The purpose of this research was to examine whether undergraduate business students who participated in a short term study abroad course and intercultural competence building coursework demonstrated a significant increase in intercultural competence over those who only enrolled in the study abroad course. The 20 participants attended a small liberal arts College in Midwestern United States. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was administered to the participating students before and after their study away experience. The IDI (v.3) is based on the theoretical framework of the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) introduced by Milton Bennett. The DMIS is based on the assumption that intercultural competence can be strengthen through the development of intercultural knowledge and experience with people from other cultures. The IDI has been used in numerous scholarly studies and has demonstrated valid and reliable results. It is a self-administered 50-item series of statements in which participants are asked to rate the level of their agreement with statements that address their relationship to and evaluation of cultural difference. In the model, people progress in a linear developmental fashion through six stages: defense, denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation. This study was designed to determine if students who studied away and completed intercultural coursework (prior intercultural knowledge and an intercultural experience) would increase their level of intercultural competency more than those students who just studied away (intercultural experience only) as measured by the change in their IDI scores. The results of this small sample show that intercultural coursework in conjunction with a short term study away experience can have a positive impact on individual intercultural development. 相似文献
This article documents change in periurban horticulture using repeat surveys in 1995 and 2004 of about 300 households around Muea, Cameroon. Real household incomes increased by 14%, with a large shift from farm to nonfarm income. Within agriculture, activity shifted from staple crops to horticulture, both for sale and in home consumption. In 1995, there were large remittances from farmers involved in periurban horticulture to their village of origin; in 2004 remittances continued and horticultural farmers were also heavily involved in informal financial associations. Periurban horticulture is disproportionately practiced by women and older workers, and plays an important and growing role in African livelihoods. 相似文献
This paper explores three inter-related issues: globalisation; the role of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); and electronic commerce (e-commerce). A central question is whether e-commerce offers advantages to SMEs that may facilitate their access to global markets and help them overcome the disadvantages they face vis-à-vis large transnational corporations (TNCs)? The paper starts by briefly considering the extent of globalisation and its relationship to free trade. We then go on to consider recent developments in e-commerce, focusing on the key issue of e-payment systems. Differences in the requirements of large and smaller firms are identified, and we identify a number of key issues concerning access of smaller firms to e-payment systems and the (virtual) market place, and outline their implications for regulatory policy. Our analysis highlights the importance of network externalities, and institutional factors affecting trust and the relationships amongst different economic actors. This leads to a consideration of networking and public policies more broadly. One of the central conclusions of our analysis is that there are important synergies between e-commerce (virtual) networks and (real) production networks. This suggests that policy makers and smaller firms should think in terms of extending existing, and catalysing new, real production networks to incorporate e-payment systems for networks of firms in order to facilitate their access to virtual markets.
We demonstrate that the criteria put forward by Atkinson and Bourguignon (1987) can be satisfactorily applied to the analysis of poverty even when the demographic composition of society and the definition of poverty change over time. We show that they provide both sufficient and necessary conditions for any robust conclusions concerning the changes in welfare and poverty. We apply these criteria to a set of data tracking annual income distribution movements in France from 1977 to 1994. The Atkinson and Bourguignon criteria posit that recent changes in poverty are a function of macroeconomic fluctuations in activity. 相似文献
Abstract: The authors discuss the hiring patterns of some insurers and examine why insurers do not always seek out students with risk management and insurance backgrounds. The authors suggest that it is important for universities and insurers to work more closely so that students coming out of college insurance programs are well prepared to work in the insurance industry. 相似文献