Tourism, inclusive growth and decent work: a political economy critique

This paper interrogates the ideas of ‘sustained’ and ‘inclusive’ growth that are intrinsic to one of three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8 - Decent Work and Growth) adopted by the UN World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) 2030 sustainable tourism agenda. It provides a Marxian-inspired political economy critique of the UNWTO’s embrace of SDG8 and highlights the blind spot within the UNWTO’s inclusive growth-led SDG agenda with respect to questions of equity and social justice. The paper contends that the UNWTO’s SDG-led agenda is contradicted by the logics of growth, competitiveness and profit-making that drive the continued expansion and development of tourism. Rather than addressing the structural injustices that entrench inequalities and reproduce exploitative labour practices, the notion of sustained and inclusive growth reinforces the primacy of capital and market notions of justice and continues to perpetuate a growth driven tourism development model. The paper contributes to a critical theorization of sustainable tourism and offers an informed critique of the current political agenda for sustainable tourism and its potential outcomes

International business-government relations: The risk management strategies of MNEs in emerging economies

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. In emerging economies where the institutional environment is weak, the level of risk faced by MNEs remains high. Extant literature recognizes the forms of risks faced by MNEs, but only a few studies have attempted to explain how firms identify and mitigate these risks. This study addressed the commercial risk management strategies of MNEs operating in Vietnam. We found that the government remained the key stakeholder and maintaining active relations with them aided MNEs’ operational success. The risk mitigation strategies employed by MNEs included managing alertness, portraying good behavior, navigating through the state of comfort, and active mediation

Productivity and participation values for cooperative goals to limit free riding and promote performance in international joint ventures

This study holds that the development of cooperative goals instead of competitive goals among joint venture partners helps to limit free riding and promote performance in IJVs. The results collected from 75 pairs of Chinese and foreign joint venture partners suggest that productivity and participation values strengthen the partners’ beliefs that their goals are cooperatively related, which in turn, reduces free riding and promotes performance, whereas competitive goals promote free riding and obstruct joint performance. The paper also suggests how cooperation and competition research can complement established theoretical frameworks on the conditions and dynamics that result in IJV productivity