Stamatis Aggelopoulos, G. Menexes and I. Kamenidou
The aim of the study is to present the implications for the financing and sustainability of enterprises based on a ranking methodology for categorical financial data.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study is to present the implications for the financing and sustainability of enterprises based on a ranking methodology for categorical financial data.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking advantage of the optimal scaling properties of correspondence analysis (CA), a ranking‐clustering procedure is proposed. The proposed method was applied to categorical financial variables (i.e family farm income, gross profit, gross income, labour income and profitability) collected from a stratified random sampling of 80 Greek pig farms using a structured questionnaire.
Findings
The cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups of pig farms. Several recommendations for managerial practices and financial development resulted from this study. For the farms belonging to cluster C1, that present low rankings on both criteria, a development planning process must be applied that will focus on organizational and management issues. For the farms belonging to cluster C2, that present low rankings on the “composite income” criterion, policy measures have to be undertaken, aiming at exploiting their own production coefficients, reducing fixed costs and increasing productivity. Finally, for the farms in cluster C3, that present high scores on both ranking criteria, it is recommended to take actions that will improve their competitiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to five selected financial variables. Therefore, future studies in the same or other business fields would benefit from incorporating a greater number of variables.
Originality/value
The proposed methodological scheme could be useful to practitioners and academics, due to the fact that limited studies have dealt with this ranking problem, particularly in relation to the Greek agricultural business environment.
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George Menexes and Stamatis Angelopoulos
The aim of the study is to propose certain agricultural policy measures for the financing and development of Greek farms, established by young farmers, based on the results of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study is to propose certain agricultural policy measures for the financing and development of Greek farms, established by young farmers, based on the results of a clustering method suitable for handling socio‐economic categorical data.
Design/methodology/approach
The clustering method was applied to categorical data collected from 110 randomly selected investment plans of Greek agricultural farms. The investment plans were submitted to the “Region of Central Macedonia” administrative office, in the framework of the Operational Programme “Agricultural Development – Reform of the Countryside 2000‐2006” and refer to agricultural investments by “Young Farmers”, according to the terms and conditions of Priority Axis III: “Improvement of the Age Composition of the Agricultural Population”. The input variables for the analyses were the farmers' gender, age class, education level and permanent place of residence, the farms' agricultural activity, Human Labour Units (HLU) and farms' viability level. All these variables were measured on nominal or ordinal scales. The available data were analyzed by means of a hierarchical cluster analysis method applied on the rows of an appropriate matrix of a complete disjunctive form with a dummy coding 0 or 1. The similarities were measured through the Benzécri'sχ2distance (metric), while the Ward's method was used as a criterion for cluster formation.
Findings
Five clusters of farms emerged, with statistically significant diverse socio‐economic profiles. The most important impact on the formation of the groups of farms was found to be related to the number of HLU, the farmers' level of education and gender. This derived typology allows for the determination of a flexible development and funding policy for the agricultural farms, based on the socio‐economic profile of the formulated clusters.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of the current study derives from the fact that the clustering method used is suitable only for categorical, non‐metric data. Another limitation comes from the fact that a relative small number of investment plans were used in the analysis. A larger sample covering and other geographical regions is needed in order to confirm the current results and make nation‐wide comparisons and “tailor‐made” proposals for financing and development. Finally, it is interesting to contact longitudinal surveys in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the funding policy of the corresponding programme.
Originality/value
The study's results could be useful to practitioners and academics because certain agricultural policy measures for the financing and development of Greek farms established by young farmers are proposed. Additionally, the data analysis method used in this study offers an alternative way for clustering categorical data.
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Sangita Choudhury and Arpita Ghose
India depicts the picture of severe social stringencies keeping girls away from attending school education due to the harsh reality of early child marriage and denial of…
Abstract
India depicts the picture of severe social stringencies keeping girls away from attending school education due to the harsh reality of early child marriage and denial of aspirations of girl students in Indian society. The gender disparity in school educational attainment is evident as the figures of girls' enrollment in comparison to boys' enrollment at higher secondary stage of education in India always turn lower. In this context, measurement of technical efficiency (TE) is important because existence of technical inefficiency implies that one cannot produce maximum amount of output, given the resources, which can be interpreted as the penalty that the system is paying, and there is also the need to find out the relation between TE and gender inequality. The chapter contributes to the literature by (i) in the first stage estimating output-oriented TE of Indian higher secondary education for the period 2010–2011 to 2015–2016, using nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis, for general category states and (ii) in the second stage, using the estimated TE scores from the first stage, and the regression analysis establishing the positive impact of the girls' enrollment relative to boys' on the resulting TE and hence the positive role of gender equality in enrollment on enhancing TE. The favorable role of (1) “government expenditures on education (as a ratio to aggregate expenditure for the state),” “proportion of para teachers” and the adverse role of (2) “percentage of schools without girl's toilet” and “percentage of schools without building,” in determining TE of Indian higher secondary education are evident.
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Lihui Wang, Chengshuai Qin, Yaoming Li, Jin Chen and Lizhang Xu
Accurately, positioning is a fundamental requirement for vision measurement systems. The calculation of the harvesting width can not only help farmers adjust the direction of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Accurately, positioning is a fundamental requirement for vision measurement systems. The calculation of the harvesting width can not only help farmers adjust the direction of the intelligent harvesting robot in time but also provide data support for future unmanned vehicles.
Design/methodology/approach
To make the length of each pixel equal, the image is restored to the aerial view in the world coordinate system. To solve the problem of too much calculation caused by too many particles, a certain number of particles are scattered near the crop boundary and the distribution regularities of particles’ weight are analyzed. Based on the analysis, a novel boundary positioning method is presented. In the meantime, to improve the robustness of the algorithm, the back-projection algorithm is also used for boundary positioning.
Findings
Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method could well meet the precision and real-time requirements with the measurement error within 55 mm.
Originality/value
In visual target tracking, using particle filtering, a rectangular is used to track the target and cannot obtain the boundary information. This paper studied the distribution of the particle set near the crop boundary and proposed an improved particle filtering algorithm. In the algorithm, a small amount of particles is used to determine the crop boundary and accurate positioning of the crop boundary is realized.
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Recently, online learning and online environments have become even more important. Students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction are seen as interrelated…
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, online learning and online environments have become even more important. Students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction are seen as interrelated components that affect students' online teaching and learning process. In this context, university students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction in online environments, the relationship among them and students' demographic characteristics, online environment usage status and Internet usage profiles as their predictors are examined in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a relational study and is carried out with 179 university students. Personal information form, student's engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction scales were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation, hierarchical linear multiple regression analysis are used for the analysis.
Findings
According to the results, variables related to students' demographic characteristics, online environment usage status and Internet usage profiles together significantly predict the students' engagement, fear of missing out and Internet addiction in online environments. When students think positively about taking courses online, their engagement increases accordingly and their fear of missing out levels decrease. Increase in student's academic achievement leads to decline in Internet addiction.
Practical implications
In practice, examining the related variables about students in terms of engagement to the learning environment, fear of missing out and Internet addiction could bring a new perspective to studies on problematic use of the Internet and technology such as nomophobia and digital distraction. The results of this study reveal how and which components to be focused on for increasing the university students' engagement, reducing Internet addiction and fear of missing out in online learning environments.
Originality/value
The findings of this study provide a versatile perspective with the variables of student participation, fear of missing out, Internet addiction and their predictors in online learning environments, which are becoming widespread and increasingly important today and shed light on future researches.
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Asli D.A. Tasci and Robin M. Back
Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) has been used in tourism and hospitality to measure the success of firm-level as well as destination-level brands. As wine tourism gained…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) has been used in tourism and hospitality to measure the success of firm-level as well as destination-level brands. As wine tourism gained attention during the past two decades, researchers endeavored to use CBBE to understand consumer reactions to different wine tourism destinations. However, research in this domain has been divergent, with many models of CBBE with diverse components, without being validated for different destinations.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study tested the validity of a CBBE model with the six most-widely used components, namely brand familiarity, brand image, perceived quality, consumer value, brand value and brand loyalty. The model was first tested for five domestic wine tourism destinations in the United States (n = 247) and retested for five global wine tourism destinations (n = 248). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) of data from 495 respondents was used for analysis.
Findings
Findings indicated that a four-component CBBE model with brand familiarity, brand image, consumer value and brand loyalty may be a more parsimonious model in the wine tourism destination context.
Practical implications
Knowledge of the CBBE of the destination within which the winery is located will enable the winery to understand the extent to which it can rely on this CBBE for the sale of their wines versus the extent to which they must rely on their own marketing activities to develop CBBE in their specific wine brand(s).
Originality/value
The study is unique in using multiple wine tourism destinations to test a CBBE model.
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Vanessa Quintal, Ben Thomas, Ian Phau and Zorana Soldat
The study aims to introduce a comprehensive segmentation instrument that incorporates the push–pull winescape attributes, providing a new perspective of the wine tourist profile…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to introduce a comprehensive segmentation instrument that incorporates the push–pull winescape attributes, providing a new perspective of the wine tourist profile and explaining their behavioural intentions in the Australian winescape.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review, focus groups and expert panels generated an extensive list of push–pull winescape attributes. Pen-and-paper surveys conveniently sampled 739 wine tourists at three wineries across three wine regions in Australia. Adopting push–pull winescape attributes as the segmentation base, cluster analysis identified four segments, namely, inspireds, self-drivens, market-drivens and inerts, and their behavioural intentions were examined.
Findings
Inspireds demonstrate both self- and market-motivation. Self-drivens exhibit self-motivation but limited market-motivation, whereas Market-drivens characterise market-motivation but limited self-motivation. Inerts are limited in both market- and self-motivations. At the Swan Valley, all four segments were identified, with Inspireds being the most willing to revisit and recommend to others and Inerts, the least willing. At the Barossa Valley, only two segments emerged. Again, Inspireds and Inerts were the most and least willing to revisit and recommend to others respectively. Finally, at the Yarra Valley, three segments were identified. Market-drivens were most willing to revisit and recommend to others, followed by self-drivens and lastly, by inerts.
Research limitations/implications
A comprehensive push–pull winescape segmentation base of wine tourists is introduced, which provides a more sophisticated profile of wine tourist segments than otherwise would be attained with conventional measures.
Practical implications
New insights into who the wine tourist is and what it is they seek from the winescape are vital to smaller wine producers whose best access to the domestic retail and export markets is through direct selling at the cellar door.
Originality/value
The empirically tested 18-item push–pull winescape instrument presents a comprehensive segmentation approach, which profiles wine tourists and predicts their behavioural intentions based on an extensive investigation of push–pull winescape attributes.
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Diana Cunha, Elisabeth Kastenholz and Carla Silva
This paper focuses on the wine tourist market in the central region of Portugal, and it aims to analyze the wine tourist’s demographic and travel behavior and preferences profile…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the wine tourist market in the central region of Portugal, and it aims to analyze the wine tourist’s demographic and travel behavior and preferences profile, based on their level of wine involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents results from an exploratory study with a quantitative design, including a total of 1,029 survey responses from visitors of three wine routes. A K-mean cluster analysis was carried out, and the emerging groups of wine tourists were statistically compared (ANOVA or Chi-squared test).
Findings
Participants present a demographic profile of the wine route visitor similar to that found in other studies, with an average involvement with wine. There were three clusters of wine tourists, with different levels of involvement with wine: less wine-involved; medium wine-involved; and highly wine-involved. Significant differences between the three mentioned categories are visible for gender, age and attractions visited and expenses, suggesting the possibility of a differentiated market approach. Additionally, most respondents report high interest in a variety of attractions that are not exclusively wine-related. This finding supports the conceptualization of (particularly rural) wine tourism as “terroir tourism.”
Research limitations/implications
The pandemic context in which data collection was undertaken led to a smaller sample than expected, which was also more domestic than would have been in “non-COVID” times.
Practical implications
This study provides relevant insights about visitors of wine routes in Central Portugal, which may resonate in other wine tourism destinations. Implications for both theory and practice are also discussed.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to study the wine tourism market in the Central Region of Portugal and expands our understanding about wine tourists’ profiles, behavior and interests, adding with empirical findings to the debate on heterogeneity in the wine tourist market, the role of wine involvement and of terroir.
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Dávid Harsányi and Erika Hlédik
The purpose of this paper is to provide greater understanding of attractiveness of different wine region types, especially less attractive wine regions. The paper examines the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide greater understanding of attractiveness of different wine region types, especially less attractive wine regions. The paper examines the different wine tourist segments’ preferences towards wine region types.
Design/methodology/approach
The preferences of wine tourists were analysed based on an online self-administered survey with 8,552 respondents in Hungary. The wine regions were divided into four categories based on their wine and touristic attractiveness: wine dominant, touristic attraction dominant, complex and non-dominant wine regions. Wine region types were examined based on wine travel frequency and also by subjective wine expertise.
Findings
Wine tourist groups based on wine travel frequency and subjective wine expertise have significantly different preferences towards wine region types. Less attractive wine regions are more popular among frequent travellers and wine experts.
Practical implications
The outcome of this research highlights the importance of designing diverse marketing strategies depending on the wine region type. Less attractive wine regions and little-known wineries should focus on frequent travellers and wine experts and provide a complex and high standard experience, as these consumers are more open and have higher expectations of a travel destination.
Originality/value
The study revealed the different wine tourist preferences with regard to the various types of wine regions. Wine-related and non-wine-related aspects were studied in a complex manner.
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Ana Brochado, Mike Troilo, Helena Rodrigues and Fernando Oliveira-Brochado
The purpose of this study sought to identify the main themes linked with wine hotel experiences, based on tourists’ narratives shared online, and to investigate whether these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study sought to identify the main themes linked with wine hotel experiences, based on tourists’ narratives shared online, and to investigate whether these narratives vary according to traveler type.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was carried out on 4,114 online reviews of 52 wine hotels located in 27 wine regions across 11 nations in both the Old and New World.
Findings
The analysis of these web reviews revealed that narratives can be grouped under 11 themes organized into 7 main dimensions as follows: wine, lodging (i.e. hotel, area and room), food service (i.e. restaurant and breakfast), scenery (i.e. views and vineyards), staff, transportation and recommendation. The main narratives vary according to traveler type.
Practical implications
Improving the present understanding of wine tourists’ experiences should help wine hotel managers find new approaches to enhancing visitors’ satisfaction. As the dimensions of wine tourism experiences shared online vary according to traveler type, wine managers can design their offer to target families, couples, friends, solo and corporate clients.
Originality/value
Prior research has identified the need for market segmentation in the wine tourism industry. This research addresses this need by specifying the wine tourism experience according to traveler type. The breadth of the data, and the method of using travelers’ own testimony as opposed to more common surveying are additional contributions for both academics and managers.