A Cross Cultural Analysis of the Geographical Knowledge of U.S., Irish,Israeli, Mexican,and South Korean Business School Students

ABSTRACT

Geographical knowledge about foreign countries is considered to be a significant factor related to the successful marketing of goods and services in international markets-a not insignificant conclusion by experts given the sizable trade deficits run up by the United States in 2000 ($365 billion), 2001 ($346 billion), and 2002 ($435 billion).

Unfortunately, previous research has concluded that U.S. business school students-tomorrow's executives who will make decisions that will impact their firms' international operations-have inadequate levels of international geographical knowledge.

This article compares the geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students to that of business school students in four countries: Ireland, Israel, Mexico, and South Korea. The sub-par performance exhibited by the U.S. students and the impact of six independent variables on global geographical knowledge are used to develop a number of pedagogical conclusions designed to enhance the international geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students and students in foreign business schools and overcome the antipathy toward this subject matter that apparently exists within business schools and their various external constituencies.     

Assessing the sustainability of Irish agriculture

Indicators encompassing the multidimensional nature of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) are developed here using Irish National Farm Survey data over an 11-year period (1996–2006). This is the first such study undertaken for Ireland, and the results show significant change over the decade in all three areas examined. The general concept of sustainability is discussed and the development of agricultural sustainability indicators in an Irish context is described. Individual indicators are dealt with in turn, and the RERC SMILE model is used to demonstrate how these indicators can be derived at a spatial level below the national scale. Economic viability was found to be generally in decline over the 10-year period examined. However, when individual farming systems were taken into account, some were found to perform better than others. From an environmental perspective, the more intensive farming systems (primarily dairy) were found to pollute more on average, while in more general terms the levels of methane emissions produced per hectare have been falling over the reference period. Results also indicate that rural Ireland is experiencing a period of fundamental change in terms of the demographic viability of its farming community.     

Developments in Irish Tourism, 1980‐96

The Irish tourism industry has experienced unprecedented growth since the mid‐1980s through a benign combination of good luck, favourable external and internal conditions and supportive government policies aided by resource transfers from the European Union (EU) This paper reviews the policy developments in Irish tourism over this period, examines the EU contributions and discusses performance outcomes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A peculiar archaeology: Searching for Mr Giffen's behaviour

Abstract

It has been claimed that references to ‘Giffen behaviour’ constituted a single research project, driven by attempts to establish whether an initial ‘conjecture’ by Alfred Marshall had empirical validity. There is no stable basis for that claim because Marshall's discussion was contradictory and Robert Giffen rejected a key assumption made by Marshall. By the mid-1920s, discussion of an upward-sloping demand curve attached no particular significance to a Marshallian story. The formulation of the Irish famine Giffen exemplar by P.A. Samuelson illustrates how Giffen behaviour was stabilised as the single possible exception to the law of demand in the 1960s.     

Road bowling in Ireland: social space and the context of context

ABSTRACT

Consumer research has offered a multitude of understandings of space. While these insights have contributed both to absolute and relativistic appreciations, the discourse has tended more often towards absolute representations. Through an examination of Irish road bowling, built from a four-year ethnography, we position Henri Lefebvre’s triadic model of social space as a heuristic device that may be used to further relativistic representations of space. In doing so we expose how Irish road bowlers produce space on public roads. We find that such space and the actions of road bowlers within it are deeply influenced by both historic and contemporary socio-cultural discourses. In this way, we highlight how Lefebvre can be used to get at the context of context and offer an alternative understanding of normative and existential communitas.     

Information technology and rural development: unique opportunity or potential threat? *

The less deterministic view of the potential contribution of information technology to rural development suggests a range of possible outcomes including centralization and decentralization. Evidence from the Republic of Ireland indicates a weak trend towards rural areas benefiting from the new technologies, and an expansion of the information economy in the urban core.     

The good,the bad and the impaired: A credit risk model of the Irish mortgage market

Using a uniquely constructed loan-level dataset of the residential mortgage book of Irish financial institutions, this paper provides a framework for estimating default probabilities of individual mortgages. In contrast to the popular stock delinquency approach, this model provides estimates of default and cure flows: a requirement of the stress test approach adopted by the European Central Bank's comprehensive assessment. In addition, both default and cure transitions are modelled as functions of micro- and macro-covariates including loan characteristics and current macroeconomic conditions such as house prices and unemployment. When comparing the competing equity and affordability effects, labour market deterioration played a stronger role than house equity in the rise of Irish default rates. For cures, a scarring effect of default is identified and estimated with the probability of a loan returning to performing reducing by almost four per cent each month a loan remains delinquent.     

A Thirst for the Real Thing in Themed Retail Environments

ABSTRACT

The restaurant industry is experiencing a trend toward “authentic” ethnic restaurants that promise not only authentic food from a specific culture, but also an authentic dining experience and decor. For many consumers, these ethnic dining experiences constitute their sole contact with foreign cultures. This paper explores the importance of authenticity in ethnicthemed restaurants. It considers the methods employed and the frames of reference used to create these themed environments, consumers' abilities to delineate the real from the fake and the importance of authenticity as a component of the consumption experience. This exploratory study used qualitative research methods to report emerging themes derived from one type of ethnic restaurant, Irish pubs in Savannah, Georgia during St. Patrick's Day festivities. Managerial and research implications are offered.     

爱尔兰债务危机的近距离观察

爱尔兰债务危机主要因房地产泡沫的破灭以及政府对陷入困境中的银行业地毯式注资所引起,更由于外资力量的复合作用而恶化。这场危机不仅将放大欧洲银行业的风险敞口,而且可能危及欧元的存续。也正是如此,欧盟委员会和国际社会采取了果断的援救措施。不过,由于欧元区自身固有的体制性缺陷,欧债危机可能还会在另外的国家继续上演。