A tale of industrial stagnation from Africa

Many African economies have experienced rather dismal industrial development since the 1980s. The consensus is that African firms lack competitiveness in a world with increasing trade openness. What determines competitiveness? A well‐known explanation is that resource endowments in Africa favour land not labour, which results in high wages, especially in comparison with ‘labour abundant’ Asian economies. This paper examines the validity of this view on the basis of the case of Sudan. We demonstrate that the lack of competitiveness of manufacturing industries is not caused by high wages. Assuming a direct relationship between labour productivity and international competitiveness, we argue that acute capacity underutilisation, caused by supply‐side constraints, lowers manufacturing productivity, which in turn negatively influences competitiveness.     

Computer Simulation as a Tool for Planning and Management of Visitor Use in Protected Natural Areas

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Principles on Implementation of Sustainable Tourism suggest that implementing sustainable tourism must include monitoring visitor use of protected natural areas and directing it to areas where the environmental and social impacts of tourism are minimised. Thus, sustainable tourism management requires information about the spatial and temporal flow of visitor use in protected natural areas to help identify potential tourism-related threats to the natural and cultural resources of an area and the quality of visitors’ experiences. Recent research has identified at least four ways in which simulation modelling of visitor use can facilitate more informed planning and management of sustainable tourism in protected natural areas, including (1) describing existing visitor use flows; (2) monitoring the condition of ‘hard to measure’ indicator variables; (3) testing the effectiveness of alternative visitor use management practices; and (4) guiding the design of research on public attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, using findings from studies conducted in the Inyo National Forest and Isle Royale National Park, USA, each of these four potential contributions of computer simulation to sustainable tourism management and planning. The paper concludes with an assessment of the limitations of existing applications of computer simulation to nature-based tourism and recommendations for future research.     

Book review

Leisure Counseling: Selected Lifestyle Processes. By Chester F. McDowell, Jr., Ph.D. Center for Leisure Studies, University of Oregon, 1976.     

From voice to choice: lessons from a regional capacity development initiative to strengthen social and gender analysis in participatory natural resource management research

Doing practical biodiversity and natural resources management research that is socially and gender sensitive remains a challenge. Most of the relevant literature is primarily at the conceptual level. There are few learning programmes that focus on systematic capacity development for gender and social analysis in applied research in this field. Efforts that systematically document and analyse this kind of capacity development process are also hard to find. This paper summarizes the main research and capacity development achievements and challenges of a novel, Asian-regional initiative that aimed to address these gaps. It is suggested that the success of capacity-building strategies for the integration of social and gender analysis can be enhanced by combining a mix of elements, including a ‘learning by doing’ approach, participatory (action) research methodologies, a diverse group of participants, regular peer review, flexible networking and strong personal and organizational commitment. These kinds of strategies will require a long(er) time horizon and sufficient resources.     

比较分析十六家旅游上市公司的发展态势

根据国家对旅游业的重视,文章结合旅游上市公司的发展现状,对三类旅游上市公司分别从盈利能力、负债能力、运营能力和发展能力四个方面八项指标进行分析,并提出了相关发展建议和对策,以期为各类旅游上市公司的未来发展提供参考和借鉴。     

应用技术型高校创业教育的对策研究

随着知识经济型时代的到来,大学生的就业形势也越来越严峻,作为培养应用技术型人才的高校而言,其创业教育也势必跟上时代的步伐。为此,本文将详细分析当前我国应用技术型高校创业教育存在的问题,并对此提出相应的解决对策及建议。     

预钻式旁压试验在哈尔滨地铁一期工程中的应用

本文通过哈尔滨地铁一期工程的实例,介绍了预钻式旁压试验在工程中的现场操作,成果分析及应用。     

关于提高党的领导干部能力建设问题几点思考

提高党的执政能力,重点在于加强党的各级领导干部的能力建设,从宏观与微观两个层面认识提高领导紧迫性,处理好干部能力建设中的整体与个体、德与才、内因与外因、书本知识与实践经验,党的建设与经济建设的辩证关系,才能把握方向,突出重点,取得实效。     

Exploratory and exploitative innovation: To what extent do the dimensions of individual level absorptive capacity contribute?

Individuals are considered the frontline that allows firms to learn from external sources. However, a firm can only benefit from individual efforts if it understands to what extent the dimensions of individual-level absorptive capacity are related to its innovation strategy. A firm's innovation strategy is characterized by the notions of exploration and exploitation, which result in either radical or incremental innovation. This study examines the driving factors of individual-level absorptive capacity regarding a firm's exploration versus exploitation strategy. Using quantitative data from 104 individuals, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was conducted, verifying individuals' competencies in identifying external knowledge as a trigger for both exploratory and exploitative innovation. Consequently, these specific abilities also contribute to organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, the results show the dichotomous contribution of individual competencies in assimilating external knowledge. While exploratory innovation thrives with individual assimilation efforts, realization of exploitative innovation is not significantly related to these efforts. Ultimately, individuals' competencies in utilizing external knowledge are significantly related to neither exploratory nor exploitative innovation. Moreover, this study provides means for managers to systematically position individuals in the external search process.     

Technological diversity,knowledge flow and capacity,and industrial innovation

ABSTRACT

This article examines the effect of technological diversity, knowledge flow and capacity on industrial innovation performance. We suggest that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between technological diversity and industrial innovation performance. Moreover, knowledge flow and knowledge capacity are hypothesised as negatively moderating the effect of technological diversity on industrial innovation performance. We use negative binomial regression to test the hypotheses in a panel data of 360 industry-year cases and the findings support our prediction. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.