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The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which e-books fit the needs of medical academics of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the performance of their academic tasks.

A web-based survey was distributed to all UNSW academics in medicine, and 224 completed responses were analyzed according to the attributes of a task-technology fit (TTF) model developed for e-books in academic settings.

Although the UNSW Library had access to > 225,000 e-books, usage by medical academics was relatively low (38 per cent); however, most (92 per cent) predicted that they would be using e-books within the next five years. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) had portable devices including smartphones, and 90 per cent rated the ability to search across full text in an e-book of moderate-to-high importance. Research tasks dominated the use of e-books, and 71 per cent agreed that e-books helped improve their overall productivity.

Only 224 (8 per cent) of 2,790 medical academics at UNSW participated in the study. The low response rate and over-representation of research only academics limit the extent of generalization of the findings.

This is the first study on the use of e-books among academics in the Faculty of Medicine – comprising nearly 64 per cent of all UNSW academic staff. The findings highlight the extent of e-books used by medical academics and their enthusiasm for access to digital resources. There is also the suggestion that the library must continue to develop services to ensure delivery of task-compatible e-books to medical academics in increasingly mobile environments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what owners of small firms are looking for from new employees. The aim is to pursue this in light of the debate around formality and informality of small firm HRM, exploring the extent to which the small firms studied had formalised HRM practices.

The data reported here were collected in discussions with the owner(s) of 27 small firms in the Latrobe Valley region of South East Victoria, Australia. These firms were participating in the federal government‐funded small business assistance program and data were gathered through a series of visits and discussions with the owners over the period of the assistance program.

It was found that in those firms where they had formalised HRM practices, which linked directly to their strategy, employers were more able to “sell” their vision for the business to potential employees.

Research has shown that there is a positive relationship between small firm growth and the formalisation of HRM policies. However, this paper is based on discussions with people who were taking action to acknowledge and address issues affecting their business and so their experience may not be generalisable to other small businesses.

This paper makes an original contribution of exploring the area of HRM in small firms and is hopefully a reminder to small business owners that HRM issues and small business advisers can play a critical role in the structure of their HRM practices – helping them to decide whom they want to recruit and how to go about it.

The purpose of this paper is to review the many negative implications of crime for tourism in the Caribbean, with particular regard to the economic costs, the loss of long‐term investment and the impact of illegal drugs.

The paper provides an analysis in three sections: The first section provides a preliminary discussion on problems of crime and criminal activity in the Caribbean especially as they relate to tourism. The second main part singles out certain areas of concern, namely, economic costs, long‐term investment dampening, illicit drugs, gangs, indirect costs, and youth as the primary perpetrators of crime in the region. The final section offers policy considerations towards halting the impact of crime and criminal activity on Caribbean tourism performance.

The paper concludes that Caribbean governments have to do more to protect their most important industry, and recommends a combination of both hard and soft policing measures and educational programs targeting youth, which emphasise the avoidance of criminal behaviour.

The paper advocates an integrated approach in order to address the issue of crime in society and also the central questions as to how to punish criminality and how to address its root causes.

The paper identifies marketing implications for tourism destinations, especially in relation to the perceptions of a given destination.

This paper discusses the notion of authenticity and the role of local creatives in the place branding process based on a case study of Mtns Made, a brand for the creative industries in the Blue Mountains of Sydney, Australia. This paper aims to examine the development, implementation and management of a place brand from the ground-up and explore the implications for a situated place branding practice.

The concept of brand culture was used as a theoretical lens to view place branding. A qualitative case study approach was taken, incorporating the collection of primary and secondary documents, observation of online platforms and real-world events, field notes and personal reflection from an insider position.

The findings of this study suggest that local creatives can and have played a central role in place branding. The study also illustrates a model for place branding that centres on stakeholder participation in an ongoing process.

Local culture and creativity are largely viewed as assets for place branding; this paper draws attention to the agency of local creatives in the place branding process. This study offers three pillars of place brand authenticity and establishes a framework for place brand analysis based on a branding design strategy.