Interpersonal Stress Reactions and Service Quality Responses among Hospitality Industry Employees

Work stress is now recognised as a major issue in the human resource management arena, for both staff and management. Within the hospitality industry context, service quality issues are beginning to assume major importance in the success of many operations. This study has sought to understand interpersonal conflict work stress responses associated with hospitality industry employee-management conflict, together with approaches to service quality issues among a sample of Australian hospitality industry domain was the sole predictor of the clearer and more autonomous work role stress response, and the management service quality domain was the predictor of the better management communication stress response. Better communication by management presented as the dominant stress response, and was found to be particularly associated with femalae hospitality industry employees. Implications of these findings for both hospitality industry employees and for hospitality industry management are explored.     

Firm and Industry Effects of Advertising Accountancy Services

This article takes up the theme of the growing importance of the need to market financial and professional services by an examination of the case of accountancy services. Recent relaxations on the advertising of accountancy service call for an examitration of the appropriate marketing strategy for accounting firms. Discussion in the article indicates that firm size will have an important influence on the appropriateness of advertising and the form that it fakes. Advertising should form part of an integrated marketing strategy and not be seduced by the relaxation of the controls into focusing attention solely on this one aspect of marketing. As regards industry effects, advertising may be seen to reinforce concentration in the provision of both audit and particrtlarly non-audit services. There are benefits to smaller firms, however, through the use of advertising to emphasise specialist skills. In terms of conduct, advertising may help build up a barrier to entry into the provision of certain services, but is unlikely to replace price competition for the capture of audit clients as a key to the provision of non-audit services.     

The Impact of Regulation on the Strategy and Structure of Building Societies

A new Building Societies Act was passed in July 1986, radically changing the regulatory framework governing societies which had remained in force since 1962. The provisions of the Act allow societies to move into areas of activity from which they have previously been prohibited. At the same time that legislation was being passed specifically relating to building societies, the whole of the personal financial services market was experiencing what is generally seen as a revolution. Hence societies find themselves at a development crossroads at a time of great uncertainty. Although there has been much informed and some speculative comment, there has hitherto been little attempt at quantifying the likely future directions that building societies will take. This article seeks to remedy this situation by drawing upon the results of two surveys in which senior building society executives and their counterparts in other financial institutions were invited to give their views on the trends in personal financial services provision over the next five years.     

Charging for the use of plant varieties

Private and many publicly funded plant breeding organisations charge farmers for use of varieties they develop. This article compares four alternative charging mechanisms and outlines responses to these alternatives by farmers and plant breeders. Risk-averse farmers and breeders are shown to have opposite preferences for charging mechanisms. Results suggest profit-based or ad valorem royalties are preferred by farmers whereas breeders prefer area or tonnage-based royalties. Risk-sharing arrangements between both parties could lead to an overall preference for profit-based or ad valorem royalties. However, this finding is subject to important caveats and practical limitations.     

Consumer Socialization and the Role of Branding in Hazardous Adolescent Drinking

This study examines the relationship between alcohol marketing and consumer socialization to alcohol brands (assessed here using aided and unaided brand recognition and brand saliency), and the associated relationship between consumer socialization and hazardous alcohol consumption among a cohort of adolescents surveyed in Scotland. The research addresses gaps in the consumer socialization literature, by examining how marketing influences brand consumer socialization, and how brand consumer socialization influences subsequent hazardous consumption behavior over time, using a robust longitudinal design that assesses causal relationships while controlling for a wide range of important confounding variables. The results demonstrate the contribution of marketing to adolescents’ brand socialization to alcohol and the impact of this socialization on subsequent drinking behaviors. Implications for marketing managers, parents, policymakers, and consumer researchers are discussed, together with suggestions for future consumer research.     

Global GDP shares in the 21st century — An equilibrium approach

Using a 9-region model of the world economy, we investigate the implications of the diffusion of total factor productivity (TFP) for global GDP shares during the 21st century. The nine regions are: Africa, Asia (excluding China, India and Japan), China, Europe, India, Japan, Latin America, North America and Oceania. According to our projections, TFP catch-up at a plausible rate implies that the share of the high-income regions will more than halve by 2050 and almost halve again in the subsequent 50 years. These projected shares are little affected by variations in demographic outcomes, saving behaviour and international capital flows, but are reduced substantially should TFP catch-up be slower.     

China's new law on enterprise bankruptcy: a story with a happy end?

The Chinese National People's Congress has recently promulgated a new law on enterprise bankruptcy, which will come into force in June 2007. For the first time, the law intends to cover generally both private and state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). The law does widely comply with accepted international standards and provisions found in modern insolvency codes of other jurisdictions. However, it also contains several gaps, blurred provisions and legislative shortcomings, which have to be addressed promptly in order to assure a smooth implementation of the new law. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sundstrand: A Case Study in Transformation of Cultural Ethics

This analysis examines whistleblowing within the context of organizational culture. Several factors which have provided impetus for organizations to emphasize ethical conduct and to encourage internal, rather than external, whistleblowing are identified. Inadequate protection for whistleblowers and statutory enticement for them to report ethical violations externally are discussed. Sundstrand's successful model for cultural change and encouragement of internal whistleblowing is analyzed to show how their model of demonstrating management's commitment to ethical conduct, establishing ethical expectations of employees, training to ensure that employees understand the concepts and expectations, promoting of employee ownership of the program, making the program visible, protecting the whistleblower and undertaking periodic reviews of the program's success may serve as a model for other organizations.