Gains from horizontal collaboration among ski areas

Ski areas are known to expand by linking their lifts to neighbouring systems. Based on data from approximately 250 winter sport destinations in Austria, pooled over the years 1998–2014, this study explores the effects of such horizontal collaboration on the number of overnights stays in the area. A difference-in-differences (DID) approach combined with propensity score matching shows that new lift-linkages or expansions lead to a consolidation in the number of overnight stays at a level 12 per cent higher than before the introduction of the lift-link. However, there is a certain degree of heterogeneity in the causal effects. Satellite ski areas, remote villages and those who combine lift-linking with new connecting slopes benefit the most. More recent lift-linkages seem to lead to smaller gains than those established in the early years.     

Public–private partnerships for nature-based tourist attractions: the failure of Seal Rocks

In 1998, the Seal Rocks Sea Life Centre opened on Phillip Island, Australia. It was a public–private partnership, with a privately funded tourist attraction built on a government-owned protected area. Almost immediately it was beset by problems and court action found in favour of the private developer, who was awarded $A37 million in damages, with ownership of the centre returning to the state. This article fills a gap in the literature examining public–private partnerships by considering this failed venture. It is a qualitative case study, analysing the 2003 appeal court judgement in the case and newspaper accounts from 1995 to 2004. Our findings highlight that deficiencies with the drafting of commercial contracts for public–private partnerships may limit the environmental and economic benefits that are being sought by governments through these arrangements. In this case, the application of a “best efforts” clause was critical, as it required that priority was given to the commercial success of the project over environmental and planning concerns. Furthermore, the development was a centralised decision made by the state government, affording very little input from local parks management and community stakeholders. Such a court finding has important ramifications for future developments of partnership agreements in nature-based tourism.     

Collaboration between practitioners and public agencies in preserving and promoting musical heritage in Macao

This study attempts to explore the nature of collaborative relationship between the local government and performers of Cantonese opera in Macao by using in-depth interviews and field trips. Based on the results, a framework has been developed to demonstrate how the local government and performers joint forces to preserve and promote Cantonese opera through tourism. The framework also suggested an approach to balance the power relationship between key players by revealing how the local government and performers interchanged their roles in different areas of the project. The study empirically confirmed the importance of sharing common goals and having sufficient communication and coordination between key players for effective collaboration.     

台商中小企业协作网络探究

文章对基于成功模式下的台商中小企业协作网络进行了介绍,并以此结合华人关系网络以及台商在大陆投资的实际,探究台商中小企业经营中成功利用协作网络的深层原因,并由此带来的引起台商中小企业人力资源管理方面的改变以及对策。     

Activation and variation of the United Nation’s cluster coordination model: a comparative analysis of the Haiti and Japan disasters

The coordinated response to extreme events is critical as illustrated by recent disasters in Haiti and Japan. As a way for coordinated provision of international humanitarian assistance to disaster-hit countries, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) developed cluster coordination model (CCM). With content analysis and network analysis of OCHA situation reports, this study checked four premises regarding activation of CCM, interaction between national and international actors, roles of proximity country, and level of cluster coordination. This study found that there were meaningful variations in implementing the CCM for 2010 Haiti and 2011 Japan disasters. From the analyses, we found that the current CCM may be vulnerable to black swan disasters; thus, extensive and active estimation of national disaster management capacities should be conducted to prevent collapse of national disaster management system. However, the reconciliation of state sovereignty and international humanitarian assistance also should be considered.     

Request selection and exchange approach for carrier collaboration based on auction of a single request

This paper addresses the request selection and exchange problem in the carrier collaboration process with limited sharing of carrier’s request information. A framework including two decision makers, carrier and coordinator, is constructed and its collaboration process is described. In this framework, two request selection models for the carriers are established. In addition, a request exchange method for the coordinator is proposed and four profit allocation strategies are discussed. Compared with other four approaches, simulation results show that the proposed approach is effective and efficient.     

Combinatorial clock-proxy exchange for carrier collaboration in less than truck load transportation

A carrier collaboration problem in less-than-truck load transportation is considered, where multiple carriers exchange their pickup and delivery requests in order to improve their operational efficiency. We extend the clock-proxy auction proposed by Ausubel et al. (2006) to a combinatorial clock-proxy exchange for the problem. This mechanism combines the price discovery of the clock exchange designed based on Lagrangian relaxation with the efficiency of the proxy exchange determined based on the information observed in the clock phase. Numerical experiments on randomly generated instances demonstrate the necessity of the proxy phase and the effectiveness of the clock-proxy exchange.     

Knowledge distance and R&D collaboration in Cournot oligopoly

A Cournot collaboration game is complemented with the hypothesis that the cost of R&D collaboration depends on firm’s directed knowledge distance with respect to potential R&D partners. The further hypothesis that directed distance may be non‐uniform and pair‐wise asymmetric reconciles theoretical predictions with qualitative evidence about concentration and multiplicity of components in industrial R&D networks. The welfare properties of sparse stable networks are also affected.     

城市基础设施与居民消费水平——基于线上线下协同的促进机制

优化城市基础设施对于提升居民消费水平具有积极意义。交通与通讯两类基础设施对居民线上、线下消费的影响存在差异。在普及网购的同时改善城市居民出行条件,使实体店在展示产品、现场体验等方面与电商形成互补,将有助于实现线上、线下渠道的积极互动。以2011—2016年全国近300个地级市构建的面板数据进行计量分析,验证了基础设施对居民消费的促进作用,并发现当前交通、通讯两类设施的交互作用主要体现为协同效应。进一步的研究表明,以完善基础设施支持线上、线下渠道共同发展,还能够适应居民家庭年龄结构变化的新特点。上述结论说明,以完善基础设施促成渠道协同,将对全面优化消费者体验、提升居民消费水平产生重要作用。     

基于扎根理论的农业物流生态圈协同影响因素分析

农业物流生态圈作为一种先进的发展模式,可通过各子系统的相互协作达到双赢,解决传统农业发展面临的产业联动性差、技术水平低下、运营模式落后等问题,推动农业供给侧结构性改革。而考虑到农业物流生态圈涉及主体众多,其协同受多种因素共同作用,需要构建农业物流生态圈协同影响因素框架,以为农业物流生态圈协同研究提供指标体系。基于扎根理论这一质性研究方法,利用Nvivo11.0软件对访谈文本及相关文献资料进行深度分析,得到112个初始概念,进而由初始概念概括出39个范畴,提炼出15个副范畴,最终归纳出协同环境、协同机制、协同能力、协同意愿、扰动因素五个主范畴,形成农业物流生态圈协同影响因素框架。在这个框架中,协同环境可定义为外驱因素,协同机制、协同能力可定义为内驱因素,协同意愿可定义为中介因素,且各因素并非直接对农业物流生态圈产生影响,而是主要通过三条路径进行,其一是外驱因素→中介因素→农业物流生态圈协同,其二是内驱因素→中介因素→农业物流生态圈协同,其三是扰动因素对内驱因素和外驱因素进行调节。