An econometric approach to estimating support prices and measures of productivity change in public hospitals

In industry sectors where market prices for goods and services are unavailable, it is common to use estimated output and input distance functions to estimate rates of productivity change. It is also possible, but less common, to use estimated distance functions to estimate the normalised support (or efficient) prices of individual inputs and outputs. A problem that arises in the econometric estimation of these functions is that more than one variable in the estimating equation may be endogenous. In such cases, maximum likelihood estimation can lead to biased and inconsistent parameter estimates. To solve the problem, we use linear programming to construct a quantity index. The distance function is then written in the form of a conventional stochastic frontier model where the explanatory variables are unambiguously exogenous. We use this approach to estimate productivity indexes, measures of environmental change, levels of efficiency, and support prices for a sample of Australian public hospitals.     

The quality of service desired by public transport users

This article describes the methodology used to study the quality of service desired by users of a public transport system. The desired quality is different from the perceived quality because it does not represent the daily experiences of the users, but rather what they desire, hope for or expect from their public transport system. This is why it is important to study the desired quality, knowledge of which gives local authorities the background information for personalised marketing policies based on the user’s requirements rather than their daily perceptions. The methodology goes through several stages, such as the use of focus groups to choose the most important variables for the users, the design and use of unlabelled stated preferences surveys and the calibration of discrete choice models. All of these help determine the weight of the most relevant variables. The analysis is carried out with different categories of users and potential users (those people not currently using public transport).Waiting time, cleanliness and comfort are shown to be the public transport variables that users most valued, but the degree to which they are valued varies according to the category of user. Variables such as driver kindness, bus occupancy and journey time are generally given less weight. The first two vary little by user category, but some variability appears for journey time.For potential users the more important variables when defining expected quality from public transport are waiting time, journey time and above all, level of occupancy. They consider the other variables to be of little importance when defining an efficient public transport service.In order to improve service quality and attract more passengers to public transport in general, the application of this methodology provides the authorities and operating companies with useful information to plan personalised marketing policies specifically directed at different categories of users and potential users of public transport.     

Generation Y: opportunity or challenge – strategies to engage Generation Y in the UK attractions’ sector

This study examines the extent to which Generation Y (Gen Y) serves as an opportunity or challenge for visitor attractions in the UK and the corresponding strategies adopted to seek engagement with this generational segment. A multiple-case study design was adopted with face-to-face interviews undertaken with senior personnel at leading visitor attractions across the UK. The paper advances a number of marketing and experiential strategies before advocating that further research is required to explore the growing pains of Gen Y from ‘adolescence’ to ‘adulthood’ if the industry is going to be able to understand, meet and hopefully exceed their needs, wants and expectations in the challenging years to come.     

Wild horse-based tourism as wildlife tourism: the wild horse as the other

Wild horses as the focus of tourism occupy a unique position. This is a consequence of their ambiguous status in the natural and cultural landscape, particularly in North America. Wild horses are ecological agents, cultural icons, economic factors and political pawns. The complexity of their management environment has an impact on the tourism and recreational context. Focusing on the western US and western Canada, this article explores a conceptual framework for wild horse-based tourism and highlights unique characteristics of the encounter between wild horses and visitors, drawing on literature and empirical data. It positions wild horse-based tourism within a framework of wildlife tourism and introduces the wild horse as a charismatic animal which elicits strong reactions from visitors who encounter it. While visitors tend to embrace the wild horse as an integral part of its habitat, as a symbol of the western frontier, and an embodiment of freedom, the animal remains an extremely polarising subject in the management debate of public lands in the USA and Canada. The wild horse's beleaguered status in both countries seriously interferes with the realisation of the true potential of wild horse-based tourism. On the other hand, wild horse supporters pin high hopes on this industry's transformative power.     

Green Alliances: Are They Beneficial when Regulated Firms are Asymmetric?

Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade - In this paper, we analyze the collaboration between an environmental group (EG) and polluting firms when they are asymmetric in their abatement costs....     

Blind man's bluff: The ethics of quantity surcharges

Empirical evidence, including a recent field study in Northwest Indiana, indicates that supermarkets and other retail merchants frequently incorporate quantity surcharges in their product pricing strategy. Retailers impose surcharges by charging higher unit prices for products packaged in a larger quantity than smaller quantity of the same goods and brand. The purpose of this article is to examine the business ethics of such pricing strategy in light of empirical findings, existing government regulations, factors that motivate quantity surcharges and prevailing consumer perceptions.Omprakash K. Gupta is an Associate Professor of Management in the Division of Business & Economics at Indiana University Northwest. His research interests are in Operations Management, Management Science, Mathematical Modeling of Business Systems and Business Ethics. He has published several articles in national and international journals. He has also reviewed papers for many journals and edited special issues.Anna S. Rominger is an attorney, a mediator, and an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Division of Business & Economics at Indiana University Northwest. Her research interests are negotiation, alternative dispute resolutions, labor management relations, business ethics and professional liability. She has published articles in several of these areas.     

Who actually goes to university?

Access to higher education (HE) is a major policy issue in England and Wales. There is concern that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are far less likely to get a degree. We analyse the changing association between socio-economic background and the likelihood of going to university, using data from the Youth Cohort Study (YCS), spanning the period 1994–2000. We find evidence of substantial social class inequality in HE participation but conclude that this is largely due to education inequalities that emerge earlier in the education system. Conditional on GCSE and A level performance, we find no additional role for socio-economic background or parental education in determining pupils’ likelihood of going to university.     

Adolescent consumers: reaching them,border crossings and pedagogical challenges

Consumerism is part of living in the contemporary post‐modern world. It is claimed that schools and consumer education have a rather marginal impact on the consumer behaviour of young people. This qualitative study explores adolescents’ ways of consuming in three different worlds: home, school and peer groups. The aim is to understand how the adolescents experience border crossings between these worlds. What do they think about consumerism and consumer education? Finally, the pedagogical challenges of consumer education are discussed. The qualitative data was collected through mind maps, written questionnaires and semi‐structured group interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The data was collected from 59 teens (between 14 and 15 years of age) from Vantaa, Finland. According to the results, the adolescents’ way of consuming in each world differs from each other. However, border crossings occur with natural strategies and smooth transitions. The adolescents feel that ‘real’ consumerism does not begin until adulthood. Then, it is time to act like responsible consumers. Their motivation to study consumer issues at school is poor, because they feel the substance of consumer education not corresponding to their lives. Because of this, consumer education needs pedagogical renovation based on the needs of the adolescents and the special features of their consumerism.