towards a vanishing middle competition in the world garment industry abstract the international garment industry falls broadly into two segments one which may be referred to as the fashion segment is governed by competition based on new product introduction and quality improvements the other segment comprising of mass produced garments is governed by price competition while there is some evidence that the fashion sector is growing in importance our concern in this paper will be the price competitive sector which has been and continues to be predominantly the main arena in which newly industrializing and developing countries participate

ricirms as a strategic tool for small and medium tourism enterprises abstract the small and medium tourism enterprises smtes which dominate the international tourism market face difficulties in gaining access to crss because of their size structural functional problems following a brief analysis of smtes based on research undertaken at the aegean islands greece it is proposed that regional integrated computer information reservation management systems ricirmss can be utilized as a strategic tool for the development of both the smte and the destination managed by a regional tourism committee the ricirms should attempt to maximize the long term business revenues for the smtes of the area satisfy the needs of the more demanding tourist and increase the benefits of tourism for the local area furthermore ricirmss may be utilized to integrate the tourism products of the destination diagonally and also to force smtes to cooperate with each other in order to achieve economies of scope synergies and system gains it is concluded that smtes and destinations which do not develop ricirmss may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage as they will be unable to satisfy the needs of tourism demand and supply for the next century

innovation in services the purpose of this article is to lay the foundations of a theory that can be used to interpret innovation processes in the service sector the hypothesis underpinning this article is based on lancaster s definition of the product in both manufacturing and services as a set of service characteristics the article follows the example of those who have sought to apply lancaster s work to technological phenomena various modes of innovation in the service sectors are highlighted and illustrated

are innovations relevant for consumers in the hospitality industry a hedonic approach for cuban hotels abstract this paper evaluates the impact of innovative activity in the hotel industry on the willingness to pay by consumers to this end we estimate a hedonic price function where innovation is identified indirectly through certain attributes that previous literature has linked with hotel innovativeness the test is performed on a representative sample of cuban hotels considering a large number of attributes of hotels and rooms to solve the usual problems of collinearity a million alternative models are estimated by choosing the variables included in a random manner and obtaining the final coefficients by means of an internal meta analysis the results are completed with a variance decomposition analysis the results highlight the importance of the attributes linked to innovation and internationalization on the determination of room prices in cuban hotels membership of international hotel chains high quality offers diversified rooms and adaptability to specific needs of each client

questions on international trade in textiles and clothing questions of importance for the negotiations on the extension of the arrangement regarding international trade in textiles focus on i relative importance of trade in textiles and clothing ii the participants in this trade iii products that succeed for developing countries iv market penetration in developed country markets v overall trends and vi effects of protectionist activities six conclusions are drawn 1 developed countries continue to generate the bulk of the world s exports of textiles 2 industries in developing countries are too small to threaten the developed countries industries 3 developed countries collectively enjoy a large and sustained surplus in textile trade offset by a larger and growing deficit in clothing 4 only hong kong south korea taiwan and india have large trade surpluses among developing countries 5 import penetration by developing countries is modest and 6 because of protection developing countries exports of textiles and clothing have no longer outstripped the growth of all trade in textiles and clothing since 1976

rental housing markets the incidence and duration of vacancy and the natural vacancy rate abstract new intermetropolitan and time series data from the bls are used to derive and model the incidence and duration of rental vacancies and to assess their importance to the price adjustment mechanism for rental housing research findings indicate that duration varies with measures of msa housing costs and housing stock heterogeneity while incidence varies with measures of population mobility public housing availability and population growth results support a more general specification of rental price adjustment in which the rate of real rent change reflects deviations in observed vacancy incidence and duration from their equilibrium levels the research provides new estimates of equilibrium vacancy rates for a large set of metropolitan areas over the 1987 1996 period

housing market equilibrium almost without vacancies the swiss housing market is characterised by an extraordinarily low vacancy rate generally in the vicinity of 1 per cent is the swiss housing market permanently in a condition of severe shortage this paper uses both a standard non accelerating rent inflation rate of vacancy approach and a new perception based approach to answer this question the available evidence confirms that a vacancy rate of 1 1 5 per cent is indeed sufficient for the swiss housing market to be in equilibrium provided only dwellings that are not only unoccupied but also actually offered for rent or purchase are counted which makes this rate not easily comparable with other countries the standard equilibrium vacancy rate approach suggests that even lower rates are sufficient in more densely built places whereas the approach based on perceptions makes no difference this suggests that the dwellings listed by people who wish to move reduce the pressure on rents but not the feeling of housing shortage

path dependence in regional development persistence and change in three industrial clusters in santa catarina brazil abstract the concept of path dependence is useful to understand why economic actors who face a fundamental change in the overall incentive structure behave in a way that would appear irrational to the external observer industrial clusters in the southern brazilian state of santa catarina gave an impressive performance in the closed market of the past it was perfectly rational for individual firms to try to internalize as many activities as possible for various reasons thus emerged an extremely noncooperative business culture which does not change easily even under the new conditions of an opening market and increasing competitive pressure firms try to adjust to the new conditions based on their established practices yet the comparison between different clusters reveals that under certain conditions the behavior of firms can change profoundly toward cooperation and collective efficiency these conditions include an existential crisis the presence of change agents and the existence of organizations they can use and the existence of a role model that shows a possible alternative path for the adjustment process the most important changes are attempts to stimulate cooperation between firms and attempts to shape the supporting environment most changes occur inside the business community the political administrative system at the municipal and state levels is much more resistant to change

discount shock price rent dynamics and the business cycle the price rent ratio is highly volatile and predicts future returns for commercial real estate price rent variations in commercial real estate also tend to comove with investment and output we develop a general equilibrium model that explicitly introduces a rental market and incorporates collateral constraints on production as a key ingredient our estimation identifies discount rate shocks as the most important factor in 1 driving price rent variations 2 producing the long horizon predictability of real estate returns and 3 linking the dynamics in commercial real estate to those in the production sector

doing well by doing good green office buildings this paper provides the first credible evidence on the economic value of the certification of green buildings in the commercial sector value derived from impersonal market transactions rather than engineering estimates we match publicly available information on the addresses of energy star and leed rated office buildings to a commercial data source detailing the characteristics of u s office buildings and their rental rates we analyze the micro data on 694 certified green buildings and on 7489 other office buildings located within a quarter mile of the certified buildings we find systematic evidence that rents for green offices are about two percent higher than rents for comparable buildings located nearby effective rents i e rents adjusted for the occupancy levels in office buildings are about six percent higher in green buildings than in comparable office buildings nearby at prevailing capitalization rates conversion of the average non green building to an equivalent green building would add more than 5 million in market value these results are robust to the statistical models employed

flexible specialization and small size the case of caribbean tourism abstract if export industrialization was fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s today flexible specialization is definitely in appealing to the very heart of the developing world traditional small scale and craft production flexible specialization has become the new passport to development this article cautions that the prescription of small scale flexible specialization piore and sable 1984 leads to a very dangerous kind of optimism in the developing world the danger lies in equating flexibility with small size this is because small size may not be necessary and certainly is not a sufficient condition for flexible specialization the keys to flexible specialization lie elsewhere in information technology applications networks synergies systems gains scope economies production and organizational flexibility not in small size this argument is developed with reference to the caribbean tourist industry a comparative analysis of jamaica s superclub hotel chain and italy s benetton textile company is undertaken this is done with a view to determining the factors in the success of their flexible specialization strategies implications for policy are drawn out

testing the long run neutrality of money in a developing economy the case of india abstract seasonal integration and cointegration techniques are used to test the hypothesis of long run money neutrality using indian data on the basis of money real output and price level quarterly data empirical evidence is presented showing that money is cointegrated with prices but not with output at the zero frequency this evidence is interpreted to imply that money affects nominal but not real variables in the long run it is concluded that money is neutral in the long run

caricom countries and appropriate technology abstract caricom governments believe that the growth and development of regional economies depend upon export oriented production moreover they are liberalizing their trade regimes in this environment some writers are urging them to adopt a more appropriate namely labor intensive technology this paper contends that the commitment to export oriented production the liberalization of trade regimes the shortage of financial resources and the poverty of regional infrastructure preclude the adoption of a labor intensive technology it therefore concludes that within the context of caricom the most appropriate technology is the most recent which is also the most capital intensive

corporate equity and commercial property market bubbles periodic sharp sustained increases and then reversals in asset prices lead many to posit irrational price bubbles the general case for bubbles is that asset prices simply move too much given the future cash flows the assets are reasonably likely to produce a corollary for property is that observed mean reversion in real cash flows is not reflected in investor valuations resulting in asset values being too high when real cash flows are high and vice versa this paper summarises some evidence on large corporate equity and commercial property price movements and present arguments for and against the existence of irrational bubbles

technological regimes and innovation in services the case of the italian banking industry abstract in this paper we propose a conceptual model to analyse innovations originating from the diffusion of information technologies in the banking sector we argue that technical change in this industry exhibits a revolutionary character a distinction is made between the mass automation regime focusing mainly on the mechanization of back office procedures in the 1960s and 1970s and the smart automation regime originating from the introduction of distributed data processing and network technologies and centered around the supply of electronic banking services a theoretical model is developed which emphasizes the crucial role played by demand pull variables in stimulating innovative behaviour under the smart automation regime in contrast limited importance is attributed to cumulative and learning by doing effects relating to back office automation at least for banks endowed with sufficient absorptive capacity the theoretical hypotheses are tested through an econometric analysis of the determinants of the innovative behaviour in electronic payment systems of a sample of italian commercial banks

towards a theory of innovation in services abstract the paper sets out some foundations for a theory of innovation in service industries and indicates the role that such innovation may play in the generation of growth cycles the discussion starts with the origins of a major new technology in the capital goods sector and its subsequent development according to the normal product cycle theory this is followed by a consideration of the transmission process by which the new technology is taken up in user industries within the consumer goods and services sector a reverse product cycle is then proposed to describe the innovation process which takes place in user industries such as services once the new technology has been adopted this cycle starts with process improvements to increase the efficiency of delivery of existing services moves on to process innovations which improve service quality and then leads to product innovations through the generation of new types of services finally the existence of two out of phase innovation cycles in the capital and consumer sectors deriving from a technology transmission process which causes disequilibrium in technical progress between the two is put forward as a mechanisms helping to create the long wave fluctuations in economic development associated with schumpeterian technological revolutions

can caricom countries replicate the singapore experience this article tries to ascertain whether caricom countries1 can replicate the economic success of singapore based on export oriented industrialisation whereas it is possible for caricom countries to increase exports of some manufactures to industrial countries the article contends that export oriented policies currently urged upon caricom countries will not effect a replication of the singapore experience in an age of growing protectionism rapid technological change an inadequate indigenous social infrastructure and existing labour relations in the region

housing vacancy and rental adjustment evidence from hong kong the traditional rental adjustment equation is flawed in that the equilibrium paths for the adjustment of rents and vacancy rates cannot hold simultaneously over time this paper suggests a two equation model of rental adjustments based on adaptive expectations rather than the single equation model presented in the traditional literature and provides empirical tests annual data from the housing market in hong kong during the 1980 96 period are consistent with the adjustment equation the results also show that the rate of change of real rents is neutral with respect to inflation

a cross country input output analysis of intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services and their employment implications abstract the paper examines the nature and the evolution of intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services at different stages of industrialization as revealed by a cross country comparative analysis of input output tables of 26 countries at different income levels this paper suggests among many other findings that the intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services generally characterize asymmetrical dependence namely service activities tend to depend on the manufacturing sector as a source of inputs to a far greater extent than vice versa moreover the employment absorptive capacity of the manufacturing sector is seriously underestimated when one only measures the direct employment effect of the manufacturing sector and ignores the intersectoral demand of the manufacturing sector for service inputs and its income induced demand for various types of services in effect the capability of the service sector to generate and sustain a high level of employment critically hinges upon its vital linkages with the manufacturing sector

the textile and clothing industries under the fifth kondratieff wave some insights from the case of hong kong abstract this paper proposes that the world s textile and clothing industries have become increasing vertically disintegrated with a few flexible production regions the cream portion engaging in creative innovative dynamic and high value added activities and an expanding number and spatial extent of regions the cake portion taking part in low value added activities in between is an artificial layer protected by the international regulatory framework this layer has characteristics of both the cream and cake layers on the one hand the labor force in this layer suffers from low job mobility and low paid blue collar work of the cake portion and is dominated by female semi skilled workers on the other hand industrialists and governments in this layer enjoy the profits and high export values of the cream portion under the fifth kondratieff wave the textile and clothing industries have become increasingly coordinated and controlled by a thinner cream layer over time regions in the cake portion will find it increasingly difficult to transform themselves into cream because of deep seated structural and geographic differences

spatial variation in office rents within the atlanta region hedonic office rent models are estimated using data for atlanta that span the years 1990 96 controlling for typical building characteristics and lease terms we find that variables measuring locational differences in wage rates transport rates and proximity to concentrations of support services and office workers play an important role in explaining spatial variation in office rents no evidence is found in support of the hypothesis that technological advances in telecommunications have diminished the role played by face to face agglomeration economies in determining the intra metropolitan location of office firms

clothing chips and competitive advantage the impact of microelectronics on trade and production in the garment industry abstract this paper presents the results of a research project which examined the impact of microelectronics on the nature of production and the patterns of international trade in the clothing industry empirical evidence is given on the effects of microelectronics related innovations currently being used by clothing manufacturers in the developed countries radical innovations have been introduced in the pre assembly stage which have revolutionized this phase of production in contrast the introduction of microelectronics into assembly technology is still limited as a result the clothing industry remains reliant on labor intensive techniques that place it at a competitive disadvantage compared to low wage developing countries hence the determinants of international competitive advantage in the industry remain largely unaltered however due to increasing concentration and major new r d efforts in the public and private sector it is argued that the preconditions are being laid for a fundamental structural and technological transformation of the industry in the north which could have very important implications for the competitive position of third world clothing exporters emphasis is also placed upon the continued restraining effects of protectionist barriers imposed by the main importing nations and on the differential impact of this on the ability of newer entrants to achieve rapid and sustained export growth

speed of adjustment in commercial real estate markets the 1980s were less than favorable to the u s real estate industry vast amounts of overbuilding occurred in most areas and in most property types commercial vacancy rates increased dramatically and rents fell both in nominal and real terms untoward events tax laws changes deregulation of financial institutions and a real estate depression in many areas of the country virtually halted speculative development and caused a freefall in real estate prices real estate credit markets were crippled by the decade long crisis in the sl 6 21 adjustment speeds are important for understanding future effects of real estate price changes and for interpreting recent events the higher the adjustment speed the greater the fraction of long run adjustment experienced so far the smaller the adjustments still to be expected and the lower the implied long run demand elasticity adjustment speeds also have important implications for macroeconomic policy there is reason to believe for example that the slow economic growth in the u s during the four years of the bush administration was attributable in large part to the massive overbuilding that occurred in commercial property markets during the 1980s and the relatively slow process by which unemployed resources have been absorbed into productive new endeavors 16 in what follows we propose and test a stock adjustment model of real estate investment the

industrial dynamics and economic geography capasso m stam e and cefis e industrial dynamics and economic geography regional studies how do industries emerge and evolve over space in this special issue the fields of industrial dynamics and economic geography are brought together in order to achieve a richer and more fundamental understanding of the organization of industries over time and space than each of these fields could do separately firm heterogeneity at the micro level and industry composition of a region at the macro level provide important elements in the explanation of industry emergence and evolution over space history and space matter in the evolution of industries this special issue shows how and why