Interaction perspectives of individuals and destination marketing organizations in the tourism network of Australia

This paper seeks to assess the nature, perspectives and characteristics of interactions in the tourism network in Australia. The pattern of interactions between network participants is crucial in defining the network and its boundaries. Ford and Hakansson (2007) develop a structure of interactions between participants in a network. Time dimensions of the interactions are sequence, ordering and trajectory. Relativity dimensions are jointness, interdependence and heterogeneity. Interaction can be problem solving both incurring costs and producing benefits.
There are two stages of this research. The first stage obtained the perspectives from 35 organizations regarding the challenges facing tourism, key growth segments, brand and promotional strategies and customer insights and satisfaction levels. The second stage of this research uses follow up personal interviews and assesses the interaction patterns among network participants. The sequence, ordering and trajectory of the interactions are examined as are the jointness, interdependence and heterogeneity of the interactions. A network map is produced based on the frequency and importance of the communications and interactions. The research will also address key questions identified by Johnston, Peters and Gassenheimer (2006). Is the network characterized by tighter or looser coupling? How important is collaboration to the survival (or success) of each participant?

Interactions and networks in Australian tourism

There are many participants in the tourism network who have vested interests in tourism development. These organizations include hotels, associations of hotels and hotel owners, inbound travel agents, travel wholesalers, tourism industry associations, airlines, cruise lines, tourism promotional agencies, regional and local tourism authorities, SME tourism businesses, conference and convention centres and many more. Individuals in the tourism industry intermittently change employment. They often remain in the industry and can move between types of organizations. Their contacts, associations and personal networks remain useful and indeed are utilized. The Interactive Approach postulated by the IMP Group proposes that both suppliers and manufacturers are often involved in close, long-lasting adaptive relationships. Firms within relationships must work together, share objectives, share information and also communicate clearly and precisely using a common language. Here relationship partners should have a similar point of view on the meaning of marketing strategy and related concepts including market segmentation, differentiation and competitive positioning.

This paper seeks to assess the nature, perspectives and characteristics of interactions in the tourism network in Australia. There are two stages of this research. The first stage obtained the perspectives of network participants on the challenges facing tourism, key growth segments, brand and promotional strategies and customer insights and satisfaction levels. Participants were also asked to provide advice to the national marketing organization on a range of developmental topics. The second stage of this research assesses the interaction patterns among network participants Network picture, network position, resource constellations, interaction, resources and activities, interdependence, adaptation, actor bonds, strategy and change are also assessed. The relationships are political and consultative in nature. There is much interdependence and possible conflict between the network participants. The national tourism body has particular skills in tourism planning and tourism research. They also have significant resources and the ability to influence inbound tourism patterns. This paper seeks to assess and understand the interactions within this network.

The roles of social bonds in the Australian tourism network

There is limited published research on the social bonds between employees in two organizations. This paper aims to examine 1) relationships in the Australian tourism industry, 2) the nature and role of social bonds and commercial friendships, 3) the nature and roles of the investments in economic and social resources, and 4) the nature of personal relationships in the tourism network. The perspective and attitudes of the tourism network participants become clear and their vested interests are highlighted. Network pictures are developed for the 5 key sectors of this industry. The adaptations of these sectors are also discussed. The nature and role of social bonds and commercial friendships is examined. The Leximancer program is used to qualitatively analyze interview transcripts. Findings show the centrality of relationships in this industry and the importance of social bonds to the travel agency sector. This study provides additional insight into the nature of social bonds in the development of successful business to business relationships. A discussion of antecedents and outcomes of social bonds will be further developed.

Joint European masters awards in construction management and construction economics : a positive step for surveying education?

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) 5th European Conference in November 2004 focussed on enhancing collaboration at master's level in real estate education across Europe. In a context of increased global economic activity and increasing ties within the EU, there are benefits to business and to students in offering this type of educational provision. But is this paradigm true for construction economics (CE) and construction management (CM)? This paper examined the potential for collaboration and joint European awards in CM and CE. There is a political will for collaboration in HE based on economic drivers for the growth of the EU and changes are being implemented to enhance transparency and mobility for students. Professional bodies are expanding their European presence. Globalisation has resulted in greater opportunities for international real estate, and construction and there is growth in these sectors for practitioners. The difficulties with joint European collaboration are short course duration and the need to cover extensive subject matter. Other barriers are university structures, quality assurance procedures, costs and finances issues as well as IT, student services and support issues. The survey revealed that there are no RICS accredited CM / CE courses outside of the UK which inhibits collaboration. The sample was split in perceived demand for collaboration and the European focus within the courses is limited, as are field trips outside the UK. Student exchange on courses is rare. Generally there is a lag between the political will to greater student mobility and collaboration and the market, which is showing growth in multinational organisations and demand for pan European construction services and a professional body keen to deliver and support this growth. Within academia the barriers and current economic climate in HE preclude the widespread adoption of greater collaboration and development of joint awards, however this position may change.

Meta-regression analysis as the socio-economics of economics research

Meta-regression analysis (MRA) provides an empirical framework through which to integrate disparate economics research results, filter out likely publication selection bias, and explain their wide variation using socio-economic and econometric explanatory variables. In dozens of applications, MRA has found excess variation among reported research findings, some of which is explained by socio-economic variables (e.g., researchers’ gender). MRA can empirically model and test socio-economic theories about economics research. Here, we make two strong claims: socio-economic MRAs, broadly conceived, explain much of the excess variation routinely found in empirical economics research; whereas, any other type of literature review (or summary) is biased.

Community-based environmental education : government and community, economics and environment

This thesis contends that government focus on policy implicitly defines community education as a means of overcoming barriers to government-initiated change, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. The role of education is thus viewed as instrumentalist rather than as dialectical in nature. I argue that this role has been reinforced and driven by economic rationalism, as a mechanism related to scientific theory and practice. The thesis addresses the role of government in non-institutional community-based environmental education. Of interest is environmental education under the dominance of economic rationalism and as expressed in government-derived policy, in its own right, and as enacted in two government funded animal management projects. The main body of data, then, includes a review of some contemporary environmental policies and two case studies of 'policy in practice'. Chapter One provides an overview of environmentalism as it has emerged as part of the discourse of Western political systems. Recognised as part of this change is a move to environmentalism embued with the rhetoric of economic theory. The manifestation of this change can be seen in an emphasis on management for the natural environment's use as a resource for humans. Education under this arrangement is valued in terms of its ability to support initiatives that are perceived as economically viable and economically advantageous, maintaining centralised control of decision-making and serving the interests of those who profit from this arrangement. Government-derived environmental policies are presented in Chapter Two. They provide evidence of the conjoining of environment with economic rationalism and the adoption of a particular stance which is both utilitarian and instrumentalist. Emerging from this is an understanding of the limitations placed on environmental debates that do not respond to complex understandings of context and instead support and legitimate centralisation of decision-making and control. Chapter Three presents an argument for an historical approach to environmental education research to accommodate contextual dimensions, as well as scientific, economic and technical dimensions, of the subject under study. An historical approach to research, inclusive of biographical, intergenerational and geographical histories, goes some way to providing an understanding of current individual and collective responses to policy enactment within the two study sites. It also responds to the concealing of history which results from the reduction of environmental debates to economic terms. With this in mind, Chapters Four and Five provide two historical case studies of 'policy in practice'. Chapter Four traces the workings of a rabbit control project in the Sutton Grange district of Victoria and Chapter Five provides an account of a mouse plague project in the Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The Sutton Grange rabbit project is organised and controlled by district landholders while the Wimmera and Mallee mouse project is organised and controlled by representatives from a scientific organisation and a government agency. Considered in juxtaposition, the two case studies enable an analysis of two somewhat different expressions of the 'role of government'. Chapter Six investigates the competing processes of community participation in governmental decision-making and Australia's system of representative democracy, Despite a call for increased community participation, the majority of policies remain dominated by governmental rhetoric and ideology underpinned by a belief in impartiality. The primacy of economics is considered in terms of government and community interaction, with specific reference to the emergence of particular conceptual constructions, such as cost-benefit analysis, that support this dominance. Of specific importance to this thesis is the argument that economic theory is essentially anthropocentric and individualist and, thus, necessarily marginalises particular conceptions of environment that are non-anthropocentric and non-individualistic. Finally, Chapter Six examines two major interrelated tensions; those of central interests and community interests, and economic rationalism and environmentalist. Chapter Seven looks at examples of theories and practices that fall outside the rationality determined by scientistic knowledge. It is clear from the examination of environmental policy within this thesis that the role ascribed to environmental education is instrumentalist. The function of education is often to support, promote and implement policy and its advocated practices. It is also clear from the examination of policy and advocated processes that policy defines community education as a means of manifesting change as determined by policy, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. The domination of scientific, economic and technocratic processes (and legitimation of processes) allows only for an instrumentalist approach to education from government. What is encouraged by government through the process of change is continuity rather than reform. It promotes change that will not disrupt the governing hegemony. Particular perspectives and practices, such as a critical approach to education, are omitted or considered only within the unquestioned rationale of the dominant worldview. Chapter Seven focuses on the consequence of government attention to policy which implicitly defines community education as a means of overcoming barriers to change, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. Finally a list of recommendations is put forward as a starting point to reconstruct community-based environmental education. The role considered is one that responds to, and encourages engagement in, debates which expose disparate views, assumptions and positions. Community ideology must be challenged through the public practices of communication and understanding, decision-making, and action. Intervention is not on a level that encourages a preordinate outcome but, rather, what is encouraged is elaborate consideration of disparate views and rational opinions, and the exposure of assumptions and interests behind ideological positions.

Allocating risks in public-private partnership projects using a transaction cost economics approach - a case study

Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are often characterised by increased complexity and uncertainty due to their idiosyncrasy in the management and delivery processes such as long-term lifecycle, incomplete contracting, and the multitude of stakeholders. An appropriate risk allocation is particularly crucial to achieving project success. This paper focuses on the risk allocation in PPP projects and argues that the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory can integrate the economics part, which is currently missing, into the risk management research. A TCE-based approach is proposed as a logical framework for allocating risks between public and private sectors in PPP projects. A case study of the Southern Cross Station redevelopment project in Australia is presented to illustrate the approach. The allocation of important risks is put under scrutiny. Lessons learnt are discussed and alternative management approaches drawing on TCE theory are proposed.

Fiji's tourism industry : a SWOT analysis

Within the last two decades Fiji’s tourism industry has grown dramatically, in the process overtaking the traditional export sector of sugar as the main foreign exchange earner and employment creator. Since Fiji depends enormously on tourism for its growth and development, this paper provides an analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats on
the tourism industry. The paper aims to provide a clear picture of the tourism industry in Fiji and attempts to provide information, particularly to the policy makers, that will assist them in making policy decisions regarding the future growth and development of the industry - at a time when the industry's image has been tarnished as a consequence of Fiji's third coup in May 2000. The paper also provides some recommendations that need to be considered by policy makers and incorporated into any future development plans on the Fiji tourism industry.

A tourism demand model for Fiji, 1970-2000

Despite the growing importance of the tourism industry, little is known about the determinants of tourism demand in Fiji. The major findings of analyses of the 1970?2000 period are that growth in income in Fiji?s main source countries for tourists leads to an increase in visitor arrivals, while relative prices and substitute prices negatively impact visitor arrivals in the long run. This implies that Fiji needs to maintain price competitiveness. Empirical evidence was also found that coups impede the short-run growth of the industry.