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Around the world, some of the largest firms in many countries are controlled by family business groups such as Fiat in Italy, Ford in the US, Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong, Samsung in South Korea and many others. Further, many family groups have a long history. Although family business groups are a significant and long standing phenomenon in most parts of the world, their resilience to globalization in their use of different organizational structures have received little attention from a cross-cultural perspective. Drawing on our previous work, the study provides a theoretical framework to classify family business groups on the basis of their organizational choices from a cross-cultural perspective.

The new online applications described as Web 2.0 or Social Media have a significant effect on consumer behaviour and contribute to an unprecedented customer empowerment. This issue has an important influence in many fields of activity, especially ones of the Web’s most successful areas, i.e. tourism. The purpose of this chapter is to recommend the Internet as a “point of synergy” in the “promo-distribution” process of tourism. The Internet is a tool that customizes digital content to support consumers’ decision making and maximizes customer consumption experience. Despite the lack of extensive research, the corporate world seems to embrace the Web 2.0 concept, which so far appears to be a promising tool for building customer loyalty and strong consumer-relationships that create value for e-retailers. The research tests the models proposed in a case study, which could be considered a core contribution, both in terms of practical implications for corporations, and in academic research.

The wide diffusion of new technologies in communication and business has changed how consumer and product/store knowledge has to be managed and represented digitally. This issue has an important influence in many fields of activity, especially that of tourism, one of the most successful areas on the Web. The research conceptualizes strategies and operational marketing policies from an original standpoint, for the purpose of reconstructing and comprehending the dynamics of "integrated" marketing when examining potential interaction between communication and distribution in tourism. Starting from a brief analysis of the literature, the purpose of our research is to devise an exploratory model of integration involving the main marketing mix levers and to recommend the Internet as a "point of synergy" in the "promo-distribution" process of tourism. The research tests the model proposed, i.e. a specific case study of the Bravofly group, which can be considered a core contribution in terms of practical implications for corporations.