Assessment of the Partnership Quality between Travel Agencies and Health Care Organizations on the International Medical Tourism Market in Taiwan

The medical tourism literature lacks insight into related issues of these types of partnerships. Those that integrate multiple perspectives into one research framework are especially rare. This study evaluated and compared the influence of external environment uncertainty, trust, and resource dependence perspectives on the quality of interorganizational partnerships in the international medical tourism market and quantified these elements using external environment uncertainty assessment on the international medical tourism development. The research sample was based on a survey from 161 travel agency managers in Taiwan. This study found that external environment uncertainty has direct negative impact on trust and resource dependence has a positive influence on interorganizational partnership. Moreover, trust has a significant impact on partnership quality while resource dependence does not. Therefore, medical travel agents should extend their network of trustworthy health care organization partners in order to improve performance, decrease their self-risk, collect information, and avoid missed opportunities.     

Pricing-to-Market: Price Discrimination or Product Differentiation?

We employ a vertical differentiation model to examine the potential bias in pricing-to-market results when using export unit values aggregating differentiated products. Our results show that: (i) false evidence of pricing-to-market is always found when using unit values, whether the law of one price holds or not; and (ii) the size of the bias increases with the level of product differentiation. Our simulation results support those conceptual findings. Thus, some of the positive pricing-to-market results in the literature could be an artifact of the product heterogeneity embodied in unit values rather than evidence of imperfect competition.     

上海股票市场空气质量指数的实证研究

空气质量能够通过情绪渠道和信息渠道去影响投资者的决策和投资行为,从而影响股票市场。采用2014年5月14日至2017年2月17日的上证指数、全国PM2.5指数以及百度指数数据,对空气质量如何影响股票市场及其影响力度进行实证分析。结果显示空气质量能够显著地影响股票市场,且季节性紊乱会加剧这一影响力度。此外空气质量对上证工业指数的影响大于上证综指,表明空气质量对特定行业的影响大于整体市场,而信息获取方式又会影响到影响的方向和力度。     

上市公司利润质量恶化的分析

随着我国现代企业制度的建立和发展及证券市场的壮大,投资证券市场的人数也在日益增多。为了更好地选择上市公司,避免投资风险,我们不仅要考虑上市公司利润的高低,而且要考虑其利润的质量,正确判断上市公司的发展前景。     

基于物元可拓法的地下水水质评价

介绍了物元可拓法的基本原理及计算步骤。在此基础上,利用物元可拓法对建三江垦区地下水水样进行水质等级评价。从评价结果中看出,运用物元可拓法对地下水水质进行综合评价,排除了人为的干预,并利用关联度函数及权重系数等手段,使最终评价结果更加接近于实际情况,比较客观的反映了地下水水质总体状况。     

旅游开发对民族传统文化的本质性影响

民族传统文化的变迁是一个不以人的意志为转移的、客观的历史过程,传统文化得以传承的前提条件取决于其在当下的"有用性".对这种"有用性"的最终评估并不来自研究者或政府官员,而只能来自居于该民族传统"主位"(emic)的文化持有者的认知.换言之,传统文化是不能被处于"客位"(etic)的人的"理性"行动保护下来的,文化传承的内源性动力只能源于居于该种传统文化"主位"的它的持有者群体的"文化自觉",而这种"文化自觉"正是对其传统文化有用性的一种界定和回应.从这一点出发,研究者能做的是为"主位"者提供智力支持,政府要做的是为"主位者"提供财政支持和制度保障.     

World Leisure and Recreation Association International Position Statement on Leisure Education and Youth at Risk

Researchers have noted the utility of the Investment Model in explaining the formation of loyalty. This study extends the Investment Model in a leisure service context by including two additional constructs of quality and value. Quality and value are proposed as antecedents of satisfaction, with their effects on loyalty mediated by satisfaction. Results from an online panel survey of American cruise passengers support these hypotheses. The study provides a model of loyalty building that may shed new insight on loyalty research.     

The Relationships among Theatrical Components,Experiential Value,Relationship Quality,and Relationship Marketing Outcomes

Both marketing practitioners and academic researchers have traditionally recognized the major influence that relationship quality (RQ) has on relationship marketing outcomes. Differing from previous studies, this study proposes a more integrated model by including theatrical components and experiential value in the “RQ-relationship marketing outcomes” paradigm. The structural relationships among the variables are examined by adopting a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach in the context of a theme park. The results confirm the existence of the path “theatrical components → experiential value → RQ → relationship marketing outcomes”.     

Tourism in China and professionalism: An insider's perspective

This paper starts with an overview of tourism development in China in the past two decades. While highlighting much of the government initiative which makes progress possible, it tries to pinpoint the primary cause of the existing problems China faces. It is the lack of professionalism, which can be found in government decision making, business management and operation, education and training. The solutions will come mainly from the inside, and one can see efforts being made by policy‐makers and the front‐line people, but it is believed that overseas professionals have a positive role to play, as they have done in China's hospitality industry in the past.     

The U.K. Conference and Meetings Industry

Abstract

During the last ten years, the U.K. meetings industry has developed rapidly. Regard for the industry and competition amongst venues is growing. The industry is attracting increasing levels of attention, while an intensified incidence of venues other than hotels are competing within this sector. This progressive expansion of demand experienced by the industry heightens the importance of the quality provision for customers when differentiating between venues. The ultimate aim of the research is to determine whether gaps exist between the attributes employed to assess the quality and desirability of a U.K. conference venue-firstly by conference organizers and conference delegates and secondly between their perceptions and the characteristics of the product provided. This paper presents an approach to the development of a research instrument to measure and compare an inventory of service quality attributes as perceived by meetings organizers and delegates.