Introducing Environmental Management in the Hotel Industry

Summary

The hotel industry in Jamaica, like so many other tropical destinations, markets itself on the “3-Ss”-sea, sun, and sand. Hotels ring the north coast of the island in four main resort areas (i.e., Negril, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Port Antonio). Located in sensitive coastal ecosystems, most of Jamaica's hotels face the challenge of reducing the environmental impact of their operations while meeting the increasing demand of a growing tourism industry.

This article presents a case study of the introduction of environmental management practices and systems in the hotel industry in Jamaica over the past 3 years to provide an answer to the environmentally sustainable tourism challenge. It describes the programmatic approach, the results at both the property and industry level, and the lessons learned in replicating the approach to other tropical tourism destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America.     

Audit Market Response to PCAOB Censures of US Big 4 Firms

Abstract

Subsequent to the first-ever Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) censure of a US Big 4 firm (Deloitte) in December 2007, there were two other PCAOB US Big 4 firm censures as of 2016 year-end. We examine whether these two post-2007 PCAOB censures of US Big 4 firms conveyed new information to the audit market. For both censures, we find little or no evidence of any change in the factual audit quality of the censured firm over a three-year window surrounding the censure. Our findings suggest that the quality control deficiencies (identified during inspection of specific audit engagements) that triggered the PCAOB censure were isolated occurrences rather than systemic to the firm at large, i.e., the censures do not imply an impairment in the US Big 4 firm's overall factual audit quality. We also find that the negative response of investors and audit committees documented in prior research for the 2007 Deloitte censure disappeared for the later US Big 4 firm censures. Given that the PCAOB inspects (and can censure) non-US auditors who audit US-listed foreign companies, our findings are of potential interest to regulators, investors and audit committees outside the US.     

Radical Political Regimes in the Americas and MNC Responses

Abstract

This paper introduces a dynamic conceptual model to describe US multinational corporations' responses to radical political regime changes in contemporary Latin America. The model describes four stages in the MNC response process: (1) the nature of the radical revolution in the host nation; (2) the new economic paradigm created by the revolutionary government; (3) the adjustments and readjustments made by both parties (the state and MNC) within the newly defined rules; and (4) the end result or outcome of the re-positioning process. Moderating the impact of the creation of the new economic paradigm are the host nation's national history, the host nation's domestic actors, US hegemonic power, international actors and economic development models. Within this mix, both state and MNC power influence what each other wants and can get from the other. This leads to a “negotiated” outcome from whence the response from the MNC is made. The revolutionary regimes in Chile (1970-1973) and Nicaragua (1979-1990) are examined within the context of the proposed conceptual model.     

Re‐gendering consumer agency in mid‐nineteenth‐century America: A visual understanding

The re‐gendering of consumer agency in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, from being a male to an increasingly female prerogative and responsibility, marked an important milestone in the history of American consumer culture. Art from this period can provide a visual understanding of this ideological and social transformation. Accordingly, this paper examines the lives and selected works of two intriguing genre painters, Francis W. Edmonds (1806–1863) and Lilly Martin Spencer (1822–1902), using concepts and methods from art history, visual culture, and postmodern theory. Implications for household consumption history and theory are also discussed.     

关于我国农村流通领域中经营主体改革的一个新构想

改革开放30年来,我国农村流通领域取得重要进展,但目前我国农村流通领域仍存在比较突出的问题。本文主要从流通领域中的经营主体出发,分析了目前多元化主体存在的问题,提出了一个对经营主体改革的一个新构想。     

America's Engagement in Iraq: Insights and implications for public management research

Abstract

There are lessons to be learned in the matter of public management in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially in the importance of the management cultures in which decisions are made. This review is of four books, by different authors, sharing their journalist approach. Four shared themes emerge from these works: the importance of training, organizational culture, strategy, and governance. The authors develop an awareness of the inter-connectivity of the leadership and management cultures of the military and civilians, with significant implications for future public management research. Each of the four books in this review offers contributions that extend the knowledge and practice of public management and public policy, providing hard-learned lessons that can be cross walked into teaching, practice, and research.     

Impact of China's currency valuation and labour cost on the US in a trade and exchange rate model

Ricardian dynamic general equilibrium analyses show that under free trade arrangements a low income country with lower wage cost and large endowment of labour has comparative advantage in trade. Efficiency gains from this enhance economic growth and welfare of households simultaneously in both low income and advanced economies. Theoretical predictions are empirically validated here with structural VAR analysis based on quarterly data over the time period 1995:1 to 2009:1 on China's relative wage cost, interest rate differential, real effective exchange rate (REER), relative GDP and the US current account balance. It is shown how the relative prices of labour, capital and the currency affect the economic activity in China and current account balance in the US. With free capital inflows and outflows and restrictions on labour mobility, comparative advantage of China and the trade deficit of the US will both be minimised if China allows real appreciation of the Yuan and complete adjustment in prices. Higher production cost and prices in China could reduce welfare of Chinese households and the trade imbalance of the US, while higher relative GDP of China lowers the current account balance for the US.     

Productivity and the Euro-Dollar exchange rate

This article analyses the impact of productivity developments in the United States and the euro area on the euro-dollar exchange rate. The article presents a new measure of relative average labour, productivity (ALP) which does not suffer from the biases implicit in readily available relative ALP data. Importantly, the patterns of these series differ widely. Employing the Johansen cointegration framework, four models are estimated using four different productivity proxies. Our results indicate that the extent to which productivity can explain the euro depreciation varies with the productivity proxy used: readily available measures explain most, our new, preferred measure least. In all models, however, productivity can explain only a fraction of the actual euro depreciation experienced in 1999–2000. JEL no. F31, C32, O47 The views expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Central Bank or its staff.     

Effective experimental controls for research in international accounting: Further thoughts

This paper responds to recent research by Ruland et al. [Ruland, W., Shon, J., Zhou, P., 2007. Effective controls for research in international accounting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 26(1), 96–116.] that addresses the effectiveness of experimental controls for research in international accounting, with focus on Ndubizu and Sanchez [Ndubizu, G.A., Sanchez, M.H., 2006. The valuation properties of earnings and book value prepared under US GAAP in Chile and IAS in Peru. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 25 (2)]. We attempt to remove some misconceptions about effective experimental controls that have surfaced in the debate. We argue that theory and refined proxies alleviate many of the control issues that have surfaced in the literature.