bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Business Education: Addressing the ‘What’ Question
Authors: Almoharby Darwish
Published: September 2010

In an attempt to diversify the economy and stimulate private enterprise development, government agencies and private institutions in many countries have emphasized the importance of setting up and developing small and medium-size enterprises and promoting entrepreneurship. An important question confronting policy makers, however, is how they can both promote local economic growth and enhance social development. Undergraduate and graduate business education is seen as a prerequisite if the objectives of economic growth are to be realized. This paper calls for a serious evaluation of current business education, particularly in Middle Eastern countries. As US business schools start to encounter numerous problems concerning the validity and viability of business courses and their methods of delivery, critical debates have arisen. The overwhelming majority of business schools in the Middle East are imitations of US schools and hence suffer similar problems. This paper seeks to raise awareness of such debates to stimulate more discussion and so to address issues of concern. Research propositions are formulated to serve as a basis for phase two of this study, which will involve empirical data collection. Thus the contribution of the paper lies in the adaptation of established knowledge and theory to meet specific challenges in the emerging economies of countries in the Middle East and beyond.
Laboratory Experiments as a Tool in the Empirical Economic Analysis of High-Expectation Entrepreneurship
Authors: Curley Martin , Formica Piero
Published: September 2010

High-expectation start-ups are firms launched by entrepreneurs with high ambitions for growth. The encounter between new technology and entrepreneurship that characterizes such new ventures has a significant impact on the nature and speed of economic development, driving the growth of high-technology industries and helping to make the economic system open, complex and adaptive. Thus high-expectation entrepreneurship deserves special attention in entrepreneurship education. This paper introduces and explains the importance of high-expectation entrepreneurship. Then, using an approach borrowed from both experimental scientific research and the practice of medicine, the authors propose a form of business idea testing and entrepreneur training in a laboratory environment. The ability to transpose, test and iterate new ideas and models in a business laboratory has significant potential in terms of promoting rapid learning and the preliminary validation of a new business idea – thus cutting risk, reducing cost and maximizing revenue potential. The authors argue that this approach is far more appropriate for entrepreneurship development in the new economic environment than traditional business education models.
Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Action in New Venture Development
Authors: Trevelyan Rose
Published: September 2010

How do entrepreneurs think about themselves? This is the key question addressed in this paper. The author considers how motivational cognitions influence action to establish ventures and explores the relationships between entrepreneurial attitudes (self-efficacy, confidence and commitment) and entrepreneurial actions once the decision to start a venture has been taken. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, support is found for the proposition that positive attitudes enable entrepreneurs to persist with effective and appropriate search and organizing activities amid the uncertainty and instability of the new venture environment. Some support is also found for a direct association between entrepreneurial attitudes and venture performance.
Dynamics in the Specification of Tourism Demand Models
Authors: Morley Clive L.
Published: September 2010

The specification of a tourism demand model now commonly includes lagged demand as an explanatory variable. This raises issues in the formulation and interpretation of econometric tourism demand models. It is argued that a simple lagged demand term is not sufficient to account for the dynamics of tourism demand. Many alternative specifications of the dynamic elements and form have been used in tourism demand modelling. This paper helps to resolve the issue of how the dynamics should be specified. It does this by a thorough review of the dynamic elements relevant to tourism demand and by demonstrating that the specification does make a difference in practice. Consideration of different formulations of the dynamics of tourism demand, drawing on theory and specific characteristics of tourism, leads to the recommendation of an ARIMA with explanatory variables model form.
A Comparative Analysis of the Pricing Systems of Nature Reserves
Authors: Becker Nir
Published: September 2010

The pricing of nature reserves increases in relevance as budgetary constraints become a limiting factor in their proper operation. The author considers and compares different pricing alternatives for managing nature reserves (NRs) and applies them to two NRs in Israel. He compares four pricing strategies: free entrance, maximum revenue pricing, cost recovery pricing and differential pricing. These strategies were implemented both to the existing situation and to a development scenario in which an upgrade in the NR was considered. The two NRs analysed are the Darga Nature Reserve, an open reserve where no entrance fee is charged, and the Gamla Nature Reserve, a closed reserve where an entrance fee is charged. Benefits were derived using the travel cost method (TCM). The results show that differential pricing is the most cost-effective policy. It recovers costs in both policy scenarios with the least dead-weight loss (DWL). The consequence of the differential pricing, however, is that there is a cross-subsidy of the Gamla reserve of 45–80%, depending on the scenario analysed. It is shown that there are conditions in which only a cross-subsidy can make a development plan sustainable. Usually, policymakers differentiate pricing according to visitor characteristics. Differential pricing among reserves provides another tool that can be consistent with cost recovery while minimizing DWL. Another advantage is that site differentiating causes less social tension, because pricing is tailored not to a person but to a site.
Risk-Adjusted Performance of Three Restaurant Segments in the USA
Authors: Kim Woo Gon , Zhong Jun , Chen Ming-Hsiang , Karadag Ersem
Published: September 2010

This study evaluates the risk-adjusted performance of three restaurant segments between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2004. The Jensen, the Treynor and the Sharpe indexes were adopted as an analytical framework. The findings here are not entirely consistent with those of Kim and Gu (2003) because they show that the quick-service segment outperforms the other two segments. However, using NASDAQ, NYSE and S&P 500 as benchmarks, this study illustrates that the performance of the economy/buffet segment tops the quick-service and full-service segments. It further indicates that the restaurant industry carries too much unsystematic risk, which it needs to reduce.
The Financial Structure of the Spanish Hotel Industry: Evidence from Cluster Analysis
Authors: Devesa María Jesús Such , Esteban Laura Parte , Martínez Antonio Garre
Published: September 2010

Multinational Spanish hotel chains currently are undergoing a process of internationalization. This process demands a new approach to their financial strategies and thus will modify, or already has modified, their traditional financial structures. The authors define companies' financial structure on the basis of a wide set of financial ratios grouped by factorial analysis. The data retrieved highlight commonalities among liquidity ratios, structure, size, growth and profitability. The authors identify clusters among companies presenting consolidated financial information and find that the financial structures of the leading companies have some influence within the hotel sector, particularly with regard to internationalized businesses.
Working Lands and Winter Tourists in the Rocky Mountain West: A Travel Cost, Contingent Behaviour and Input–Output Analysis
Authors: Orens Adam , Seidl Andrew
Published: September 2010

Using a contingent behaviour survey approach informed by revealed travel cost data, this study explores the connection between private land use decisions and the quality and quantity of the tourism experience in Gunnison, Colorado, USA. The authors ask winter tourists about their expenditure patterns and other features of their visit. They then describe the process of agricultural land conversion to residential or commercial development and ask tourists whether they would change the duration of their visit were farms and ranches converted to second homes and tourism-related businesses. The authors infer the direct expected economic impact of private land conversion on the winter tourism industry in Gunnison County. They then use tourists' stated expenditure patterns and reported change in visitation to derive the total, direct, indirect and induced impact of private land use change on the local economy through winter tourism visitation using a county level input–output analysis. The analysis also captures the extent to which tourists view private and public lands as providing complementary versus substitute goods and services, a potential issue of concern for county planners across high natural amenity and mountainous regions where public lands play a dominant role.
Research Note: Scheduling Trips during the Slack Season – An Aspect of the Economics of Seasonal Tourism
Authors: Batabyal Amitrajeet A.
Published: September 2010

The trip-scheduling problem faced by firms providing transport to tourists visiting a specific location in the slack season has received scant theoretical attention in the tourism literature. The author therefore conducts a stochastic analysis of the problem of trip scheduling during the slack season. He describes first a general model that accounts for the common features of sightseeing trips to city attractions and to locations such as fjords and lakes. Second, he determines the long-run fraction of time for which the transport-providing firm is unable to satisfy the demand for trips. Third, he ascertains the long-run fraction of demand that is lost to the transport-providing firm. Finally, he generalizes the analysis and considers the case in which a key, exogenously given variable is random and not constant.
Ex Post Demand for Australian Tourism Goods and Services
Authors: Divisekera Sarath
Published: September 2010

This study examines the economic parameters underlying the ex post demand for Australian tourism goods and services from ten source markets in Asia, Europe and North America. The results suggest that demand for the five broad commodity aggregates – accommodation, food, transport, shopping and entertainment – representing the key consumption by tourists, is price-inelastic, implying that all goods are necessities from the tourist's point of view. This result is consistent with the empirical reality that, once he or she has arrived in a destination, a tourist is bound to consume the available goods and services. A second important finding is the apparent complementarity of demands. This indicates that tourists tend to purchase a bundle of goods and services, all of which are necessary for the maximization of utility from visitation. The analysis also suggests that the underlying price elasticities exhibited through cross-price elasticity values have important implications for how price sensitivities can be better understood.
How does Biotech Food Labelling Affect Consumers' Purchasing Preferences and the Market?
Authors: Zhongd Funing , Chen Xi
Published: September 2010

This paper examines whether and how biotech labelling has had an impact on Chinese consumers' vegetable oil purchasing decisions. The authors used sales data from Nanjing and household survey data from Jiangsu province. They found that the market share of biotech oils immediately decreased as a result, though the decrease was small in absolute terms (but statistically significant). In addition, the changes in the biotech oil market share were affected by the structural effect of the rich, while there was no apparent gross consumption effect of the poor, which could have been underestimated due to a series of factors concerning the two datasets applied.
The Food Industry in the New EU Member States
Authors: Harre Henning , Pirscher Frauke
Published: September 2010

The food industries of Eastern European countries are described and evaluated in comparison with the food industry in the European Union as a whole. Most of the indicators investigated show a considerable degree of specificity, which should be taken into account in European policy measures for the sector's competitiveness. Enterprises are on average comparatively small in terms of turnover, but large in terms of employment. Investment intensity is low, but control by foreign affiliates is high. The economic performance of these countries is fair in terms of profitability and production development, but low with respect to employment development and labour productivity. Poland, Latvia and Bulgaria have the best-performing food industries.
Measuring and Comparing the Competitiveness of Heterogeneous Production Systems in Agriculture: A Note
Authors: Nivievskyi Oleg , von Cramon-Taubadel Stephan
Published: September 2010

The measurement of competitiveness in agriculture is often based on data for average or‘typical’ farms. However, if the farms that are summarized in this manner are heterogeneous, inferences based on aggregated measures can be misleading. The authors propose the calculation of competitiveness indicator distributions based on micro-data. This procedure makes it possible to determine for each product (a) the proportion of the farms producing it that is competitive and (b) the proportion of the total production/output value of the product that derives from competitive/uncompetitive farms. Furthermore, the authors propose and contrast distribution-based and aggregate-based approaches for ranking activities.
Sustainable Agriculture Based on Integrated and Organic Guidelines: Understanding Terms
Authors: Bavec Martina , Mlakar Silva Grobelnik , Rozman Črtomir , Pažek Karmen , Bavec Franc
Published: September 2010

This paper presents and reviews agricultural terminology to gain a better understanding of the terms. The authors examine such phrases as sustainable agriculture, sustainable animal production, good agricultural practice, integrated crop management, ecological agriculture, biological agriculture, organic agriculture, permaculture and peaceful agriculture. In addition, they discuss possibilities for the further development of environmental measures by categorizing them into‘Brussels' and‘non-Brussels’. Finally, the authors raise questions about the new challenges that have arisen through data analysis and practical experiences during the establishment of organic and integrated agriculture in Slovenia.
The Increase in Protein Demand for China's Livestock Sector and its Implications for the International Agricultural Trade
Authors: Sun Wei , Knerr Béatrice , Kuhn Michael
Published: September 2010

This paper analyses the impact of the economic structure of China's meat market and various livestock inventories on the demand for and supply of protein feed, with particular consideration of its world market implications. The results of econometric analyses indicate that the effects of changes in livestock production are stronger on soybean meal demand than they are on soybean demand. Increasing meat output directly affects soybean meal demand. While world market prices display a significant effect on soybean imports, China's WTO accession does not make a difference. China's protein feed import dependency rate has increased substantially.
Universities, SMEs and Innovation Frameworks
Authors: Pickernell David , Clifton Nick , Senyard Julienne
Published: September 2010

Universities are increasingly encouraged to take a leading role in economic development, particularly through innovation. Simultaneously, economic development policy itself is increasingly focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creating overlapping interactions in the roles of government policy, universities and SMEs and the processes of innovation creation and dissemination. This paper examines issues arising from these developments and relating to the key stakeholders (industry, government and universities in particular), the enabling mechanisms (network governance, relevant education, training and learning, and suitable structures), and local and cross-local links. The authors then use quantitative analysis of 450 SMEs in the UK to begin to evaluate the roles of universities and highlight areas for further theoretical development.
Religion, the Scottish Work Ethic and the Spirit of Enterprise
Authors: Smith Robert
Published: September 2010

Using a historical approach, this paper revisits Max Weber's ‘Protestant ethic’, addressing in particular a variant form of it – the ‘Scottish work ethic’. It examines that ethic as both a collective and individuated theological drive that helped shape the proto-entrepreneurial proclivity of the Scottish people. The Scottish work ethic is a secularized drive peculiar to Scotland with its strong Calvinistic religious heritage and emphasis on hard work, thrift and education. From an academic perspective, although much has been written about the Protestant ethic and Weber's thesis, the same cannot be said of the Scottish work ethic. This paper fills this gap in the literature while extending consideration of the nature of the work ethic to include the power of religion and theological drives in the creation of the prevalent spirit of enterprise within a people.
Entrepreneurship: Too Risky to Let Loose in a Stormy Climate?
Authors: Rae David
Published: September 2010

Entrepreneurship, ‘the pursuit of opportunity regardless of the consequences’, is a privileged instrument of liberal market economics worldwide. Yet the financial turmoil resulting from the credit crunch suggests that the social and economic effects of unregulated entrepreneurial behaviour in pursuit of short-term profit are severe and self-defeating, resulting in massive destruction of value for national economies, businesses and individuals. This article examines the wider consequences of this ‘old’ entrepreneurship and, using examples, proposes the development of a ‘new’ entrepreneurship led by education, of which social responsibility, environmental sustainability and the practice of ethical and moral frameworks become integral components.
Research Note: Forecasting Tourism Demand by Disaggregated Time Series – Empirical Evidence from Spain
Authors: de Oliveira Santos Glauber Eduardo
Published: September 2010

Frequently, tourism demand can be disaggregated into different components according to variables such as country of residence, purpose of the trip, type of transport and accommodation. However, researchers generally develop forecasts of the total tourism demand without considering the existence of its disaggregated components, which might have independent behaviour. As an alternative, the disaggregated approach models each component first and then sums these individual forecasts in order to obtain aggregate forecasts of the total tourism demand. This paper compares the aggregated and disaggregated approaches by ex post forecasting international tourist arrivals in Spain. The total tourism demand is disaggregated into 12 different origins. The HEGY test is used to check for regular and seasonal unit roots in each time series and SARIMA models are used to develop single forecasts. This empirical study finds slightly more accurate results using the disaggregated approach in multi-step, out-of-sample forecasting.
Are All-Terrain Vehicle Riders Willing to Pay Trail User Fees to Ride on Public Lands in the USA?
Authors: Snyder Stephanie A. , Smail Robert A.
Published: September 2010

Some public lands in the USA offer opportunities for all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riding, but few charge trail use fees. In a case study in the US state of Wisconsin, the contingent valuation method was used to examine riders' willingness to pay (WTP) to ride on public lands. Information on riders' habits, preferences and responses to a dichotomous choice WTP question were collected via a mail survey. ATV club membership, year-round riding habits and preferences for riding on maintained trails and public land influenced WTP positively. Fee amount, advanced skill level, use of the ATV as a hunting support vehicle and living close to an existing trail had a negative impact on WTP.
Recreational Demand Functions for Different Categories of Beach Visitor
Authors: Dall'Aste Brandolini Silva Marzetti
Published: September 2010

This paper addresses the estimation of the recreational use value of a beach for different categories of beach visitor and its determinants. According to economic theory, it is generally expected that income and the number of beach visits affect the value of a recreational visit. The recreational value should increase as income increases and should decrease as the number of beach visits increases. Nevertheless, anomalies such as the Veblen effect are admitted. The data used for this research were obtained from a questionnaire carried out in Lido di Dante, a coastal tourist resort in Italy. The contingent valuation method (CVM) in the value of enjoyment (VOE) version was applied. Beach visitors were asked to give a monetary value to informal recreational beach use (such as sunbathing, walking and swimming) in three different scenarios: status quo, erosion and artificial defence. Beach services are modelled in private goods terms, because each individual may make a different number of visits, and different categories of beach visitor (all beach visitors, day visitors and residents, and tourists) are described by presenting their respective use value functions. It is shown that household income explains the recreational beach value of all visitor categories considered, while the number of beach days explains only that of day visitors and residents. The coefficients of these two independent variables do not have the expected sign, thus suggesting that the preferences of beach visitors at Lido di Dante belong to the category of anomalies in the economic theory of demand.
Room Rates as Signals of Quality, Sell-Out Risk and the Prospects of Getting a Better Deal: Analytical Model and Empirical Evidence
Authors: Chen Chih-Chien , Ruseski Jane E. , Schwartz Zvi
Published: September 2010

Travellers make advanced booking decisions in an imperfect information environment, an environment in which price signalling is likely to occur. This study examines the unique informational role of room rates by suggesting an analytical model of room rates as a signal of quality and sell-out risk and by testing the theory empirically. The findings indicate that, even in advanced booking situations in which consumers might associate price deviations with the hotel's revenue management policies, prices can still signal quality to the consumers. Moreover, the study demonstrates that in a deal seeking/advanced booking context, there are two additional opposing impacts of the informational role of prices. Customers' propensity to book increases with higher rates because the perception of the sell-out risk is higher. However, at the same time, customers' propensity to book decreases because the higher room rate induces a higher expectation of the offer of a better deal.
Measuring Tourism Sustainability: Proposal for a Composite Index
Authors: Fernández Juan Ignacio Pulido , Rivero Marcelino Sánchez
Published: September 2010

The methodological bases are established for the design of a global composite index, the ST index, to measure tourism sustainability. Tourism sustainability is a fairly complex concept due to its latent, multidimensional and relative nature. A method based on factor loadings is proposed to construct a global tourism sustainability index. After comparing it with various theoretical approaches, the authors apply it to the Spanish system of environmental tourism indicators. The robustness of the proposed ST index is tested by calculating composite correlations between the Euclidean distances of different tourism destinations.
Preference Heterogeneity in Relation to Museum Services
Authors: Colombino Ugo , Nese Annamaria
Published: September 2010

Prevailing trends in the management of European museums underline the importance of additional museum services in fostering and encouraging the optimization of cultural assets while facilitating the collection of resources necessary for conservation. This paper considers the case of the archaeological site of Paestum (Salerno) and presents an analysis of individual preferences in relation to specific policies of cultural heritage management, each characterized by the supply of different museum services. Since the diversity of these services can prompt different individual preferences, the analysis allows for heterogeneity of parameters among individuals.
Sustainable Local Food Production and Consumption
Authors: Schönhart Martin , Penker Marianne , Schmid Erwin
Published: September 2010

Local food systems (LFS) are considered as alternative approaches to mainstream food systems in industrialized countries. The authors apply the normative concept of sustainable development as an analytical framework within which to critique and summarize common arguments in favour of LFS and to confront them with contradicting evidence from empirical case studies. Most of the expected effects turn out to be bidirectional. For sustainable implementation, tradeoffs have to be evaluated. Several path dependencies may also hamper successful implementation. It is clear that scientific evaluation is crucial for sound policy guidance. Therefore, an orientation towards holistic ex ante assessments is suggested.
How Information Becomes a Resource for Action in an Uncertain and Complex World
Authors: Magne Marie-Angélina , Cerf Marianne
Published: September 2010

Following their study of how farmers look for and make sense of information to develop their farming projects, the authors argue that more attention should be paid to sense-making and contingency in the knowing process to increase the stakeholder's capacity to act in an uncertain and complex world. Their analysis shows that sense-making is contingent on the way farmers characterize the here and now as problematic and depends on the purposes and functions they assign to information resources. It also suggests that farmers assign purposes according to the development of their productive activity and of their own identities and capacities.
Use and Assessment of the ‘New’ Rural Functions by Land Users and Landowners of the Montado in Southern Portugal
Authors: Surová Diana , Pinto-Correia Teresa
Published: September 2010

The objective of the study discussed in this paper was to produce knowledge about how the Montado, an agrosilvopastoral system dominant in southern Portugal, supports and can better support ‘new’ rural functions associated with leisure and recreation. The Montado is recognized as a multifunctional landscape, although future management conditions are still to be defined. A qualitative survey was carried out through personal interviews with land users and landowners of this specific system. Results regarding visitor profiles, current activities in the Montado, perceived limitations and improvements suggested by land users, as well as landowners' attitudes towards ‘new’ functions, are presented and discussed.
Learning as Changes in Activity Systems
Authors: Pereira-Querol Marco Antonio , Seppänen Laura
Published: September 2010

On-farm biogas production (BP) has many environmental benefits for agricultural systems. The authors describe the evolution of a system as a learning process within BP, the outcome of which is the development of a programme of sustainable swine production. According to cultural–historical activity theory, learning is understood as a transformation of the motivating object of an activity system and its structure. First, the authors present the theoretical concepts of an activity system, including its contradictions and expansion, and then describe the methodology used in the study for data collection and analysis. The historical data and accompanying analysis are then presented in temporal phases, followed by an identification of what triggered learning and expansion during the process, and an explanation of how the nature of the activity changed. Finally, the authors reflect on what such a theoretical analysis of an activity can bring to the notion of social learning.
Ecological Networks Implemented by Participatory Approaches as a Response to Landscape Fragmentation
Authors: Tiemann Silja , Siebert Rosemarie
Published: September 2010

The ecological network concept is an approach to counteract biodiversity loss by connecting core nature conservation areas. This article analyses the role of stakeholder involvement in, the conditions for and approaches to the practical implementation of ecological networks in Germany. The results are based on a literature review compared with results from a survey of experts. A policy model (the ‘policy cycle‘) is used for structuring the data. The results show that participatory approaches play different roles in all stages of the policy cycle, and are also necessary at each stage to enable the implementation of a well accepted and ‘functional’ ecological network.
Livestock Farming Systems in Urban Mountain Regions
Authors: Cialdella Nathalie , Dobremez Laurent , Madelrieux Sophie
Published: September 2010

The objective in this paper is to identify driving forces and favourable factors that ensure the persistence of mountain livestock farms over time. The paths and processes of change are studied in a sample of 14 existing livestock farms near Chambéry in the Savoie, adopting a retrospective approach going back to the 1950s. The authors focus on key factors: workload, dairy restructuring and off-farm job opportunities. The results show that in this area, livestock farms have persisted thanks to the integration of other farming or off-farm activities in the farm–family system during at least one phase of their history.
Ecology and Culture: The Territorial Anchorage of Corsican Cheese Producers' Knowledge
Authors: Bouche Rémi , Moity-Maïzi Pascale
Published: September 2010

Given that the core concern of any localized agri-food system (LAFS) is its heritage, the know-how historically encapsulated in agri-food products can determine their territorial entrenchment. The authors consider this know-how as a complex resource that can be exploited through interactions among technical, relational, cultural and cognitive components. They analyse the know-how associated with the LAFS of cheese production in Corsica, combining anthropological and systemic approaches to explore the concept of territorially anchored collective know-how. The paper emphasizes that knowledge about interactions between potential collective resources, such as that relating to animal husbandry and cheese production, does not necessarily belong to the same cultural phase or have the same transience as a historical building process.
Adaptability through Spatial Management
Authors: Gueringer Alain , Rapey Hélène , Houdart Marie , Bigot Geneviève , Josien Etienne , Landré Fabrice
Published: September 2010

This paper analyses the forms and adaptability of the assignment and management of farm territories in mountain areas of the French Massif Central, where permanent grassland and cattle farming predominate. The spatial management of 33 farms, and its links with cattle management and other farming system conditions, were investigated. In-depth analyses of four of those farms are presented. The case studies confirm the role of known factors influencing land use, but also reveal that more complex and interrelated factors, such as equipment, labour and buildings, affect the spatial management of farms. Spatial management emerges as a key element in the fodder security of the system.
Educating Students for E-Entrepreneurship in the UK, the USA and China
Authors: Millman Cindy , Wong Wang-Chan , Li Zhengwei , Matlay Harry
Published: September 2010

A growing body of research evaluates various aspects of entrepreneurship education (such as curriculum, delivery and assessment) and links it to outcomes in terms of both the number and quality of entrepreneurs entering an economy. There is, however, a marked paucity of empirically rigorous research appraising the impact of entrepreneurship education on graduates' intentions and perceived ability to set up Internet-based e-enterprises that can operate across temporal and geographical boundaries. This paper provides a comparative overview of entrepreneurship education in the UK, the USA and China with a focus on IT and non-IT students' e-entrepreneurship intentions, perceptions and outcomes. The research on which the paper is based was carried out in two distinct phases: first, focus groups were used to design, pilot and develop a comprehensive research questionnaire for use in a wider, multi-country survey; second, questionnaires were then distributed to students in IT and non-IT related disciplines in the UK, the USA and China. The preliminary results show that most respondents were slow to conceptualize and contextualize e-entrepreneurship in the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions of their countries of origin. There were no significant differences between students of IT and non-IT disciplines in their perceptions of the viability and practicality of engaging in e-entrepreneurship. Generic support initiatives appear to neglect the vast portfolio of skills needs for graduates engaging in Internet trading. The authors recommend that entrepreneurship education providers should engage with emergent models of e-entrepreneurship and that policy makers should provide innovative initiatives to cater for the specific needs of e-entrepreneurs.
Graduating into Start-up: Exploring the Transition
Authors: Nabi Ghulam , Holden Rick , Walmsley Andreas
Published: September 2010

The main purpose of the exploratory research discussed in this paper was to generate insights into the complexity of the career-making processes involved in the transition from being a student to starting up a business. Using story-telling interviews, data were collected from fifteen graduates based in the Yorkshire region of the UK. Qualitative thematic analysis produced a chronological summary for each respondent, charting the sequence of events that led to start-up and providing appropriate context and rationale so that key themes could be identified. The research began as a study of the career-making process of moving from student status to self-employment; it ended by offering valuable insight into the complex transition process undertaken by a group of diverse graduates. This subtle shift of positioning is important, and reflects the outcomes of the in-depth research undertaken with the respondents. The findings suggest that only very rarely could the transition process be regarded as strategic. It was not a linear process with clear stages, but rather a continuous process which often stretched back to the respondent's pre-university life. The process is discussed in relation to three major themes: personal characteristics, employment experiences and lifestyle, and support. Appreciation and awareness of the lack of common transition and contextual processes, aspirations, factors and required capabilities must be reflected in policy and practice that seek to promote and enhance graduate entrepreneurship. The authors' findings question the suitability of neat policy formulas and skills-based interventions to encourage more students to take a start-up pathway. Further research is needed to strengthen the fledgling understanding of this process.
Creating an Enterprise Culture in a University
Authors: Rae David , Gee Simon , Moon Robert
Published: September 2010

The ‘entrepreneurial university’ is considered a desirable and achievable goal, but how do universities become entrepreneurial? The role of the enterprising academic in stimulating cultural change is often overlooked. This article presents as a case study the teaching team at the University of Derby, UK, who ‘acted as entrepreneurs’ for five years to stimulate enterprising learning across the university. The analysis provides insights into cultural change in a modern regional university. The authors explore three questions: how can a university develop an entrepreneurial culture, how can entrepreneurial teachers stimulate cultural change, and are there general learning points to be gained from the experience at the University of Derby? The process of developing an enterprising culture in a university is examined by tracing the organizational, pedagogical, systemic and behavioural changes and conflicts that arose. The authors examine the impact on a higher education institution of five years of significant growth in enterprise learning from a zero base, including the development of an enterprise curriculum, innovative learning methods, funded projects for student and community entrepreneurship, practice-based research and the formation of networks of educators, practitioners and influencers. They conclude with an account of the ‘Energizing Enterprise Education’ staff development event for the team and the university. The paper highlights the significance of the values, skills and methods of an entrepreneurial teaching team as crucial factors in the cultural change process and in addressing the inevitable conflict with the ‘base culture’.
Entrepreneurship Education for Students
Authors: Schwartz Dafna , Malach-Pines Ayala
Published: September 2010

This paper focuses on factors that influence the appropriateness of entrepreneurship studies to the needs and expectations of management students in Israel, where entrepreneurs are considered cultural heroes. The results of the authors' research revealed great interest in entrepreneurship studies among most of the students surveyed. However, differences were found between those students who intended to start a business and those who did not – in their business-related background, entrepreneurial traits and their business needs and expectations from entrepreneurship studies. These results highlight the disparity between the supply and the expectations from entrepreneurship programmes in universities, and as such have important implications for entrepreneurship education.
Tourism Investments under Uncertainty: An Economic Analysis of ‘Eco-Monsters’
Authors: Candela Guido , Castellani Massimiliano , Mussoni Maurizio
Published: September 2010

‘Ecological monsters’ can be the legal outcome of rational choices made by three players: a firm, a policymaker and Nature. The firm asks the local policymaker for permission to undertake a real investment project in a stochastic framework, with real options and environmental externalities. The model consists of a non-cooperative game and its solution implies a bizarre outcome, both for the firm when it interrupts and abandons the investment project and for the policymaker when it is unable to avoid eco-monsters. Policy implications and partisan effects are explored.
The Influence of the Entrepreneur's Network on the Internationalization of Young French Firms
Authors: Cabrol Mathieu , Favre-Bonté Véronique , Fayolle Alain
Published: September 2010

Young and rapidly internationalizing firms, known as ‘international new ventures’ (INVs) or ‘born globals’ (BGs) have developed their ability to grow rapidly in international markets primarily because the entrepreneur and his or her team have established an international network. Based on six case studies of young technological firms located in the Rhône–Alpes region of France and using a qualitative method, this study focuses on the founders' capabilities in creating and developing an international business network. The results show that entrepreneurs build on their previous professional experience to mobilize international networks during the start-up phase in order to drive the firm's activities.
The World, the Web and SMEs: Stepping Stones across Language and Cultural Divides
Authors: Fulford Heather
Published: September 2010

Drawing on technology adoption theories and stage models used in electronic commerce adoption studies, an incremental approach is proposed to customizing Websites for international marketing purposes in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Emphasis is placed on a gradual transition from globalizing to localizing as SMEs seek to establish and consolidate their presence in specific overseas markets. The benefits of the approach are highlighted for resource-constrained SMEs. Illustrations are provided of a sample of UK SMEs that have been successfully trialling and evaluating the approach. Indications are given of wider applications beyond UK SMEs to other contexts and countries.
Enhancing Mathematics by Online Assessments
Authors: Brouwer Natasa , Ekimova Lilia , Jasinska Magdalena , van Gastel Leendert , Virgailaitė-Mečkauskaitė Eglė
Published: September 2010

There is growing concern in Europe that some students are not well-equipped to start a Bachelor's or Master's programme, especially when the programme has a strong mathematical focus. In particular, attention is drawn to problems with mathematics in the transition from secondary to higher education. Higher education expects a certain level of algebraic skills and not all incoming students are able to comply with that expectation. Consequently, more institutes are developing preparatory and remedial courses to refresh or remediate algebraic skills in first-year students, and IT tools are often used to enhance their learning experience. This paper focuses on the use of frequent online assessment powered by a mathematical engine, Maple TA. The authors analyse two redesigns of mathematics courses using Maple TA at the University of Amsterdam. These courses were taken by 650 students in the Faculties of Science and of Economics and Business. In general, the students' response was positive, although the economics students were more positive than the science students. Teachers were pleased with the redesigns and indicated that the use of online assessment tools for innovation in classroom teaching was straightforward.
Scottish and Austrian Perspectives on Delivering a Master's
Authors: McLuckie Joseph A. , Naulty Michael , Luchoomun Dharmadeo , Wahl Harald
Published: September 2010

This article explores the transition in course delivery from a paper-based format to blended learning, and highlights the role of the virtual learning environment (VLE) in this process. Professional practice in postgraduate programmes in particular is investigated during this transition stage at the University of Dundee (UoD) in Scotland, and the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (UASTW) in Austria. In this transition, UoD is developing and implementing a ‘Master's Framework’ supported by the VLE, ‘MyDundee’, which is built on the Blackboard e-learning platform. Similarly, UASTW is exploiting the Campus Information System (CIS) based on the open-source e-learning platform Moodle. Although the methods used to promote and practise e-learning differ at the two universities, their common aim is to support students' and professionals' learning when face-to-face contact time between students and tutors is significantly reduced. The use of collaborative and peer-assessed tools like e-portfolios, newsletters, discussion forums, Wikis and group puzzles are used as means of satisfying a delivery model which reflects socially constructivist principles of learning.
Asynchronous Learning Forums for Business Acculturation
Authors: Pence Christine Cope , Wulf Catharina
Published: September 2010

The use of IT as a facilitator for student collaboration in higher business education has grown rapidly since 2000. Asynchronous discussion forums are used abundantly for collaborative training purposes and for teaching students business-relevant tools for their future careers. This article presents an analysis of the asynchronous discussion forum series that was used in an MBA Business Ethics class in France as a facilitator to bridge cultural differences for future lifelong learning. The objective of the forum series, to facilitate the acculturation of business soft skills through online discussion of experiential cases, leads to observations of adaptation rather than the convergence of intercultural soft skills between high and low context cultures.
Assessing Institutional Development for Livestock Market Participation of Traditional Cattle Keepers in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya
Authors: Verbeke Wim , D'Haese Marijke , Kyeyamwa Herbert , Opuda-Asibo John , Van Huylenbroeck Guido
Published: September 2010

The potential of keeping livestock as a poverty reduction strategy cannot be fully exploited in rural Africa because of the low levels of market participation that characterize mixed and grassland-based farming systems dominating much of Africa. In a set of three former British colonies (Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya), an analysis was conducted to assess differences in institutional development, policy incentives and levels of livestock market participation. Livestock market participation has historically been higher in Kenya and Tanzania than in Uganda. National documents and official reports were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that Kenya has developed an institutional environment that is more conducive to the market participation of traditional cattle keepers than Tanzania and Uganda. The insights obtained from this study are important in redirecting governments, donors and multilateral development agencies from predominantly input-driven livestock development interventions to increased emphasis on institutional and policy support.
A Crop Production Ecology (CPE) Approach to Sustainable Production of Biomass for Food, Feed and Fuel
Authors: Haverkort A.J. , Bindraban P.S. , Conijn J.G. , de Ruijter F.J.
Published: September 2010

With the rapid increase in demand for agricultural products for food, feed and fuel, concerns are growing about sustainability issues. Can agricultural production meet the needs of increasing numbers of people consuming more animal products and using a larger share of crops as fuel for transport, electricity and heat, while still sustaining the natural resource base? In addition to economic models and learning from statistics and trends, there is a perceived need for decision support tools at global, field and plant levels and for the certification of best practices based on crop production ecology (CPE). This paper illustrates the need for and availability of a generic approach to sustainability principles, criteria, indicators and norms to ensure maximum efficiency in the use of resources such as land, water, chemicals and energy in crop biomass production at various levels of scale. The authors propose a method based on a transportable CPE approach, covering ranges of commodities and environments, to address choices in agricultural production: which crop to promote where, how it should be grown to optimize the efficient use of resources, how to certify the best practices and which crop properties need genetic improvement to make the best use of scarce resources in adverse conditions.