The resilience of formal and informal tourism enterprises to disasters: reef tourism in Phuket,Thailand

This paper explores the resilience of vulnerable tourism sectors to disasters in a period of global change and interdependence. The coral reef tourism industry is highly vulnerable to natural disasters and economic and political shocks. The paper also explains why enterprise resilience is central to sustainable tourism management, for economic, socio-cultural and environmental reasons. It extends the concepts of ecological and social resilience to that of enterprise resilience. Using scenarios and interviews with key enterprise staff, the study contrasts the levels of resilience of formal and informal reef tourism enterprises, and the factors associated with the enterprise resilience in Phuket, Thailand, following the 2004 tsunami and the 2008 political crisis. Informal enterprises reported better financial condition in a crisis scenario and higher levels of social capital in the form of government, family and community support than formal enterprises. Formal and informal enterprises both enjoy high lifestyle benefits from reef tourism, which supports resilience. Most formal enterprises had part foreign ownership/management (61%); no informal enterprise had any foreign ownership or management. Management policies supporting reef tourism should consider local nuances and the importance of lifestyle benefits for both formal and informal enterprises, and take steps to enable enterprise flexibility and cost-cutting during crises.     

Social Return on Investment (SROI) and Performance Measurement

Abstract

Social enterprises are being promoted as responsive and innovative way to deliver public services. As part of this promotion, these organizations are being required to demonstrate the social and economic value they generate. Social return on investment (SROI) is a performance measurement tool currently being encouraged to capture this impact. This paper draws on survey and interview data to analyse how SROI is used and understood in health and social care settings. It indicates that despite being accepted as an internationally recognized measurement tool for social enterprise, SROI is underused and undervalued due to practical and ideological barriers.     

The nonequivalence of tariffs,import quotas,and voluntary export restraints

This paper compares the equilibrium levels of prices, imports, production and consumption under a tariff, an import quota, and a voluntary export restraint when each trade restriction is set so as to lead to the same quantity of imports. Competitive, domestic production monopoly, import monopoly, and export monopoly cases are examined. Voluntary export restraints are shown to have different effects than import quotas or tariffs, especially when some potential exporters remain outside the agreements.     

Managerial Commitment to Sustainable Supply Chain Management Projects

Most companies are under pressure to improve the environmental sustainability of their supply chains. However, there is considerable variance in companies' ability to successfully deploy environmental management projects. One important factor, according to articles in the academic and business press, is the ability of champions of sustainable supply chain management (SCM) projects within organizations to gain the commitment of colleagues (e.g., other managers from a variety of functions) to help these projects succeed. Therefore, this paper examines variables that affect a project champion's ability to gain this commitment from colleagues. In particular, building on existing research, this research employs a video‐based experimental design to examine the effect of the influence approach that the project champion employs, the values of the person the champion is trying to influence, and the organizational climate. The results suggest that organizational climate and certain individual values directly affect commitment. There are also interactions between values and influence tactics. The research adds to the field's growing knowledge on the antecedents of sustainable SCM within companies while providing valuable guidance for environmental champions and for top managers.     

Reframing gender and feminist knowledge construction in marketing and consumer research: missing feminisms and the case of men and masculinities

Abstract

Gender has been theorised and studied in many ways and across different disciplines. Although a number of these theorisations have been recognised and adopted in marketing and consumer research, the significance of feminism in knowledge construction has largely remained what we would call ‘unfinished’. Based on a critical reframing of gender research in marketing and consumer research, in dialogue with feminist theory, this article offers theoretical and practical suggestions for how to reinvigorate these research efforts. The analysis highlights dominant theorisations of gender, relating to gender as variable, difference and role; as fundamental difference and structuring; and as cultural and identity constructions. This reframing emphasises various neglected or ‘missing feminisms’, including queer theory; critical race, intersectional and transnational feminisms; material-discursive feminism; and critical studies on men and masculinities. A more detailed discussion of the latter, as a relatively new, growing and politically contentious area, is further developed to highlight more specifically which feminist and gender theories are mainly in use in marketing and consumer research and which are little or not used. In the light of this, it is argued that marketing and related disciplines have thus far largely neglected several key contemporary gender and feminist theorisations, particularly those that centre on gender power relations. The potential impact of these theoretical frames on transdisciplinary studies in marketing and consumer research and research agenda(s) is discussed.     

Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: Past contributions and future directions

This article discusses the emerging research concerned with sustainable development and entrepreneurship, which is the focus of this special issue of the Journal of Business Venturing. Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a major conduit for sustainable products and processes, and new ventures are being held up as a panacea for many social and environmental concerns. However, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the nature of entrepreneurship's role and how it may unfold. We begin with an overview of sustainable development and the role of entrepreneurship and outline recent contributions exploring this role. We then summarize the papers presented in this special issue and conclude with suggestions for further research.     

Give Them Something to Smile About: A Marketing Strategy for Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Using a marketing perspective, this study investigates whether the issue of “fun at work” would appeal to volunteers as a part of an effort to enhance recruitment and retention. Specifically, we examined volunteers' attitudes toward fun, their perceptions of what kinds of activities are fun and what are not, and the relative importance of workplace fun in what they perceive as an ideal volunteer position. In general, we found that volunteers had positive attitudes towards fun and experiencing fun at work was associated with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions. Although “a fun workplace” was ranked relatively low in importance relative to other reasons why they volunteer, creating such an environment could enhance retention. Some age and gender differences were found in the perceptions of whether certain activities are fun or not. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Hear nothing,do nothing: The role of word of mouth in the decision-making of older consumers

Abstract

In some product categories, older consumers (aged 65+) tend to be more brand loyal, have smaller consideration sets and defer purchase more than younger consumers. This conservative behaviour may arise, in part, because older people are more socially isolated and thus receive less social influence relating to product options. In this multi-study research, the volume of word of mouth (WOM) is used as an indicator of social influence. The WOM received by men and women falls substantially beyond age 65, indicating that a deficit in advice may be part of the explanation for conservative decision-making. To test this proposition, the duration of customer tenure of the current brand (how long the respondent has been a customer) is used as a measure of purchase deferral and, as predicted, tenure is longer when less WOM is received. This evidence indicates that some older consumers experience a degree of social isolation, which affects their decision-making. In marketing and social policy, there is a need to promote procedures, technologies and institutions that help older people to connect with others.     

Initial Steps in High-Frequency Modeling of China

This paper presents the first step in building a forecasting model of Chinas GDP. Being constrained by a statistical history that effectively begins in 1993, it uses high frequency data and principal components analysis to construct a single-equation model that generates elasticities and is applied to two-quarter-ahead forecasts. Initial results suggest a gradual deceleration of growth, consistent with Chinese government policy.A version of this paper was presented as part of Lawrence R. Kleins Adam Smith Award Address at the NABE Annual Meeting, October 4, 2004. The Adam Smith Award Address was sponsored by Global Insight.JEL Classification C5,O53     

The impact of the meal situation on the consumption of ready meals

The context in which a meal is eaten is known to affect intake and choice of food. The purpose of this study was to investigate in what typical situations ready meals are consumed and if consumer demands vary according to different situations. With a market survey four typical ready meal eating situations were identified, and the respondent's ready meal consumption was shown to be affected by situational factors. In the different eating situations there were dissimilar reasons for consumption. Two ready meal eating situations were investigated in greater detail in order to establish what triggered the ready meal consumption in these situations. One of these meal situations proved to be convenience driven and the other time driven. A situation‐oriented approach is suggested for further ready meal product development.