Reassessment of underdevelopment

Coloniallsm, neo-colonialism, imperialism are vocabularies often heard in connection with under-development. It seems to be necessary to analyse their theoretical economic and political implications and the consequences for the practice.¹     

Reviews

TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

Cox, M., Spires, R. and Wylson, D. 1994: Electronic Highways: Advances in Business and Community Telecoms and the Implications for the South East A report prepared by PA Cambridge Economic Consultants on behalf of SEEDS,

£25.00 + £3.50 pp.

THE FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE.

Hogg, C. and Harker, L. 1993: The Family-Friendly Employer Examples from Europe. Daycare Trust, 4 Wild Court, London WC2B 5AU, £13.95.     

DEPTH – Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers: An International Study

The tools to help teachers reflect on their professional knowledge are few in number, and often difficult to utilise. This paper reports on a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology initial teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to support reflection on their own professional knowledge. We wanted to investigate if, despite the different country contexts, student teachers of technology could take advantage of their experience with graphic visualisation to help them articulate abstract notions such as aspects of their developing teacher knowledge. We discovered that the graphical tool acted as a framework that enabled them to set out their subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and `school' knowledge and was useful in helping them become more self-aware. In this paper, the framework itself is introduced, the way it was presented to the novice teachers is outlined and the relative impact of such `self awareness' on their understandings, enabled by the framework, is then discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Competition in Grocery Retailing: The Impact of a New Strategic Group on BLS Price Increases

Metropolitan areas with a significant presence of warehouse stores had lower retail food price increases during 1977 to 1992 than did areas with no warehouse stores. The negative impact occurred largely during the first half of the 15-year period. Strategic learning appears to have led to a different response from incumbent supermarkets during 1985–1992. Change in prices was positively related to change in concentration and negatively related to entry.     

Der sozialisierte Kunde als Co-Produzent im Dienstleistungsbereich

Im Dienstleistungsbereich fungiert der Kunde meist nicht nur als K?ufer, sondern ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Leistungserstellungssystems. Er liefert Informationen, interagiert mit den Mitarbeitern und Ger?ten des Anbieters, übernimmt Teilaufgaben in Selbstbedienungsprozessen. Damit er diese Funktionen sachgerecht wahrnehmen kann, muss er die Anforderungen an ihn kennen, über die Abl?ufe informiert sein und die entsprechende Leistungsbereitschaft und -f?higkeit mitbringen. Dies zu realisieren, ist die Aufgabe einer systematischen Kundensozialisation.     

Understanding repurchase intention of Airbnb consumers: perceived authenticity,electronic word-of-mouth,and price sensitivity

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to extend the research on consumer repurchase intention, perceived value, and perceived risk into the realm of the peer-to-peer economy, specifically in the context of Airbnb. A total of 395 surveys were collected in Canada and the United States. The results showed that perceived risk negatively impacts Airbnb consumers’ perceived value and repurchase intention while perceived value positively enhances their repurchase intention. Interestingly, price sensitivity was found not to reduce customers’ perceived risk but can improve their perceived value and positively influences them to repurchase the Airbnb products. Perceived authenticity was found to have a significant effect in reducing Airbnb consumers’ perceived risk and positively influencing their perceived value. Electronic word-of-mouth has a positive effect on repurchase intention as well as perceived value whereas it negatively affects perceived risk. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and future study directions are offered.     

Trade and the Number of OCAs in the World

This paper employs worldwide data on output and bilateral trade in order to identify optimum currency areas (OCAs) on a global basis. By retaining only two of the many criteria in the literature on OCAs, computer programming could serve to do the identification. The two chosen criteria relate to trade and the symmetry of shocks to output. Based on the first criterion, trade, some large continental OCAs emerge. Adding the second, symmetry, whittles down the size of these OCAs considerably. Nevertheless, some significant examples remain in the Americas, Europe and Asia, of which the European and the Asiatic are the most noteworthy.     

Price Leadership on the National Cheese Exchange

The motivation and trading behavior of the leading cheese companies on the National Cheese Exchange are examined. Although only 0.2 percent of all cheese is sold on the NCE, it is used to formula-price 90-95 percent of the bulk cheese in the U.S. Kraft General Foods, the largest buyer of cheese in the U.S., was the dominant seller on the NCE during 1988-1993, with the apparent purpose and effect of depressing national cheese prices. Kraft's behavior is consistent with that of a barometric price leader that enjoys a significant degree of discretion in shaping the pattern of prices over a price cycle. As presently organized, the NCE facilitates market manipulation.