Drama theory and its relation to game theory. Part 1: Dramatic resolution vs. Rational solution

Drama theory differs from game theory in that it does not regard actors' preferences and perceived opportunities as fixed, but as capable of being changed by the actors themselves under the pressure of pre-play negotiations. Thus characters in a drama undergo change and development. A manyperson, multiphase theory of dramatic transformation is presented, showing how thecore of a drama (in the sense of game theory) is transformed by the interaction between the characters into a strict, strong equilibrium to which they all aspire. The process of dramatic transformation is shown to be driven by actors' reactions to various paradoxes of rationality; it is proved that when all these paradoxes have been overcome, a full dramatic resolution has been reached, satisfying actors' emotional and moral demands, as well as the demands of rationality.     

Multi-party computation mechanism for anonymous equity block trading: A secure implementation of turquoise plato uncross

Dark pools are financial trading venues where orders are entered and matched in secret so that no order information is leaked. By preventing information leakage, dark pools offer the opportunity for large volume block traders to avoid the costly effects of market impact. However, dark pool operators have been known to abuse their privileged access to order information. To address this issue, we introduce a provably secure multi-party computation mechanism that prevents an operator from accessing and misusing order information. Specifically, we implement a secure emulation of Turquoise Plato Uncross, Europe's largest dark pool trading mechanism, and demonstrate that it can handle real world trading throughput, with guaranteed information integrity.     

A comparison of the dominant meta programme patterns in accounting undergraduate students and accounting lecturers at a UK business school

Meta programmes are a means of describing the behavioural traits that a person exhibits when interacting with other people. An understanding of meta programmes can improve communication between individuals and this may have implications for teaching. The purposes of this study are first to identify the dominant meta programme patterns of first year accounting undergraduates at a UK business school. An earlier pilot study validated use of the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) to elicit the dominant meta programmes of accounting lecturers at the same Business School (Brown, 2002). Secondly, the students' meta programmes are compared with those of their accounting teachers to identify whether there are any differences or similarities between the two groups. The matching of the meta programmes of the teachers and students would enhance communication whilst major differences in meta programmes would make communication more difficult. A sample of 62 first year accounting undergraduates and 20 accountancy teachers completed the MPQ. The results indicate that, on average, the accounting students have similar dominant meta programme patterns to their accounting teachers. The implications of the findings for improving communication and therefore teaching are discussed, along with the scope for further research.     

A review of empirical research on interorganizational relations in tourism

During the last few decades, a growing body of literature has been produced on various aspects of interorganizational relations (IOR) in tourism. This paper provides a review of that literature. The findings are based on a review of 269 empirical papers published in 37 tourism journals between 1989 and the first quarter of 2017. The review identifies six main research themes relating to relationship formation, structure and activities, governance, maintenance, outcomes, and evolution. Based on the insights from this review, an organizing framework for research on IOR in tourism is developed and four opportunities for advancing research on IOR in tourism are proposed relating to the pursuit of causal inference, supply networks as a unit of analysis, quantifying outcomes of IOR in tourism, and addressing marginalized topics.     

Did the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act Alter Farm Enterprise Diversification?

We estimate how much United States farms changed enterprise diversification in response to a marked increase in crop insurance coverage brought about by the 1994 Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act, which substantially increased insurance subsidies. The analysis exploits farm‐level panel census data to compare farm‐specific changes in enterprise diversification over time. By examining diversification decisions of the same farms over time, we control for time‐invariant unobserved individual heterogeneity. We then use pooled cross‐sectional data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Resource Management Survey to estimate the relationship between farm diversification and average returns. We find that the insurance subsidies caused a modest increase in enterprise specialisation and production efficiency. Estimated efficiency gains are far less than the subsidies.     

Community participation in outdoor recreation and the development of Millennium Greens in England

A growth in community participation (CP) in outdoor recreation provision and maintenance emerged from the post-war voluntary movement but from the 1970s, discrete initiatives were spawned in the context of management experiments, threats to urban open space from development, the enhancement of forestry recreation opportunities and European funding to remoter rural areas. A shift in the style of government from an executive to an enabling role in the 1980s and 1990s has formalized CP in public policy. This has been exploited in CP for the rights of way system and in the provision of new recreation areas: Millennium Greens. An assessment of some of the characteristics of CP in Millennium Greens is provided in relation to motivations for their development, the support of the community, the social characteristics of those affected, their spatial distribution and raised expectations where schemes have been unsuccessful. It is concluded that some executive state controls over such schemes are necessary to ensure their effective operation but this too can be enhanced by involving communities in policy formulation as well as in development and implementation. There is some evidence to suggest that governmental enabling policies benefit those who are already most enabled relative to the more marginal sectors of society and this issue merits further research.     

Barriers to Marketing Development in the Barristers’ Profession

This paper focuses on the marketing of professional services, and on the very specific context of barristers in the British legal professions. We examine the background provided by this sector of professional services, and then present the results of a set of qualitative investigations into the role of marketing as it is perceived by members of this profession, and identify a series of perceived by members of this profession, and identify a series of considering the implications of our findings for how marketing concepts can be productively employed in this area of activity and the needs for conceptual as well as practical extension, but remain largely pessimistic about the current prospects for extending marketing activities into the area of barristers’ marketing.     

Marketing innovation: Sources,capabilities and consequences at airports in Europe's peripheral areas

This paper investigates sources, capabilities and consequences of marketing innovation at airports in Europe's peripheral areas. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to airport managers. Ten sources of airport marketing innovation are identified. Innovation is significantly higher at airports that are administered as an independent entity compared to airports that are administered as part of a regional or national airport system. Large airports have a significantly higher level of innovation compared to small airports. Innovation has a significant positive effect on airport marketing performance, irrespective of the strategic focus of the airport.     

The futures of offshoring FDI in high-tech sectors

This paper examines what is still a relatively new phenomenon in the literature, the outsourcing/offshoring of high-technology manufacturing and services. This has become a concern for both policy makers and academics for two reasons. Firstly, policy makers have become concerned that the offshoring of high-technology sectors in the West will follow the more labour intensive sectors, and move to lower cost locations. Secondly, international business theory has tended to view low costs, and high levels of indigenous technological development as being the two main drivers of location advantage in the attraction of FDI. We show that this may not be the case for offshored high-technology manufacturing or services.