Reassessing the risk conditions for political instability in the light of the Arab Spring

In today’s globalized world, multinational firms contend with a diverse set of risk factors in their worldwide operations. The recent regime changes in northern African countries, also called the Arab Spring, have highlighted that political instability is one of these factors. As researchers and existing indices of political instability largely failed to predict those developments, firms had not incorporated them into their risk calculations and hence incurred losses while having to adapt their operations. This paper examines the conditions that contributed to the recent instability in North Africa using Tunisia and Egypt as case studies. It evaluates the extent to which existing measures of political instability incorporate those conditions. The analysis reveals that the main conditions contributing to the political turmoil can be seen in socio-economic factors, namely inequality, poverty, youth unemployment, a growing youth population, and especially in the case of Egypt an independent military. These findings reveal gaps in current measures of political instability, whose dominant focus is on factors describing violence and changes in the political system while neglecting the influence of a country’s socio-economic environment.     

东南亚国家社交商务与非本土节日消费行为分析——以中国春节为例

在世界范围内,中国春节越来越受消费者欢迎,特别是东南亚消费者会在社交商务中参加中国春节活动。然而,现实中却存在一个矛盾的现象,即一些东南亚消费者春节期间热衷于购买中国商品,而春节过后却抵制中国商品。实证研究发现,东南亚消费者并未完全从态度上偏好中国春节和中国商品,只是出于社交商务的需要才参与中国春节和购买中国商品。东南亚消费者可区分为文化杂食型和节日身份型两个细分市场。其中,文化杂食型消费者包容并喜欢多元文化,会长期偏好中国节日和中国商品;节日身份型消费者仅在中国节日期间会参与中国节日和购买中国商品。这样的结论对指导中国企业实践具有重要价值,首先,为更好地响应“一带一路”倡议,应树立中国品牌意识,在“一带一路”沿线国家培育偏好中国文化和产品的朋友圈,转变消费者态度;其次,为更好地实施“走出去”战略,应在国际市场进行文化杂食和节日身份的细分,对文化杂食型消费者以文化为纽带培育其长期稳定的消费习惯,对节日身份型消费者通过营销策划刺激其消费;其三,为成功进入东南亚市场,对在东南亚运营的社交商务,应侧重培育消费者亲中国文化与产品的态度,并增加其使用社交商务平台的愉悦感。     

Measuring festival quality and value affecting visitors’ satisfaction and loyalty using a structural approach

Perceived value is understood to be a precursor of customer satisfaction and loyalty and is itself impacted by product quality. The linkages between quality, value, satisfaction, and loyalty have been gaining increasing attention in the marketing field. Accordingly, this study examines whether quality dimensions have an impact on perceived value, which, in turn, affects satisfaction and loyalty, in the context of the Punggi Ginseng festival.     

The role of family decision makers in festival tourism

This study assessed the role of family decision makers in participating in a festival according to five stages of festival participation. A survey process was conducted using two sampling groups: the sample for families with children and the sample for families without children. According to the results of the study, a number of marketing implications were generated. For example, the husband was revealed to more actively join transportation-related activities including driving, deciding travel routes, automobile safety checks, and filling up with gasoline. The wife was a strong decision maker in selecting restaurants or menus in the festival tourism management process. Likewise, the role of the wife is very significant, from suggesting the festival participation at the first stage to determining a revisit to the festival at the last stage. However, the children or joint decision-making patterns were not distinctive as they are said to be in other tourism literature. Findings of the study are expected to offer valuable insights for all festival stakeholders including festival vendors, local government, local residents, and festival organizers.     

基于Struts+Spring+Hibernate框架的应用研究

组合Struts、Spring、Hibernate三种流行的开源框架的策略,利用它们各自的优势,开发轻量级的Web应用.能缩短开发周期,而且能提高系统的稳定性.     

基于Spring+Struts+Hibernate注塑模具报价系统的研发

开源框架技术在J2EE平台中大量运用,增加了J2EE平台应用软件的开发效率。文章探讨整合了Spring+Struts+Hibernate轻量级的J2EE平台和技术,讨论了注塑模具报价系统的算法功能,设计与实现基于SSH注塑模具报价系统,该系统使用方便、计算准确,可维护性、可扩展性、健壮性好。     

社会交往、旅游情境对旅游需求的影响研究--基于春节“黄金周”的实证分析

以往关于消费者需求行为的研究多基于传统经济学框架的设定展开,认为影响消费者旅游需求的主要因素包含收入、目的地吸引力、交通等,普遍忽视了消费过程中的社会交往和具体情境。文章在理论分析的基础上,提出了若干命题,将消费者收入、社会交往和旅游情境等因素纳入旅游消费者需求的模型中,提出了若干研究命题。依据2014年春节“黄金周”旅游需求调研数据,采用排序选择模型验证了相关命题的正确性。计量结果表明,个人经济因素对我国消费者春节“黄金周”旅游需求影响较小,家庭结构、同伴等社会交往因素是影响其旅游需求的重要因素;我国消费者对于春节“黄金周”出游过程中遭遇的拥堵、旅游市场混乱等旅游情境问题具有一定的容忍度,但是,严重供需失衡导致的旅游情境问题依然对其旅游需求产生了显著的影响。     

Local attendees' perceptions of festival impacts: A factor-cluster analysis approach to the Zanzibar International Film Festival

Appraising residents' perceptions of the impacts of festivals is imperative to festival success. Such residents can rightly claim ownership of the place where the festival is staged and the cultural aspects the festival showcases. This study aimed at elucidating local attendees' perceived festival impacts at the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival. Data for this study were collected using a structured questionnaire that yielded 263 responses conveniently drawn from festival-goers, which were then subjected to factor-cluster analysis. The results reveal the presence of three clusters (advocates, ambivalents, and cautious-advocates) that differ significantly on their perceived impacts of the festival with respect to its environmental, socio-cultural, and economic contributions. These results have both managerial and policy implications on the inclusion of the locals in planning and managing festivals.     

Supplanting the Planters

Summary

After briefly examining the plantation-as-hotel model, this contribution focuses the remainder of its attention on the conversion of plantation slavery into entertainment on the Caribbean island of Barbados. First, and by way of contextualization, it is shown that an extensive and well-documented history of plantation life exists, one that is drawn from early accounts of travelers, missionaries and others, as well as later expert commentaries offered by indigenous and extra-regional scholars. Second, it is argued that the tourism industry has largely ignored or been highly selective in borrowing from this rich source of material in its attempt to supply the sort of a-historical diversion which it believes its clientele enjoys. Examples provided include the Open House Programme of the Barbados National Trust, the annual Crop Over Festival and Plantation Spectacular dinner shows. Finally, a few suggestions are advanced in order to try and understand the success of this type of tourism. They include references to postmodernity, nostalgia, dark tourism and varieties of promotion.     

Unpacking Pride’s commodification through the encounter

Debates complicating universal constructions of tourist commodification are far from new. Yet, within tourist studies distinctions continue to resurface that reify boundaries positioning processes of commodification as necessarily liberating, victimising or pathologising. Through these boundary making processes there is potential that the meanings, politics and memories of individuals, invested in experiences deemed ‘commodified’, become devalued as tourist scholars praise pre-commodified experience. This paper responds to these tensions through utilising a feminist embodied framework focused on the encounter. The paper troubles innate constructions of commodification, by showing how interpretation of commodification is spatially and socially specific to the moment of encounter. It is thus argued that analysis of the encounter offers a way to negotiate sponsorship requirements during event planning.