Negotiating leisure constraints: the case of an amateur musician with epilepsy

The purpose of this case study was to identify the negotiation strategies employed by an epileptic amateur musician engaged in serious leisure to overcome leisure constraints. Data were collected by semi-structured interview, observation and informal interaction. Results revealed that the subject employed various cognitive (i.e. anticipating benefits, weighing pros and cons, immediate resolving, accepting costs and pragmatism about performance) and behavioural (i.e. planning/event management, scaling back participation and communication and cooperation) negotiation strategies. While strategies were employed to overcome constraints, participation was also facilitated by individual beliefs and interpersonal relationships. Results also suggested that negotiation strategies are interconnected, and that perceived stigma did not influence participation in serious leisure.     

Towards a resilience management framework for complex enterprise systems upgrade implementation

The lack of knowledge of how resilience management supports enterprise system (ES) projects accounts for the failure of firms to leverage their investments in costly ES implementations. Using a structured-pragmatic-situational (SPS) case study research approach, this paper reports on an investigation into the resilience management of a large utility company as it implemented an ES upgrade. Drawing on the literature and on the case study findings, we developed a process-based resilience management framework that involves three strategies (developing situation awareness, demystifying threats, and executing restoration plans) and four organisational capabilities that transform resilience management concepts into practices. We identified the crucial phases of ES upgrade implementation and developed indicators for how different strategies and capabilities of resilience management can assist managers at different stages of an ES upgrade. This research advances the state of existing knowledge by providing specific and verifiable propositions for attaining a state of resilience, the knowledge being grounded in the empirical reality of a case study. Moreover, the framework offers ES practitioners a roadmap to better identify appropriate responses and levels of preparedness.     

企业英文简介语料对比研究——以宁波模具行业企业为例

在搜集宁波模具企业中英文简介的基础上,对比了国外模具企业简介,从宁波模具企业简介涵盖的主要内容特点、英文简介的主要错误、国外模具企业简介相对宁波模具企业简介的不同侧重点等方面进行了深入的分析,并在此基础上提出了宁波模具企业英文简介改进建议.     

How well do conservation auctions perform in achieving landscape‐level outcomes? A comparison of auction formats and bid selection criteria

This paper studies the performance of auction design features regarding pricing mechanisms and bid selection criteria for securing wildlife zones across different holdings. We compare two pricing mechanisms: a discriminatory‐price auction and a uniform‐price ascending auction, and four bid selection criteria on the basis of: total bid, bid‐per‐value ratio, bid‐per‐area ratio and a mixed criterion where bids are formed on the basis of cost but they are selected based on the bid‐per‐value ratio. We develop a best‐response group‐bidding model for a discriminatory‐price auction where bidders form optimal group bids for individual wildlife zones. In the uniform‐price ascending auction, individual landholders respond to prices, which are successively raised by the auctioneer and whenever all the landholders from a single zone agree to participate (i.e. the first zone is formed), the auction stops. Based on numerical simulations using a bio‐economic model of malleefowl conservation, we observe that the discriminatory‐price auction is more cost‐effective than the uniform‐price ascending auction. However, the budgetary cost‐effectiveness of a discriminatory‐price auction is sensitive to bidder uncertainty about the number of competing bidder groups and the highest cost of establishing a wildlife zone among these groups. In terms of bid selection, the mixed bid selection criterion performs best. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.     

翻译策略的制定与文化诉求的伸张

翻译通过语言的转换实现文化的跨越,前者是手段,后者才是目的。在此过程中,译者采取何种翻译态度和模式,往往与其文化诉求有关联,并且这种文化诉求不仅关乎译者个人的文化素养、价值取向、意识形态,还关乎历史的、政治的、宗教的背景。因此,翻译的过程是一个语言转换的过程,更是借助特定翻译策略表达某种文化诉求的过程。     

论中国的冲绳文学研究——以冲绳音乐文学研究为中心

国内知识界自1960年代开始,便开始了有关中琉文化交流史的研究,但是,关于冲绳文学方面的研究却直到80年代后期才开始少量出现,且仅限于＂民族音乐＂、＂乡土歌谣＂这一范畴。对于中国的冲绳文学研究中＂冲绳文学＂这一概念本身的长期空白,以及现阶段冲绳音乐文学研究领域中所伴随的强烈阶级性色彩、去历史化倾向,乃至将研究对象置于美学价值中去表象和消费等问题,并不能仅仅把其原因简化归结为冲绳文学本身所面临着的定义之难和学科的局限性问题,而是应该将其看作是在各种错综复杂的历史背景综合作用之下最终导致的结果。     

Hotel roomrates under the influence of a large event: The Oktoberfest in Munich 2012

Surprisingly few studies deal with the implications of large events for hotel prices. We address this issue by modeling hotel prices in Munich under the influence of the Oktoberfest. By utilizing internet data from a metasearch provider for check-in dates prior to and during the Oktoberfest 2012, it is analyzed how the event affected the daily price level as well as price differentials between hotels. In general, average hotel prices are very volatile over time. Apparently, Munich hotels tend to set prices according to expected demand and vary those depending on the day of the week during the event. Ceteris paribus, roomrates are highest on Oktoberfest Friday and Saturday nights, followed by Oktoberfest weekdays and Oktoberfest Sunday nights, but there is a general and strong price-raising impact. Prices differ across hotels mainly due to the star category attributed to a hotel and the proximity to the event. Both price premia are time-dependent.     

Tit for tat and big steps: The case of Swedish banks’ internationalization 1961–2010

This study examines four major Swedish banks’ internationalization process patterns during the period 1961–2010. The study complements earlier studies by also considering the banks’ levels of market commitment. One objective is to determine if ‘Tit for tat’-behaviour seen in earlier studies of Swedish banks still prevails after the deregulation. Adding to earlier studies, this study also considers the level of market activities and commitments. A secondary purpose is to examine how the financial crisis has affected the banks with reference to the banks’ internationalization patterns. The empirical study is based on archival data on the studied banks’ foreign operations. The results show that the banks’ behaviour follows ‘Tit for tat’-behaviour but that the internationalization has accelerated after the deregulation, hence being carried out with ‘big steps’ rather than small steps. The analysis also shows that the mimetic behaviour is complemented by other types of internationalization behaviours. The differences in bank internationalization also mean that the effect of a financial crisis varies depending on how the banks have internationalized.     

How the enterprise risk management function influences decision-making in the organization – A field study of a large,global oil and gas company

Risk management has been a discipline for decades. However, organizations have only recently begun to introduce a separate enterprise risk management (ERM) function. The aim of this study is to examine the transformation of the ERM function's influence in a company over time. We use a historical case study informed by social theory on how to influence others to investigate this phenomenon. The findings show that the construction of risk technologies over time triggers a change in the ERM function's influence on decision-making. Two processes of influence are used by the ERM function: selling new ideas and managing knowledge across boundaries. In the first process, the ERM function attempts to vertically influence top management's decisions regarding acceptance of new risk management technologies. In the second process, the ERM function attempts to horizontally influence decision makers to use risk knowledge in decision processes. Theoretically, our findings contribute to our understanding of how the ERM function influences decision-making in organizations over time.     

Why the Development of Health Insurance Is Regionally Imbalanced: Evidence from China

As China adopted an imbalanced development strategy to obtain rapid economic growth, it is getting more and more urgent to find out a feasible way to balanced development of social safety network. This study measures the degree of regional disparities in China’s health insurance industry and explores the rationales by a thorough examination of health insurance purchasing behavior. An empirical analysis is conducted, based on a panel data of 31 provinces from 2004 to 2014, to test the hypothesis. We find that the regional disparities would be significantly affected by the variables including age structure, education, income, availability of health resources, density of population, and substitutes.