Cultural Political Economy: Logics of Discovery,Epistemic Fallacies,the Complexity of Emergence,and the Potential of the Cultural Turn

As a result of a long-running internal debate there have been notable incremental changes to how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) treats capital controls, particularly those directed at inflows. These changes combine new acceptance of these policy instruments with an older emphasis on their negative consequences and on the desirability of free movement of capital. Policy change of this sort is puzzling from the standpoint of the existing literature on international organisations (IOs), which has thus far paid little attention to transformative incremental change associated with long-term contestation. This article departs from this tendency by drawing on insights from principal–agent theory, constructivism and historical institutionalism to identify the conditions under which such change may originate. I argue that actors within IOs are likely to pursue incremental change by layering new policies on to old ones as a way to build coalitions and to respond to external organisational insecurity imperatives and diverse member state preferences and to internal path-dependent organisational cultural features. Over time the incremental shifts brought by layering can induce transformative rather than reproductive change because they fit with consequentialist and appropriateness behavioural logics. I illustrate this argument by investigating recent changes in IMF policy on capital controls.     

The Influence of Decentralized Bargaining Systems on the Introduction of Continuous Improvement Practices in Australian Automotive Components Companies

The study examines the nature and impact of Japanese idea of continuous improvement (CI) at 14 automobile components companies in Australia. It assesses the extent to which CI practices inform management systems and work organization. The study is focused on the degree to which decentralized bargaining systems, and reforms in the Australian vocational education system have facilitated the adoption of continuous production. The results indicate two patterns of production management in the companies, termed the elaborated commitment, and the basic commitment, respectively. The authors conclude that collective agreements were seen as an important vehicle for the advancement of management strategies on CI, although management preferences in relation to work demarcations and training were not significantly advanced within the agreements. They observe that there is no single Australian production model, and that company effects, as described by MacDuffie (1995) seem to predominate.     

Integration of Financial Services

Abstract

Integration financial services is a term with many meanings. Definitions might include:

• ownership of different segments of financial services,

• the distribution of products of one segment by another, and

• a consumer-centric strategy driven to satisfy the needs of the customer regardless of organizational structures.

For the purposes of my paper, I will define it as the erasing of boundaries leading to consumers receiving value propositions that are not restricted by traditional industry segment barriers.     

Softening the Blow: Company Self-Disclosure of Negative Information Lessens Damaging Effects on Consumer Judgment and Decision Making

Is self-disclosure of negative information a viable strategy for a company to lessen the damage done to consumer responses? Three experiments assessed whether self-disclosing negative information in itself lessened the damaging impact of this information compared to third-party disclosure of the same information. Results indicated that mere self-disclosure of a negative event positively affected consumers’ choice behavior, perceived company trustworthiness, and company evaluations compared to third-party disclosure. The effectiveness of the self-disclosure strategy was moderated by the initial reputation of a company, such that its impact was only observed for companies that had a poor reputation at the outset. For them, self-disclosure considerably lessened the impact of negative information compared to third-party disclosure. For companies that enjoyed a positive reputation, type of disclosure did not affect consumer responses. Mediation analysis showed that perceptions of company trustworthiness underlie the effects of the self-disclosure strategy on consumer judgment.     

A comparative study of hospitality and tourism graduates in Australia and Hong Kong

This paper evaluates the career experiences and perceptions of graduates from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia towards the programmes that they undertook. The two cohorts of graduates exhibited broadly similar career histories and expressed similar attitudes towards the quality, strengths and weaknesses of their respective programmes. In both cases, female students dominate the graduate cohort and about half of the respondents were found to have left the tourism or hospitality field within 3–5 years after graduation. Graduates believe that their general business and general education subjects play a stronger role in acquiring their first and current jobs than specialist tourism, hotel management and food service subjects. The findings highlight the challenge facing the university sector in attempting to balance the desire to provide a broadly grounded liberal education with the student desire for practical training. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing a cultural tourism typology

This paper tests further a cultural tourism typology based on the interface between centrality of cultural tourism as a trip motive and the depth of experience. Five types of cultural tourist are identified that represent five benefit‐based segments. The segments are tested against a variety of trip, demographic, motivational, preferred activity, awareness, cultural distance and activity variables. Significant differences are noted between the groups, suggesting that the model presented may be effective in segmenting the cultural tourism market. Moreover, although the segmentation process is predicated on two variables, these variables are reflective of underlying trip motivation, activity preference and cultural distance factors noted between the different types of cultural tourist. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Day tour itineraries: Searching for the balance between commercial needs and experiential desires

Little research has been conducted examining the factors that influence the development of day tour itineraries. While the literature suggests that a combination of commercial, operational, political and experiential factors contribute to itinerary development, this article argues that it is the business model chosen that affects it the most. Essentially two business models predominate: commission-based and noncommission-based. This study examines the impact of the business model on the selection of day tour itineraries in the Macau Special Administrative Region of China. It finds that experiential values are traded off almost entirely in the itineraries of commission-based tours, while a better balance between experiential and operational considerations drives itinerary choices for noncommission-based tours.