Transition to a market type economy: The case of Czechoslovakia

Conclusion The privatisation and liberalisation steps referred to are an expression of the endeavour to accompany stabilisation efforts as quickly as feasible with the institutional and systemic changes as well as with policies for restructuring, to change the behaviour patterns of economics agents. Until this change takes place, the more effective the restrictive policies are in the financial sphere, the higher the costs incurred in the real sphere will tend to be.The achievement of the desirable trade-offs between the conflicting aims of the macroeconomic development is thus linked with the degree of success in the changes of behaviour of economic agents. The macroeconomic stabilisation will therefore in the longer run depend on the extent to which the regime actually changes, on the positive destabilisation of economic agents and on the progress in their restructuring.In Czechoslovakia there does not therefore seem to be as clear-cut a distinction, as in other reforming countries, between the phases of stabilisation policies, institutional and systemic changes and those of the restructuring policies.The measures to transform the Czechoslovak economy and the implementation of these measures represent an attempt to proceed on a wider front, to take coordinated steps in all the relevant spheres, implying a greater degree of simultaneity. This is a reflection of the strategy chosen which aims at a qualitative change to be accomplished rapidly, taking into account the fact that the individual steps in the various spheres of the transition process are closely interconnected. The approach followed could thus be considered a strategy to introduce groups of complementary policy measures, that is to say, to make several reform packages and to implement them sequentially.     

Preferred shopping destination: Hong Kong versus Singapore

Visitor shopping is an important contributor to the economy of Hong Kong as it accounts for more than half the total visitors' expenditure. Owing to its significance, and strong competition from Singapore, Hong Kong must re‐examine the city's attraction to shoppers. The tourism and retail industries of Hong Kong must formulate effective strategies to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the shopping environment in both cities. This study surveys 309 international visitors about their shopping expectations and perceptions of Hong Kong and Singapore in 15 attributes. Results were analysed by SPSS software (Statistical Package for Social Science) using the techniques of frequencies and paired t‐tests. Singapore outperforms Hong Kong notably in many areas, such as language ability, attitude and efficiency of service staff. The findings indicate an urgency for Hong Kong to strive harder. In conclusion, the article provides some recommendations for the city to re‐establish its reputation as the ‘shopping paradise’ of the Asia Pacific region and to meet the challenge of Singapore as the preferred shopping destination. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The view from above: the relevance of shared aerial drone videos for destination marketing

ABSTRACT

The use of drones to produce videos has generated a large amount of visually appealing footage of various destinations. They attract much attention, but there are issues that affect their production, and their relevance to destination marketing. This research examines YouTube meta-data and spatial overlay analysis of shared aerial drone videos from the United Kingdom (UK). The results suggest that shared aerial drone videos have some unique user-generated content (UGC) characteristics and their spatial distribution tends to favor more populated areas. Theoretical and practical implications for destination marketing are further discussed.     

Theme park revenue management with a dual admission policy

There are several efforts to increase the revenue of theme parks. One of them is to divide admission policy into normal and express admission. If a certain customer buys express admission ticket with more expensive price, it is possible to reduce the excessive waiting time by using the exclusive waiting line for some or all the attraction’s rides. In this study, decision-making elements such as the price of the express admission ticket, maximum allowed number of express admission ticket per day, and the type of rides which can apply the express admission ticket are investigated to maximize the revenue.     

Privatization,market competition,international attractiveness,management tenure and hotel performance: Evidence from Slovenia

This paper tests several hypothesis related to the impact of privatization, market competition, management tenure and international attractiveness on the cost efficiency of tourist hotels. We measure efficiency using the innovative Bayesian frontier methodology. The data involve a sample of Slovenian hotels which operate in a highly dynamic environment. From the results, it is clear that hotel efficiency is positively related to privatization and international attractiveness, and negatively related to longer management tenure. No significant link, on the other hand, is found between market competition and hotel efficiency. Further discussions of these findings and related managerial implications are provided.     

Boom‐Baby CEOs,Career Experience,and Risk Taking: A Natural Experiment Using Chinese CEOs’ Growth Paths

China's economy represents a unique experimental environment, in that it has undergone a successful transformation from a planned to a more open system. Leveraging this natural experimental setting, this study examines the impacts of CEOs’ formative experiences on their risk‐taking behavior. Two events likely constitute formative experiences for CEOs: economic reforms that commenced in 1978 and their prior career experiences. In turn, CEOs’ risk tolerance attitudes likely reflect the influences of these significant events. The results show that CEOs who experienced economic reforms in their early adult life exhibit higher risk‐taking likelihood and greater risk tolerance than those who grew up during the planned economy era. Furthermore, firm performance achieved by CEOs’ risk taking is significantly better when CEOs originally started working in and then remained within business sectors.