Valuing Australian botanic collections: a combined travel‐cost and contingent valuation study*

Economic values of biological collections in three Australian botanic gardens in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney were estimated using the travel‐cost method (TCM) and the contingent valuation method (CVM). The TCM component of the study produced average per‐trip consumer surplus (CS) values of $39 and $18 for single‐ and multiple‐site visitors, respectively, for each botanic garden, resulting in an estimate of approximately $194 million for the total social welfare generated by trips to the three sites. Marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for access to botanic gardens was also investigated through payment vehicles of entry fees or higher parking charges using the CVM component. The analysis revealed a positive mean WTP of between $3 and $5 per trip per person. The difference between the CVM and TCM results reflect the different underlying concepts of value under investigation: average CS per visit for the TCM and the utility arising from a marginal visit for the CVM. Marginal changes in CS from the TCM were derived. The confidence intervals from the TCM marginal values overlap the WTP estimates from the CVM. These findings will be useful for resource management decisions in the botanic gardens collection in Australia.     

Updated Estimates of the Costs Associated with Thirty Four Endemic Livestock Diseases in Great Britain: A Note

This Note outlines the further development of a system of models for the estimation of the costs of livestock diseases first presented by Bennett (2003). The models have been developed to provide updated and improved estimates of the costs associated with 34 endemic diseases of livestock in Great Britain, using border prices and including assessments of the impact of diseases on human health and animal welfare. Results show that, of the diseases studied, mastitis has the highest costs for cattle diseases, enzootic abortion for sheep diseases, swine influenza for pig diseases and salmonellosis for poultry diseases.     

Defensive capacity: the influence of the facilitation‐regulation space

In their paper ‘Loss of Defensive Capacity in Protective Operations: The Implications of the Überlingen and Linate Disasters’ Busby and Bennett attribute the ‘defensive capacity’ of an airspace system to the behaviour of those who constitute its production‐protection space (first‐line producers like avionics manufacturers, airlines, pilots' groups and airport authorities). This paper argues that an airspace system's defensive capacity is also a function of the behaviour of those who constitute its ‘facilitation‐regulation’ space – the rulemakers (and, to some degree, the non‐statutory bodies who seek to influence them). This elaboration recognises two aspects of regulation. First that some regulators are responsible for promoting both safety and efficiency (the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for example). Secondly that regulators who prioritise efficiency over safety may reduce overall system safety and/or create opportunities (affordances) for unsafe behaviour. The argument is illustrated with reference to the National Transportation Safety Board's criticism of the FAA's human factors training programmes for air traffic controllers, its aircraft surface‐movement standards and procedures and its air traffic controller rostering practices following the 2006 crash of a passenger aircraft at Lexington, Kentucky and FAA's implementation of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System.     

Business associations and their potential contribution to the competitiveness of SMEs

This paper examines the relations between small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and business associations. It identifies sectoral, local and national dimensions and reports survey results in Britain that evidence the range of services supplied and demanded. The paper reviews the theoretical understanding of how associations operate and how they can be expected to relate to their SME members. Using this framework the paper then assesses, largely using new survey evidence, the types of associations most relevant to SMEs, their characteristics, and their services. The paper concludes by arguing that SMEs are one of the least well represented groups of business, their interests are often likely to be swamped in association governance either by large businesses or by employee–status individuals. In general there are also limits to development of services through business associations, although there is strong variation between businesses by sector, location and size. The author concludes that contributions by associations through specific services to individual companies appears to be relatively limited. The chief contribution of associations to competitiveness of their member businesses appears to be their improvement of collective industry standards, e.g. through codes of conduct, information, collective events, benchmarking and management seminars.     

Internationalisation of British fundraising charities: a two-phase empirical study

• A two-phase mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) study was undertaken to identify and then to confirm the main dimensions and the principal antecedents of the internationalisation behaviour of a sample of British charities known to engage in foreign operations. Specifically the investigation examined the factors that explained charities' decisions to enter foreign countries, the motivations and practical methods involved and the time periods elapsing between first and subsequent entry. Outcomes were compared against theories of internationalisation developed by previous studies completed in the commercial domain. The approaches to internationalisation adopted by 15 organisations were established, and the generalisability of these approaches tested via a mail survey that elicited 238 responses. Least squares, Cox time and logistic regression analyses were completed to determine the factors that significantly influenced the extents and timings of the sample members' international activities. It emerged that some but not all of the considerations that have been found to affect the internationalisation of commercial firms also impacted on the patterns of internationalisation pursued by many of the sample organisations, especially managerial inclinations and participation in networks. However, psychic distance was seemingly irrelevant to charities' internationalisation decisions. Rather, a construct termed for present purposes as ‘philanthropic imperative’ constituted a crucial determinant of behaviour. The results imply that charities' levels of involvement in networks should be encouraged and that charity support organisations need to develop their institutional networking facilities. Also, charity managers should question whether the most favoured mode of entry to foreign countries (i.e. the ad hoc project partnership (PP)) is necessarily the most effective.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Service sector SMEs and essential skill provision in the 16–25 year old labour market: Evidence from Northern Ireland

This paper uses an employer survey of Northern Ireland (NI) service sector small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) to assess the nature and extent of labour market shortages arising from a lack of basic skills among the 16–25 year old workforce. Relative to literacy and numeracy skills, employers were found to place a slightly heavier weight on the more generic skills of attitude, communication and motivation. The rate of skills related to unfilled vacancies among service sector SMEs was found to exceed that of high-tech/ high value-added sectors which have traditionally been the focus of policy makers; it was also found that in instances where such skill shortages were due to a lack of basic literacy/ numeracy skills they exerted a negative impact on productivity performance. While employers were found to be highly supportive of existing delivery frameworks they were also open to alternative methods of basic skill acquisition based around the interests of young people and delivered outside the traditional qualifications framework. Finally, the lack of awareness among employers of a number of basic skills accreditation schemes and awarding bodies raises serious questions with respect to the effectiveness of such programmes.     

Coups,regime transitions,and institutional consequences

Coups and regime transitions are events that typically are intended to change the basic institutional framework of a country. Which specific institutions change and the consequences of these changes nevertheless remains largely unknown. Change after a coup or transition implies that some form of political or judiciary barrier has been erected or removed. We therefore focus on what happens to the quality of judicial institutions and political corruption around coup attempts and other types of regime transitions. We hypothesize that when coups are conducted by members of the incumbent political elite, they are likely to remove barriers to change while coup makers outside of the ruling elite are more likely to do the opposite and thus protect themselves from what remains of the elite in the political system. Using the new Bjørnskov-Rode coup dataset, our results suggest that successful coups are associated with degradation of institutions, with successful military coups in particular having a significant negative effect. Results are more varied for civilian coups where we find indications of differences depending on whether the coup makers are part of a political elite or not. We also explore whether the incumbent regime influences the effect of coup attempts on institutional change.     

Transferring technology from university to rural industry within a developing economy context: The case for nurturing communities of practice

The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate how technology transfer between universities and rural industries in developing countries can be achieved effectively, using independent research and advisory centres as intermediaries. It draws on a longitudinal action research study, which experiments with the process of nurturing and bridging communities of practice amongst recipients of technology and stakeholders concerned with technology diffusion, productivity and economic development. Its empirical evidence is from an academic-related, non-government intervention initiative targeting two small-scale industries, namely fish farming and coffee production, in the Cauca region of Colombia. Results demonstrate how barriers to transfer can be overcome. The intervention is considered as instrumental; its key components and outcomes are discussed in detail.     

Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for organic conversion-grade food: Evidence from five EU countries

In recent years, in overall value, the EU has become a net importer of organic food to supply increasing demand. Financial support for farmers during the conversion period has been made to help expand organic production as this was seen as a barrier to conversion. Meanwhile, farmers have been marketing products produced in this conversion period and labelled as such, the extent to which is described here for the UK, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland and Italy. Consumers’ attitudes towards, and willingness-to-pay for, conversion-grade food in these countries is examined. It was found that consumers would be prepared to pay a premium for conversion-grade produce of around half the premium for organic produce with vegetables attracting a higher premium than meat. Finally, the potential of policies for marketing conversion-grade products to encourage more conversion is examined, together with barriers to achieving this. It is concluded that barriers to marketing such products, particularly from retailers, will be formidable. Thus, alternative policies are suggested.