Creating sustainable value in the hospitality industry: a (critical) multi-stakeholder study in the Dominican Republic

This paper identifies sustainable initiatives reported by “sustainability-champion” hotels in the Dominican Republic, while contrasting them against the views of key stakeholders. We adapt and apply Hart and Milstein's Sustainable Value Framework, and complement it with a Critical Management Studies approach. Our analysis relies on a mixed-methods approach (non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis, as well as thematic and content analysis). Findings indicate that most hotels are engaging more actively in present-oriented strategies such as pollution prevention (especially, the international hotels) and in product/service stewardship. However, in the future-oriented strategies, hotels owned by local investors show higher commitment to both clean technology and innovation, and to the sustainability vision (as the firm's growth path). In addition, although the views of multiple stakeholders show a clear acknowledgment of the hospitality industry's sustainability efforts (particularly regarding education and environmental protection), they also offer differing views about the ultimate impact and value of those efforts for them and for the broader society. Our study offers a new theoretical lens to explore multi-stakeholder approaches and offers practical implications for the Dominican Republic's National Strategy for Development 2010–2030, as well as implications that may be of use for other tourism-dependent countries.     

试论我国行业管理法的地位与体系

行业管理法是经济法体系中的一项法律，但是从宏观和微观的分类上行业管理法既不属于宏观经济调控法，也不属于微观的市场规制法，从其功能上来说行业管理法属于调整中观管理的经济法，行业管理法体系包含行业管理基本法、行业管理部门规章以及行业协会的自治规范等内容，具有指导思想和制度规范的立法，行业管理法对于促进行业领域的正常运行具有重要的意义。行业管理法与产业政策法规具有密切的关系，两者之间相辅相成，在国家的产业发展中共同发挥着指引和规范作用，研究行业管理法的地位和体系离不开产业政策法的分析介绍。笔者在本文中对行业管理法的地位和重要作用进行了分析，对行业管理法的体系内容也进行了详细的阐述，旨在通过本文的研究让更多人的认识到行业管理法，从而促进行业管理法作用的有效发挥。     

创业情境下管理强度与创业绩效关系探讨:团队合作的中介效应

创业活动以其良好的经济与社会效益越来越受到重视,创业过程的核心是创业要素之间的动态匹配。为诠释创业理念在创业者和创业成员之间的匹配,结合创业者特质和成熟企业管理制度演化两种理论视角,提出了创业情境下管理强度的概念,并构建了其与团队合作、新创企业绩效之间的理论模型。通过107份预测试问卷和171份正式问卷进行实证分析,结果发现:创业管理强度可以被划分为独特性、统一性、共识性3个维度;创业管理强度对创业企业绩效具有显著正向影响,这种正向影响机制可以从团队合作方面得到解释,即团队合作在创业管理强度和创业企业绩效之间发挥中介作用。     

Is implementing the IPSASs an appropriate reform?

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the implementation of the accrual-based IPSASs in European-influenced developing and transition economy countries is not an appropriate reform unless preceded or accompanied by other, essentially managerial, reforms. The nature and extent of these prior reforms depend upon the political and cultural context and, not least, upon the power relationships within and between public institutions. The advocates of the application of the IPSASs appear not to recognize that for the reform to be effective it cannot be treated as simply a technical accounting reform, yet this is what is occurring. The issues identified in this paper are based upon the author’s practical experiences of working in many of these countries.     

The integration substitute: the role of controls in managing human asset specificity

As the integration solution to the problem of specific assets cannot be replicated on human asset specificity because slavery is illegal, economic theory states that control systems substitute for integration through a balanced structure to help align diverse interests. To understand the intricate design features of the balance, we examine a case‐study firm. For low human asset specificity, the restriction and segregation of usable decision rights link with standards. However, incentives are traced to individuals only to the extent task deviations do not create relevant future costs that are difficult to be self‐corrected. For high specificity, incentives are related to outputs rather than outcomes, because outcome variations reduce the attractiveness of maintaining the balance. Subjective assessment is used as an efficient alternate ‘balancing’ solution and decision control is shared when available subjective data are inadequate.     

Towards a Smart Tourism Business Ecosystem based on Industrial Heritage: research perspectives from the mining region of Rio Tinto,Spain

The implications of the study provide suggestions for future improvements relating to the development of industrial tourism destinations. The possibility of ‘re-using’ the old industrial and mining heritage could favour the development of an economic opportunity to the recession that affected most industrial regions after the 1960s. This paper is focused on the field of industrial heritage tourism management (IHTM) to deepen the knowledge about its business ecosystem. The IHTM is chosen because a number of evidences highlight the interconnections that exist between this field and the business ecosystem concept. To explore these interconnections, the purpose of this article is to define a frame of analysis based also on the emergent initiative of smart tourism and to set up a theoretical framework not only used to the case study of the region of Rio Tinto mine in Spain, but also used as a policy instrument to suggest propositions for recommending new paths for future studies.     

Art of the possible or fool's errand? Diffusion of large-scale management innovation

Organizations are continually challenged to increase efficiency and improve performance despite frequent cuts to personnel and budgets. These challenges force organizations to identify, develop, and diffuse various management innovations. Diffusion efforts are often met by resistance, reluctance, or ambivalence, resulting in what many consider to be a fool's errand. While management innovation may not be the forte of large, bureaucratic organizations, we present a case study of a U.S. Air Force maintenance, repair, and overhaul organization that has recently, and successfully, diffused a large-scale management innovation. Results from the case study support the development of a diffusion of innovation framework that identifies important mechanisms associated with the acceptance, routinization, and assimilation of management innovation. The framework informs leaders of the diffusion process, while the recommended actions of relentless leadership, deliberate development of personnel, and enterprise involvement drive diffusion efforts and help leaders achieve desired results in innovation diffusion and associated performance improvement. Overall, we assert that the pursuit of management innovation is not necessarily beyond the art of the possible for business leaders.     

The impact of variation in reporting practices on the validity of recommended birdstrike risk assessment processes for aerodromes

Birdstrikes are a major hazard to aviation; costing millions of pounds a year in damage and delays, as well as occasional hull losses and loss of life. The numbers and species of birds on and around airfields therefore need to be managed. To aid this process, airport staff often use risk assessments to identify which bird species cause the greatest risk and use the outcome to target their bird control effort. To this end, a number of national and international regulators, airports and other organisations recommend, or use, a derivation of a risk assessment process first published in 2006. This was developed using the UK Civil Aviation Authority's birdstrike database, employing data collected between 1976 and 1996. The risk assessment process relies on using the proportion of reported strikes that cause damage to the aircraft as a proxy for the likely severity of the outcome of strike incidents, so any change in the relative level of reporting of damaging and non-damaging strikes may significantly bias the results. The implementation of mandatory birdstrike reporting by the UK CAA in 2004 led to a significant increase in the number of strikes reported. If this involved a disproportionate increase in the number of non-damaging compared to damaging incidents reported, it may have impacted on the accuracy of the risk assessment process. This paper examines how differential reporting of damaging and non-damaging strikes can impact on the risk assessment process. It shows that changes in reporting practices since the original risk assessment was developed have impacted on the apparent birdstrike risk at UK airports, giving a false impression of increasing risk over the period. It makes recommendations for how the process can be better adapted to cope with such changes in the future, and how it should be modified for use in countries with different reporting regimes to that in the UK.     

Framing the usefulness of eHRM in talent management: A case study of talent identification in a professional services firm

As talent management evolves from intuitive to evidence‐based decision‐making, the role of electronic Human Resource Management (eHRM) to gather, distribute, and analyze data becomes more critical. However, surprisingly few academic studies investigate the role of technology in talent management. Drawing on a qualitative case study of talent management in a large professional services firm, this paper critically examines how eHRM information technologies are framed as useful within talent identification discourses. The findings reveal two distinct but interrelated sets of processes employed to identify talent and suggest that the perceived usefulness and centrality of eHRM are influenced by how stakeholders shape their understanding of effective talent management. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.