An Analysis of Tourism Trends in Mauritius 1979 to 1998

A longitudinal analysis of tourism trends in Mauritius is conducted using published statistics and reports compiled by the Government of Mauritius. A number of trend indicators and ratios are derived and plotted as time series data from 1979 to 1998. Interesting trends emerge that may be of value to other Indian Ocean Island tourism agencies and analysts. The ratios calculated are as follows: number of nights spent per tourist, discounted earnings per tourist, discounted earnings per night, contribution to GDP per tourism earnings, discounted contribution to GDP per tourist, percentage of nights spent in hotels, nights spent per tourist in hotels and nights spent per tourist in informal accommodation, average expenditure per tourist accommodated in hotels and average expenditure per tourist accommodated in informal accommodation (private bungalows, boarding/guest houses and homes of friends/relatives).

The main findings are that the continued success of tourism in Mauritius rests significantly on tourists accommodated in the informal accommodation sector and that tourist spending in real terms in Mauritius has declined from 1990 to 1997.     

The UK New Regulatory Framework of High-Cost Short-Term Credit: Is There a Shift Towards a More “Law and Society” Based Approach?

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the consumer credit market in the UK has witnessed a proliferation in the number of high-cost short-term credit (HCSTC) providers promising easy access to credit without the complications of credit history. This act of generosity came at a very high price, which on some occasions reached 4000% APR. After refusing for many years to interfere with the credit price and other aspects of the HCSTC business’ practices, the Government since 2014 started to impose certain regulatory restrictions on the sector including a cost cap, January 2015, on what HCSTC providers can charge. This article argues that the FCA’s credit cost cap and other regulatory measures taken since 2014 signify an important shift in the regulatory approach to HCSTC. It argues that the neoliberal ‘law and economics’ theoretical paradigm is no longer the foundation of the regulatory framework. Instead, the Government has shifted towards a Polanyian ‘law and society’ based approach, which is attentive to the vulnerability of HCSTC consumers and consequently more capable of protecting them. This article concludes by arguing how this newly adopted approach can be further advanced.     

Discovering the entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystem: The case of a corporate accelerator

Faced with a proliferation of initiatives like corporate accelerators, entrepreneurial ecosystems see emerge new spaces that we can call entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystems. A micro‐ecosystem is a local open system interacting with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and driven by an actor or group of actors capable of fostering dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship. The literature has tended to focus on the macro and meso levels leaving behind the microlevel and the strategies implemented by the actors that could lead to the creation of micro‐ecosystems. In this study, we consider corporate accelerators, still little studied, as entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystems. We propose to take a structural and strategic approach in order to better understand the attributes and the strategies put in place by these actors from a multilevel approach. A qualitative study was conducted on a corporate accelerator and the results reveal the importance of strategic attributes in terms of legitimacy, coopetition, and business model.     

Invariance of conditional maximum utility

The consumer benefit in a discrete choice model is often measured by maximum utility. We characterize the conditional (on the chosen alternative) and the unconditional distribution of maximum utility. We show that among a wide class of distributions (independent with convex supports) of error terms, the Type I extreme-value distribution is the unique distribution which ensures that all the conditional distributions of maximum utility coincide. Moreover, we show that for i.i.d. (with convex support) error terms, the invariance of conditional expected maximum utility characterizes the multinomial logit model.     

Differences in long run exchange rate pass-through into import prices in developing countries: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the exchange rate pass-through into import prices in a sample of 24 developing countries over the period from 1980 to 2003. We estimate a pass-through equation determined by a combination of the nominal exchange rate, the price of the competing products, the exporter's costs and demand conditions. We adopt non-stationary panel estimation techniques and tests for cointegration. In the long run, homogeneity of pass-through rates across countries can be rejected. Moreover, we show that most of these differences in exchange rate pass-through into import prices are due to three macroeconomics determinants: exchange rate regimes, trade barriers and inflation regimes.     

How organisational image affects employee attitudes

Organisational image has mostly been studied using an external perspective focused on strategy and marketing issues. Given its salience in employees' symbolic environment, however, image may also have internal as well as external consequences. Yet, the potential impact of image on internal HR aspects has received only pminimal interest from researchers. This article presents the results of a study that explored the impact of perceived external prestige (PEP) on three individual outcomes: job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment and affective well‐being at work. It is based on a survey of 527 French managers. The findings show that all individual outcomes are related to PEP. Moreover, it was found that the impact of corporate image on some of the outcomes was stronger for individuals working in sales/marketing than for other employees.     

Problem-centred research and knowledge-based theory in the professional accounting setting

The paper discussess the emerging need for theory development and much more extensive task and context analysis with respect to cognition in the professional accounting setting (“accounting” being taken to include the various accounting, auditing, tax and related subjects about which accounting professionals exercise judgment). The paper examines how such theory development and task and context analysis can improve the research and its contribution to understanding the professional settings that are the province of accounting research. Our analysis reflects our proposal that accounting judgment research contribute more strongly to the general body of accounting research, and deal better with practitioners' problems. From our analysis, we conclude that the lack of theory development is associated with several problems in the research, including an over-emphasis on transference of simplified models from psychology, inappropriate use of normative criteria for evaluating performance, and an over-emphasis on accountants and auditors rather than accounting and auditing. We offer a large number of constructive comments about task analysis, theory development and other steps to guide future accounting judgment research.     

The influence of self-interest and ethical considerations on managers’ evaluation judgments

Recent empirical studies support self-interest as the sole basis for economic decisions (as predicted by agency theory). However, cognitive moral development (CMD) theory suggests that decision makers will allow ethical/moral considerations to constrain their economic behaviour. The purpose of this study is to resolve the essential conflict between the tenets of agency theory and CMD theory. The results of a laboratory experiment suggest that both moral reasoning level and adverse-selection conditions (self-interest) can have a significant effect on managers’ project evaluation decisions. Specifically, managers are likely to continue a project that is expected to be unprofitable only when adverse selection conditions are present and moral reasoning level is low. Thus, agency theory may not be generalizable to accounting-based economic performance.     

Crop biotechnology and the African farmer

Recent reports, workshops and meetings on GM (Genetically Modified) crops tend to characterize GM food production as a solution to Africa’s food crisis. However, GM crops are currently grown commercially in only one country in Africa – South Africa. Biotechnology tools range from tissue culture to molecular breeding and genetic engineering. This paper focuses on GM crop improvement and analyzes the development of seven GM crops (six food staples and cotton) over the past 15 years in Africa. The case studies reveal a number of unexpected scientific, legal, economic and political barriers to the development of GM crops and long delays in developing and implementing national biosafety regulations and guidelines. We conclude that most GM crops are at least 10–15 years or longer from reaching smallholder farmers in Africa. During this time special attention should be given to strengthening conventional plant breeding programs in NARS (National Agricultural Research Systems), African universities and the CGIAR. Biotechnology approaches must be nested and integrated into plant breeding programs. Special attention should also be given to raising public awareness of biotechnology, mobilizing political support and commitment to strengthening African capacity in biotechnology, biosafety, food safety and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and mounting long-term training programs to train the next generation of African plant breeders and GM crop specialists.