Comparative performance of UK mutual building societies and stock retail banks: further evidence

The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on the comparative performance of mutual and stock retail banks by examining a unique episode in the history of financial services; namely, when four of the largest UK building societies (accounting for approximately 60 per cent of the industry's assets) demutualized to public limited company status in 1997. The episode allows us to consider the relative performance of the same businesses under different organizational forms. The results contrast starkly with previous findings and cast doubt on the hypothesis that mutuals generally outperform stock retail banks and indeed the idea that mutuals can be regarded as a homogeneous group of institutions.     

Donor retention: an exploratory study of door‐to‐door recruits

• Door‐to‐door fundraising, where recruiters knock on the door of domestic dwellings to solicit a regular donation, is an increasingly popular recruitment technique. However, reported levels of attrition remain unacceptably high and in some cases charities may lose up to 50% of their new recruits in their first year of giving. In this exploratory study of 5000 active and 5000 lapsed recruits the demographic and attitudinal profiles of each group are compared. The paper concludes that lapsed donors are significantly younger than active recruits and experienced some form of pressure at the point of recruitment. Lapsed supporters were also significantly less happy with the quality of ongoing communication.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multi-organizational cross-sectoral collaboration: empirical evidence from an ‘Empty Homes’ project

This paper analyses the processes, outcomes and tensions of a cross-sectoral collaborative venture involving several organizations with multiple logics and is based on empirical evidence from a collaborative ‘Empty Homes’ project. While, paradoxically, multiple logics are a basis for the partnership's existence (for example ‘value for money’ and local community benefit) to achieve these different aims simultaneously, its other aims or logics at times conflicted, resulting in intra-partnership tensions. Hence we offer novel insights into the practical aspects of collaboration at a local level and on multi-organizational relationships.     

Tourism and online photography

This paper documents the use of online travel photo-sharing technologies among Hong Kong residents. The advent of Web 2.0 is changing fundamentally the tourist information search and destination choice process. Yet, to date, no study has documented Web 2.0 usage levels and preferences for certain media for posting travel photographs across an entire community. This study reveals that some 89% of pleasure travelers take photographs and that 41% of them posted their photographs online. Social network sites (SNSs), instant messaging, online photo albums and personal blogs were the most popular media used. In general, people who post photographs online tend to be younger, better educated, and earn a higher income than those who do not. The study determined that most people also use multiple media platforms to disseminate their images. Cluster analysis based on the four major styles of online platform identified five cohorts of users who differed in number and type of media used, demographic profile and travel motive. Implications for destination promotion are discussed.     

Cross‐cultural tourist behavior: An analysis of tourist attitudes towards the environment

In a cross‐cultural tourist behavioral study, skiers from three different countries were surveyed in order to understand their environmental awareness and knowledge. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was also used to discover their willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for environmentally‐friendly skiing products. The results point to a general lack of knowledge and even confusion amongst skiers about environmental issues pertaining to skiing. However, skiers say they will be more likely to visit a resort that is environmentally‐responsible. Use of the CVM indicated a strong correlation between WTP and the cost of the holiday, level of income and level of environmental conscience. The majority of skiers would pay more for a “greener” ski resort, but significant differences in responses were found between the three cultures. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The pathfinder process in Northern Ireland

Government has many customers — not just the individual citizen, but also corporate customers from the private sector. Getting close to those customers will require changes in the nature of public sector culture. Below are two examples — the first from Northern Ireland and the second from Whitehall — of government departments which have tried to change the way in which they do things.     

飞向2000年

不列颠航空公司飞入新的千年,标志着不列颠航空进入自１２年前从国有企业转为私营企业后的第四个发展阶段。第一阶段,我们着重塑造作为一个服务型企业的形象,鼓励员工向旅客提供世界一流的服务,以确保公司的长久收益并逐步提高利润率。９０年代初期,海湾战争使得本来就由于世界经济低潮而不景气的航空市场雪上加霜,我们只得在这样不景气的市场中努力抗争。面对困境,我们发扬不列颠航空的最佳传统,紧紧抓住公司的世界形象,并致力于内部结构重组。第三个阶段是明确我们是成本竞争。１９９６年制定的公司效益计划明确,为了确保长久竞争力,必要…     

Cultural effects in East Asian strategic decision-making

This article asks whether Asian businesses take strategic decisions in distinctively Asian ways. It develops hypotheses about Asian decisionmaking from a consideration of theoretical cultural dimensions and empirical data in the literature. Contrary to expectations, an analysis of data from a survey of top Asian managers indicates that East Asian managers take decisions in a more rational manner relative to their Western counterparts. A distinction between social and cognitive dimensions of decision-making processes is suggested to explain some of these findings. Important unresolved questions are raised about the interpretation of cultural dimensions and about potential biases in empirical reports of East Asian decision-making characteristics. Implications for cultural differences research are discussed.     

The effects of pleasure and arousal on recall of advertisements during the Super Bowl

This study investigates whether pleasure and arousal levels of viewers watching a sports program affect advertisement recall. The results suggest that programs that evoke strong emotional reactions, such as the Super Bowl, may inhibit the recall of advertisements and brands. Specifically, these findings seem to support the Intensity (arousal) theory and may have important implications for advertisers who promote their products or services on sports‐related event programming. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.