Antecedents and consequences of market orientation in universities: Literature review and conceptual framework

Recent developments in marketing theory have resulted in the conceptualisation of the market orientation construct in different cultural and industrial settings. However, there is little research investigating the applicability of market orientation in the higher education context. Building on the existing literature on market orientation and higher education marketing, the authors propose a theoretical framework of market orientation from a higher education management perspective. The framework analysis leads to propositions relating to the antecedents and consequences of market oriented universities. On the basis of the formulated propositions, the authors conclude with a discussion of the implications both for academia and practice and further research

Impact of the Iraq Marshlands Restoration Program on Livestock Population and Production in the Southern Marshes of Iraq

The USAID Iraq Marshlands Restoration Program (IMRP) promoted the application of two promising initiatives tested from 2004 to 2006: (1) the introduction of alfalfa and maize fodder to feed and improve the nutrition of buffalo and (2) the creation of a veterinary service to increase livestock production and health. The livestock sector in the marshlands has seen dramatic improvement since IMRP ended in 2006. These changes are across the board in the absolute number of livestock (from 66,700 heads in 2006 to 111,525 heads in 2017) and in their increasing diversity (buffalo were 74.33% of all livestock in 2006 but decreased to 70.33% in 2017). Buffalo, specifically, had greater birth weight (40 kg in 2006 and 45.6 kg in 2017), greater daily growth rates (0.3 kg in 2006 and 1-1.25 kg in 2017), higher daily milk yields (8.81 kg/day in 2006 and 9.69 kg/day in 2017), and longer lactation periods (150 days in 2006 and 238 days in 2017). There have been accompanying advances in the closely related meat and dairy markets. Live weight and market prices for buffalo and cattle have increased three- to four-fold. Rising daily milk yields also sparked the creation of cottage industries to produce dairy products using higher fat buffalo milk. These changes all point to an increasingly healthy and dynamic livestock sector in the marshlands. However, other anticipated changes in the marshlands did not meet expectations. In 2006, IMRP predicted a strong shift away from the historical dominance of buffalo ownership to a more diversified pattern of ownership that included the relatively newly introduced cattle and a rapid increase in sheep holdings, making the latter the dominate animal. Instead, buffaloes have continued to be the vastly most numerous animals owned in the marshlands. In 2017, they ranged from 65 to 75% of all livestock holdings. Greater access to reflooded marshes by buffalo herders and increased financial earnings realized from meat and dairy production may help to explain the continued reliance on buffalo ownership. IMRP's introduction of a veterinary service dedicated to working in the marshlands villages was far less successful but highly regarded by Marsh Arabs, being the first time that the services were offered in the marshes

IMO and internal branding outcomes: an employee perspective in UK HE

This study extends our knowledge of internal branding in the context of employees in the higher education sector. Employing a quantitative methodology in UK universities, a conceptual model is presented and tested on 235 employees. Internal market orientation (IMO) is examined as a management tool to drive employees’ university brand commitment en route to brand supportive behavior. The results show that the effect of IMO on employees’ university brand commitment varies among employees of different demographic groups. A two-step cluster analysis is carried out to highlight the impact of demographic heterogeneity. The results show that universities with higher level of IMO perform better relating to their internal branding outcomes in terms of employee university brand commitment as well as brand supportive behavior. However significant differences are found for the effect of IMO on employees’ university brand commitment especially in the cluster of the ‘Mature Male Academics’, suggesting specific managerial attention

Assessing impacts of climate change on Lake Victoria Basin, Africa

The Nile River is mainly sourced by the Lake Victoria basin catchment. Potable water is vital in this region. Greenhouse gases induced climate change is believed to affect the water resources system leading to alteration in planning and management. Previous studies had been carried out in focus on the pollution, fisheries, wetland of the Lake Victoria basin, while limited research in view of the effects of climate change on hydrological regime. In view of the importance of water in that region, assessing the potential climate change impacts is necessary. Factors such as downscaling of climate scenarios obtain from general circulation models and climate scenarios should be taken into consideration

Molecular Genetic Study of PTC Tasting in Basra Population/Iraq

The present study was conducting during 2012-2014. Sequencing of TAS2R38 (P49A) PTC gene 145 C/G) rs713598) among 59 healthy individuals from both sexes and age ranged 30-70 year was studied.  Results showed a present of three genotypes included CC, CG and GG. The first two genotypes were tasters while the third was not taster. The frequency of C and G alleles were 0.55, 0.45 among studied individuals. Genotypic frequencies showed a significant access frequency of heterozygous genotype CG as 0.76 which may implies a selective heterozygous advantage among this region of Iraqi population. A significant differences in genotypic distributions with high incidence of GG genotype (non- taster) among people was recorded. Keywords: PTC; taste; genetic; polymorphis

What makes hosts trust Airbnb? Antecedents of hosts’ trust towards Airbnb and its impact on continuance intention

Sharing economy platforms are growing at an unprecedented rate. Travel and tourism scholars have been focusing on customers’ sharing intention, yet the literature has largely overlooked what makes sharing service providers trust a sharing economy platform and decide to continue using it. Drawing on sociotechnical theory and the information systems success model, in conjunction with privacy concerns and economic value perspectives, this study develops an integrated model of antecedents and consequences of trust toward sharing economy platforms. Data from 606 Airbnb hosts were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Our research documents the importance of social antecedents (i.e., social value orientation and social utility), technical antecedents (i.e., system quality, service quality, and information quality), economic antecedents (i.e., monetary rewards) and privacy assurance antecedents (i.e., perceived effectiveness of privacy policy) in shaping hosts’ trust toward Airbnb, thereby enhancing their continuance intention with regard to using the platform

Flood estimation at ungauged sites using artificial neural networks

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been applied within the field of hydrological modelling for over a decade but relatively little attention has been paid to the use of these tools for flood estimation in ungauged catchments. This paper uses data from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology's Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH) to predict T-year flood events and the index flood (the median of the annual maximum series) for 850 catchments across the UK. When compared with multiple regression models, ANNs provide improved flood estimates that can be used by engineers and hydrologists. Comparisons are also made with the empirical model presented in the FEH and a preliminary study is made of the spatial distribution of ANN residuals, highlighting the influence that geographical factors have on model performance

Ideal point error for model assessment in data-driven river flow forecasting

When analysing the performance of hydrological models in river forecasting, researchers use a number of diverse statistics. Although some statistics appear to be used more regularly in such analyses than others, there is a distinct lack of consistency in evaluation, making studies undertaken by different authors or performed at different locations difficult to compare in a meaningful manner. Moreover, even within individual reported case studies, substantial contradictions are found to occur between one measure of performance and another. In this paper we examine the ideal point error (IPE) metric – a recently introduced measure of model performance that integrates a number of recognised metrics in a logical way. Having a single, integrated measure of performance is appealing as it should permit more straightforward model inter-comparisons. However, this is reliant on a transferrable standardisation of the individual metrics that are combined to form the IPE. This paper examines one potential option for standardisation: the use of naive model benchmarking