Making sustainable sourcing decisions: practical evidence from the automotive industry

Achieving environmental and sustainable performance within an organisation’s supply chain and manufacturing operations will be feasible if upstream supply partners have the same commitments in performing their operations in a sustainable manner. Given the debate above, we propose a comprehensive framework to address the sustainable supplier selection and order allocation (SSS&OA) problem. The framework developed is practical, that starts by using an audition check-list specific for each sustainability dimension (environmental, economic and social), from which the weighted values of its comprised criteria are obtained. The weighted scores of the selected sustainable suppliers are utilised by a proposed bi-objective order allocation model in order to make sourcing decisions. The strength of the proposed framework is its practical applicability to provide a solution for SSS&OA problems which is validated through a real-world application. Finally, research findings, theoretical and managerial insights and also directions for additional research are presented.     

Revisiting Attributes: How Important Is Green in the Consumer Selection of Hotel Rooms?

Consumers’ buying behavior is not always consistent with their positive attitude, particularly toward environmentally friendly products. In a survey of 197 travelers, the relative importance consumers ascribe to the attribute of green was assessed. Through a multi-methods study involving interviews, focus groups discussions, and forced-choice experiments that simulate market buying situation, it was found that consumers’ selection of hotel rooms is still much dictated by traditional choice factors. Through a conjoint analysis, it was found that consumers highly prioritized the price attribute. The green attribute was assigned a low relative importance of 4% among the respondents. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

The development of service quality dimensions for internet service providers: Retaining customers of different usage patterns

This study examines the relationships among relevant service quality dimensions of Internet service providers (ISP) and their customers’ perceived value, trust and commitment. Data was collected from residential Internet users in Thailand. The final usable sample size was 1507. The analyses include segmenting ISPs’ customers on the basis of their usage pattern and evaluating their perceptions of Internet service quality dimensions. In addition, several alternatives models were compared using structural equation modelling to confirm the mediation effects. An ISP’s service quality is influenced by the following four dimensions (a) network quality, (b) customer service and technical support, (c) information quality and (d) security and privacy. The findings reveal that while all dimensions have positive effects on trust, only network quality, information support and privacy influence customer value significantly and information support is the only dimension which is directly related to commitment. Additionally, the effects of customer service and information support on value vary across customers of different Internet usage patterns. The contribution of the present paper stems from the simultaneous modelling of a range of mediation effects which can better help explain the impact of service quality dimensions on customers’ cognitive and affective evaluations in high-tech service settings.     

我国台商投资大陆区位选择影响因素的实证研究

选取1991—2011年我国台商投资大陆地区各省(地区)相关变量的历史统计数据,采用面板数据分析方法,建立各时段面板数据模型,对我国台商投资大陆区位选择的影响因素进行实证分析。研究结果显示:影响我国台商投资大陆区位选择的因素主要有产业结构、政府政策、生产效率、基础设施、劳动力成本和开放水平等;其中,政府政策和开放水平是影响台商投资大陆区位选择的稳定且主要的因素;产业结构、基础设施和劳动力成本的影响次之,生产效率的影响并不显著;各因素对台商投资大陆区位选择的影响程度和方向不断变化,即产业结构的影响呈上升趋势,基础设施和劳动力成本的影响逐渐减弱。     

中国OFDI区位选择决定因素研究——基于2003-2014年28个经济体面板数据

在国别差异视角下选取2003-2014年28个主要国家和地区的面板数据，并将所有样本国家分为发达经济体和发展中经济体两类，借助于投资引力模型重点考察了东道国市场因素、资源禀赋因素和技术因素对我国对外直接投资区位选择的影响，研究发现，我国OFDI区位选择呈现出明显的国别差异，对发达经济体的投资同时受到市场规模因素和技术禀赋因素的影响，对发展中经济体的投资同时受到市场规模因素和资源禀赋因素的影响，另外还发现随着技术水平的提升和运输工具的革新，距离不再是我国OFDI区位选择的决定因素。     

Perceptions of determinants of job selection in the hospitality and tourism industry: The case of Korean university students

ABSTRACT

This study explores the key factors influencing potential employees in the hospitality and tourism industry and examines whether causal relationships between behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence students' job selection. The study suggests that the career decision-making process is related to job selection. A total of 307 responses were analyzed. The results explain individual students' attitudes toward a behavior and perceived behavioral control in the context of their job selection. Attitudes toward a behavior and job selection had significant effects on career decisions. On the other hand, opinions of significant others had no significant effect. Perceived behaviors required to decide on jobs had a significant effect on job selection intentions. Students with internship experience were likely to form positive attitudes toward the hospitality and tourism industry, suggesting internships to be a useful source of a stronger relationship between the industry and job aptitudes of students in hospitality and tourism programs. The results have important implications.     

GIS as a tool for selection of sample areas in a travel behaviour survey

Whilst Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are now used more commonly in transport research and modelling, GIS techniques were used in this study to select similar sample areas (in terms of geography and census attributes) for data collection. For this purpose, a GIS mapping system for Tyne and Wear, UK, was built. The system included topographic maps of the area, boundary maps of Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA), and aggregated census statistics datasets for LSOAs. Criteria relating to census attributes and the nature of transport were employed to identify ‘hotspots’ by GIS enquiry to provide suitably matching areas, which then formed the basis of the sampling frame.The research project was concerned with commuters’ travel choices and so the study needed to identify commuters. In this case-study context, it is not possible to select fully homogeneous areas, so the GIS ‘hotspots’ approach allowed the identification of areas where there were a high concentration of commuters with multiple alternatives for travel to work. A pilot study showed that the GIS origin-based approach was good in collecting a balanced sample, as compared to an employment-based destination survey. This paper explores the benefits and costs of these origin- and destination-based approaches. In the origin-based home sample, households with paper-based surveys were targeted after identification by GIS. This origin approach requires more data preparation compared to the alternative of an employer-based, destination-based sample that could use online survey methodologies.The paper concludes by identifying GIS as an important tool in selecting a sample area for data collection using multiple criteria, but argues that plans for data collection need to be flexibly constructed to overcome unexpected challenges. Although this paper focuses on a transport research case study, the methodology presented can be applied to survey design and selection of sample areas in other disciplines.     

基于零售商开通网络渠道的多渠道供应链定价策略

文针对拥有网络直销渠道的制造商，考虑零售商实体渠道促销努力水平及消费者的搭便车行为，在 Nash博弈和零售商主导的Stackelberg 博弈下，就零售商开通网络渠道的问题进行研究。通过理论和数值分析，得到以下结论：零售商渠道地位对其开通网络渠道影响不大；开通后，制造商利润减小，当实体渠道基本市场份额较小时，零售商利润增大；零售商应根据实体渠道基本市场份额大小来决定是否开通网络渠道。     

基于实验人文地理学的旅游目的地选择行为研究

文章基于实验经济学和计算机实验人文地理学的方法思想,以旅游目的地选择行为研究为案例。首先设定研究目标,进而提出了实验的前提假设。采用地理信息科学和网络服务技术,构建旅游目的地选择行为实验平台,展开实例研究,研究结果表明:(1)进行大尺度旅游目的地选择时,被试者表现出不断追求旅游效益最大化这一目标,且与旅游目的地的资源类型无关。(2)被试者经过一定实验学习后,总体上呈现出不断追求个人收益最大化的趋势。然而,有些情况下,也可能出现决策失误。案例研究的成功进一步表明,实验人文地理学思想方法和研究手段对于典型人文地理学问题进行研究是可行的。文章为正在发展的实验人文地理学发展提供了案例指导。