An Exploratory Use of Web Content Analysis to Understand Cruise Tourism Services

Research within the cruise industry now has the ability to utilize Web‐based content analysis. This paper provides an example of a methodology that explores patterns of co‐creation of value on board cruise ships using holiday reviews retrieved through Web content mining from CruiseCritic.com . The aim is to add to the field of co‐creation and cruise tourism by providing an approach to exploratory Web‐based data collection. With the use of a data‐driven approach to knowledge discovery, this paper provides a means to achieve a deeper understanding of guest‐to‐guest and guest‐to‐staff interactions on board cruise ships. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wage and employment effects of Malawi's fertilizer subsidy program

This article uses three waves of nationally representative household‐level panel data from Malawi to estimate how a large‐scale fertilizer subsidy program impacts the agricultural labor market, known as ganyu in that country. I find that when looking across the entire population of smallholders, receiving an additional 100 kg of subsidized fertilizer causes the average household to supply about three fewer days of ganyu. The fertilizer subsidy program also has a small positive effect on the probability that a household demands agricultural labor, with the results approaching statistical significance. In addition, a 10 kg increase in the average amount of subsidized fertilizer acquired per household in a community boosts the median agricultural wage rate by 1.4% in that community. The increase in wage rates translates to a US $1.40 per year increase in average household income in the years after Malawi's subsidy program was scaled up, and a US $1.86 per year increase in average household income for those who sold their labor before the subsidy program was scaled up. This finding suggests that households who sell their labor off farm may experience some small spillover benefit from the program in the form of higher agricultural wage rates.     

Economics of Soil Compaction due to Machinery Traffic and Implications for Machinery Selection

To determine the impact of soil compaction, experiments were carried out on corn in 1976 (above-average rainfall year) and in 1977 (below-average rainfall year) with various sizes of tractors and levels of intensities (number of passes). Contrary to the common belief, larger tractors were found to cause less economic loss. These losses ranged from $400/ha for 30 kW tractors to $63/ha for 180 kW tractors in 1976. The losses (or gains in 1977) are added to the fixed, operating, and timeliness costs of machinery, which is obtained by the engineering method of finding the least-cost machinery complement. The optimum machinery sizes are then calculated and discussed for corn silage and grain corn crops, based on the typical six passes/operations under two weather conditions. Afin de déterminer les implications de la compaction du sol, des expériences ont été réalisées sur le maïs en 1976 (année avec des précipitations au-dessus de la moyenne) et en 1977 (année avec des précipitations en dessous de la moyenne). Pour réaliser ces expériences, des tracteurs de différentes grosseurs ont été utilisés à différents niveaux d'intensité (nombre de passages). Contrairement à la croyance populaire, les plus gros tracteurs ont été ceux qui ont le moins affecté le rendement des plantes. En 1976, les pertes de rendement ont varié entre $ 400/ha a avec un tracteur de 30 kW et $63/ha avec un tracteur de 180 kW. Ces pertes (ou gains comme ce fut le cas en 1977) ont été additionnées aux coûts fixes, variables ainsi qu'aux coûts dus aux retards d'exécution associés à la machinerie agricole. Finalement, les grosseurs optimales de tracteurs sont calculées et discutées pour le maïs-fourrager et le maïs-grain en se basant sur une intensité d'utilisation de six passages/opérations pour deux conditions météorologiques différentes.     

关注报告在供应链中的作用

近三年来,中国已经成为全世界企业社会责任报告量增加最快的国家,这代表着国内各种利益相关方对可持续发展正高度关注。目前来看,推进企业社会责任最大的驱动力来自于企业回应社会对环境恶化及社会公平的关心,比较少针对企业合作伙伴。但在未来,企业社会责任报告可能成为提升供应链竞争力的重要工具。     

Low Pay and Wage Regulation in the European Community

The prospect of direct intervention in the process of wage determination as envisaged in the Social Charter has met with considerable criticism. In particular, employers' organizations and certain governments have rejected outright the proposal to require firms to pay an equitable wage. However, in all member-states except the UK and Ireland, arrangements exist to ensure that nearly all workers are covered by minimum wage protection (through national minimum wages or full-coverage collective agreements). In this article the nature of low-paid employment in member-states is examined and different methods of wage regulation are described. After reviewing the economic effects of wage regulation, we discuss possible initiatives on wage regulation at the Community level.     

Victoria de Grazia. Irresistible Empire: America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005. 586 pp. ISBN 0-674-01672-6, $29.95 (cloth).

There is no doubt that the twentieth century is America’scentury, but the terms of that conquest and dominance are lesscertain and apparent. Of course, military force has much todo with the creation of this hegemony, despite periodic boutsof isolationism. But even in these moments of vaunted withdrawalfrom the political and military systems of the world, thereis nothing to suggest a withdrawal in an economic sense. Indeed,during the isolationist 1920s, as de Grazia describes it, theUnited States was having