Conceptualizing and operationalizing nodal tourism functions

This paper reviews conceptualizations of nodal functions and presents a methodology for identifying and measuring the tourism functions of specific places with reference to place competitiveness. The methodology, which combines measures of length of stay and purpose of visit, is illustrated by a survey-based comparative analysis of ferry passengers traveling between two tourist nodes in New Zealand: Wellington and Picton. The results show distinctive differences between the two places in terms of their multiple functions expressed as origins, gateways, stopovers and destinations. Opportunities for modifying functions appear to be greatest amongst international travelers.     

Bamyan: Whose Heritage Was It and What Should We Do About It?

The destruction for ostensibly ideological reasons of the Buddhist statues at Bamyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban (whether or not inspired by Al-Qaeda) raises a number of wider issues. Apart from the problems of minority, dissonant and enclave heritage, there is the question, 'how can relics of the past that are valued in different ways by local, national and international claimants be managed in a way that satisfies all parties?' The idea of world heritage, and its manifestation in international tourism, may conflict with heritage used for local or national purposes. One, if not the most important, actor in this arena, UNESCO, is evaluated on the basis of its goals and efficiency in saving the heritage of mankind in the recent past. The dilemmas inherent in the concept of world heritage and possible solutions for its management are outlined.     

How do cities approach policy innovation and policy learning? A study of 30 policies in Northern Europe and North America

This paper reports on a study of current practice in policy transfer, and ways in which its effectiveness can be increased. A literature review identifies important factors in examining the transfer of policies. Results of interviews in eleven cities in Northern Europe and North America investigate these factors further.The principal motivations for policy transfer were strategic need and curiosity. Local officials and politicians dominated the process of initiating policy transfer, and local officials were also the leading players in transferring experience.A range of information sources are used in the search process but human interaction was the most important source of learning for two main reasons. First, there is too much information available through the Internet and the search techniques are not seen to be wholly effective in identifying the necessary information. Secondly, the information available on websites, portals and even good practice guides is not seen to be of mixed quality with risks of focussing only on successful implementation and therefore subject to some bias. Officials therefore rely on their trusted networks of peers for lessons as here they can access the ‘real implementation’ story and the unwritten lessons. Organisations which have a culture that is supportive of learning from elsewhere had strong and broad networks of external contacts and resourced their development whilst others are more insular or inward looking and reluctant to invest in policy lessons from elsewhere. Solutions to the problems identified in the evidence base are proposed.City to city policy transfer is a very active process in the field of transport. Not enough is yet understood about its benefits or the conditions under which it is most effective. Such understandings should help to promote and accelerate the uptake of effective and well matched policies.     

Has International Financial Integration Increased?

This paper compares the behavior of real interest rate differentials across the major countries under the Bretton Woods regime and the regime of floating exchanges that replaced it. The primary object is to investigate both the extent of market integration and its changes over time. For all fifteen possible country pairs real interest differentials are mean reverting, and in two-thirds of these cases indistinguishable from zero statistically. For all country pairs on average and for most such pairs individually, moreover, the estimated differentials are not appreciably different in absolute value than the differentials that we estimate for various money-market rates within the United States. Additional evidence points to a narrowing of differentials under floating rates over time and an increase in speeds of convergence.     

Technological interweavement: a means of achieving innovation success

In this paper, results are presented of an empirical study of the Lake Constance region covering a sample of 848 manufacturing companies. Based upon multivariate analyses, the paper documents that the mobilization of external resources and know-how is a critical factor for a firm's technological innovation success which in turn is the main determinant of commercial innovation success. The findings show that there are three kinds of technology-oriented external relationships, which prove to be of special importance: close contacts with customers, linkages to universities and research institutes and R&D-cooperations with other companies.     

Timing,order and durability of new product advantages with imitation

This research examined the effects of timing, order and the durability of first mover advantages by analyzing the stock market reactions to new product introductions and imitations. The major findings are that both timing and order of moves are important and that rival reactions undermine the durability of first mover advantages. More specifically, (1) early and fast movers achieve greater gains than late and slow movers, and (2) first movers suffer at the time of new product imitations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Knowledge management in technology-focused firms in emerging economies: Caveats on capabilities,networks, and real options

In mature economies, technology-focused industries and the management of knowledge are widely viewed as critical to success. Increasingly, in emerging economies technology-focused industries and the management of knowledge are also viewed as important. To date, however, little is known about such activities in emerging economies. Particularly, it is not understood how knowledge management can impact efforts for corporate renewal in such environments. The literatures of the resource-based view of the firm, social capital/network theory, and real options theory are vital to providing insights for technology-focused industries and the management of knowledge in mature economies. In this paper we focus on the caveats when applying such theoretical foundations to emerging economies. To illustrate these issues we will draw on the largest emergent economy in the world, China.

The evaluation of educational programmes

This paper addresses a problem which is at the forefront of educational debate in the Southern African economy. It attempts to set out the nature and processes of evaluators and the qualities necessary in evaluators if their task is to be accomplished with integrity. The article could be used to draw up basic guidelines that may be regarded as prerequisites for evaluating educational programmes in this country and promotes evaluation as a powerful means of refining educational programmes while they are in operation.