Impact of financial/economic crisis on demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong

The main objectives of this study are (1) to identify the factors that influence the demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong and (2) to generate quarterly forecasts of that demand to assess the impact of the ongoing financial/economic crisis. The demand for four types of hotel room from the residents of nine major origin countries is considered, and forecasts are generated from the first quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2015. Econometric approaches are employed to calculate the demand elasticities and their corresponding confidence intervals, which are then used to generate interval demand predictions. The empirical results reveal that the most important factors in determining the demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong are the economic conditions (measured by income level) in the origin markets, the price of the hotel rooms and the ‘word of mouth’ effect. Demand for High Tariff A and Medium Tariff hotel rooms is estimated to have experienced negative annual growth in 2009 due to the influence of the financial/economic crisis, whereas that for High Tariff B hotel rooms is thought to have grown in 2009 after having decreased in 2008. The demand for tourist guesthouse rooms is expected to be the least affected by the crisis. Overall demand is predicted to recover gradually from 2010 onwards.     

Retail location: the post hierarchical challenge

Location, like every other element of the retailing mix, is in a constant state of change. Yet academic conceptualizations of retailing location have changed little in the last thirty years. Indeed, this conceptual stasis stands in marked contrast to the dramatic methodological developments that have recently taken place. This paper examines the traditional, hierarchical model of urban retail location and presents an alternative, post-hierarchical perspective. A distinction is drawn between the shape or form of retailing locations and the functions found therein. A classification of urban retail locations is also proposed and a synthesis with the hierarchical model recommended.     

Reflections on Private Water Supply: Agency and Equity Issues

In the second of the two articles, the authors reflect on and extend their earlier work by describing recent trends in water privatization, drawing important lessons from cases where privatization efforts have failed, offering suggestions about the way privatized firms can be successfully monitored, and addressing the popular argument that “fairness” demands that water be distributed by public firms at a zero (or heavily subsidized) price.     

Role of quality management capabilities in developing market-based organisational learning capabilities: Case study evidence from four Indian business process outsourcing firms

Business-to-business marketing literature acknowledges the value firms, including business process outsourcing firms, realise through their supplier networks. Such value realisation is often possible through a dynamic exchange of complementary organisational capabilities between a firm and its network partners. However, little is known about how outsourcing firms develop these capabilities and thus realise value. This paper addresses an unexplored theoretical gap of developing market-based organisational learning capabilities in business process outsourcing firms. Using a capabilities lens, this study assesses the impact of quality management capabilities in developing market-based organisational learning capability. Findings from a case study of four business process outsourcing firms in India suggest that effective knowledge transfer, diffusion and the development of market-based organisational learning capabilities are contingent upon the strength of a firm's quality management capabilities. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Unit Root Testing under a Local Break in Trend using Partial Information on the Break Date*

We consider unit root testing allowing for a break in trend when partial information is available regarding the location of the break date. This takes the form of knowledge of a relatively narrow window of data within which the break takes place, should it occur at all. For such circumstances, we suggest employing a union of rejections strategy, which combines a unit root test that allows for a trend break somewhere within the window with a unit root test that makes no allowance for a trend break. Asymptotic and finite sample evidence shows that our suggested strategy works well, provided that, when a break does occur, the partial information is correct. An empirical application to UK interest rate data containing the 1973 ‘oil shock’ is also considered.     

The Asian crisis: what did we learn and when did we learn it?

This paper steps back from the detail of the Asian crisis, to ask whether the 1997 crisis advanced our broad understanding of the age‐old problem of economic crises. Some immediate lessons were learned from the failures of the crisis‐response in Indonesia, which was the worst‐affected economy. It is notable, however, how little changed to address the ongoing systemic weaknesses. Three areas of unresolved vulnerability can be identified. First, the sudden stops and reversals of international capital flows. Second, the intrinsic fragility of a financial system that borrows short and lends long. Third, unanchored exchange rates, where the market's price‐discovery can take the rate to levels far from equilibrium, for sustained periods. For more than a decade after the Asian crisis, international capital flows continued to be seen as unambiguously beneficial, with any attempts at capital flow management rejected. At a global level, it was not until the 2008 financial crisis that widespread financial fragility was addressed through tighter regulation and higher capital requirements. On exchange rates, misleading advocacy of corner solutions—either pure floating exchange rates or immutable fixed rates—continued in the face of the real‐world experience that sometimes intervention is needed to maintain an exchange rate close to equilibrium.     

The take-up of means-tested income support

Many studies have identified that eligible claimants do not participate in means-tested income support programs. We examine the determinants of the decision to take-up social assistance in Canada using the 1997 Canadian Out of Employment Panel dataset. Using a conditional maximum likelihood approach to take account of the potential endogeneity of the level of benefits available to potential claimants, we find that benefit levels and recent receipt of Social Assistance (SA) are important determinants of the take-up decision. The results are important for the fiscal implications of changing benefit levels as the take-up rate is systematically related to the benefits potential recipients are entitled to receive. Further, it suggests that stigma and transaction costs associated with program use are important in explaining the take-up decision.