. From the demands perspective, city value embodies in the optimization of urban customers delivery. From the supply perspective, city value embodies in the maximization of the public value. Therefore, the value of the whole city involves the public sphere, the private sector and public - private sector. The value increment by multiple factors can be regarded as the results of four elements: the internal incentives, the external environment, the competitive pressures, and the demands of the customers. The dynamic system of city marketing is as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Dynamic system of city marketing [14]
Due to the difference on overall effect between the different subjects are imposed by the city value. The city value has diversity on the different components. So the whole city value is relative to the size of the main subjects. City value with its subject is a two-way choice relationship. The changing of demands of the subject will lead the changing of orientation and range of the city value increment. At the same time the diversity of the city value will lead the different preference choice. On the other hand, the present of city value will affect the diversity of element attraction. So, the city value enhancement is a continuing process of self-reinforcing and adjustment intervention. Overall, the growing power of the city value increment is an upward spiral. In order to reveal the mechanism, the following part will firstly analyze the spontaneous process of city value increment in ideal state, and then analyze the intervention-adjusted value increment process.
In an ideal situation, city value will develop along an expected direction and autonomous complete value-added process in a long period. This process includes three basic steps: the first step is determining the orientation of city in areas like industrial development, facilities and image construction according to restricted conditions like environment and historical conditions, then forming a long-term strategy and plan. The city and the subjects form relatively stable city composition. The second step is building a frame of city value based on strategy and plan, developing and building all kinds of elements reasonably based on value orientation. The third step is following basic development order and making sure the development conform to the normal market mechanism, the order of natural and the social order, getting the scale growth of city value through subjects’ normal value creation activities.
However, as previously mentioned, the city value is affected by the combination of internal incentives and external environment, competitive pressures, demand traction. This may lead to demand generation of new value, or generate a short board element which led to the development of lacking of incoordination and in-adaptation. The city marketing subject need to take the initiatively intervene to adjust in order to ensure the continuity of the city value increment; to make it back to the spontaneous increment process. This adjustment process usually consists of four basic components.
Firstly, identify the customer needs, determine the target value
It must understand urban and rural customers’ principal demands or significant restraints for public service and make clear the direction of city development. Simultaneously, to realize contributing factors, this can improve present supplements. Following the gradient direction of merit function, it should finalize one or a couple of value factors as the targeted value.
Secondly, formulation and implementation of the target value-oriented city development strategy
It takes the improving goal value as the major objective, combined with the long term strategy, making the short term city developing strategy. It needs to adjust the previous implementation of the project, resource allocation, and institutional settings. After formulate city development strategy, the government play a leading role in the process, using the policy supplying, legal drafting to develop system security platform. And use funding, resources tilting and financing to establish material security platform implementation of the strategy. According to the characteristics of the target value, to nurture, guidance, encourage the enterprises and non-profit organizations to participate in strategy implementation and to make the evaluation and feedback of the subjects’ value in this process.
Thirdly, use other advantages and integration of value.
When the target value is under inferior position in the city competition, the city simply improvements target value from the internal is more difficult. At the same time the cities can formed attraction based on the external resources, gather the advantage of the target to achieve the value of integration.
Fourthly, increase the target value, and re-adjust the overall value.
After target value enhancing, it need to use the advantages and overcome the inherent disadvantages of the target value. It should overcome the short board effect in city development strategies. After the overall value adjustment, all value elements have achieved a relatively stable coordination state and back to the city value of the spontaneous process.
Fig. 2. Dynamic mechanism of city value increment
Actually, the appreciation of city value mostly is under an adjusted condition, which will be affected by self-reinforcement and adjusted intervene. One significant difference between city marketing and city planning is dynamic in the marketing process. Depending on the clinical situation, the adjustment of marketing strategies needs to be taken in time. City marketer needs to make active responds to the changing situation, thereby committing to continuing added value of city value. The paragraph below uses Paris as a case study to demonstrate the ongoing adjustment process of the value increment in city marketing.
IV. CASE STUDY: TAKING PARIS AS AN EXAMPLE
Paris is an area of 12,072 square kilometers, accounting for 2 percent of the French territory, is the largest area of France's 22 regions and the level of economic development in a Europe fifth. Paris’ population is 11 million (of which the urban population 9.5 million), accounting for 18.9 percent of the population of France. The region's population density is 902 persons per square kilometer. It has the 22% labor of France (4924.56 million), 27% of the gross national product, 38% of the enterprises, 50% of scientific research efforts, 495 state colleges, and 171 vocational training centers [15].
A. Identify customer needs, find target value
Paris industrialized development occurred in the 1960s, accompanied by a sharp influx of foreign population and the surge in urban population, population density and poor condition of human settlements become the characteristics of that time. On the one hand, the deterioration of living condition in the city center; on the other hand, the boom of purchasing power caused by the economic development and growth in demand, this principal contradiction led to the structural contradictions of urban space, mainly reflected in two issues. First, urban residents moving out to the suburbs which expand the city scale, the second, it is the decline of the inner city and cut of construction funding, the reduction of urban commercial reduce the convenience of central area’s commercial and service level, further block the tourism industry, which cannot meet the needs of customers outside the city. As a result, the demand of living environment by the urban city residents and the demand of the central area of business facilitation by the outside residents became the major customer needs.