Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

The dominant approach to combating the illegal wildlife trade has traditionally been to restrict the supply of wildlife products. Yet conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of implementing demand‐side interventions that target the end consumers in the trade chain. Their aim is to curb the consumption of wildlife or shift consumption to more sustainable alternatives. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding of the diversity of consumer motivations in the context of illegal wildlife trade, which includes hundreds of thousands of species, different uses, and diverse contexts. Based on consultation with multiple experts from a diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, and focal taxa, we developed a typology of common motivations held by wildlife consumers that can be used to inform conservation interventions. We identified 5 main motivational categories for wildlife use: experiential, social, functional, financial, and spiritual, each containing subcategories. This framework is intended to facilitate the segmentation of consumers based on psychographics and allow the tailoring of interventions—whether behavior change campaigns, enforcement efforts, or incentive programs—to the specific context in which they will be used. Underlining the importance of consumer research and collaborating with local actors is an important step toward promoting a more systematic approach to the design of demand reduction interventions

INTRODUCTIONOffshoring administrative and technical work: New fields for understanding the global enterprise

In this paper, we introduce the Journal of International Business Studies Special Issue on Offshoring Administrative and Technical Services (ATS). In doing so, we have attempted to locate the topic within the international business research tradition, as well as suggest challenges and opportunities that the phenomenon offers to theoretical and empirical research in the field. We examine the interplay of costs, knowledge, and innovation in the evolution of ATS offshoring from modest beginnings to its current stature as an accepted business practice. We suggest that understanding the continuing evolution of ATS offshoring requires researchers to take into account not only the business imperative of cost-saving, but also a more complex set of underlying factors and potential outcomes. We argue that the rapid growth of ATS offshoring has brought about an accumulation of resources, including financial flows, knowledge, infrastructure and human capital to create new platforms for knowledge creation and innovation. Low costs may characterize the initial conditions for offshoring, but they also provide the basis for up-market moves as firms increasingly pursue innovation-based strategies. We introduce the papers in the Special Issue as integral elements in our discussion, contributing new ideas that stimulated our thinking and, hopefully, will do the same for others seeking to understand this emerging area of globalization and international managerial practice. Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40, 887–900. doi:10.1057/jibs.2009.22