Pre-Disaster Risk Management in Post-Earthquake (1999) Turkey

This paper assesses the status of pre-disaster risk management in the case of Turkey. By focusing on the period following the catastrophic August 17, 1999 earthquake, the study benefits from USAID’s Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (DRMBT). In line with the benchmarking tool, the paper covers key developments in the four components of pre-disaster risk management, namely: risk identification, risk mitigation, risk transfer and disaster preparedness. In the end, it will present three major conclusions: (i) Although post-1999 Turkey has made some important progress in the pre-disaster phase of DRM, particularly with the enactment of obligatory earthquake insurance and tightened standards for building construction, the country is far away from substantial levels of success in DRM. (ii) In recent years, local governments have had been given more authority in the realm of DRM, however, Turkey’s approach to DRM is still predominantly centralized at the expense of successful DRM practices at the local level. (iii) While the devastating 1999 earthquake has resulted in advances in the pre-disaster components of DRM; progress has been mostly in the realm of earthquakes. Turkey’s other major disasters (landslides, floods, wild fires i.e.) also require similar attention by local and central authorities.

Impact of Employee Management on Hospitality Innovation Success

The author report on a survey of 185 hospitality manager to examine which employee management practices are associated with success in hospitality innovations. The result suggest that successful new hospitality projects are guided by a strategic human resource management approach, have higher level of training, implement behavior- bared evaluation of their front-line staff and empower their employees.

Seabourn Cruise Line: A Case Study in Achieving Quality

Just about everyone who ranks cruise lines puts Seabourn first on the list. The readers of Conde Nast Traveler ranked it the world's top cruise line for three consecutive years and fifth in their survey of the top 100 overall travel experiences. Of special interest to hospitality professionals is Seabourn's 98.5 percent score for service- higher than any other vacation experience in the world.

Strategic Planning: Implications and Applications for Line Managers

Strategic planning is the key to producing a realistic, attractive rate of growth and a respectable return on investment. The author analyzes the steps in the planning process and looks at the environmental and cultural values which influence the strategic planner in his/her work.

Cruise Brand Management

Brands have always been associated with cruise and line voyage operations, but the branding concept has taken on new meaning in the modern cruise industry. In the consolidation of cruise lines under a few major corporate structure today, the acquiring entity has most often chosen to invest in lines acquired under their existing names, retaining separate brand identity. The author summarizes industry experiences with the acquisition and management of multiple brands under a single corporate structure, together with the rationale and advantages, this article is an updated and expanded version of that first given at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention March 11, 1999.

Generating an Online Bottom Line

E-commerce is an approach to achieving business goals through information technology and is quickly changing the way hospitality business is planned, monitored, and conducted. No longer do buyers and sellers need to engage in interpersonal communications for transactions to occur. The future of transaction processing, which includes cyber cash and digital checking, are directly attributable to e-commerce which provides and efficient, reliable, secure, and effective platform for conducting hospitality business on the web.

Review of the History and Current Status of Cell-Transplant Approaches for the Management of Neuropathic Pain

Treatment of sensory neuropathies, whether inherited or caused by trauma, the progress of diabetes, or other disease states, are among the most difficult problems in modern clinical practice. Cell therapy to release antinociceptive agents near the injured spinal cord would be the logical next step in the development of treatment modalities. But few clinical trials, especially for chronic pain, have tested the transplant of cells or a cell line to treat human disease. The history of the research and development of useful cell-transplant-based approaches offers an understanding of the advantages and problems associated with these technologies, but as an adjuvant or replacement for current pharmacological treatments, cell therapy is a likely near future clinical tool for improved health care.