THE PUBLIC ASSIGNMENT OF DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS1

Different planning systems allocate property rights differently between the state and private property owners. This article argues that the appropriate allocation of property rights between the state and private owners can only be discovered by a process of experimentation. The experience of the UK suggests that such a process can take time and may be hindered by the controlling tendencies of central government.     

Choice Based on Goals

This article introduces a goal-based view of consumer choice in which (1) choice is influenced by three classes of goals (consumption goals, criterion goals, and process goals), (2) goals are cognitively represented, and (3) the impact of a goal on choice depends on its activation. For each class of goals, we discuss how goal activation is influenced by direct (subconscious) goal priming, by spreading activation from choice options, from other goals, and from the context, and by goal (non-)achievement. Opportunities for modeling goal-based choice, the integration of emotions in a theory of goal-based choice, and relationships with dual-process theories of decision making are discussed. An expanded version of this paper is available from the first author.     

Marketing Strategy Development Styles,Implementation Capability,and Firm Performance: Investigating the Curvilinear Impact of Multiple Strategy-Making Styles

There is growing interest in the process by which marketing strategy is developed. This article reports on a study in which we investigate the performance implications of using multiple organizational approaches to the development of marketing strategy. Specifically, we test a model in which implementation capability mediates the relationship between number of marketing strategy development (MSD) styles used and firm performance. Based on data collected from manufacturers, the results indicate that: (1) the relationship between the number of MSD styles used and implementation capability is curvilinear (an inverse U-shaped relationship), (2) implementation capability positively impacts firm performance, and (3) implementation capability mediates the relationship between number of MSD styles used and firm performance.     

Social Role Conceptions and CSR Policy Success

Businesses are eager to present themselves as honest and reliable corporate citizens who care about the overall well-being of society. This article researches whether different role conceptions of businesses regarding social issues are related to their success in dealing with social demands. Do socially active companies have a better social reputation than inactive companies? This relationship is determined by first extracting the social role conceptions of the companies from their Corporate Social Responsibility reports and then comparing this data to their social reputations. The analysis shows that there is indeed a relationship between these two variables. Companies with a broad social role conception score significantly better on their social reputations than companies with a narrow role conception. Social role conceptions therefore matter when dealing with social demands.     

Long-term Decline of Small and Medium Size Enterprise Share

There exist few studies of long-term small and medium size enterprise (SME) share in developing countries. This paper presents and examines evidence that SME share in Venezuelan manufacturing has experienced serious decline from 1961 to present times. Evidence is given of this decline in terms of key performance measures: numbers of firms, employment numbers and manufacturing value added. An absolute decline of this stratum has also occurred from 1979 onwards. Economic modelling suggests that efficiency and innovation variables are significantly correlated with this decline while a structural variable explains movement around this trend. This broadly concurs with studies in other select economies where these groups of variables have also been found to be significant. However, unlike Venezuela, these variables often explain a recent revival in these economies' SME share. In particular, we find evidence that the decline in Venezuelan SMEs' relative efficiency and innovation performance along with the prejudicial business environment cause this decline in SME share.     

International medical technology diffusion

Does medical technology generated in frontier countries have a significant impact on health outcomes in the rest of the world? This paper considers a framework where non-frontier countries may benefit from medical innovation that is embodied in medical imports or diffuses in the form of ideas. Using a novel dataset from a cross-section of 63 technology-importing countries, we show that medical technology diffusion is an important contributor to improved health status, as measured by life expectancy and mortality rates.     

Sustainability indicators for managing community tourism

The purpose of this study is to develop indicators to measure community tourism development (CTD) within a sustainable framework. In order to develop such objective indicators, this study employed a modified Delphi technique. A panel of 38 academic researchers in tourism provided input into developing the indicators. After three rounds of discussion, the panel members reached consensus on the following set of 125 indicators: political (32), social (28), ecological (25), economic (24), technological (3), and cultural dimensions (13) for CTD. This set of sustainable tourism indicators can serve as a starting-point for devising a set of indicators at the local and regional level. Further study shall develop a set of sustainable indicators relying on communities’ distinctive characteristics and employing indicator experts from the social and physical sciences and from all stakeholder groups, including residents of the host community, industry experts, government planners, policy-makers and non-governmental organizations [United Nations (2001). Managing sustainable tourism development: ESCAP tourism review, No. 22. New York, NY: UN].