Back to the past: a sub-segment of Generation Y's perceptions of authenticity

To date, authenticity conceptualizations have taken into account the views of both suppliers and tourists. However, most studies, at the a priori stage, have not taken a market segment perspective but considered tourists to be a homogeneous population. This study challenges that by focusing on a distinct market segment based on age and life experience: Generation Y, drawing out an a priori-based sub-segment of Generation Y's perspectives of authenticity. It investigates if authenticity ideologies influence decisions to become a heritage tourist. Additionally, it determines other factors that predict differences between a heritage tourist and a non-heritage tourist. The study unveils interesting findings. With the exception of the objectivist and negotiation stance, other authenticity ideologies fail to inspire this generation to be heritage tourists. Intervention factors such as party size (and with it a social experience) and ethnicity prove to be better predictors of heritage preference. The results offer important implications for the heritage industry. For instance, “time travel” demand based on purely objective or negotiated versions can help promote conservation efforts and the sustainable development of heritage. This can lead to enhanced opportunities for partnership between the tourism industry and cultural/heritage site managers, and help revive discontinued or forgotten traditions.     

The influence of international networks on internationalization speed and performance: A study of Czech SMEs

Drawing on social capital theory and the international entrepreneurship literature, we develop hypotheses relating the structural, cognitive and relational aspects of the international network of SME CEOs to two internationalization outcomes – speed and performance. The study is based on a sample of 155 Czech SMEs covering a broad range of manufacturing industries. Our findings indicate that firms sharing a common language with their international ties are able to internationalize faster than firms that do not share a common language. Moreover, we observe that geographically diverse networks contribute to superior performance. Extensive reliance on personal contacts hinders the performance of the first international venture.     

Gender Equity and Social Marketing: An Analysis of Tourism Advertisements

This study applies a social marketing approach to study the gender equity issue in tourism advertising. Using a geographic strata approach, vacation guides of destination marketing organizations from all the states in the United States are examined to investigate gender image representations. A total of 394 pictures are visually analyzed and coded using Goffman's framework on gender and media relations. Mixed results in terms of both blatant and subtle visual cues depicting relationships between men and women are reported. Thereafter, important implications for social marketing are drawn and a means-end quality-of-life framework is suggested.     

The propensity of managers to create budgetary slack: A cross-national re-examination using random sampling

Following a review of the slack literature, Merchant (1985a) proposed that the propensity of subordinate managers to create slack is positively related to the importance placed on meeting budget targets, negatively related to the extent of participation allowed in budgeting processes, negatively related to the degree of predictability in the production processes, and negatively related to their superiors' abilities to detect slack. The results of his empirical tests provided little overall support for these hypotheses. The mixed nature of his results is of some concern since the literature provides considerable support for the theoretical framework underlying his propositions. He concluded that his use of non-random sampling may have influenced the results of his study. The objectives of this paper are first to extend Merchant's (1985a) study using the same measures but employing random sampling in a cross-national setting to enhance result generalizability. Second to assess whether the ability of superiors to detect slack interacts with budgetary participation to affect a subordinate manager's propensity to create slack. The results provide support for the cross-national generalizability of all five hypotheses.     

Organizational fit and acquisition performance: Effects of post-acquisition integration

Based on 173 acquisitions in the U.S. manufacturing industry, this study examines the impact of organizational differences between acquiring and acquired firms on post-acquisition performance. The findings indicate that differences in top management styles have a negative impact on performance in acquisitions characterized by both high and low levels of post-acquisition integration. However, no such relationship was observed between differences in the reward and evaluation systems and post-acquisition performance in either the high or low integration subgroups. Implications of the findings, along with directions for future research, have been discussed in the concluding section of this paper.     

Factors influencing wealth creation from mergers and acquisitions: A meta-analysis

This study analyzes the empirical literature concerning the influence of various factors on shareholder wealth creation in mergers and acquisitions using a multivariate framework. Overall, results indicate that while the target firm's shareholders gain significantly from mergers and acquisitions, those of the bidding firm do not. Findings also indicate that the use of stock financing has a significant impact on the wealth of both the target and bidding firms' shareholders. The presence of multiple bidders and the type of acquisition influence the bidders' return, while regulatory changes and tender offers influence the targets' returns. The paper also provides a comparison of our findings with that of previous narrative reviews and discusses their implications from the viewpoint of managers and researchers.     

Explaining the Rate Spread on Corporate Bonds

The purpose of this article is to explain the spread between rates on corporate and government bonds. We show that expected default accounts for a surprisingly small fraction of the premium in corporate rates over treasuries. While state taxes explain a substantial portion of the difference, the remaining portion of the spread is closely related to the factors that we commonly accept as explaining risk premiums for common stocks. Both our time series and cross-sectional tests support the existence of a risk premium on corporate bonds.