Book review

Allan Schweyer. Talent Management Systems: Best Practices in Technology Solutions for Recruitment, Retention and Workforce Planning. Hoboken, NJ. Wiley, 2004, 320 pages.     

Tainted museums: ‘selling out’ cultural institutions

• This paper examines the role of museums as repositories of cultural meaning and symbolic capital. As educational and cultural institutions, museums serve to legitimise works of art within the frame of an art historical context. However, our comparative case study reveals how the taken‐for‐granted role of the museum as an allegedly unbiased platform for disseminating the arts can be usurped for economic or political ends. Using the cultural settings of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Venezuelan art museum circuit, we examine via our case studies how legitimation in the arts may be jeopardised or misused if and when cultural institutions succumb to commercial and political pressures. By adopting a qualitative research design, we observe the macro‐context in which institutional roles are defined and played out, and demonstrate the ideological discourses at play in the role of these cultural institutions as meaning‐makers. Although they may be presented as neutral spaces, museums inadvertently serve to circulate socio‐political views. How the institution manages these views and unavoidable macro‐level forces will in turn influence the cultural credibility of the museum framework as a legitimising force on the cultural horizon. Attention is devoted to how these pressures can affect the production and consumption of art, offering an alternative perspective on the development of museum policies.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

COMPLEMENTARITY IN INPUT–OUTPUT ANALYSIS AND STOCHASTICS

The complementarity between the quantity and value systems of input–output analysis is shown to be the basis of the complementarity problem approach to computable general equilibrium. The numerical superiority of the latter to the linear programming approach facilitates stochastic analysis of input–output scenarios. For the example where Kyoto targets are underachieved to uncertain degrees, confidence intervals are derived for the associated consumption reductions.     

A socio-cultural approach to exploring consumer boycott intelligence: A commentary essay

The paper, “A socio-cognitive approach to exploring consumer boycott intelligence,” effectively explores issues surrounding the boycott behavior of Muslim and Christian consumers in Lebanon. This commentary is to promote further development of the research domain, both the specific topic of this paper as well as wider issues of boycott behavior, by considering the limitations and discourse of the adopted methodology, the positioning of the paper within the extant literature, and future development of methodology. This commentary considers several frameworks and research traditions identifying a need for a longitudinal research strategy of which Farah and Newman [Farah, MF, Newman, AJ. A socio-cognitive approach to exploring consumer boycott intelligence. J Bus Res 2009-this issue.] is only one part within a particular situation and context. The commentary suggests potential prospective research strategies for further development of the topic.     

The status of purchasing and supply management in Finland and Russia

Previous studies have shown that long-term planning, collaborative supplier relationships and supply management capabilities reflect the strategic role and importance of purchasing and supply management (PSM) in firms, regardless of the nature of the business. This study examines how these elements behave in different business environments, such as in Western countries and emerging economies. Finland and Russia were chosen to represent two extremes in terms of international economic competitiveness and the business environment. A survey was conducted in both countries. Regression analyses were run from both samples to examine the effects of long-term planning, collaborative supplier relationships and supply management capabilities on the status of PSM by using data from 100 Finnish firms and 208 Russian firms. The results showed that these elements positively influence the status of PSM in both countries.     

Downside risk of international stock returns

This paper investigates the downside risk exposure of international stock returns in 14 major industrialized economies around the world. For the period 1975–2010, we find that differences in returns on value and growth portfolios can be rationalized by assets’ reagibilities to market’s downside shocks. International value stocks are particularly sensitive to market’s permanent downside shocks, while international growth stocks are particularly sensitive to market’s temporary downside shocks. In line with recent evidence for the US, risk associated with unfavorable changes in market’s cash-flow innovations carries a premium which is pervasive and statistically significant.     

How far, and how fast? Population, culture, and carrying capacity in Aruba

Our paper outlines the preparation of a Framework for Sustainable Tourism on the Caribbean Island of Aruba from the standpoint of futurists involved in public policy. Despite remarkable success with tourism over nearly half-a century, Arubans have become periodically concerned about the long-run sustainability of their major industry, their culture, and their Island. The paper explains the historic industrial epochs that have led to the demographic layering and cultural division of labor, the development of tourism from its beginnings in the 1950s, and to present-day concerns about over-development and migration behind the setting up of a National Tourism Council (NTC) in 2001. The basic issues confronted by the NTC were set within the overarching question of “how far and how fast” tourism in Aruba could or should expand. Following on from three exploratory scenarios, the Framework prepared by the authors makes proposals for expansion of tourism in distinctive culture regions and corresponding tourism products over the next two generations of Arubans at a pace that matches emerging needs, but below the carrying capacity of the Island. The paper explains the historic context, pragmatic assumptions made, empirical evidence used, and connects the approach to other papers in this issue.     

The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust

A growing reliance on the Internet as an information source when making choices about tourism products raises the need for more research into electronic word of mouth. Within a hotel context, this study explores the role of four key factors that influence perceptions of trust and consumer choice. An experimental design is used to investigate four independent variables: the target of the review (core or interpersonal); overall valence of a set of reviews (positive or negative); framing of reviews (what comes first: negative or positive information); and whether or not a consumer generated numerical rating is provided together with the written text. Consumers seem to be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is negative. However, positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases both booking intentions and consumer trust. The results suggest that consumers tend to rely on easy-to-process information, when evaluating a hotel based upon reviews. Higher levels of trust are also evident when a positively framed set of reviews focused on interpersonal service.