Determinants hindering the intention of tourists to visit disaster-hit destinations

The purpose of this study is to propose and examine a new research model that is able to capture both the cognitive and affective components influencing potential tourists' behavioural intentions to visit a disaster-hit destination, which have negatively affected their perceived destination image. A survey of 357 participants provides strong support for the model. The results indicate that participants' perceptions of destination image are a strong predictor of their travel intentions. Factors relating to cognitive appraisals (e.g. perceived equipment risk, perceived natural risk and perceived social risk) as well as affective evaluations (e.g. perceived fear of ghosts, perceived unpleasantness, etc.) were found to be critical components that significantly, and negatively, influence potential tourists' perceptions of a destination image. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed herein.     

Predicting mobile hotel reservation adoption: Insight from a perceived value standpoint

With the attempt of further supporting the overwhelming demand for reservation, a few hospitality corporations have launched mobile hotel reservation (MHR) services. For the acceptance of MHR by individuals is indispensable to the successful implementation of MHR, it is critical for practitioners and academics to understand the factors influencing the adoption of MHR. This study examines the adoption of MHR from the value perspective by proposing and examining a new research model that can capture both gain and loss elements influencing individual value perceptions on behavioral intention to adopt MHR. Data from 235 usable questionnaires, collected in Taiwan, were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling approach. The results indicated that perceived value was a predictor in explaining the customer's adoption of MHR. From the benefits point of view, perceptions of information quality and system quality were the two critical components significantly influencing perceived value of MHR. On the sacrifice side, the effects of technological effort and perceived fee on perceived value were significant. This study will be helpful to researchers in developing and testing MHR related theories, as well as to hospitality firms in understanding individual value perceptions of utilizing MHR and implementing successful MHR system to attract more customers. Theoretical and managerial implications of our results are discussed.     

Budget allocation for customer acquisition and retention while balancing market share growth and customer equity

Following the Blattberg and Deighton (BD) model, we incorporate market share growth to explore links between acquisition and retention. We then devise a method for nonlinear programming using a spreadsheet to balance the objectives of market share growth in the short term and customer equity in the long term. The aim of this approach is to determine the optimal spending allocation for customer acquisition and retention and, by applying this allocation to the numerical example used in the original BD model, to balance these objectives. We demonstrate that the differential unit cost of marginal effects, ceiling rate, efficiency, and allocation of spending on acquisition and retention to achieve market share growth can maximize customer equity. We also develop a criterion to help firms decide where to place spending emphasis, that is, on retaining existing customers or on gaining new ones, while keeping the objectives of market share growth and customer equity firmly in mind.     

Enhancing service quality improvement strategies of fine-dining restaurants: New insights from integrating a two-phase decision-making model of IPGA and DEMATEL analysis

The traditional IPA model has been considered to be a decision-making tool for service quality management. However, the IPA model does not meet the assumptions of the service quality gap, and also cannot explore the connection between service quality attributes, which can easily lead to decision-making errors of service quality management. The purpose of this study is to apply the IPGA model and DEMATEL to explore the service quality improvement priority of fine-dining restaurants and the causal relationship between service quality attributes, and use it as the decision-making reference of service quality strategy planning and resource reorganizing for the restaurant industry with limited resources. The study applied the customers of 8 fine-dining restaurants in Taipei City as the study object, and there are 502 effective samples. The study result shows that the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, and assurance are concentrated here, and are the restaurant service quality dimensions that most need to be improved from the customer perceptive. In addition, the total effect of reliability is the highest among all the service quality dimensions. Reliability and responsiveness, in addition to impacting each other, will impact assurance and empathy. According to the study result, through IPGA and DEMATEL, the service quality performance of fine-dining restaurants and the resource input priority can be grasped more objectively and accurately, which can be used as a reference for manager to plan the service quality improvement strategy.     

Factor endowments and trade of the United States and Taiwan: The Leontief paradox re-examined

The primary purpose of this paper is to re-examine the compatibility of the factor endowment theorem with the foreign trade of both the United States and Taiwan. The study presents evidence that the so-called Leontief paradox may be attributable to technological gaps and factor intensity reversals between the two trading countries. In addition, the conditions for existence of the paradox are generalized. A distinctive feature of this study is that the technologies of both countries are taken into account. The findings reveal that if one-sided technical coefficients, of either the United States or Taiwan, are used for the empirical tests, the Leontief paradox tends to result. The paradox is likely to disappear when the Leontief index is derived from the technical coefficients of both trading countries.     

The impact of internationalization on performance and innovation: The moderating effects of ownership concentration

Researchers in international business have long been interested in understanding the impact of internationalization on performance and innovation. However, prior studies of this research stream offer mixed results. This study contributes to this research stream by employing agency theory to investigate how ownership concentration affects the performance and innovation implications of internationalization. Specifically, we examine two primary effects of ownership concentration: the incentive alignment effect, proxied by the controlling shareholder??s cash flow rights, and the entrenchment effect, proxied by the divergence between control rights and cash flow rights of the controlling shareholder. Based on a sample of Taiwan??s publicly listed firms, we find that the incentive alignment effect moderates the relation between internationalization and performance and innovation positively and the entrenchment effect moderates the relation negatively. These findings shed light on the mixed results of the literature. In addition, most countries outside the United States and the United Kingdom have high ownership concentration; therefore, our results may be generalizable to other settings, providing insight into the role of corporate governance in internationalization.     

A supply chain network design considering transportation cost discounts

This study addresses an integrated facility location and inventory allocation problem considering transportation cost discounts. Specifically, this article considers two types of transportation discounts simultaneously: quantity discounts for inbound transportation cost and distance discounts for outbound transportation cost. This study uses an approximation procedure to simplify DC distance calculation details, and develops an algorithm to solve the aforementioned supply chain management (SCM) problems using nonlinear optimization techniques. Numerical studies illustrate the solution procedures and the effects of the model parameters on the SCM decisions and total costs. Results of this study serve as a reference for business managers and administrators.     

Application of Expectation Confirmation Theory to Consumers’ Impulsive Purchase Behavior for Products Promoted by Showgirls in Exhibits

Vendors and agencies rely on showgirls to promote their products or services. However, customers’ time and money available, cost savings, and increasing utilitarian motivation are their basic concerns. The model extended the expectancy confirmation theory (ECT) constructs (cost saving, utilitarian motivation, time available, money available, and impulsive purchase) to investigate customer impulsive purchases of products promoted by showgirls in exhibits. The study successfully found the precursors of impulsive purchase products promoted by showgirls in the exhibits with 445 data with Amos 18.0. Beyond the current impulsive purchase issue, the reasons for customers’ purchase without thinking include, in descending order: interaction with showgirls, promotions, the desire of purchase, and sensation seeking. Practical implications are presented, along with suggestions for future studies.     

The Tianjin economic-technological development area in China

This article considers the main stages (over the last 30 years) in the creation and functioning of the Tianjin economic development area, one of the most successful open zones for economic-technological development in China.     

A statistical treatment of the problem of division

The problem of division is one of the most important problems in the emergence of probability. It has been long considered solved from a probabilistic viewpoint. However, we do not find the solution satisfactory. In this study, the problem is recasted as a statistical problem. The outcomes of matches of the game are considered as an infinitely exchangeable random sequence and predictors/estimators are constructed in light of de Finetti representation theorem. Bounds of the estimators are derived over wide classes of priors (mixing distributions). We find that, although conservative, the classical solutions are justifiable by our analysis while the plug-in estimates are too optimistic for the winning player.Acknowledgement. The authors would like to thank the referees for the insightful and informative suggestions and, particularly, for referring us to important references.Supported by NSC-88-2118-M-259-009.Supported in part by NSC 89-2118-M-259-012.Received August 2002