Recreational Food Service is Big Business

In the analysis - Recreational Food Service Is Big Business - by Gary Horvath, President, Recreational Foodservice Division, Service America Corporation and Mickey Warner, Associate Professor School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, Horvath and Warner initially state: “Recreational food service is very different from routine food service management. The authors review the market and the management planning and challenges that create that difference.” Recreational food is loosely defined by the authors as food for special events. These can be one-time events, repeated events that are not on a fixed schedule [i.e. concerts], weekly events such as football-baseball-or basketball games, or other similar venues. Concessions are a large part of these fan based settings. “An anticipated 101,000 fans at a per capita spending of $5-6 [were expected]. A typical concessions menu of hot dogs, popcorn, soda, beer, snacks, novelty foods, candy, and tobacco products comprises this market segment,” say Horvath and Warner in reference to the Super-Bowl XXI football championship game, held in Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California, on January 25, 1987. Some of the article is based upon that event. These food service efforts focus on the individual fan, but do extend to the corporate-organizational level as well. Your authors will have you know that catering is definitely a part of this equation. The monies spent and earned are phenomenal. “Special events of this type attract numerous corporate catering opportunities for companies entertaining VIP guest lists,” the authors inform. “Hospitality tents usually consist of a pregame cocktail party and buffet and a post-game celebration with musical entertainment held in lavishly decorated tents erected at the site. In this case a total of 5,000 covers, at a price of $200 each, for 12-15 separate parties were anticipated.” Horvath and Warner also want you to know that novelties and souvenirs make up an essential part of this, the recreational food service market. “Novelties and souvenirs are a primary market and source of revenue for every stadium food service operator,” say Horvath and Warner. The term, “per capita spending is the measurement used by the industry to evaluate sales potential per attendee at an event,” say the authors. Of course, with the solid revenue figures involved as well as the number of people anticipated for such events, planning is crucial, say Horvath and Warner. Training of staff, purchasing and supply, money and banking, facility access, and equipment, are a few of the elements to be negotiated. Through both graphs and text, Horvath and Warner do provide a fairly detailed outline of what a six-step event plan consists of.

A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach to Compare and Contrast the Websites of China-based and U.S-based Hotels

The improvement in living standards and the development of telecommunications have led to a large increase in the number of Internet users in China. It has been reported by China National Network Information Center that the number of Internet users in China has reached 33.7 million in 2001, ranting the country third in the world. This figure also shows that more and more Chinese residents have accepted the Internet and use it to obtain information and compete their travel planning. Milne and Ateljevic stated that the integration of computing and telecommunications would create a global information network based mostly on the Internet. The Internet, especially the World Wide Web, has had a great impact on the hospitality and tourism industry in recent years. The WWW plays an important role in mediating between customers and hotel companies as a place to acquire information acquisition and transact business.

Toward a unified theory of task -oriented and relationship -oriented leader behavior: A multi -country generalizability study

The theoretical foundation of this study comes from the significant recurrence throughout the leadership literature of two distinct behaviors, task orientation and relationship orientation. Task orientation and relationship orientation are assumed to be generic behaviors, which are universally observed and applied in organizations, even though they may be uniquely enacted in organizations across cultures. The lack of empirical evidence supporting these assumptions provided the impetus to hypothetically develop and empirically confirm the universal application of task orientation and relationship orientation and the generalizability of their measurement in a cross-cultural setting. Task orientation and relationship orientation are operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, two well-established theoretical leadership constructs. Multiple-group mean and covariance structures (MACS) analyses are used to simultaneously validate the generalizability of the two hypothesized constructs across the 12 cultural groups and to assess whether the similarities and differences discovered are measurement and scaling artifacts or reflect true cross-cultural differences. The data were collected by the author and others as part of a larger international research project. The data are comprised of 2341 managers from 12 countries/regions. The results provide compelling evidence that task orientation and relationship orientation, reliably and validly operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, are generalizable across the countries/regions sampled. But the results also reveal significant differences in the perception of these behaviors, suggesting that some aspects of task orientation and relationship orientation are strongly affected by cultural influences. These (similarities and) differences reflect directly interpretable, error-free effects among the constructs at the behavioral level. Thus, task orientation and relationship orientation can demonstrate different relations among cultures, yet still be defined equivalently across the 11 cultures studied. The differences found in this study are true differences and may contain information about cultural influences characterizing each cultural context (i.e. group). The nature of such influences should be examined before the results can be meaningfully interpreted. To examine the effects of cultural characteristics on the constructs, additional hypotheses on the constructs' latent parameters can be tested across groups. Construct-level tests are illustrated in hypothetical examples in light of the study's results. The study contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of the nature and generalizability of psychological constructs. The theoretical and practical implications of embedding context into a unified theory of task orientated and relationship oriented leader behavior are proposed. Limitations and contributions are also discussed. ^

Foreign-born CEOs, country-specific skills, selection, and strategic consequences

In this dissertation, I first suggest an extension of the managerial rents model and more specifically the managerial skills typology that it offers. Building on research in international business, I propose adding country-specific skills (CSS) to this typology in addition to firm-specific, industry-specific, and generic skills. I define CSS as managers' abilities that are applicable and specific to a particular national institutional context. Such skills are distinct from the other three types identified and are likely to influence managers' performance and the performance of their firms. So if CSS are distinct skills, what are the implications for strategy and international business research? In an attempt to respond to this question, I conduct two empirical essays in which I examine the implications of this refinement of the typology of managerial skills for CEO selection and firms' mergers and acquisitions (M&A;) strategy. In the first empirical essay, I puzzle at the fact that although CSS constitute a barrier to high-level executive mobility across countries, there have been a growing number of foreign-born CEOs being appointed across the globe. Why are these individuals being selected for the post of CEO? Using information on the appointment of foreign-born and national CEOs from 2005 to 2010 among global 500 companies, I show that internationalization pressures help explain their selection and that two types of firms are likely to appoint foreign leaders: highly internationalized firms and firms that are likely to internationalize. In the second empirical essay, I examine the strategic implications of country-specific skills. Employing the same sample as the one used in the first empirical essay, I demonstrate that given that their mindset is likely to be less focused on firms' home market, foreign-born CEOs may be prone to institute more changes in firms' cross-border M&A; strategy than their domestic counterparts. I also theorize on the moderating influence of CEOs' insiderness.

A planning model for needs analysis for subacute care

The purpose of this study is to produce a model to be used by state regulating agencies to assess demand for subacute care. In accomplishing this goal, the study refines the definition of subacute care, demonstrates a method for bed need assessment, and measures the effectiveness of this new level of care. This was the largest study of subacute care to date. Research focused on 19 subacute units in 16 states, each of which provides high-intensity rehabilitative and/or restorative care carried out in a high-tech unit. Each of the facilities was based in a nursing home, but utilized separate staff, equipment, and services. Because these facilities are under local control, it was possible to study regional differences in subacute care demand. Using this data, a model for predicting demand for subacute care services was created, building on earlier models submitted by John Whitman for the American Hospital Association and Robin E. MacStravic. The Broderick model uses the "bootstrapping" method and takes advantage of high technology: computers and software, databases in business and government, publicly available databases from providers or commercial vendors, professional organizations, and other information sources. Using newly available sources of information, this new model addresses the problems and needs of health care planners as they approach the challenges of the 21st century.

Language standardization in sociolinguistics and international business: Theory and practice across the table

This chapter addresses the issue of language standardization from two perspectives, bringing together a theoretical perspective offered by the discipline of sociolinguistics with a practical example from international business. We introduce the broad concept of standardization and embed the study of language standardization in the wider discussion of standards as a means of control across society. We analyse the language policy and practice of the Danish multinational, Grundfos, and use it as a “sociolinguistic laboratory” to “test” the theory of language standardization initially elaborated by Einar Haugen to explain the history of modern Norwegian. The table is then turned and a model from International Business by Piekkari, Welch and Welch is used to illuminate recent Norwegian language planning. It is found that the Grundfos case works well with the Haugen model, and the International Business model provides a valuable practical lesson for national language planners, both showing that a “comparative standardology” is a valuable undertaking. More voices “at the table” will allow both theory and practice to be further refined and for the role of standards across society to be better understood.

The Affordable Care Act and the Transformation of US Health Care

The neoliberal period was accompanied by a momentous transformation within the US health care system.  As the result of a number of political and historical dynamics, the healthcare law signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 ‑the Affordable Care Act (ACA)‑ drew less on universal models from abroad than it did on earlier conservative healthcare reform proposals. This was in part the result of the influence of powerful corporate healthcare interests. While the ACA expands healthcare coverage, it does so incompletely and unevenly, with persistent uninsurance and disparities in access based on insurance status. Additionally, the law accommodates an overall shift towards a consumerist model of care characterized by high cost sharing at time of use. Finally, the law encourages the further consolidation of the healthcare sector, for instance into units named “Accountable Care Organizations” that closely resemble the health maintenance organizations favored by managed care advocates. The overall effect has been to maintain a fragmented system that is neither equitable nor efficient. A single payer universal system would, in contrast, help transform healthcare into a social right.

What is this thing called Historical Archaeology?

Historical archaeology, in its narrow temporal sense -as an archaeology of the emergence and subsequent evolution of the Modern world- is steadily taking pace in Spanish academia. This paper aims at provoking a more robust debate through understanding how Spanish historical archaeology is placed in the international scene and some of its more relevant particularities. In so doing, the paper also stresses the strong links that have united historical and prehistorical archaeology since its inception, both in relation to the ontological, epistemological and methodological definition of the first as to the influence of socio-political issues in the latter. Such reflection is partly a situated reflection from prehistory as one of the paper’s authors has been a prehistorian for most of her professional life.

Production planning, pricing and market coordination for news vendor problem with price dependent demand

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Business Signage Control in Seattle's Chinatown International District, Pursuing Healthy Balance of Preservation and Commercial Vitalization in a Historic Commercial Districts

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Exploração sistemática de estratégias de dinamização das populações para as questões de saúde no Brasil

Neste trabalho serão analisadas características da comunicação organizacional, de mobilização social e da comunicação em saúde, para, na parte empírica, analisar a comunicação para mobilização social no evento Semana Nacional de Humanização, realizado pela Política Nacional de Humanização, no Brasil, em 2014. Em um primeiro momento, buscamos compreender as características principais da comunicação organizacional na forma prática, assim como os aspectos que propiciaram seu surgimento. A fim de compreender como essa comunicação tem aplicabilidade no cotidiano das empresas, se buscou pormenorizar as etapas de formulação do planejamento de uma comunicação voltada às organizações, sua implementação e relacionamento com a imprensa, e como atividades de marketing e publicidade se inserem na comunicação para organizações. Mais adiante, já buscando demonstrar as similaridades e especificidades entre a comunicação organizacional e a comunicação específica para mobilização social em questões de saúde, solidifica-se conceitos acerca da aplicabilidade desta última, suas características e resultados esperados. Só a partir daí se começa a analisar a comunicação dentro do evento promovido pela Política Nacional de Humanização (PNH), a Semana Nacional de Humanização. Concentra-se, portanto, em explicar como o evento se insere no Sistema Único de Saúde no Brasil (SUS). A PNH busca humanizar o serviço e estimular a participação efetiva dos três atores que compõe o sistema: gestores, trabalhadores e usuários. A Semana Nacional de Humanização surgiu como mais um espaço de debate para unir estes atores na construção dessa humanização. O presente estudo, por meio de questionários enviados aos inscritos no evento buscou, então, analisar o alcance desse objetivo e como a comunicação contribuiu neste processo. Apesar de ter sido muito exitosa no sentido de reforçar boas práticas e percepções dos inscritos no evento, a comunicação lidou com alguns desafios com a extensão territorial do país, a diferença cultural e ainda a resistência do usuário em conhecer e participar de ações do SUS. Além de analisar acertos e falhas, também se buscou apontar caminhos para futuros eventos afim de aumentar a mobilização e melhorar a comunicação.

Strategic Management of Resources for International Business Operations in Small Consulting Firms - People, Processes and Tools in Managing International operations

Research on strategic management of resources for small consulting firms which are international or planning to operate internationally is scarce or not existing at all. It is however important to start generating the theories that will support managers in their decision making and planning. This thesis investigates how do small management consulting firms manage their internal and external resources while operating in international markets. Throughout the study, aspects related to internal and external resources management as well as management strategies in these firms have been examined in relations to firm’s internationalisation activities. A qualitative analysis was carried out whereby four small consulting firms in Export Management Consulting, Integration Services Consulting-, Software Development Consulting- and Business Solutions Consulting companies were interviewed. In order to generate the holistic understanding of the study, the thesis writer selected Value Enhanced Collaborative Working (VECW) model as an analysis framework. The model focuses on people, processes and tools as key elements that small consulting firms consider when thinking about managing their international operations. The findings of the thesis reveal that, internal and external resources in the interviewed consulting firms are viewed similarly, but managed differently depending on the nature and size of the firm. Firm’s management strategies concentrate on the adequate utilisation of the employees' motivation and experiences, effective stakeholders' management, various administrative evaluation processes and tools, the ability to realise useful networks, constant improvement through employee trainings, employees and customers’ feedbacks as well as enhanced freedom in order to support employees’ creativity. Further research to examine functional administrative tools and tools that small consulting firms could use to assess their resource capabilities when planning to become international would benefit the smaller businesses in terms of resources management and certainty in planning.

Percepción de valor de los clientes de una firma de consultoría oferente del servicio de Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) en cultura corporativa y gestión humana en la ciudad de Medellín

Este estudio describe la percepción de valor de los clientes actuales y potenciales de la firma consultora Penta sobre el servicio BPO de cultura corporativa y gestión humana en la ciudad de Medellín -- El trabajo fue de tipo descriptivo y de corte cualitativo, mediante la técnica de estudio de caso, sobre una población de catorce empresas -- Los resultados encontrados no solo ayudarán a que la firma consultora tome la decisión de implementar o no este nuevo servicio, sino que lleva a una reflexión frente al valor estratégico de la gestión humana y la reconfiguración a la que está llamada, luego de la aparición de la nueva generación de trabajadores conocida como millennials -- Las respuestas de las empresas entrevistadas permitieron conocer cómo el comportamiento de esta nueva generación incide en el funcionamiento y la competitividad de las empresas -- Luego del estudio se concluye que existe el potencial para crear el servicio, que se persigue que se convierta en una herramienta para las micro y las pequeñas empresas, de modo tal que les permita crecer en el mercado mediante el fortalecimiento y la estructuración del componente humano y cultural frente a un entorno competitivo de empresas medianas, nacionales y multinacionales

A internacionalização de empresas portuguesas de TIC: aplicação a um caso de estudo

O processo da Internacionalização pode ser definido como a execução de operações no estrangeiro conducentes a movimentos de fatores de produção de um país para outro. A globalização dos mercados e a frequente instabilidade da realidade macroeconómica do mercado interno, em concomitância com a sua reduzida dimensão, têm levado a que muitas empresas portuguesas iniciem uma política de expansão internacional. De facto, a exploração de mercados internacionais revelou-se, do ponto de vista das empresas, crucial no sentido de contornar os constrangimentos decorrentes de um mercado interno restrito e cada vez mais saturado. No entanto, a decisão da companhia em internacionalizar, requer do respetivo decisor de topo uma análise cuidada de toda a informação relativa ao processo de internacionalização, incluindo a escolha dos mercados, as estratégias, formas de entrada e os obstáculos. Neste relatório, depois de sistematizar o conhecimento relacionado com a internacionalização, é efetuada uma aplicação deste conhecimento num caso de estudo relacionado com uma empresas portuguesa que presta serviços na área das tecnologias de informação e comunicação e que se tenciona expandir para mercados no estrangeiro.

Development of business processes and sales reporting - Case recovered paper

The purpose of this research is to discover development points for business processes and sales reporting in the recovered paper sourcing organization. The processes under development are both sales and sourcing processes that were determined by the commissioning company. All of these processes have in common that there are used sales orders to organize the money flows correctly. Although the main objective is to source only recovered paper, the sourcing also brings by-products that cannot be utilized and are thus sold. As the purpose of the sales function is to only support the sourcing strategy, it should be organized as efficiently as possible. Investigating the current status of the processes and finding development points help in building proposals for enhanced process descriptions. In order that sales function could be analyzed, should the sales reporting be accurate and present the needed key figures. The current status of the processes as well as the possible problems and development ideas were researched with the help of interviews. Best practices could also be brought from other business lines in the commissioning company. The theory part was build according to relevant literature and scientific articles. The research indicates, that processes have shaped differently in sourcing organization’s business units. Local infrastructure and legislation sets certain limitations to the sourcing of recovered paper, and these circumstances cannot be changed. Customer-supplier power relations also affect to the formulation of business processes. In order to steer the processes, there has to be more internal controls. Still, the enterprise resource planning system also sets boundaries how the processes can be made more efficient.