title: Strategic marketing's contribution to Australasian golf club performance

authors: Garland, Ron

subjects: Australia

abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which strategic marketing planning is carried out by Australasian golf clubs and the impact such planing has upon their business performance.

Design/methodology/approach – A research methodology borrowed from the “for profit” sector is applied. In total, ten basic strategic marketing practices, each with its own hypothesis, are investigated through a web-based survey of secretaries/managers of 180 Australian and New Zealand golf clubs.
Findings – Analysis shows that while strategic marketing is being adopted by most clubs, compared with their lower-performing counterparts (on measures of competitive business performance), the higher-performing clubs place a far greater emphasis upon each of the ten basic strategic marketing practices.
Research limitations/implications – While the survey had a 24 per cent response rate, a small follow-up survey of non-respondents showed no significant difference in answers to four crucial questions. Self-reported, relative performance measures, widely used in the “for profit” sector, have been utilised. The ten basic strategic marketing practices are assumed to be antecedents of success rather than a consequence of such success.
Originality/value – In addition to providing initial understanding of the extent of strategic marketing planning practice in a sport management context in Australasia, this paper identifies those practices which differentiate higher competitive business performance from lower performance.

text: Strategic marketing's contribution to Australasian golf club performance Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which strategic marketing planning is carried out by Australasian golf clubs and the impact such planing has upon their business performance.

Design/methodology/approach – A research methodology borrowed from the “for profit” sector is applied. In total, ten basic strategic marketing practices, each with its own hypothesis, are investigated through a web-based survey of secretaries/managers of 180 Australian and New Zealand golf clubs.
Findings – Analysis shows that while strategic marketing is being adopted by most clubs, compared with their lower-performing counterparts (on measures of competitive business performance), the higher-performing clubs place a far greater emphasis upon each of the ten basic strategic marketing practices.
Research limitations/implications – While the survey had a 24 per cent response rate, a small follow-up survey of non-respondents showed no significant difference in answers to four crucial questions. Self-reported, relative performance measures, widely used in the “for profit” sector, have been utilised. The ten basic strategic marketing practices are assumed to be antecedents of success rather than a consequence of such success.
Originality/value – In addition to providing initial understanding of the extent of strategic marketing planning practice in a sport management context in Australasia, this paper identifies those practices which differentiate higher competitive business performance from lower performance.

year: 2011

title: Engendering the evaluation of anti-trafficking policy: The Vietnamese National Action Programme against trafficking in women and children 2004-2010 (THE VNAP)

authors: Duong, Kim Anh

subjects: human trafficking

abstract: Human trafficking is a prominent global problem affecting some 27 million people worldwide and has social, developmental, and human rights implications. Although in its various forms trafficking affects men, women and children, it has long been conceptualised as a women’s issue because women have comprised the majority of trafficking victims. Whilst historically associated with the transit of women for forced prostitution, today there are various socio-economic and cultural factors that contribute to the increasingly complex forms of trafficking in persons: poverty, patriarchy, globalisation, increased labour demand, and the growth of the sex industry. Vietnam, with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), is a major source country for human trafficking in Southeast Asia. In an effort to address its growing trafficking problem, the Government of Vietnam has put in place multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial policies, most notably in the form of The Vietnamese National Action Programme Against Trafficking in Women and Children 2004-2010 (VNAP).  The VNAP was aimed at preventing the crime, punishing the perpetrators, and reintegrating survivors into the community. 

The present research undertakes a gender evaluation of the VNAP. The objective of this study is to explore the extent to which the VNAP has achieved its policy objectives and goals, and to assess its effectiveness in addressing trafficking from a gender perspective. More specifically, this gender evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness of the VNAP in changing the context that contributes to the trafficking of women. It examines the gender politics of policy-making surrounding an issue rooted in a patriarchal society and state. Finally, it aims to illuminate processes of policymaking in the market-oriented socialist country of Vietnam.

The gender evaluation presented in this thesis adapts Fischer’s policy evaluation framework to examine whether the VNAP’s stated objectives, in relation to the 3Ps (Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution) were fulfilled; whether partnerships (as the fourth P) were successful in providing a united approach to combating the crime; whether the VNAP was gender-sensitive in involving women’s voices in policymaking, and contributing to women’s empowerment; and whether the ideologies around gender and women that underpinned the VNAP may have undermined its impact and effectiveness and, if so, in what ways.

The evaluation is informed by extensive qualitative research conducted in Vietnam in 2010, and draws on both primary and secondary data. The primary data includes transcripts from a series of interviews and focus group discussions conducted in three cities and provincial locations, in which 114 state actors, non-state actors, trafficking survivors, and women in the community shared their views on human trafficking and the VNAP. The secondary data includes national and international agency reports, policy documents, statistical data, and existing research on human trafficking in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
The findings suggest that although the VNAP successfully implemented some effective programmes of action, especially in terms of disseminating anti-trafficking information and in developing partnerships, there were significant gaps in this policy response. There was a considerable lack of resources and insufficient training provided at various levels of policy-making and a lack of gender-specific training sensitive to the needs of trafficked women. The communication between various actors was ineffective leading to different interpretations of the VNAP’s policy mandates. Furthermore, the definition of human trafficking used in the VNAP denoted human trafficking as exclusively meaning trafficking in women and children, and consequently ignored men as potential policy beneficiaries.

From a gender perspective, there was inadequate participation of women in the VNAP’s decision-making and policy-making processes, and an insufficient recognition of trafficked women’s needs for sustainable livelihoods. The VNAP, as it was implemented, failed to enhance the accountability of the state to women. Furthermore, the VNAP and its related institutional structures were built on patriarchal gender constructions that marginalised women’s roles and abilities. Overall, while the VNAP, at best, improved women’s awareness of trafficking, it did not create a context in which women were effectively empowered in their families and in their communities. Consequently, Vietnamese women’s greater vulnerability to the risks of being trafficked continues to persist.

text: Engendering the evaluation of anti-trafficking policy: The Vietnamese National Action Programme against trafficking in women and children 2004-2010 (THE VNAP) Human trafficking is a prominent global problem affecting some 27 million people worldwide and has social, developmental, and human rights implications. Although in its various forms trafficking affects men, women and children, it has long been conceptualised as a women’s issue because women have comprised the majority of trafficking victims. Whilst historically associated with the transit of women for forced prostitution, today there are various socio-economic and cultural factors that contribute to the increasingly complex forms of trafficking in persons: poverty, patriarchy, globalisation, increased labour demand, and the growth of the sex industry. Vietnam, with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), is a major source country for human trafficking in Southeast Asia. In an effort to address its growing trafficking problem, the Government of Vietnam has put in place multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial policies, most notably in the form of The Vietnamese National Action Programme Against Trafficking in Women and Children 2004-2010 (VNAP).  The VNAP was aimed at preventing the crime, punishing the perpetrators, and reintegrating survivors into the community. 

The present research undertakes a gender evaluation of the VNAP. The objective of this study is to explore the extent to which the VNAP has achieved its policy objectives and goals, and to assess its effectiveness in addressing trafficking from a gender perspective. More specifically, this gender evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness of the VNAP in changing the context that contributes to the trafficking of women. It examines the gender politics of policy-making surrounding an issue rooted in a patriarchal society and state. Finally, it aims to illuminate processes of policymaking in the market-oriented socialist country of Vietnam.

The gender evaluation presented in this thesis adapts Fischer’s policy evaluation framework to examine whether the VNAP’s stated objectives, in relation to the 3Ps (Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution) were fulfilled; whether partnerships (as the fourth P) were successful in providing a united approach to combating the crime; whether the VNAP was gender-sensitive in involving women’s voices in policymaking, and contributing to women’s empowerment; and whether the ideologies around gender and women that underpinned the VNAP may have undermined its impact and effectiveness and, if so, in what ways.

The evaluation is informed by extensive qualitative research conducted in Vietnam in 2010, and draws on both primary and secondary data. The primary data includes transcripts from a series of interviews and focus group discussions conducted in three cities and provincial locations, in which 114 state actors, non-state actors, trafficking survivors, and women in the community shared their views on human trafficking and the VNAP. The secondary data includes national and international agency reports, policy documents, statistical data, and existing research on human trafficking in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
The findings suggest that although the VNAP successfully implemented some effective programmes of action, especially in terms of disseminating anti-trafficking information and in developing partnerships, there were significant gaps in this policy response. There was a considerable lack of resources and insufficient training provided at various levels of policy-making and a lack of gender-specific training sensitive to the needs of trafficked women. The communication between various actors was ineffective leading to different interpretations of the VNAP’s policy mandates. Furthermore, the definition of human trafficking used in the VNAP denoted human trafficking as exclusively meaning trafficking in women and children, and consequently ignored men as potential policy beneficiaries.

From a gender perspective, there was inadequate participation of women in the VNAP’s decision-making and policy-making processes, and an insufficient recognition of trafficked women’s needs for sustainable livelihoods. The VNAP, as it was implemented, failed to enhance the accountability of the state to women. Furthermore, the VNAP and its related institutional structures were built on patriarchal gender constructions that marginalised women’s roles and abilities. Overall, while the VNAP, at best, improved women’s awareness of trafficking, it did not create a context in which women were effectively empowered in their families and in their communities. Consequently, Vietnamese women’s greater vulnerability to the risks of being trafficked continues to persist.

year: 2014

title: Mokena Hou and his wife Rina

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Mokena Hou had a distinguished whakapapa, but as nephew to Hou was subordinate to the latter’s son, Karauna Hou. He was born near the Te Aroha hot pools, and his future wife, Rina, who also had illustrious ancestors, including some Ngati Haua, was born in the same area. Both were affiliated to several hapu. After the Hauraki tribes fled from Ngapuhi in 1821, he would be present at the battle of Taumatawiwi in 1830 (though he did not fight) and participated in a later siege of the Ngati Haua pa at Matamata. During the 1830s and later, he mostly cultivated land and dug gum in the lower Waihou region and as well as cultivating at Te Aroha. 
 After living at Kaitawa before the Thames goldfield opened, nearby, in 1867, he moved to Te Aroha, where he would live continuously, warding off the ambitions of Ngati Haua. When the land court investigated the ownership of blocks of land in Hauraki, he sought to obtain as many interests as possible, not always successfully, and tried to get more than his fair share of both land and revenue. 
A devoted Anglican, he assisted the early missionaries to the Waihou region. Wanting peaceful relations with Pakeha, he assisted both the surveying and the settlement of the Aroha Block. When gold was discovered at Te Aroha in 1880, he assisted the prospectors, opened his land for mining and for a township, and invested in some claims, expecting and obtaining a good financial reward. He may have assisted in making the hot pools a public reserve, and certainly gave sections of land within the settlement for public and religious purposes. When he and his wife died a month apart, they were fondly remembered.

text: Mokena Hou and his wife Rina Mokena Hou had a distinguished whakapapa, but as nephew to Hou was subordinate to the latter’s son, Karauna Hou. He was born near the Te Aroha hot pools, and his future wife, Rina, who also had illustrious ancestors, including some Ngati Haua, was born in the same area. Both were affiliated to several hapu. After the Hauraki tribes fled from Ngapuhi in 1821, he would be present at the battle of Taumatawiwi in 1830 (though he did not fight) and participated in a later siege of the Ngati Haua pa at Matamata. During the 1830s and later, he mostly cultivated land and dug gum in the lower Waihou region and as well as cultivating at Te Aroha. 
 After living at Kaitawa before the Thames goldfield opened, nearby, in 1867, he moved to Te Aroha, where he would live continuously, warding off the ambitions of Ngati Haua. When the land court investigated the ownership of blocks of land in Hauraki, he sought to obtain as many interests as possible, not always successfully, and tried to get more than his fair share of both land and revenue. 
A devoted Anglican, he assisted the early missionaries to the Waihou region. Wanting peaceful relations with Pakeha, he assisted both the surveying and the settlement of the Aroha Block. When gold was discovered at Te Aroha in 1880, he assisted the prospectors, opened his land for mining and for a township, and invested in some claims, expecting and obtaining a good financial reward. He may have assisted in making the hot pools a public reserve, and certainly gave sections of land within the settlement for public and religious purposes. When he and his wife died a month apart, they were fondly remembered.

year: 2016