Attitudes toward outdoor recreation development: An application of social exchange theory

A research project was undertaken within a multi‐county region in southeastern Ohio to ascertain the attitudes of local residents toward future outdoor recreation development within the area. A systematic random sample of 1493 respondents was drawn from a five‐county region to test a theoretical perspective developed from selected components of social exchange theory. The findings demonstrated that the respondents held very favorable attitudes toward outdoor recreation development. Multivariate analysis of the data revealed that the theoretical model was basically supported. The findings are discussed from both applied and theoretical perspectives.     

Small Firm Statistics: A Hotel Sector Focus

This article contrasts and compares statistics from the UK small firm sector in general with those related to small firms within the hotel industry. In doing so, it is clearly illustrated that there is a need to focus research, resultant policy and strategy on the specific issues facing small firms at a sub-sector level, rather than assuming a homogeneity of the small firm population in general. The paper concludes that the plight of the small firm operating within the hotel industry is dire and questions what the future holds.     

Non-fatal violence-related injuries in Kingston,Jamaica: a preventable drain on resources

Using data for a one-year period from the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) in Jamaica, we describe patterns of non-fatal violence-related injuries, and carry out simulation analysis to estimate rates of hospital admission under various injury reduction scenarios, and the potential savings that can be realized by reducing violent crimes. In this period there were 6107 registered violence-related visits to the KPH representing 11.5% of all recorded visits. Of these 16.6% (1001) were admitted. The most common methods of inflicting injury was by stabbing (52.1%), blunt injuries (37.9%) and gunshot wounds (7.3%). Multivariate analyses indicated that gunshot injuries, stab injuries, being male between the ages of 15 and 44 years, receiving the injury in November or December, and being injured by a stranger or unknown assailant, were significant correlates of a higher probability of admission. Simulation analysis with various injury reduction scenarios indicated decreases in the probability of admission ranging from 12% to 44%, with estimated savings of up to 31% of the annual supplies budget of KPH.     

A franchise: a resource-rich small service firm?

Internationally, the small firm community has been the focus of attention from academics and policy makers for several decades. On the other hand, franchising of services is a relative newcomer, particularly in the United Kingdom, and has not received the attention that this form of business organisation warrants. This article investigates the extent to which franchising represents the intelligent leverage of resources by ‘small firm’ owner-operator franchisees, focusing on one major ‘benchmark’ franchisor in the UK – McDonald's Restaurants Ltd. The article enables the exploration of the profile of individuals attracted to franchising and the associated resources, costs, tensions and contradictions, and moves discussion towards conclusions based on a resource scarcity/efficiency thesis from the dual perspectives of the franchisee and franchisor.     

The development of the Personality Audit: a psychodynamic multiple feedback assessment instrument

The Personality Audit (PA) was developed to meet a need for a relatively simple multiple feedback instrument that could clarify the various motivational needs of executives. Using a psychodynamic approach to leadership, the PA allows the test-taker to assess him- or herself in seven personality dimensions important in human behaviour and to identify personal ‘blind spots’. The resulting insights can be used to formulate appropriate leadership development goals.

The objective of this paper is to describe the design and psychometric properties of the PA. This instrument, in contrast with other tools that can be used to clarify the inner theatre of individuals, is designed not only to report information given by the test-taker but also to reflect the perceptions of observers representing both the test-taker's public and private spheres. This paper describes in detail the conceptual foundations of the questionnaire, the psychometric methods used to confirm its validity and reliability, and possible directions for future research.     

Real estate,factory outlets and bricks: A note on non-aeronautical activities at commercial airports

This note considers the degree of complementarity of non-aviation activities to airside activities at airports in relation to airport governance and regulation. A simple economic model of airport operations is employed to draw the distinction between complementary and non-complementary non-aviation activities by airports and the effect of these activities on aeronautical prices and competition.     

Market and Cost Structure in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry: A Plant-Level Analysis

A resurgence of consolidation in the U.S. meat packing industry in the past few decades has stimulated academic and policy debate. Issues raised include the role of cost economies in driving these patterns, and the effects on the agricultural sector (cattle producers) from market power. Here, plant level cost and revenue data for U.S. beef packing plants are used to estimate a cost-based model incorporating cattle- and output-market pricing behavior. The robust results indicate little market power exploitation in either the cattle input or beef output markets, and that any apparent evidence is counteracted by cost efficiencies such as utilization and scope economies.     

Was Jules Dupuit a Market Socialist: A Retrospective Note on Marginal Cost Pricing

This paper examines the extent to which Dupuit preceded Hotelling in the theory of marginal cost pricing and the relation of marginal cost pricing to the Pigou–Robinson definition of exploitation, Coase’s multipart pricing, and the Kaldor compensation principle. Tsuneki’s partial rehabilitation of Hotelling’s proof of MC pricing is partially endorsed.      

Putting the learning curve in context

In implementation of change, people learn new ways of doing things, develop new skills, and adopt new organizational routines. This paper applies learning curve theory to implementation by developing a system dynamics model that includes two extensions to classic learning curve theory. First, the model includes a required output level for the individual. Second, the model includes a budget constraint on time that forces a choice between an old and a new way to achieve the output. Doing work the new way builds experience, increasing productivity and thus favoring continued use of the new skill, but model analysis demonstrates that this reinforcing process works to favor the new skill only at relatively high levels of productivity. Otherwise, the same process is a vicious cycle, driving out the new skill. The model exhibits a mode of behavior in which learning begins and then stalls and another mode in which the new skill becomes the preferred one. The paper identifies the tipping point between these two modes and characterizes the transition problem: Learning by doing is a dynamic process, a transition from use of an old way to a new way that requires accumulating experience beyond a threshold.     

Capital-skill complementarity,productivity and wages: Evidence from plant-level data for a developing country

Different types of labor and capital inputs have varying productive contributions that are dependent on plant characteristics. We estimate such contributions and their underlying determinants, recognizing the interactions among labor and capital components that reflect their substitutability or complementarity, for Turkish manufacturing plants. We distinguish technical and non-technical labor, and structures, machinery and computer capital, as well as the shares of female workers and imported capital in our production function specification. We find capital-skill complementary for both machinery and computers; greater productive contributions and thus wages for skilled labor are associated with more machinery intensity and computer use. The reverse is true for unskilled labor, which is complementary only with capital structures. Our results suggest that synergies among skilled (technical) labor, computers, and machinery capital have productivity- and skilled wage-enhancing effects that could contribute to productivity convergence of developing toward developed countries, even with their differing industry and input composition.