Properties of first-time vs. repeat visitors: lessons for marketing Norwegian ski resorts

This paper explores the potential in foreign markets for winter tourism in Norway and discusses the influencing factors explaining why foreign tourists visit and revisit Norway on ski vacations. In a decreasing market, it becomes increasingly important to destination managers and marketers to choose the right marketing strategies and direction. We focus on characteristics that influence and explain why foreign tourists choose to return. More than 3000 respondents from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany were asked for their image of Norwegian ski destinations and criteria for winter vacation selection. We fitted mainly hurdle and quantile regressions to gain consistent and less biased estimates. Stable snow conditions, combining alpine and cross-country skiing, and no fees for the latter are some of Norway's competitive but seldom marketed advantages, and especially towards repeat visitors. Repeaters typically prefer self-catering accommodation and are less price sensitive. Surprisingly, foreign ski tourists are not very interested in other snow-based activities or cultural attractions. Despite repeaters constituting the majority of foreign ski tourists, neither the national development and marketing agency (Innovation Norway) nor local tourist organizations and marketers have a strategy for targeting them. We recommend a shift from profile marketing towards segmented marketing, aimed especially at the repeat-visitor segment.     

Contemporary knowledge and skill requirements in project management

This article provides an overview of some recent developments within the field of project management and presents metrics used to assess current trends within the discipline in order to identify its future direction. Graphical tools are introduced to measure the span and areas of emphasis within project management, such as radar diagrams and the recently introduced International Project Management Association (IPMA) “Eye of Competence.” The research shows that the discipline seems to focus increasingly on interpersonal competences, relationship management, resource management, and strategic alignment. The results are evaluated and discussed, and the article concludes with some ideas about the future development of project management.     

Why Do Recent Graduates Enter into Flexible Jobs?

Flexible jobs make up a larger share of the Dutch labour market than in almost any other Western country. Recent graduates in the Netherlands are particularly likely to take flexible jobs. In this study we examine why recent graduates enter into temporary contracts and whether flexible jobs offer a poorer match for graduates’ qualifications than permanent jobs. We find that recent graduates that enter into flexible jobs face large wage penalties, a worse job match and less training participation than graduates who take permanent jobs, even after correcting for differences in ability. When the labour market situation for a particular field of education deteriorates, more recent graduates are forced into flexible jobs, threatening their position on the labour market in the long run. Flexible work among recent graduates is unrelated to their willingness to take risks. Only for university graduates is there any indication that flexible jobs may provide a stepping stone to permanent employment.     

Does inflation matter for growth?

The interaction between inflation and economic growth is studied within a simple model incorporating money and finance into an optimal growth framework with constant returns to capital. The model includes the potential impact of inflation on growth, via (a) saving and real interest rates, (b) velocity and financial development, (c) the government budget deficit through the inflation tax and tax erosion, and (d) efficiency in production through the wedge between the returns to real and financial capital. The hypothesized effect of inflation on long-run growth through these channels is estimated by applying the random-effects panel model to two sets of unbalanced panel data side by side, from the Penn World Tables and from the World Bank, covering 170 countries from 1960 to 1992. The cross-country links between inflation and growth are economically and statistically significant and robust. Specifically, the results show that inflation in excess of 10–20 percent per year is generally detrimental to growth.     

Quantifying globalization

Globalization is much debated, but is it possible to make reliable ranks of which countries are the most integrated internationally? Traditionally resort is taken to trade measures, but even considering only economic integration this measure disregards a number of aspects. This paper proposes a single measure or index of globalization based on several indicators of economic integration combined by use of the multivariate technique of factor analysis. The index is calculated for 23 OECD countries, and among the findings are that Ireland is ranked as the most globalized country during the 1990s, while the UK was at the top during the 1980s. Some of the most notable changes in the rankings are the decline of the USA, Canada, and to a lesser extent Japan and Norway. There are notable improvements in the ranking for Finland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. For Portugal and Spain the changes seem to follow EU membership in the mid-1980s.     

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ARGUMENTS FOR MODELING LABOR SUPPLY AS A CHOICE AMONG LATENT JOBS

Models of labor supply derived from stochastic utility representations and discretized sets of feasible hours of work have gained popularity because they are more practical than the standard approaches based on marginal calculus. In this paper we argue that practicality is not the only feature that can be addressed by means of stochastic choice theory. This theory also offers a powerful framework for developing a more realistic model for labor supply choices, founded on individuals having preferences over jobs and facing restrictions on the choice of jobs and hours of work. We discuss and clarify how this modeling framework deviates from both the conventional discrete approach [Van Soest, A. ( 1995 ) Structural models of family labor supply. A discrete choice approach. Journal of Human Resources 30: 63–88), as well as the standard textbook approach based on marginal calculus (Hausman, J.A. ( 1992 ) The econometrics of nonlinear budget sets. Econometrica 53: 1255–1282]. We furthermore discuss how the model based on job choice can be applied to simulate effects of alternative restrictions on hours of work.     

The Disequilibrium Theory of Changes in Total Economic Activity

Abstract . It is widely taught that national product departs from, but returns toward, an “equilibrium” level. Return from sub-equilibrium, it is believed, involves depleting inventories; return from super-equilibrium involves building them up; in both cases, at a diminishing rate. Observable product and observable aggregate stocks of goods, however, usually rise and fall together; they do not change in opposite directions, as implied. Stocks are not large enough to support the supposed depletion at low income levels. “Intended” changes contrary to the actual changes are not documented. The disequilibrium theory does not promote understanding of historical cycles in product.     

Domestic market context and international entrepreneurs’ relationship portfolios

The importance of relationships to international entrepreneurs’ internationalization is well recognized, but we still know little concerning how entrepreneurs find, develop and use different types of relationships for their internationalization. In a study based on international entrepreneurship and network theories, we examine how having or not having a domestic market affects the relationship portfolios developed by born global software entrepreneurs. We find it profoundly influences the personal relationship strength they seek in new international relationships, and their activeness towards developing new relationships that are embedded in foreign markets. Further, the analytical model we develop shows how and why the presence of a domestic market influences international entrepreneurs’ portfolios of relationships.