Political hazards and firms' geographic concentration

Research summary : We examine the relationship between the geographic concentration of a firm's sales and the firm's vulnerability to expropriation hazards. Although expanding outside the home location can initially increase a firm's exposure to government expropriation, we find that this effect reverses when a firm's sales outside its home location have reached a point at which it has sufficient resources to better influence government actions and to pose a credible threat to exit the market in which it is being targeted. We supplement this main result by identifying two moderating factors: the firm's level of political capital and the effectiveness of institutional constraints on government behavior. We find support for these hypotheses from survey data on privately owned enterprises in China. Managerial summary : This research advises firm managers that certain market activities might knock their firms' economic interests out of alignment with the government's political interests, and thus, influence the political hazards they face, particularly in emerging markets such as China, which has attracted strong interest of many firms with respect to entering the market. Here, all else being equal, the firms' geographic concentration exposes them to different levels of state expropriation—but not in a simple linear fashion as suggested by the conventional wisdom of local protectionism or that of the bargaining advantage generated by the threat of relocation: Those who are “stuck in the middle” ended up paying twice or even three times as much unauthorized levies as the purely local or the most expansive firms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

制度变迁下的公司治理：模式选择与路径依赖——基于跨国公司在华投资企业的分析

对跨国公司而言,制度变迁包含着两层含义：一是从跨国公司母公司所在国的制度环境到投资子公司所在国的制度环境的变化,这是不同制度环境的自然转换;二是子公司所在国的制度环境的变化,这是同一种制度在若干时间段的变迁。双层制度变迁下的公司治理具有明显不同于单层制度变迁的模式选择和路径依赖。     

碳信息披露与企业投资效率-基于 2011~2015 年 CDP 中国报告的实证研究

本文以 2011~2015 年参与国际 CDP 项目的中国公司为研究对象,从投资效率视角探析碳信息披露与企业投资效率之间的关系,并就产权性质、管理层权力对二者关系的影响进行检验。结果发现：在其他条件相同的情况下,碳信息披露能够显著提高企业投资效率;同时,相较于非国有企业,国有企业碳信息披露更能提高企业投资效率;管理层权力越大,越会削弱碳信息披露对投资效率的改善作用。进一步研究发现,碳信息披露通过缓解投资不足和抑制过度投资的共同作用来提高企业投资效率,且这种作用在国有企业及管理层权力较低的企业中更为显著。     

China's outbound tourism – Stages,policies and choices

China's outbound tourism has developed rapidly in recent years. This development has been accompanied by a continuous and expanding deficit in the tourism balance of trade, triggering debate among government officials and academia about whether China's outbound tourism development has outgrown general economic development. Understanding China's growth in outbound tourism and its impact has therefore become more than an academic issue; it also affects the future orientation of China's tourism policy. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the tourists, spatial flow, market size, and expenditure. Despite the above concerns, it is suggested that China's outbound tourism is still in a preliminary stage of development and furthermore complies fully with national policies. Therefore, orderly guidance and discretionary market policies are proposed to further facilitate the growth of the outbound tourism market in China.     

Thailand as a tourist destination: Perceptions of international visitors and Thai residents

In the tourism industry, the perceptions of a tourist destination are critical to its image. Image can be either a mental image of a product created by a marketing department or an associative image of a product that is developed by the consumer. Tourism destinations must be careful about their image so the perception that they have is not different from the way that they are perceived by potential travelers. This study examines the perceptions of international visitors and Thai residents on the image of Thailand as a tourist destination. International visitors and Thai residents were both surveyed to determine their perceptions of the image of Thailand. Some results of the study found that Thai residents and international visitors felt cultural sightseeing, friendly people and food were significantly important when thinking of Thailand as a tourist destination, while international visitors felt that nightlife and entertainment were significantly more important than that of Thai residents.     

Cost Efficiency of International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan: A Data Envelopment Analysis Application

This paper uses the data envelopment analysis approach to measure cost, allocative and overall technical efficiencies of international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taiwan during 1997–2006. There are three outputs, three inputs, three input prices and four environmental variables in the empirical model. The cost inefficiency of these hotels is from overall technical inefficiency. International tourist hotels in Taiwan have an average efficiency of 57%. Chain systems, non-metropolitan areas and occupancy rate have significantly positive impacts on all efficiency scores of Taiwan's ITHs. The distance from the nearest international airport significantly worsens their efficiency scores.     

Total Factor Productivity Assessment of Tourism Industry: Evidence from China

This paper adopts the Malmquist Index and panel data model to measure and test the spatial–temporal evolutionary characteristics and the factors that affect total factor productivity of China's tourism industry from 2001 to 2009. The results show the following: there is a trend of growth in the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry, and technological progress is the dominant factor that affects total factor productivity changes, which indicates that the growth pattern of China's tourism industry has changed from a pattern driven by input factors to a pattern driven by technology; the spatial pattern of the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry has changed from a spatial pattern dominated by provinces with a low productivity to a spatial pattern dominated by provinces with a high productivity; the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry is mainly affected by the levels of economic and service industry development.     

Thailand's Destination Image through the Eyes of Its Citizens

This study investigates images of Thailand from the perspectives of Thai residents. The study was conducted at domestic and international tourist destinations in Southern Thailand, and 352 respondents participated in the study. The majority of respondents were females, 18–34 years old, and single. Residents from both destinations ranked natural beauty as Thailand's most important image. A significant difference was found in residents' perceptions of images of Thailand. These included activities and topics such as hiking and sightseeing, variety of food, spas and massages, night life, entertainment, night clubs and bars, relaxing and calm setting, a good place for a family to visit, and signs in other languages.     

Trends and Forecasts for Inbound Tourism to China

Summary

The development of tourism in China over the last two decades is reviewed. It is argued that the success of the economic reforms in China which has resulted in fast economic growth has also been the main cause of rapid tourism growth in China. Forecasts of international tourist arrivals by source country market and destination region within China are generated over the period 2001-05. An integrative approach is used which combines both time-series and econometric methodologies, termed structural integrated time-series econometric analysis (SITEA).     

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Alpine Tourism

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses the need for more research in the field of entrepreneurial education in tourism, using the models of Butler's destination life cycle and Porter's diamond of competitive advantages. Following is a discussion of entrepreneurship in tourism in light of these analytical frameworks. As a consequence, key qualification and skill areas for tourism entrepreneurs are derived. Finally, the authors provide an overview of the main institutions that offer education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with a focus on entrepreneurship in tourism and establish critical needs for tourism entrepreneurship curricula and research.