Caribbean cruise tourism : A business of transnational partnerships

The cruise industry has grown dramatically during the 1980s to the extent that over four million North Americans will have opted for a cruise holiday in 1990. The Caribbean is perfectly placed to take advantage of this market but the governments concerned have not supported tourism development appropriate to the transnational cruise line operators. Cruise ship arrivals in the Caribbean are growing faster than stopover arrivals so it is vital that the various Caribbean governments cooperate with the transnational cruise line operators in planning and providing the necessary infrastructure to tempt the cruise ship arrivals to part with their dollars at the Caribbean destinations.     

Greening the Street-Level Procurer: Challenges in the Strongly Decentralized Swedish System

This article investigates the every-day street-level practice of green public procurement (GPP) in Sweden, a country with one of the most decentralized systems of public administration within the European Union (EU). The street-level procurement officers in Swedish local and regional government are in charge of purchases estimated to represent between 10% and 15% of Sweden’s GDP. This article examines the constraining and enabling factors behind the individual procurement officer’s choice of green procurement in textiles and clothing through a combination of qualitative interviews and a review of documentary sources. The analysis shows that while indirect support through European and national soft regulation and policy advice is imperative for “greening” procurement, the direct factors which influence the local outcome of GPP comprises factors on the local level: political commitment and environmental knowledge, the organizational structure of local government and the local interpretation of the regulatory framework. This study shows that a decentralized structure has possibilities of furthering ambitions of buying green if there are committed politicians and public officials, an optimal level of internal centralisation and an external support structure of knowledge and enabling rules.     

Social Exclusion and Transgenic Technology: The Case of Brazilian Agriculture

Many argue that transgenic technology will have wide-ranging implications for farmers in developing nations. A key concern is that competencies may be destroyed by predominantly foreign multinational transgenic technologies, exacerbating problems of social exclusion in the case of subsistence farmers. Conversely, those that fail to adopt the technology may become uncompetitive, particularly in commodity-based export markets. Drawing on interview data conducted in Brazil and supporting data collected in North America, Europe and China, we found that the impact of transgenic technology varies. It has less impact on farmers that adapt the products to their crop systems and environment, and greater negative implications for less formally educated subsistence farmers in consequence of both complexity and compatibility. Earlier attempts at industrializing agriculture through technological innovation led to vastly improved agricultural output and exports, but the benefits of productivity was not equitably distributed [D. Lee: 2005, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87(5), 1325–1334], nor was it designed to meet specific local environmental and socioeconomic farmer conditions, exacerbating social exclusion. Multinationals attempting to introduce transgenic technology without considering the broader social and ethical implications will invite resistance. We discuss the implications for policy makers, multinationals and small-scale farmers.     

Give Them Something to Smile About: A Marketing Strategy for Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Using a marketing perspective, this study investigates whether the issue of “fun at work” would appeal to volunteers as a part of an effort to enhance recruitment and retention. Specifically, we examined volunteers' attitudes toward fun, their perceptions of what kinds of activities are fun and what are not, and the relative importance of workplace fun in what they perceive as an ideal volunteer position. In general, we found that volunteers had positive attitudes towards fun and experiencing fun at work was associated with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions. Although “a fun workplace” was ranked relatively low in importance relative to other reasons why they volunteer, creating such an environment could enhance retention. Some age and gender differences were found in the perceptions of whether certain activities are fun or not. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ethical Rationality: A Strategic Approach to Organizational Crisis

In this paper, we present an ethical and strategic approach to managing organizational crises. The proposed crisis management model (1) offers a new approach to guide an organization’s strategic and ethical response to crisis, and (2) provides a two-by-two framework for classifying organizational crises. The ethically rational approach to crisis draws upon strategic rationality, crisis, and ethics literature to understand and address organizational crises. Recent examples of corporate crises are employed to illustrate the theoretical claims advanced. Finally, the paper provides guidelines for a morally optimal outcome for the organization and its stakeholders. Peter Snyder is a Ph.D. student in Organizations and Strategic Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research interests include strategy making and corporate governance. Molly Hall is an attorney who practices international and environmental law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She teaches adjunct courses in business ethics, environmental policy, and the European Union. Joline Robertson is a Ph.D. candidate in Organizations and Strategic Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests include international business. Tomasz Jasinski is a Ph.D. student in Organizations and Strategic Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research interests include strategic alliances. Janice S. Miller received her Ph.D. from Arizona State Univerity in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource management. She has been on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee UWM since 1996 and has served as the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the School of Business Administration since 2002. Dr. Miller’s primary research interests include performance management, compensation and ethical issues in organizations.     

The impact of the meal situation on the consumption of ready meals

The context in which a meal is eaten is known to affect intake and choice of food. The purpose of this study was to investigate in what typical situations ready meals are consumed and if consumer demands vary according to different situations. With a market survey four typical ready meal eating situations were identified, and the respondent's ready meal consumption was shown to be affected by situational factors. In the different eating situations there were dissimilar reasons for consumption. Two ready meal eating situations were investigated in greater detail in order to establish what triggered the ready meal consumption in these situations. One of these meal situations proved to be convenience driven and the other time driven. A situation‐oriented approach is suggested for further ready meal product development.     

Industry Effects on the Determinants of Unquoted SMEs' Capital Structure

This paper reports a study of 3500 unquoted, UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objectives of the research were to test various hypotheses concerning the determinants of SME capital structure and to establish whether and how the relationship of these determinants to long- and short-term debt varied between industries. Long-term debt was found to be related positively to asset structure and company size and negatively to age; short-term debt was related negatively to profitability, asset structure, size and age and positively to growth. Significant variation across industries was found in most of the explanatory variables. The effect of growth on short-term debt, however, was consistent across industries whilst profitability had no effect on long-term borrowing in any industry.