Relocating empowerment as a management concept for Asia

Management theories, especially those in the area of human resource management, are predominantly Western-centric in origin and in the empirical testing that underpins them. The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of one such theory, employee empowerment, in an Asian context. Information gathered from an open ended questionnaire and focus groups provide an in-depth examination of hotel managers' perceptions and practice of empowerment in the workplace. This study provides tentative indicators of significant culturally-driven differences in the understanding and application of employee empowerment (in terms of both research and practice) between Western and Asian contexts. The results of this study indicate that empowerment in Asian cultures relates much more to the individual and his/her merits, in contrast to organizationally-driven empowerment in Western countries. The findings also indicate that empowerment by hotel managers is related to the level of personal trust the manager has in an employee

Outward FDI from Canada and its policy context

Canada was a major net importer of foreign direct investment (IFDI) prior to 1996. The stimulus for the surge in Canada's outward FDI (OFDI) came from profitable investment opportunities abroad. Canada has diversified significantly its OFDI away from the United States over the past 20 years. The financial crisis significantly affected Canada's FDI outflows, but OFDI seems to have rebounded in the second half of 2009. While Canadian investment has historically gone mainly to developed countries, recent changes in Government policies seem to suggest that Canada is looking to build closer ties with developing countries as well. Canada has a longstanding commitment to multilateral cooperation and actively supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework as a way to promote international trade and investment. At the same time, Canada continues actively to negotiate foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs)

Concern or Control?: Gender Stereotyping and Hospitality Leaders

Although most managers in the global hospitality industry are still male, an increasing number of women are taking on leadership roles. But how exactly do employees perceive masculine and feminine leadership styles? New research led by UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management\u27s Associate Professor Bendegul Okumus and the research team she works with looks at gender stereotypes and finds that the most successful managers, in the eyes of their staff, have a management style that combines both masculine and feminine leadership traits

ENTER Comes of Age

ENTER2014 - Where Social Inspiration meets Dynamic eTourism Innovation, Dublin - 21st -24th January 201

An Evaluation on Internet Adopted in Hotels in China

在网络化发展过程中 ,中国旅游饭店业能够积极运用Internet参与市场竞争 ,并已取得初步成效 ,但在建设与经营中也存在一些问题。本文拟从旅游饭店网络化的意义分析入手 ,评析现状 ,提出一些可供选择的方案与措施。As a new message industry,Internet has been wildly adopted in the hotels in China. Hotels have great competition in market by using Internet efficiently. However,there are still numerous problems both in Internet use and construction. The paper summarizes and analyses Internet used in the hotel enterprises as well as hotel management. It expounds some projects and measures by using Internet

WHICH HOTEL ATTRIBUTES MATTER FOR MASS TOURIST: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON TOURISTS’ REVIEW ON TRIP ADVISOR

Development of Internet and especially Web2.0 technologies introduced numerous opportunities for tourism industry. Due to new web-based platforms where customers can buy, evaluate and comment the products and/or services, Internet has become an important source of data that can be used in academic research. Therefore, the researchers of this paper aimed to determine the most important attributes that affect hotel choice based on the comments on one of the world’s most popular online travel platforms-Trip Advisor. In the scope of the research are reviews and comments on hotels found in touristic center of Belek in one of the most popular mass tourism destinations – Antalya. As a result of the content analysis, there are three groups of attributes which matter for mass tourists in terms of their hotel choice: attributes regarding destination, service and hotel, with attributes under the service category representing the most dominant ones in terms of hotel choice. The results of this research may be useful to hotel investors and potential hotel guests as well contribute to the overall knowledge about online travel behavior and preferences

The hotel comment card: A motivator of guest satisfaction

This paper explores the traditional pen and paper hotel comment card (HCC) from the guests’ perspective to gain an insight and to improve its effectiveness. The HCC has long been the predominant method of soliciting guest feedback. Although electronic methods of collection are now available the HCC has a sense of familiarity, has general acceptance, and is widely employed. Initially, a literature review of the hotel comment card is provided. Then, the study explores how frequent guests categorize HCC attributes. These attributes are then extended to include evaluation criteria identified in the literature and desired by hotel managers. The extended evaluation criterion is then used to explore how frequent hotel guests believe that future HCCs may motivate guests to provide feedback and assist in the co-­‐‑creation of value. The overall finding is that the HCCs design and execution can be improved

Inward FDI in Taiwan and its policy context

Taiwan has long maintained an explicit policy of attracting inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) as part of its growth strategy, although inflows have been subject to various restrictions. The primary objective of Taiwan's stance toward FDI was initially to attract export-oriented investment based upon the competitiveness of its highly educated and productive labor force. More recently, this objective has been modified to focus on attracting FDI into increasingly technology-intensive areas and to encourage or promote domestic technological spillovers. In recent years, although Taiwan's IFDI stock has more than tripled, from US$20 billion in 2000 to US$ 64 billion in 2010, it remains a relatively small recipient compared with its neighboring economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Annual IFDI flows to Taiwan have been in single-digit US$billion during 2000-2010, with a peak of US$ 7 billion in 2007 followed by a steady decline during 2008-2010. In 2010, Taiwan received inward FDI of US$ 2 billion only. It is, however, generally seen that the release of prohibition against mainland China investors on June 30, 2009, and the newly signed landmark cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) on June 30, 2010 will reinforce Taiwan's robust investment climate and stimulate IFDI

Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities in China: A Case from the Hospitality Industry

The purpose of this study is to underline some of the distinctive practices of the hospitality industry in China. Particularly, we have interviewed several industry experts in luxury hotel properties in China and the USA and have compared their human resources practices. We found that luxury hotels which want to achieve international levels of service must invest more time in hiring and training their Chinese employees. Chinese employees are hired based on personality, and are found to be lacking a service mentality. Cultural and institutional differences in human resources account for the differences that exist between Chinese employees in the hospitality industry in the USA and China