The Response of Hotels to Increasing Food Costs due to Food Shortages

During 2008–2009 the hotel industry in Hong Kong had to respond to a steady price increase in general food items and in basic food commodities. As most hotels in Hong Kong predict their food cost budgets a year in advance, these sudden and unexpected increases in food commodities came at a time when there was a downturn in the global economy in the wake of the financial crisis and a worldwide influenza A (H1N1) epidemic. There have been articles published in hospitality and tourism journals that have discussed the issue of food cost and control in hotels resulting from poor storage and purchasing, portion control, and preparation and production methods. However, none of the previous studies has examined the sudden and rapid increases in the cost of foods and the impact that this has had on the hotel industry. The measures adopted by Hong Kong hotels of different tiers to control or reduce expected food costs are analyzed in this study. This study employed a cross-sectional exploratory design, encompassing in-depth personal interviews with food and beverage managers and executive chefs in high-, mid- and low-tier hotels in Hong Kong. Empirical findings revealed that mid- and low-tier hotels found the increases in commodity prices challenging and thus employed innovative methods to combat rising food costs. High-tier hotels were more concerned about satisfying customers' needs by maintaining high-quality food products and services. The findings indicate that hotels and restaurants at all points of the market adopted functional strategies to increase their efficiency and profitability. Based on the operating experience of existing hotels, this study demonstrates that enhancing the quality of suppliers' commodities, good staff communication and training practices, and innovative ideas can improve a hotel's financial situation.     

Hong Kong Residents' Adoption of Risk Reduction Strategies in Leisure Travel

For decades risk has been identified as a major concern for traveling. Although some recent studies focused on studying consumers' perceived travel risks, only a few prior studies literally discussed consumers' risk reduction strategies in the context of travel-related services. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the travel-related risk reduction strategies that Hong Kong residents adopt to strengthen their confidence during leisure travel. This study also explores if travelers of different travel-related and sociodemographic characteristics adopt different risk reduction strategies. Among different risk reduction strategies—“purchase travel insurance,” “bring extra cash,” and “search for latest information about the destination”—are the ones which Hong Kong residents are likely to adopt when they travel for leisure. Results revealed that travel-related and sociodemographic characteristics influenced travelers' likelihood to risk reduction strategies differently. Specifically, travel experience of travelers, age, and household income displayed significant differences in the likelihood of adopting most of the risk reduction strategies.     

导游工作满意度对其离职倾向的影响

旨在研究导游工作满意度对其离职倾向的影响．首先对导游工作满意度量表数据进行探索性主成分因子分析,以导游工作满意度因子分数为自变量,离职倾向为因变量进行多元回归分析。研究发现,导游工作满意度表现为组织支持、工作收获与个人工作自主3个维度,其中工作收获与个人工作自主对离职倾向有显著负向影响．通过研究识别出导游工作满意度中对离职倾向的影响因素,同时讨论了提升导游工作满意度减少其离职行为的管理建议。     

TRADE AND WAGE INEQUALITY: THE HONG KONG CASE

Abstract. This paper examines the effects of Hong Kong–mainland China trade on the wage inequality in Hong Kong. Because of the large volume of trade and the large income disparity between these two regions, this empirical study provides a good test of the theories on North–South trade. The econometric analyses show that the relative wage between the skilled and unskilled workers in Hong Kong increased as the share of the volume of Hong Kong's trade with mainland China in Hong Kong's total trade volume rose.     

Entrepreneurship through Bricolage: a study of displaced entrepreneurs at times of war and conflict

ABSTRACT

War and conflict brings about adverse changes for those who are displaced. How do entrepreneurial individuals respond to such adversity to either set-up, or continue with their existing entrepreneurial endeavours that would improve their own livelihood or that of others who have been affected? Whilst previous studies have found local knowledge, networks and resources to be crucial in the development of ventures in the war and conflict context, alienation from mainstream society within the host location often means that to succeed, those who are displaced require alternative strategies and approaches. Through examining the entrepreneurial ventures of six internally displaced entrepreneurs in Pakistan, our study identifies that entrepreneurial individuals find different ways to adapt to the new order, with both internal and external bricolage becoming the key strategies deployed to either re-establish their previous businesses or to develop new endeavours in the host location. To compensate for lack of local knowledge, networks and resources, we found that entrepreneurs followed closely their previous paths in their bricolage attempts, relying on reconfigurations of their pre-existing competencies, as well as utilizing pre-established and clandestine networks.     

The Signaling Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility in Emerging Economies

What signals do firms in emerging economies send to stakeholders when they adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices? We argue that in emerging economies, firms that adopt CSR practices positively signal investors that their firms have superior capabilities for filling institutional voids. From an institution-based view, we hypothesize that the institutional environment moderates the signaling effect of CSR on a firm’s financial performance. Based on a sample of firms from ten Asian emerging economies, we find a positive relationship between CSR practices and financial performance. This positive relationship is stronger in the less developed capital market than in the more developed one. The financial benefits of CSR practices are also more salient in the low information diffusion market than in the high one. We emphasize that signaling theory and the institution-based view can jointly contribute to the CSR literature.     

Are exchange rates serially correlated? New evidence from the Euro FX markets

This paper examines the serial uncorrelatedness hypothesis in the Euro FX markets by testing for autocorrelation in daily FX returns of 82 countries over the period of 1999–2010. We use three newly developed tests that are robust to conditional heteroskedasticity of unknown forms and that do not choose a lag parameter arbitrarily. They are Escanciano &; Lobato (2009)'s automatic Box–Pierce Q_p test, Nankervis &; Savin (2010)'s generalized Andrews–Ploberger test and Deo (2000)'s robust Durlauf test. We find no significant autocorrelation in the FX returns of around 58 to 62 countries, suggesting that majority of the Euro FX markets are weak-form efficient.     

The Incidence of the Land Use Regulatory Tax

Land use regulation has been found to impose a substantial tax on housing within select U.S. metropolitan areas. In this article, we develop hypotheses regarding the incidence of this tax by income class and racial group within these areas. Parcel‐level data from Miami‐Dade County, Florida, are used to test our hypotheses. We find that, while the tax rises with a household's permanent income, this rise is less than proportional, making it a regressive tax. We also find, controlling for household permanent income, that the tax is a higher percentage of the price of homes located in black neighborhoods in comparison to those located in white or Hispanic neighborhoods.     

A learning-based variable assignment weighting scheme for heuristic and exact searching in Euclidean traveling salesman problems

Many search algorithms have been successfully employed in combinatorial optimization in logistics practice. This paper presents an attempt to weight the variable assignments through supervised learning in subproblems. Heuristic and exact search methods can therefore test promising solutions first. The Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem (ETSP) is employed as an example to demonstrate the presented method. Analysis shows that the rules can be approximately learned from the training samples from the subproblems and the near optimal tours. Experimental results on large-scale local search tests and small-scale branch-and-bound tests validate the effectiveness of the approach, especially when it is applied to industrial problems.