Income Redistribution and Direct Taxes and Transfers in New Zealand

This article examines the redistributive effects of direct taxes and transfers in New Zealand. First, it reports summary measures of the income tax-and-transfer system using the NZ Household Economic Survey. Second, the article examines the characteristics of low-income NZ taxpayers. A decomposition by individual and household characteristics shows that different groups of low-income taxpayers can be affected quite differently by various aspects of the tax-and-transfer system. In particular, reforms involving tax-free zones do not appear to be well targeted to help those most in need.     

360-Grad-Kommunikation und Customer Touchpoint Management — Die Pepsi-Kampagne „I CAN be a Star“

Fragmentierte Kommunikationskan?le, sich fast t?glich wandelndes Informationsverhalten der Konsumenten und immer neue Optionen für Ansprache und Dialog mit den Konsumenten: Marken artikler stehen vor immer komplexeren Aufgabenstellungen. Wie Markenverantwortliche die Vielzahl m?glicher Kommunikationskan?le am effizientesten orchestrieren und die Customer Touchpoints am wirksamsten gestalten, um ihre Marke nachhaltig in den K?pfen der Zielgruppe zu verankern, zeigt dieses Fallbeispiel.     

Mergers, welfare, and concentration: Results from a model of stackelberg-cournot oligopoly

This paper explores the relationship between mergers, welfare, and concentration, using a two-stage oligopoly model that generalizes the Cournot and Stackelberg models. This model has been used to show that some profitable mergers raise welfare and that some welfare-lowering mergers are unprofitable. Based on this, one might conclude that policy designed to restrict mergers is unnecessary or even counterproductive. This present paper examines in greater detail the implications of this model and finds that a merger's effects depend not only on the reduction in the number of firms, but also on premerger and postmerger firm behavior. In fact, most mergers lower welfare, and many of these are profitable. Usually, but not always, changes in concentration and welfare are negatively related.     

Mind the gaps: a political economy of the multiple dimensions of China's rural–urban divide

China's impressive growth has been accompanied by high inequality and a wide rural–urban divide. This paper identifies and examines some of the major dimensions of this divide: income, consumption, education, employment, health care, pensions, access to public services, and the environment. The paper attributes the main causes of the divide to China's urban‐biased development strategies and the resulting lack of social provision of public goods in rural areas. It also highlights the severe and multidimensional constraints on the Chinese peasantry and argues that increased equality and efficiency can now be pursued simultaneously.     

The self-catering accommodation market: A review of electronic and other sources

This paper contributes to a better understanding the self-catering accommodation sector by considering its nature and scope within Scotland, the UK and the international context. It reviews the available literature search and also presents an exhaustive search of the Internet. The term “self catering accommodation” typically refers to cottages and holiday flats, but also may include larger premises as well as mobile units such as boats. Student accommodation comes into this category, as do serviced apartments for business use. Self-catered accommodation is widely used for activity holidays, and courses for outward-bound or country pursuits. The sector is considered in terms of economic impact, ownership, and mode of use, and an analysis of the market shows that it has grown and changed rapidly since the 1980s driven by changes in the economy and advances in technology. During the same period demand has increased due to demographic, economic and lifestyle changes, the predominant segments being older and middle-aged customers and young couples without children. The growth of short break holidays and a growing interest in country pursuits and activity holidays favour the self-catering sector.     

Supply‐side perspectives on ecotourism in Northern Thailand

This study provides a supply‐side perspective on ecotourism by exploring the ways in which travel agents and tour operators in Chiang Mai, Thailand conceptualise, prioritise and furnish ecotourism. Although travel agents and tour operators serve as crucial intermediaries between tourists and destinations, the ecotourism literature has largely ignored the ways in which retailers and suppliers of tourism experience approach and define ecotourism. Using quantitative data gathered from 300 travel agents and tour operators, this paper illustrates that the conceptualisation of ecotourism among agents and operators in Chiang Mai is expansive, flexible and, in some ways, internally contradictory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Navigating in the Midst of More Uncertainty and Risk

With the steady increase in the variety and scale of uncertainties and risks, the challenges for today's executives have become ever more complex and daunting. One powerful tool for navigating among different risks and uncertainties is scenario planning. From its early days of use within Shell, scenario planning has evolved in ways that make it better suited to the tasks of identifying, analyzing, and managing various financial risks across different industries. During the last ten years, Morgan Stanley has also been using scenario planning to gain a better understanding of key risks and uncertainties facing the financial services industry, ranging from the consequences of possible changes in the dollar to the emergence of hedge funds and the remarkable growth of China and India. In discussing the benefits of scenario planning, the authors note its potential to help management in a number of ways:

• ? By challenging conventional thinking and current assumptions about its industry and world;
• ? By identifying key signals or potential direction changes ahead of time, which is especially important when lead times to invest, hedge, or change assets are limiting factors;
• ? By identifying and assessing the value of strategic or “real” options—options to invest in new opportunities or limit downside risks that may suddenly open up or disappear, and that man‐ agement must be prepared to “exercise” quickly and decisively;
• ? By reinforcing the recognition that value added comes not just from better strategic thinking and planning, but from the role of risk management in helping companies take advantage of new opportunities;
• ? By encouraging more cross‐divisional and firm‐wide conversations about strategic choices and options, thereby creating a shared understanding of and greater consensus about chosen strategies; and
• ? By forcing them to go beyond the limits of typical three‐to‐five year forecasting limitations to think hard about longer‐term strategic choices.

     

Transformational leadership,group affective tone,and group member social inferences: A leadership complementarity perspective

We investigated how the complementarity between transformational leadership behaviours and group potency predicts changes in group affective tone and subsequent group members' social inferences (job satisfaction, trust in supervisors, and turnover intentions). We analyzed two waves of data from 135 skilled professionals working in 29 groups within a Canadian government agency. Transformational leadership behaviours did not directly relate to changes in group affective tone. However, group potency moderated the relationship between transformational leadership behaviours and group affective tone, as well as the indirect relationships between transformational leadership behaviours and group members' social inferences via group affective tone, such that the relationships were stronger for low-potency groups. These results suggest transformational leadership may work best when complementing a group's sense of its own perceived capability.