Search results

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.

This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005

The need for thesauri to help users in their search for information in online information systems has been discussed for several decades. Many wide‐ranging contributions have been made to solve this problem. Nevertheless, investigation is needed to design a thesaurus structure based on what is relevant for users and generators of information within a specific subject domain. This paper explores the possibility of creating a thesaurus from the cognitive viewpoint. This approach is based on a system (in this case represented by a thesaurus) that organises its representation of knowledge or its classification as closely as possible to the authors‘ and users’ images of the subject domain with the objective of increasing the interaction between users and texts, and thus the communication in a given information retrieval system. From this point of view, the thesaurus structure is considered as the essential foundation on which to base such an interactive thesaurus. Furthermore, this structure is conceived as representing the merging point for both the generators‘ and the users’ models of the subject domain and for their information needs. This paper is dedicated mainly to the generators‘ side involved in this process. It demonstrates how an author’s writings can be used to identify the generators‘ model and perception of the subject domain, and how these can later be inserted in the thesaurus structure. Discourse analysis is used as a main method to identify the categories and its relevance for building such a structure is discussed. It also outlines a general approach for the user side to set up different methods of getting the users’ information needs into the thesaurus structure.

This study aims to reconsider Chinese tourist gaze studies, examining the extent to which extant studies and theoretical models relating to the Chinese tourist gaze have overcome the Eurocentric limits of John Urry’s concept of the tourist gaze and elaborated the complexity of Chinese tourists’ gazes and visual practices.

Content analysis is carried out, examining research articles, books, book chapters and PhD and MSc theses collected from multiple English and Chinese databases.

The research results manifest that, overall, the previous studies, mobilise cultural essentialism, with an overestimation of the “Chineseness” of Chinese tourists’ behavioural patterns, which are widely believed to be framed by, but also constituting of, unique Chinese culture. Overdependence on Chinese cultural values and traditional philosophies as sources for rationale has resulted in a handful of theoretical frameworks, which appear to be of insufficient magnitude both in terms of their contribution to the original tourist gaze model and in their manifesting of the complexity of Chinese tourists’ visual behaviour. Indeed the divide that once deliberately set apart West and East, or more precisely Western and Chinese tourist gazes, seems to become accentuated in most attempts to study and write about Chinese tourist gaze(s). The previous studies thus largely serve to mirror the Eurocentrism of Urry’s gaze, rather than challenging it.

This study has a few limitations, especially, as this study only reviews and analyses the studies of the Chinese tourist gaze. It means that the conclusion might not well be generalised to either the investigation of the tourist gaze in another culture or the Chinese tourist studies, at large, which might exhibit a different pattern deserving more academic attention in future. Moreover, the authors recommend the future researchers, who are eager to probe Chinese tourists’ behavioural pattern, to seek for new pathways and alternative paradigms, which would be useful in overcoming the limits of cultural representations and in reducing the problematic Sino-Western divide.

Despite not aiming to reconceptualise the Chinese tourist gaze, this review paper contributes to the field of tourist gaze studies by engaging critically with the bias and theoretical insufficiencies that have emerged, while this concept is appropriated and re-formulated to explain Chinese tourists’ gazes and visual practices. On this basis, the authors suggest a critical redirection of the extant Chinese tourist gaze studies, which would be rather significant to those researchers in future with an interest to research what the Chinese tourists prefer to see in travel and how they engage with the gazee.

中国性与行为复杂性：反思中国游客凝视研究

本文重新检视有关中国游客凝视的研究, 审视现有研究和理论模型在多大程度上克服了约翰·厄里提出的游客凝视概念所蕴含的欧洲中心主义的局限, 并阐述中国游客凝视和视觉实践的复杂性。

本研究进行了内容分析; 资料来源于多个渠道的期刊论文、书籍、书章和博硕论文。

总体而言, 以往研究调动了文化本质主义, 过分强调了中国游客行为模式的“中国性”–被广泛认为受制于中国文化, 且也是中国文化一部分。对作为基本理论来源的中国文化价值观和传统哲学的过度依赖产生了一系列理论框架, 但它们在对最初的游客凝视模型的贡献上, 以及在对中国游客视觉行为的复杂性的阐释上, 都是不够的。在大部分中国游客凝视研究中, 以往对西方游客和中国游客的凝视的刻意区分都得以凸显, 从而映照出厄里的游客凝视概念所蕴含的欧洲中心主义。

虽然本评述论文并不致力于对中国游客凝视进行重新概念化, 但依旧对游客凝视研究领域做出了贡献。当游客凝视这一概念被挪用且重新定制以解释中国游客凝视和视觉实践时, 本文对涌现其间的偏见和理论上的缺陷进行了批判性的揭示。在此基础上, 我们认为, 有必要对有关中国游客凝视的研究做出批判性的重新定向。这对于未来有志于研究中国游客视觉偏好以及他们如何与被凝视者互动的研究人员而言, 尤其重要。

本研究有一些局限, 特别是, 因为我们只评价和分析了有关中国游客凝视的研究。这意味着, 我们的结论可能不能被推广至对其他文化情境下的游客凝视的调查, 也不能推广至中国游客研究整体。我们建议, 对中国游客行为模式感兴趣的研究人员需要寻求新的路径和替代性的范式, 以克服文化表象的局限并减少中西分歧带来的问题。

Carácter chino y la complejidad de comportamiento: repensar los estudios de la mirada del turista chino

Este artículo reconsidera los estudios de la mirada del turista chino para investigar hasta qué punto los estudios y los modelos teóricos existentes sobre la mirada del turista chino han superado los límites eurocéntricos del concepto de la mirada del turista de John Urry y explicado la complejidad de la mirada del turista chino y las prácticas visuales.

Se lleva a cabo el análisis de contenido investigando artículos de investigación, libros, capítulos de libros y las tesis de PhD y de MSc provenientes de las diversas bases de datos tanto en inglés como en chino.

Los resultados de la investigación manifiestan que, en general, los estudios anteriores movilizan el esencialismo cultural con una sobrestimación del “carácter chino” del modelo del comportamiento de turistas chinos, se cree en gran medida que el cual es motivado por la cultura china mientras forma parte de ella. Lo que la fuente de los fundamentos básicos sobredepende de los valores culturales y la filosofía tradicional de China resulta una pequeña cantidad de marcos teóricos, que no son suficientes tanto para la contribución al modelo original de la mirada del turismo como para manifestar la complejidad del comportamiento visual de turistas chinos. De hecho, se destaca la intención de la separación del Occidente y el Oriente, o hablando de forma precisa, de la mirada del turista occidental y la del turista chino al estudiar y escribir sobre la mirada del turista chino. Los estudios anteriores reflejan el eurocentrismo de la mirada de Urry en vez de ponerlo en duda.

A pesar de que el artículo no tiene la reconceptualización de la mirada del turista chino como su objetivo, contribuye al ámbito de la investigación de la mirada del turista a través de revelar de manera crítica el prejuicio y la insuficiencia teórica que ya ha existido cuando se usa y se reformula este concepto para explicar la mirada del turista chino y las prácticas visuales. Con lo que hemos mencionado, planteamos una redirección crítica de los estudios existentes de la mirada del turista chino, lo cual sería significativo para aquellos que tienen la intención de investigar qué prefieren ver los turistas chinos durante el viaje y cómo van a interactuar con los mirados en el futuro.

Esta investigación tiene varios límites, sobre todo, como solo revisamos y analizamos los estudios de la mirada del turista chino, lo cual significa que nuestra conclusión no se podría generalizar tanto a la investigación de la mirada del turista de otras culturas como a los estudios del turismo chino, que mostrarían un modelo diferente que merece más atención académica en el futuro. Al mismo tiempo, recomendamos a las personas que se interesen por investigar el modelo del comportamiento de los turistas chinos buscar nuevos caminos y paradigmas alternativos, los cuales serían útiles para superar los límites de las representaciones culturales y reducir la división problemática sino-occidental.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

Arrangements for regional economic integration, under the WTO system, have unexpectedly dominated globalization. In fact, countries that have realized economic arrangements, such as the EU 's monetary union, are further expanding their efforts to achieve political integration. Regional economic integration is now considered an exigency of national affairs. North East Asian countries are also affected by this global predicament, but the issue involves greater structural complexities in this region. The emergence of China has forced Japan and Korea to contemplate difficult structural adjustments. For example, while the Korean government recognizes the importance of stronger intra-regional economic cooperation, by pursuing these arrangements it simultaneously faces the dilemma of maintaining traditional partnerships, such as those with the USA and Japan. If Korea actively supports regional economic arrangements, this action would be perceived as a bias toward China, consequently damaging ties with the US. Thus, rather than depending on public initiatives to establish economic ties in North East Asia, China, Japan and Korea should rely on market friendly projects initiated by the private sector that endorse gradual integration through non-political activities and exchanges among the citizens of the respective countries. This paper first proposes the founding of a North East Asian United University Community composed of students, professors and campuses of the three countries in the initial stages. Secondly, it proposes the development of unique Asian commodities, a concept similar to that of 'Airbus. ' Finally, it proposes utilization of retired Japanese, Korean and Chinese engineers and technicians to speed up the overall level of technology, which is critical to overcoming backwardness in this region.

We examine whether discretionary accruals of firms obtaining substantial external financing can be explained by managerial manipulation or managerial overoptimism. Insider trading patterns and press releases around equity and debt financing suggest that managers are more optimistic about their firms around debt financing. Consistent with earlier studies, we find that discretionary current accruals peak when firms obtain equity financing. However, we also find that discretionary accruals peak when firms obtain debt financing. Moreover, discretionary accruals are higher for firms that rely on debt rather than on equity financing. The results are robust to controlling for firm characteristics, excluding small and distressed firms, and using alternative measures of discretionary accruals. These findings support the hypothesis that managerial overoptimism distorts financial statements of firms obtaining external financing.