Determinants of brand equity in cultural organizations: the case of an art exhibition

The purpose of this research is two-fold. First, to explore the factors that help to create brand equity in cultural organizations from the visitor viewpoint and second, to examine the impact of cultural brand equity on visitor satisfaction as well as on future intentions. A model of the relationships is developed and empirically tested using data collected from visitors attending The Ages of Mankind cultural exhibition in Castilla and León, Spain. In the present study, evidence is found to support the propositions that brand equity is closely linked to the particular image it conveys, to the event's recognition, the quality of the exhibitions and the cultural values it transmits. Brand equity also impacts visitor perception of the most recent exhibition, as well as future intentions to attend or even pay an admission fee.     

Deficit sustainability and inflation in EMU: An analysis from the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level

Price determination theory typically focuses on the role of monetary policy, while the role of fiscal policy is usually neglected. From a different point of view, the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level takes into account monetary and fiscal policy interactions and assumes that fiscal policy may determine the price level, even if monetary authorities pursue an inflation targeting strategy. In this paper we try to test empirically whether the time path of the government budget in EMU countries would have affected price level determination. Our results point to the sustainability of fiscal policy in all the EMU countries but Finland, although no firm conclusions can be drawn about the prevalence of either monetary or fiscal dominance.     

A master production scheduling procedure for stochastic demand and rolling planning horizons

The problem of interest is a one product, uncapacitated master production schedule (MPS) in which decisions are made under rolling planning horizons. Demand is stochastic and time varying, and effectiveness is measured by inventory holding, production setup, and backorder costs.Typically, in both the research literature and the business practice the stochastic nature of the problem is modeled in an ad hoc fashion. The stochastic MPS problem is usually solved by adding safety stock to production quantities obtained from a deterministic lot-sizing algorithm. Here, the stochastic nature of the problem is explicitly considered, as an optimal algorithm for solving the static probabilistic dynamic lot-sizing problem is adapted to rolling planning horizons. The resulting algorithm is found to dominate traditional approaches over a wide variety of experimental factors, reducing total costs by an average of 16% over traditional methods.     

Measuring innovation in tourism from the Schumpeterian and the dynamic-capabilities perspectives

This paper offers a diagnosis of the “state of the issue” regarding the measurement of innovation in the tourism industry at the company level, and some recommendations for overcoming identified problems. The study addresses two central issues: how existing secondary databases of innovative activity define the boundaries of the tourism industry, and the degree to which these databases reflect the particular characteristics of this economic activity. It is concluded that these analyses present serious biases and anomalies hindering the understanding of the situation at the micro level and complicating the issue of international comparability, and the analyses do not capture the internal heterogeneity of innovative behavior of tourism companies from specific, intra-sectoral activities. The problems concern inappropriate indicators and the need for survey methods to complement the development of innovation scoreboards in secondary sources. The study concludes by detailing a set of proposals that should be considered in the context of a scoreboard to provide a comprehensive view of a tourism firm’s technological and organizational innovations, as well as its innovative capabilities, combining Schumpeterian theory and the dynamic-capabilities-based approach, and also making cross-national comparisons feasible.     

Assessing the broadband gap: From the penetration divide to the quality divide

Only some years ago the analysis of broadband diffusion was focused on who had an Internet connection and who did not. Now, the relevant questions are: how good is it? How fast? And, how fast is fast? Thus, the broadband gap can no longer be seen as a penetration divide. It is becoming more and more a quality and capacity divide, and therefore, a divide in the range of services people can access and use. By means of the Broadband Quality Score—an index that combines three key performance parameters for the quality of a connection (upload and download speeds, and latency)—Japan is found to be the only country of the 42 countries studied currently prepared to deliver the quality required for next-generation web applications over the next 3 to 5 years.     

Entry in Foreign Markets under Asymmetric Information and Demand Uncertainty

This paper examines the mode of entry of a multinational firm that has less information about the host market stochastic demand than the local firm. The foreign firm can enter the market either through direct investment or exports. Each entry mode entails different costs and has different informational implications. Entry through foreign direct investment (FDI) is favored by greater variability in demand. Interestingly enough, strategic behavior by the incumbent firm, which deviates from its first period monopoly output, might be aimed at increasing the probability of foreign entry through FDI despite having to compete against an equally informed and efficient entrant; this never happens in a symmetric information environment. Such host firm behavior is aimed at reducing the strategic uncertainty derived from the foreign firm's beliefs. Compared with the symmetric information setting, entry via direct investment may occur in more cases.     

A contribution on the nature and treatment of missing data in large market surveys

Nonresponse (or missing data) is often encountered in large-scale surveys. To enable the behavioural analysis of these data sets, statistical treatments are commonly applied to complete or remove these data. However, the correctness of such procedures critically depends on the nature of the underlying missingness generation process. Clearly, the efficacy of applying either case deletion or imputation procedures rests on the unknown missingness generation mechanism. The contribution of this article is twofold. The study is the first to propose a simple sequential method to attempt to identify the form of missingness. Second, the effectiveness of the tests is assessed by generating (experimentally) nine missing data sets by imposed missing completely at random, missing at random and not missing at random processes, with data removed.     

Prices and output in the Mexican economy Emperical testing of alternative hypotheses

This paper derives and compares alternative formulations of price and output formation for the Mexican economy over the period 1961–1981. A structuralist type model with working capital is found to dominate its monetarist and keynesian counterparts. A breakdown of the causes of inflation is offered, and some simulations are carried out to highlight some trade-offs among real wages, the real exchange rate, real interest rates and output.     

The Euro as a Political Communication Process: Quality Requirements

After briefly describing the situation with respect to how the changeover to the euro is seen in Spain, the author discusses the process of political communication linked to the introduction of the new currency. Various elements that are constitutive of a successful communication process are outlined. Particular emphasis is put on the need for those who dispense information about the euro to establish their credibility. Opinion leaders can be expected to play a major role in the communication process. Among other things, a system of "euro-watch centres" is proposed as a way of enhancing the quality and the vigilance of the two-way communication between governments and consumers.     

THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Aside from revenue mobilization, one of the arguments for allowingthe private sector to assume a larger role in the provisionof education is that it would increase efficiency, as administratorsbecome more responsive to the needs of students and their parents.But what is the evidence? Based on case studies that compareprivate and public secondary education in Colombia, the DominicanRepublic, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Thailand, private schoolstudents generally outperform public school students on standardizedmath and language tests. This finding holds even after holdingconstant for the fact that, on average, private school studentsin these countries come from more advantaged backgrounds thantheir public. school counterparts. In addition, preliminaryevidence shows that the unit costs of private schools are lowerthan those of public schools. Although these results cannot,in themselves, be used as arguments for massive privatization,they indicate that governments should reconsider policies thatrestrain private sector participation in education. Furtherresearch is needed to determine whether some teaching and administrativepractices in private schools are applicable to public schools.