Benefit segmentation of international travelers to Macau, China

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to identify the underlying benefits sought by international visitors to Macau, China, which has emerged as a popular gambling destination in Asia; (2) to segment tourists visiting Macau by employing a cluster analysis based on the benefits sought; and (3) to examine any salient differences between the segment groups with regard to their behavioral characteristics, socio-economic characteristics, and demographic profiles. A convenience sample was used to collect data in the Macau International Airport, in the Macau Ferry Terminal, and at the border gate with Mainland China. A total 1,513 useful surveys were retained for data analysis. Cluster analysis discloses four distinct clusters: "convention and business seekers," "family and vacation seekers," "gambling and shopping seekers," and "multi-purpose seekers." Based on the results of our findings, several managerial implications are discussed. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Appropriate wage rate and related issues for employment intensive public works programmes in Timor Leste

Employment generating public works (EGPW) are an important part of GoTL’s strategy to reduce unemployment, underemployment and poverty and contribute to social stability. The term EGPW is used in this report as a generic term to encompass labour intensive (LI) and labourbased (LB) approaches. The distinction between these approaches is made below. SEFOPE is being supported by a number of international agencies to develop and implement employment generating public works programmes (EGPWPs). Other government ministries and agencies and NGOs offering different wage rates are also engaged in such programmes and projects. In setting wage rates for such programmes, it is necessary to take account of (a) the nature of benefits they offer (e.g. the balance between employment creation and effective use of labour); (b) the beneficiaries to be targeted, and (c) any adverse impacts on other economic activities. The purposes of this assignment are: (a) to make recommendations on appropriate wage rates for unskilled casual employment on public works programmes, and (b) make a broad assessment of the labour supply response to the employment opportunities created by employment intensive programmes. The latter would help in gauging the scale of such activities required.

The trading mechanism, cross listed stocks:A comparison of the Paris Bourse and SEAQ-International

This paper studies the behaviour of returns for a sample of cross-listed stocks, listed on both the Paris Bourse and SEAQ-International in London. The aim of the paper is to discover which market adjusts to fundamental news more quickly, the home market of Paris or SEAQ-International. We find that prices in London adjust to changes in their fundamental value more slowly than Paris prices, despite the ability to quickly arbitrage between the two markets. We suggest that this finding may reflect the type of trading, which takes place in the two markets and differences associated with the reporting of large trades. We also estimate the amount of noise present in the two markets and show that the Paris market is more noisy than London. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The behavioural homogeneity evaluation framework:Multi-level evaluations of consumer involvement in international segmentation

This paper presents a generic strategic framework of alternative international marketing strategies and market segmentation based on intra- and inter-cultural behavioural homogeneity. Consumer involvement (CI) is proposed as a pivotal construct to capture behavioural homogeneity, for the identification of market segments. Results from a five-country study demonstrate how the strategic framework can be valuable in managerial decision-making. First, there is evidence for the cultural invariance of the measurement of CI, allowing a true comparison of inter- and intra-cultural behavioural homogeneity. Second, CI influences purchase behaviour, and its evaluation provides a rich source of information for responsive market segmentation. Finally, a decomposition of behavioural variance suggests that national-cultural environment and nationally transcendent variables explain differences in behaviour. The Behavioural Homogeneity Evaluation Framework therefore suggests appropriate international marketing strategies, providing practical guidance for implementing involvement-contingent strategies. © 2007 Academy of International Business. All rights reserved.

International retail restructuring and divestment: the experience of Tesco

A key purpose of this study is to explore the lessons learned from international retail divestment and market withdrawal experiences. Drawing on 33 in-depth interviews with leading investment banks and key retail executives at Tesco, the study investigates the company's international restructuring and divestment activities in Ireland and France during the mid -1980s and 1990s. It has been demonstrated that, despite the progressive merger and acquisition wave sweeping through the corporate retail landscape recently, international retail divestment is quite widespread. The main conclusion from this study is that Tesco originally did not envisage divestment or de-internationalisation as part of the original internationalisation strategy process in either the acquisition of Three Guys in Ireland or Catteau in France. There was no appreciation from Tesco during their early period of expansion of the fact that exit pressures might arise during the course of market entry. In this regard, the case study provides insights into the relationship between investment and divestment within the context of international retail restructuring. The case evidence also demonstrates the positive impact of the Three Guys and Catteau divestments which helped management to refocus and rejuvenate the company's internationalisation process.

Liberalization and the public sector:the pre-eminent role of governments in the ‘sale’ of higher education abroad

Much recent scholarship concerning liberalization has emphasized the role of regulatees, rather than governments, in promoting liberalization. This article examines such scholarship in the light of an important development in the British and French public sectors—the creation of new agencies (the Education Counselling Service and EduFrance) to ‘sell’ British and French higher education to potential international students. The new agencies attempted to induce two things: competition amongst higher education institutions for the recruitment of international students from developed and emerging economy countries, and the commodification of these students. This article shows that, contrary to existing theories of liberalization, governments were pre-eminent in pushing forward this liberalization, while higher education institutions attempted to hold it back.

International business research and risky investments, an analysis of FDI in conflict zones

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of a firm's strategy to invest in a conflict location. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been done before. We examine this using a standard model of international business, overlaid with the fundamental approach to corporate social responsibility. We start with the population of multinationals who have chosen to invest in low income countries with weak institutions. We then split this sample in order to distinguish between firms that have invested in conflict regions compared to those that have not. Our analysis then proceeds to explain the decision of those firms to invest in conflict locations using a simple Probit model. We find that countries with weaker institutions and less concern about corporate social responsibility (CSR) are more likely to invest in conflict regions. Finally, firms with more concentrated ownership are more likely to invest in such locations. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Market risk reporting by the world's top banks:evidence on the diversity of reporting practice and the implications for international accounting harmonisation

The increasing adoption of international accounting standards and global convergence of accounting regulations is frequently heralded as serving to reduce diversity in financial reporting practice. In a process said to be driven in large part by the interests of international business and global financial markets, one might expect the greatest degree of convergence to be found amongst the world’s largest multinational financial corporations. This paper challenges such claims and presumptions. Its content analysis of longitudinal data for the period 2000-2006 reveals substantial, on going diversity in the market risk disclosure practices, both numerical and narrative, of the world’s top-25 banks. The significance of such findings is reinforced by the sheer scale of the banking sector’s risk exposures that have been subsequently revealed in the current global financial crisis. The variations in disclosure practices documented in the paper apply both across and within national boundaries, leading to a firm conclusion that, at least in terms of market risk reporting, progress towards international harmonisation remains rather more apparent than real.

Crowdsourcing, citizen science or volunteered geographic information? The current state of crowdsourced geographic information

Citizens are increasingly becoming an important source of geographic information, sometimes entering domains that had until recently been the exclusive realm of authoritative agencies. This activity has a very diverse character as it can, amongst other things, be active or passive, involve spatial or aspatial data and the data provided can be variable in terms of key attributes such as format, description and quality. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there are a variety of terms used to describe data arising from citizens. In this article, the expressions used to describe citizen sensing of geographic information are reviewed and their use over time explored, prior to categorizing them and highlighting key issues in the current state of the subject. The latter involved a review of 100 Internet sites with particular focus on their thematic topic, the nature of the data and issues such as incentives for contributors. This review suggests that most sites involve active rather than passive contribution, with citizens typically motivated by the desire to aid a worthy cause, often receiving little training. As such, this article provides a snapshot of the role of citizens in crowdsourcing geographic information and a guide to the current status of this rapidly emerging and evolving subject.