Helena Hiršenberger

Rebranding has emerged as a complex organizational phenomenon, particularly in service contexts where value is created through interactive and process-based relationships. Despite extensive research in branding, the role of core service characteristics in shaping the rebranding process remains insufficiently examined. This study therefore investigates how intangibility, inseparability of production and consumption, heterogeneity, and perishability influence the rebranding process in service organizations, with particular attention to variations in the patterns and intensity of their influence across different service contexts. A mixed-methods research design was employed, combining semi-structured interviews with twelve purposively selected senior branding professionals and quantitative analysis of expert assessments using nonparametric statistical techniques appropriate for exploratory research. The findings indicate that core service characteristics are relevant to the rebranding process and contribute to its qualitative distinctiveness in comparison with the rebranding of physical goods. However, their influence is not uniform: intangibility and heterogeneity emerge as consistently strong and stable factors, whereas inseparability and perishability exhibit more variable and context-dependent patterns. Furthermore, the type of service industry is identified as an analytical condition systematically associated with these differentiated forms of influence. The study contributes by conceptualizing rebranding in service organizations as a context-sensitive and process-oriented phenomenon. It shows that core service characteristics do not influence rebranding uniformly but through differentiated patterns that vary across service-industry contexts. These findings extend the theoretical understanding of rebranding and support a more nuanced approach to strategic decision-making in service-based brand management.

The main focus of this research was the bio-stimulated healing of cracks in lime mortar samples (historical and newly designed). The investigation started from comprehensive characterisation of historical mortars, while in the next stage a compatible conservation mortar was designed and characterised, with special attention given to the contact zone formation between original and conservation mortars. The next step was the design of a bio-stimulating crack-sealing agent, a two-component liquid system: bacteria culture Sporosarcina pasteurii DSM 33 and nutrients. Both historical and conservation mortar samples were used in order to study their potentials for bio-stimulated surface-crack repair. The experiment lasted for 150 days, allowing the ureolytic bacteria Sporosarcina pasteurii DSM 33 to induce the precipitation of calcium carbonate into cracks and heal the damaged surface of the tested materials. The healing phenomenon was continuously monitored during a period of 150 days. Special attention was given to the evaluation of the morphology, chemical and structural characteristics of the deposits created in/on the surface cracks, monitored by optical microscopy, SEM, XRF and XRD analyses. The obtained results present valuable input for the application of the developed system in real environmental conditions as a solution for the future sustainable architectural conservation of traditionally prepared mortars.