Planning for ecotourism in the protected area of Manesht and Ghelarang,Ilam Province,Iran

ABSTRACT

This paper reports a study of the Manesht- and Ghelarang-protected area in Iran. The study sought to identify ways in which sustainable tourism policies could be generated that aid the natural and human environments. From surveys and questionnaires completed by tourists, residents, and officials, an initial set of 10 areas of weakness, 9 strengths, and 6 opportunities were identified. Using these classifications combined with mapping techniques that included maps of topography and flora, a subsequent Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution analysis identified potential future policies that require infrastructure development and reinforced pro-environmental policies to address the problems currently being experienced.     

Enterprise systems’ life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry: a synthesis of Critical Success Factors’(CSFs), theory,knowledge gaps,and implications

The research aims to investigate business value critical success factors (CSFs) of enterprise systems (ES) through their life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry. This article provides an extensive literature analysis of past 22 years based on conscientious criteria of authors: (i) who have published strategic content relevant to CSFs, (ii) received more than 300 citations and (iii) concurrently published two or more papers relevant to ES CSFs. The most cited strategic CSFs were termed as classical CSFs. The 22 CSFs were identified, validated and synthesised for better understanding of success across life cycle by aircraft industry experts. The top 10 empirically verified CSFs have numerous differences with past generic classical CSFs. This article canvases real insights of two distinct views: process and variance approaches of the ES CSFs. The process approach, which is a neglected research area, facilitates the researchers for identification of ES life cycle process coupled with a view of resource deployment when it is needed the most. While the variance approach facilitates practitioners and researchers in finding out which resource (CSF) is relatively more important. The significant findings for ES life cycle can help the practitioners and researchers to make rational decisions throughout the ES life cycle.     

The nexus between sectoral FDI and institutional quality: empirical evidence from Pakistan

This study investigates short- and long-run bidirectional causality between institutional quality and sectoral-level FDI in Pakistan by using the ARDL technique. The results confirm that long-run bidirectional causality exists between institutional quality and aggregate FDI. The in-depth sectoral-level FDI analysis substantiates the presence of long-run bidirectional causality between institutional quality and FDI in services and manufacturing sectors, while no long-run causality is observed between institutional quality and FDI inflows in primary sector. Furthermore, the results in the study reveal short-run bidirectional causality only between institutional quality and manufacturing FDI and report insignificant short-run causal link between institutional quality and FDI in primary and services sectors. The overall findings of the study suggest that in the long-run institutional quality attract FDI and FDI inflows, particularly to manufacturing and services sectors, significantly enhance the quality of institutions in Pakistan.     

Asymmetric impact of oil prices,exchange rate,and inflation on tourism demand in Pakistan: new evidence from nonlinear ARDL

This study scrutinized the asymmetric impact of oil prices, exchange rate, and inflation on tourism demand in Pakistan using [Shin, Y., Yu, B., & Greenwood-Nimmo, M. (2014) Modelling asymmetric cointegration and dynamic multipliers in a nonlinear ARDL framework. In Festschrift in honor of peter schmidt (pp. 281–314). New York, NY: Springer] nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The NARDL bounds test examined the existence of cointegration in study variables, including CO₂ emissions, institutional quality, oil prices, exchange rate, inflation, and tourism demand. The evidence proposes that disregarding the intrinsic nonlinearities may misinform inference. The estimated NARDL model affirmed long-run negative and significant effect of CO₂ emissions on tourism demand, while institutional quality was positively associated with tourism demand. Furthermore, the findings of the study also suggested long-run asymmetric relationship between oil prices, exchange rate, inflation, and tourism demand.     

China??s banking system, market structure, and competitive conditions

This paper presents an empirical assessment of the market structure and the competitive conditions of the Chinese banking sector. We applied the Panzar-Rosse H-statistic on the data collected from a panel including 16 most significant Chinese banks for the period 2004–2007. Equilibrium tests and the competitive conditions tests were applied on the data. From the pooled regression in the whole period, we found that the banking sector in China for 2004–2007 was monopolistically competitive. We also show that the Chinese banks were not able to achieve high records of profitability in monopolistically competitive markets.     

‘Organizational learning culture’: an ingenious device for promoting firm's innovativeness

The present study focuses on the relationship between organizational learning culture (OLC) and firm's innovativeness. The area of innovation as well as organizational culture is crucial for organizations and for entrepreneurs because both provide the basis for sustainable competitive advantage and improved firm performance. The notion of OLC offers a set of customs and principles that enhances imperativeness of an organization. Information acquisition, information interpretation, and behavioral and cognitive changes (BCC) were used as elements of the organizational learning process. Constructs comprising innovativeness are innovative culture, and technical and administrative innovation (innovations). Data were collected from 50 randomly selected Pakistani organizations. The results show significant and positive relationships among all hypothesized variables except for between BCC and innovations.     

Relocating Persia/Iran in the contemporary British tourist imaginary

This paper examines the construction of three different Persias in British cultural tourists’ accounts of their encounters with Iran and its inhabitants and with its Persian heritage. One – which we call Persia-the-Dead – is materialised in the ancient and monumental, and is at the same time heavily mediated by long-standing discourses of Ancient Persia in British and European cultures more generally. A second – which we call Persia-the-Living – is mediated by the same largely Orientalist discourses, but its mobilisation is inflected to include the tourists’ reactions to encounters with Iranians themselves. What finally emerges is a version of what we propose to call Persia-the-British, which combines both perspectives within an analysis of how Orientalist representations of Persia are simultaneously reinforced, updated and at least partially refocused in the encounter between the living and the dead.     

Developing a multiple-criteria decision analysis for green economy transition: a Canadian case study

ABSTRACT

Identifying planning strategies for the transition to a green economy is a formidable challenge. We proposed a novel multiple-criteria decision analysis model which can quantitatively identify the socio-economic and environmental impacts of various government and public policies. We applied the model to four practical scenarios in Canada for determining the optimal final demand that maximizes the country's GDP and employment while minimizing GHG emissions for small, short-term changes. As a result, the model suggested potential ways to simultaneously achieve a GDP growth of 2.5 billion CAD and creation of over 25,000 new jobs, and a saving of 2514 kt CO₂. As per the final demand, the electrification of domestic heating and transport should be more promoted. The proposed analysis tool will provide decision-makers with the ability to explore the design and effects of policy reforms, regulatory changes, and targeted public expenditure strategies, thereby overcoming barriers towards a green economy.