Temporal influences on image change

Hunt (1971) defines state image as the impressions that a person or persons hold about a state in which they do not reside. But image is more complex than a single perception, for Brand identification as well as people's perceptions of attributes of various activities or attractions within an area will interact to form a composite state image. Research into such images is a basis for product positioning of a state's various attractions or activities against other regions. The effects of temporal influences on image change may have consequences for product positioning. Within the limits of this research design, very little image change was seen to result from short-term seasonal differences. However, the minor changes noted were in the hypothesized direction, leading to the conclusion that further research should be conducted on image change as a result of temporal influences.     

The effects of perceptions of risk, environmental uncertainty, and growth aspirations on new venture creation success

This study extends Xu and Reuf (Strateg Organ 2:331?C355, 2004) by exploring the strategic and non-strategic risk-taking propensity perceptions of nascent entrepreneurs as it relates to the subsequent likelihood of venture formation success. In addition, the moderating influences of perceptions of environmental uncertainty and venture growth aspirations are also examined. Findings from an analysis of data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) I indicate that an entrepreneur??s risk-taking propensity has no relationship to the likelihood of successfully starting a business. Perceptions of environmental uncertainty and venture growth aspirations were positively related to non-strategic risk-taking propensity, yet none of these variables (strategic and non-strategic risk-taking propensity, environmental uncertainty and growth aspirations) had a significant effect on venture creation success. We suggest that risk-taking propensity, as measured in this study, does not play a significant role in differentiating between nascent entrepreneurs or others, or between those that are successful or unsuccessful at starting businesses.     

Verbesserte Institutionen für den Arbeitsmarkt in der Wirtschaftskrise

Bis in die 90er Jahre war der deutsche Arbeitsmarkt dadurch charakterisiert, dass ein Aufschwung den Bestand der Arbeitslosigkeit kaum beeinfl usste, eine Rezession hingegen schon. Seit fünf Jahren gilt das Umgekehrte: der Aufschwung schl?gt auf die Entwicklung der Arbeitslosigkeit durch, die Rezession hingegen kaum. Offenbar pr?gen l?nger dauernde Anpassungsprozesse über Konjunkturzyklen hinweg die Arbeitsmarktentwicklung.     

Is tourism employment a sufficient mechanism for poverty reduction? A case study from Nkhata Bay,Malawi

Extensive attention has been paid to the magnitude and distribution of economic benefits derived from tourism employment by impoverished populations. However, less is known about how economic benefits, such as increased income, relate to poverty conditions at the intra-household level, particularly within the unique contexts of least developed countries. In this paper, we examine the relationship of tourism employment to poverty conditions in a lakeshore community in Malawi. First, we quantitatively compare employment and poverty conditions among the households of tourism employees with those of employees of non-tourism sectors. Secondly, we undertake a qualitative investigation into lodge employment, and its remuneration and fringe benefits from the perspectives of lodge owners and employees. Our findings of the former analysis reveal that while employees of the tourism sector experienced better working and monetary conditions, this group did not exhibit an improved status in other poverty conditions. The latter qualitative analysis shows that most tourism lodge owners adhered to labour standards of minimum wage, and voluntarily offered fringe benefits such as paying medical, funeral, and education expenses of lodge employees. However, despite this adherence to labour standards, there is little evidence that lodge employees and their households experience an improvement in poverty conditions.     

The making and remaking of HRM: the practice of managing people in the Eastern Cape Province,South Africa

This paper explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) practice in the Border region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, located within contemporary local and international debates regarding the content and nature thereof. Four distinct patterns of practice were identified. The first represented a simple changing in nomenclature of the relevant personnel sections, with, in several cases, staff being seen not as managers, but rather as a distinct, and somewhat junior, category of employee. In the second category, the traditional personnel function was broadened to encompass clearly delineated areas such as training and development. In the third category, while HRM practitioners did play an important strategic role, this was more in terms of facilitating the adoption of progressive industrial relations policies, than in developing a vision for managing human resources across the organization. In all cases, what human resource practitioners did seemed somewhat removed from the 'conventional wisdom' definition of HRM. In part this was a result of the persistence of effective and militant trade unions, necessitating the adoption of hybrid HR-industrial relations practices. However, it also represented a product of particular managerial traditions, and the fact that HRM represents a complex package of concepts and practices, which, inevitably, are subject to adjustment in the light of prevailing realities. This study sheds further light on the diverse and multi-faceted area of HRM practice, and underscores the need for flexibility and pragmatism in both transitional, and, indeed, mature economic contexts.     

Entrepreneurial narrative and a science of the imagination

This article is an introduction to a special issue on entrepreneurial narrative that provides theoretical and empirical links between scholarship in narrative and entrepreneurship as well as demonstrates how theories and methods in narrative may be applied to the study of entrepreneurship as a phenomenon. A conjecture that narrative perspectives might lead to a “science of the imagination” is offered.     

Factors Affecting New Product Forecasting Accuracy in New Firms

This study identifies factors that seem to influence a new firm's ability to accurately forecast new product sales. William Gartner and Robert Thomas present a conceptual model and develop hypotheses that specify antecedent factors prior to new product launch, such as the founder's expertise and the marketing research methods used, as well as environmental factors occurring after product launch, such as competitive factors and market volatility, that influence new product forecasting accuracy. The hypotheses were tested with data collected from a survey of 113 new U.S. software firms. Some tentative guidelines for improving sales forecast accuracy among new firms are offered. Directions for future research are discussed.