Exporting to China and ASEAN countries： Perceived advancement in marketing competencies and export performance

Malaysians firms have made inroads into the non-traditional export markets. Such ventures are expected to result in increased knowledge about the marketing systems that are posited to be different from the traditional export markets. This paper reports on the perceived improvement in marketing competencies of Malaysian exporters. The results of data analysis show that there are five dimensions of marketing competency. In ranking order, segmenting and targeting competency is ranked highest followed by product management, export management, product differentiation and promotion. Multiple regression analysis was performed to test the explanatory power of each marketing competency on export performance of firms exporting to China and ASEAN countries. The result revealed that none of the marketing competency explained the variation in export performance for the China market. However, among exporters in ASEAN countries, it was noted that promotion competency resulted in a negative impact on both measures of export performance. Product competency is positively associated with financial measure of export performance. Competencies in segmenting and targeting, and export management are positively associated with non-financial performance.     

The Thai Royal Project Foundation Retail Stores： How and why the consumers buy？

The Royal Project, established in 1969, has responded to His Majesty＇s initiative to help the hill tribes in growing useful crops which enable them to have a better standard of living. In 1992, the Royal Project was transformed into Royal Project Foundation in order to become the public organization that can be operated efficiently as a private company. After that, the Royal Project Foundation Retail Stores or ＂Doi Kham＂ were set up to help distribute products and produces from the project and its members. However, the Royal Project Foundation Retail Stores are currently lacking of adequate marketing information to help management make the right and more aggressive decision. Therefore, this research was conducted in order to explore the consumers＇ behaviors and their reasons towards the purchase from ＂Doi Kham＂. Furthermore, consumer clustering and characteristics of each group are discovered. A survey of 341 current customers from 2 most crowded branches--Don Muang International Airport and Farmer Market in Bangkok--was done using self-administered questionnaire. The data obtained was then analyzed by using factor analysis, chi-square test, ANOVA and cluster analysis. The results show that majority of customers are women aged between 24-50 and having income more than 20,000 baht （around $606） a month. Most of them bought the Royal Project Foundation products from ＂Doi Kham＂ directly instead of the private-owned stores. More than one third of samples shop more than twice a month and spend moderately around 100 to 499 baht. The most popular products are temperate-climate vegetables, followed by agricultural processed food and temperate-climate fruits consecutively. Main reasons that the consumers buy the products are the product quality, standard labeling, helping welfare of farmers and hill tribesmen and brand credibility respectively. For marketing factors, the most important factor influencing the purchase is product quality and safety, followed by convenience of shopping, pricing, store service, store layout/displays and promotion consecutively. Three groups of clusters are obtained--＂traditional buyers＂, ＂service-oriented buyers＂ and ＂price-concerned buyers＂.     

Productivity Improvement and Public Personnel Management： An Analysis of Presidents Reagan and Obama Administration

Considering the financial crises, all the recent presidents have emphasized the importance of productivity improvement in government, especially in public personnel management. Though there is a general agreement on the concept of productivity, the means to achieve productivity vary with president＇s ideology. President Reagan championed the cause of conservatism. On one hand, despite Obama＇s attempt to diffuse ideological question, his actions can be regarded as liberal. This study seeks to make a comparison between Presidents Reagan and Obama on their efforts in productivity improvement in public personnel management, based on their ideological preferences. President Reagan campaigned on an anti-Washington agenda. He promoted the idea that the government is the problem rather than the solution. He popularized the idea that the people are burdened with heavy taxation as a result of the big government. Therefore, the solution to heavy taxation was to cut big government, which can be accomplished by reducing unnecessary and expensive regulations. On the other hand, when President Obama came to office, the country was faced not only with a deep recession, but two difficult wars, the collapse of the banking and the auto industries, the housing crisis, and overall capacity crisis in the government. Obama resisted ideological level in his campaign speeches to diffuse the criticisms of the conservatives.     

Educational offer,education demand and institutional capacity

The present world is subject to some structural and institutional transformations unprecedented. The education-a public goods, a product and a process at the same time, is not different especially, since late modernization and modernity make education an essential vector of development. The present study insists on the triad educational offer, education demand and institutional capacity. It starts from the imperatives of knowledge society in globalization era and re-defines the educational market in the context of late modernity. Although the approach of the educational supply, the demand of education and competition on the educational market aims at a factorial analysis initially related to the realities in Romania, the issue is extended globally. The demonstration is simple enough, though the potential capacity （and the real one） of any institution of higher education management must be mediated on educational market. To this effect, the study insists on the objectives and aims of educational management. The premise to fundamentally define this type of management is that the intelligent models, the creative models and the strategic models of thought may contribute to the development of institutional （organizational） culture with axiological appliance, giving both identity and openness to diverse education. The study poses the problem of a new type of educational order, an educational order of a society based on knowledge.     

The Role of the Cooperatives and the Collective Action for the Fruits and Vegetables Albanian Farmers

Albania is a Mediterranean country where fruits and vegetables occupy an important place in the cropping systems practiced by the Albanian farms but also in the food consumption of the population. Today, the fruits and vegetables growers in Albania have low production capacity and difficulties in selling their products on national and regional market. Consolidation and increased coordination throughout the agri-food sector are rapidly reshaping the role of cooperative organizations in agriculture. Increased concentration, both up and downstream, raises the specter of the traditional cooperative role of counter-balancing market power. However, increasing demands for coordination among players throughout the agri-food system point to a different role in which cooperative organizations may have a unique advantage. The new and emerging food system （dominated by domestic urban market and export markets, regional competitiveness, globalization, etc.） with high demands for compliance with food safety and traceability disfavor the smallholders due to high coordination costs. The problem is exacerbated by geographic dispersion, low education, and poor access to capital and information. This article discusses about the New Institutional Economics （NIE） approach and the role of the cooperatives in ensuring greater participation of fruits and vegetables Albanian farmers in the domestic and regional market.     

Knowledge,innovation and sustainability： The implementation of voluntary environmental policies in Greece： The case of environmental management systems

The paper focuses upon the issues of knowledge, innovation and sustainability concerning the implementation of voluntary environmental policies in Greece, and in particularly, through assessing the implementation of environmental management systems （EMS）. The first part of the paper refers to the theoretical background of EMS, presenting selected aspects from the approaches of the new economic geography and the new regionalism and from ecological modernization theory. In the second part, the implementation of EMS in Greece is highlighted, mainly focused on the profile of the enterprises, the sectoral and regional distributional pattern and the main problems during the implementation. The third part presents the main results of the empirical research on the impact of EMS implementation, concerning sustainability （e.g., water and energy savings, alternative renewable resources, sound waste management）, innovation （e.g., product or process innovation） and participation. The role of knowledge, during the process of implementation of EMS, is analyzed in the forth part of the paper. In the last part, recommendations for future policies are described, aiming at promoting strategies of EMS in urban areas and enchasing the role of local government.     

Importance of Interdisciplinary Spatial Planning of National Parks＂ Case Study of Croatia

With the attempt to ＂reconcile＂ protection and tourism activities, spatial planning has a great importance in sustainable planning and management of Nature Protected Areas （NPAs）. The spatial dimension of sustainability involves numerous processes and links among different purposes of lands, ecosystems, and biotopes at different levels through time, therefore, it is necessary to include all sciences and professions, whose common goal is the sustainability of the area, in the spatial planning process. This paper argues that there is a critical need for an interdisciplinary approach in spatial planning, which could improve the quality of planning of national parks and all other sensitive nature areas. Such approach should strive to the sustainability of protected nature destinations with the integration of knowledge. In Croatia, national park planning is still mostly done without comprehensive and integrated involvement of a wide range of science and profession, which ultimately significantly reduces the quality ＆the plans, as well as may have potentially negative effects on the future development.     

Public Policy： The Reality in the Practice of Management Agreements

This paper presents the new version of public policy for government transparency, outlining state＇s required functions, in the context of economic globalization, to enable fulfillment of social demands and Brazil＇s competitive insertion in international markets. In this sense, public policies were adjusted to the role of social and economic development promoter and regulator： Strengthening government capacity for formulating and evaluating them; increasing governance, i.e., government＇s ability to implement public policies, from the viewpoint of efficiency, efficacy, and effectiveness through the introduction of new organizational models and new partnerships with civil society; establishing management contracts, agreements, and partnership terms; and finally modernizing public management. E-government （e-gov） includes three of the seven lines of action of the information society： universal service, government available for all and advanced infrastructure. The Integration and Intelligence Government Information System （i3-Gov） was developed in open platform. Thus, new trends in shared and interagency management for public, productive, and growing third （voluntary） sectors are contemplated. The paper presents the results obtained with the Federal Government Voluntary Transfers Integrated System （SICONV）, which adequately fulfills the expectations of service and transparency, but needs improvement in regard to government participation without state interference.     

Agricultural trade within Northeast Asia： The prospects from Japan

The recent expansion of agricultural exports from China to Japan and Korea has marked one of the greatest changes in agricultural trade within Northeast Asia in the past few decades. Recently, China＇s influence in Northeast Asia as a major food consumer, not only as a food supplier, is spreading as well. In this paper, the issue of establishing collaborative relationships in agricultural trade among Northeast Asian countries is discussed from the following four viewpoints： factor analysis on agricultural export, the dynamic changes in the food system, the consensus building within the system of international trade, and the formation of a food industry cluster. It concludes that, it is necessary not only for agricultural economists to take the aspects of the region, the food chain, consensus building and industrial clusters into their research on international agricultural trade, but also for policymakers to have a similar perspective on the formation of a system for agricultural trade in order to obtain benefits from it.     

E-Documentation as Medical Services Quality Determinant on the Private Dentist＇s Surgery Example

The paper presents the modem management of health care institutions in the electronic medical document （EMD） context. Electronic medical document is in the form of software that provides a comprehensive system for the whole dentist＇s surgery management. The program allows for complete service of the patient in the private dentist by keeping records, archival photographs, the settlement of visits, and patient registration. It has been shown that technological innovation can fundamentally change the quality of the medical services in Poland, making a revolution in the management of budgetary expenditure. Electronic medical document is a system for the citizens of the 21st century. This is a new quality in healthcare administration, reimbursement systems, and most importantly patient care. Created based on specified standards and national standards, information databases ensure the reliability and comparability of data, and can be an analytical tool for health policy planning at various levels of the administration.     

Unleashing the power of consultations and partnerships through Aboriginal participation

What are the extent to which and the means by which Canada＇s Aboriginals are involved in consultation and more importantly, partnerships with other political actors to achieve indigenous-based change？ This paper examines this question in the larger framework of new public management （NPM） theory. NPM postulates that consultation involving public sector engagement with citizens （community engagement/ participation） will improve the quality of decisions regarding the content and delivery of policies and programs. The degree to which the public is empowered to engage with the public sector can be measured along a public participation spectrum, developed by the International Association for Public Participation （IAP2）, which measures varying degrees of public participation resulting in different forms of consultations and/or partnerships （inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower）. This paper will examine the existing literature on public consultation and public participation which will help identify the level of Aboriginal involvement in the policy process. More specifically, this paper will examine the Government of Alberta＇s 2004 ＂Grades 10-12 Social Studies Consultation＂ and the Government of Canada＇s 2008 ＂Environment Canada＇s Aboriginal Consultations on Wastewater＂, each of which involved government initiatives to carry out consultation with various Aboriginal actors. Ultimately, this paper argues that the different levels of governments in Canada have only employed the first two stages of the public participation spectrum （＂inform＂ and ＂consult＂） and therefore, have not empowered First Nations communities to become meaningful partners in the policy-making process and the democratic process at large.     

Factors influencing the adoption of electronic commerce in Iranian SMEs： An integration of TAM2 and TPB with cost saving

E-commerce （EC） can be an important source of competitive advantage for most business organizations, especially small and medium enterprise （SME） businesses. This study examines the factors that influence e-commerce adoption in one Iranian SME. Inspired by the extended model of TAM2 and TPB and cost saving variable, 5 factors influencing intention to use e-commerce in Iranian SMEs were also identified as follows perceived usefulness, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, attitude for using EC, cost saving. To validate the research model, 82 questionnaires were collected from top managers/owners and experts of SMEs. The results indicate that the subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived behavioral control and cost saving have positive influence on attitude toward use, also the cost saving, perceived usefulness and attitude have positive influence on intention to use. Results can be used by developing countries, especially those in Middle East, to encourage the adoption of e-commerce among SMEs.     

Analysis on the Human Resource Management in Chinese Agricultural Sector： Case Study From State-Owned Farms in Heilon~iang Province

The aim of this paper is to understand and clarify the strategies, characteristics, and practices of human resource management （HRM） in Chinese agricultural sector from the case study of state-owned farms in Heilongjiang Province. First of all, the technical efficiency of state-owned farms is analyzed using Data Envelopment Analysis （DEA）. Secondly, the characteristics of HRM in three farms are analyzed through person to person interview of managers in farms. Thirdly, questionnaire survey to the employees in two farms for their job satisfaction is analyzed for understanding the effect of HRM. Following results are obtained based on the empirical analysis. Firstly, by introducing new strategy so-called ＂Baiqianwan Talents Project＂ （BTP）, more attentions to the importance of human resources and cultivating managers have started to be paid in state-owned farms. Secondly, the importance of material HRM and the promotion opportunity as well as learning opportunity are recognized through questionnaire survey to the employees of farms. Thirdly, different corporate culture in each farm such as ＂learn by doing＂, ＂harmonization＂, and ＂development＂ is attempted to be established through trial and error.     

Cluster Policy and Smart Specialisation The Case of Bulgaria

Smart specialisation is an innovative policy concept which emphasizes the principle of prioritisation in a vertical logic and has attracted a wide interest in recent years, being implemented in many national technology and innovation strategies. Clusters are considered to be a major driver of innovation and competitiveness and for years, have been assigned a key role in various economic development strategies around the world. The paper looks at the interrelationship between clusters and smart specialisation. While clusters are an important building block of Smart Specialisation Strategies （$3）, cluster policies are also influenced by the concept of smart specialisation as they have increasingly started to target specific industries. The principal objective of the paper is to provide an overview and evaluation of the cluster policy pursued in Bulgaria during the last decade. The extent to which the country has used the principle of smart specialisation in its cluster initiatives is assessed. It has been argued that namely due to the lack of clear focus and prioritisation, Bulgaria＇s cluster policy proved to be highly inefficient. Finally, some policy recommendations for its improvement are put forward.     

The European Union Faced With the Challenges of Food Safety： Solutions Proposed in the Framework of the Common Agricultural Policy （CAP） and Strategies of the Actors Concerned

Within the framework of Common Agricultural Policy （CAP）, how has the European Union （EU） responded to new challenges emerging at the end of the last century？ The overall picture shows that the process of improving health conditions includes various players. The overall objectives of the CAP are specified in Article 39 of the Treaty of Rome： to increase agricultural productivity and ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community. The word ＂security＂ here refers to the stability of supply. The first major reform came in 1992, linked to the Uruguay Round Cycle of initial responses to consumes expectations regarding food safety and the prevention of health risks. The centrepiece of EU food policy, European Food Safety Authority （EFSA） is consumed with all maters effecting food safety, nutrition, animal health and welfare, and plant health. The controversy around the need for reforms and their implementation has featured prominently in the public debate. The paper analyzes these debates by drawing on scientific studies carried out by multidisciplinary laboratories.     

Client Orientation as a Form of Spiritual Needs of Personnel in Labor

The paper considers some grounds of the inside organization marketing concept as a management system that is aimed at meeting the needs of the company＇s personnel in labor. These needs are based on three levels [physiological （highest）, social （middle）, and spiritual （lowest）] and each level has its own revolutionizing forms of the development of needs in labor （abstract, wants, and demand）. Having analyzed a great deal of research materials concerning employees＇ motivation at Russian enterprises, a native higher educational establishment Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin was one of them, it can be concluded that this research does not reflect an estimation degree of meeting employees＇ needs in labor. Moreover, there is no motivation of client orientation in them that is considered as a form of spiritual needs of employees in labor. The essence of this form is determined by some objective and subjective factors.     

Synthetic Performance Indicators for Residential Housing Agencies

Many public administrations produce and distribute public services through a number of similar local autonomous organizations, or institutions, operating in different parts of the territory assigned to them under a centralized authority. Examples of this are the public residential housing institutions, the institutions for waste disposal, health care institutions, and education institutions. The problem arises regarding the evaluation of the performance of these local organizations and institutions not in absolute but in relative terms, in order to determine what incentives or sanctions should be meted out to them. This study presents the methodological problems, the data analysis, and the initial results of the method adopted by the Lombardy Region to create a system of performance indicators that will permit an automatic ranking of the Residential Housing Agencies in Lombardy （ALER） according to their performance, based on information from their balance sheets. A performance index was devised by rationally combining the results of three different analyses： position analysis, ranking analysis, and scoring analysis. The results allowed the central administration to： （1） motivate the managers of the local units through a system of performance-based incentives; （2） aggregate poorly performing local units or outsource inefficient functions; and （3） create competition among local units and raise overall performance levels.     

Business Angel and risk capital： The impact on innovation

The aim of the analysis is to understand if the risk capital carried by Business Angels （B.A.） could affect firms with high innovation propensity in creating more innovations than receiving risk capital from other financial operators. Innovation is a critical factor for the competitiveness of national system especially when the economy of the latter has come to maturity. For realizing ＂the successful exploitation of ideas, into new products, processes, services or business practices, and the critical process for achieving two complementary business goals of performance and growth, which in turn will help to close the productivity gap＂ （DTI＇s Innovation Report, 2003, p. 8）, firms have to understand which are the right competences to increase. In this context, the authors have developed a framework that measures the propensity to innovate in the firms. The model considers the firm＇s competences （grouped into four macro areas as management, organization, ITC and marketing） to improve the creation, development and diffusion of the innovation. The work is structured as an empirical analysis as follows： （1） The authors analyzed a sample of 12 business plans （choices for high level of innovation in their business） that received risk capital from B.A. and other financial operators; （2） For each firm, their innovation propensity is measured through the author＇s model during their start-up period （the data analyzed are business plan＇s data）; （3） After a period of time （3 years）, the authors checked if the firms with high innovation propensity have created real innovation and if a correlation exists between risk capital origin （from Business Angels or not） and innovation propensity. The conclusion of the work is the finns with B.A.＇s risk capital have a high innovation propensity and create after a medium term period more innovation compared with the others.     

The Pragmatic Research Approach： A Framework for Sustainable Management of Public Housing Estates in Nigeria

The paper is based on a research which tries to explore, explain and develop a framework that would be used in the sustainable post-construction management of public housing estates. Literature review provides evidence of the extent of unoccupied, unfinished, vandalized, and abandoned social housing estates in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, signifying that the availability and management of decent public housing estates in the Niger Delta of Nigeria are lacking because the post-construction management practice is not as good as it should be. The aim of this paper is to assess and set out the methodology and rationale for adopting a strategy to the research. It further, thus, examines case study design strategy that follows exploratory and explanatory methods and other research worldviews as alternatives in philosophy, approach and in research methodology. In addition, the paper draws out the significance of pragmatism as current practical world thinking that is a better answer to a research study aim, objectives and questions which focus on real-life situations. It argues that the development of a framework for use in the post-construction management of social （public） housing estates in a sustainable manner is needed; and that, using a pragmatic philosophical perspective and approach of worldview through a mixed method （qualitative and quantitative） in a case study design line of inquiry in the research methodology would be a better proposition to adopt in the study. The paper recommends that the issues of sampling, validity, reliability, the relationship between the researcher and the subject and other research quandaries are vital when deciding on an appropriate method.     

A study of Spanish companies＇ hedging strategies in Latin America

This paper looks at the impact that unanticipated changes in the exchange rate, specifically the currency crises that took place in Latin America between 1998 and 2004, had on the value of Spanish companies in this emerging region. It also studies the strategies, decisions, measures and initiatives that these firms made to improve the effectiveness of their hedging activities. Building upon previous studies in industrialized countries, the study applies a broad perspective as it takes a cross-functional approach by including finance, strategic planning, marketing, and operations management in the analysis. The data was collected from interviews containing structured and open-ended questions with senior managers and directors of the largest Spanish investors in Latin America and then analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative study involves a time series regression to calculate a foreign exchange exposure coefficient. The qualitative analysis uses a systematic approach to develop categories from the data gathered in the interviews. The research results suggest that foreign companies exposed to exchange risks in emerging markets gain resilience when decentralizing the decision-making and implementation of hedging initiatives to subsidiaries to： （1） Elaborate scenarios, （2） assess possible impacts of exchange rate variations, （3） design pre-emptive measures, and （4） set alternative strategies to mitigate potential impacts. This multi-functional and systemic approach to manage risks seems to offer companies higher flexibility and new knowledge that can be shared among subsidiaries working in similar economic and political environments.