Over the past decade or two, the Hayek Studies industry has been in a period of significant growth. A whole variety of books about Hayek, both his life and his thought, have…
Abstract
Over the past decade or two, the Hayek Studies industry has been in a period of significant growth. A whole variety of books about Hayek, both his life and his thought, have appeared, with each trying to differentiate its product sufficiently to make a mark on both scholarship and sales. Into this fairly crowded marketplace comes a volume edited by two political scientists, neither of whom is known for contributions to the Hayek literature. The volume grew out of a lecture series at Utah State University, and the group of scholars that they assembled is notable as well for not being a cast of the “usual Hayekian suspects,” nor exclusively economists. In fact, there is only one economist contributing to the volume, with a couple of philosophers and one historian, and the rest being political scientists. In addition, all the essays address the concept of “spontaneous order,” which is central to Hayek's intellectual framework. More specifically, each essay approaches that topic in light of its relationship to “liberalism” and “conservatism.” The result is a largely excellent set of papers that offer critical and constructive explorations of the idea of spontaneous order and its place in Hayek's thought and in understanding the social world.
While David Hume and Adam Smith have tended to steal the Scottish Enlightenment limelight, Hamowy treats Ferguson as an equal player on this stage. One simple indicator that this…
Abstract
While David Hume and Adam Smith have tended to steal the Scottish Enlightenment limelight, Hamowy treats Ferguson as an equal player on this stage. One simple indicator that this attention to Ferguson is appropriate is the extraordinary popularity Ferguson enjoyed in Great Britain, on the continent, and, somewhat surprisingly, in North America during his own lifetime. Ferguson's An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) went through seven English editions in his own lifetime, as well as being translated into French, German, Italian and Russian. In the United States between 1777 and 1813, the Essay could be found in over one-fifth of catalogues and booklists. Ferguson's popularity in North America is surprising in that he opposed the American Revolution. In fact, he was paid by the British government to write in opposition to it. The Americans, he argued, did not have a good cause. They wished to escape paying for services, notably defense, that the British government was rendering to them. This is not to suggest that he was anything but sincere in his opposition. His position towards the colonists flowed naturally from his political principles. Ferguson rejected, for reasons similar to those of Smith and Hume, the standard theoretical doctrines of the radical Whigs from Locke onwards. There never was any such thing as an original “state of nature” as posited by Locke and many Americans. Mankind had always lived in groups. Nor did society and much less government arise out of a social contract based on consent. Government evolved over time in response to changing circumstances, chiefly economic circumstances. Laws evolved to curtail abuses of already existing social hierarchies. Ferguson did suggest that providing the Americans with better representation might be a good idea, but in his thinking there was no justification for an appeal to the “laws of nature” from the laws of Great Britain. The Americans mistook their mere interests for their rights. The French revolutionaries made even graver errors under the influence of an abstract doctrine of rights. Hamowy quotes Ferguson as describing the French Revolutionary forces as “the Antichrist himself in the form of Democracy & Atheism” (p. 176).
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Margarida Custódio Santos, Célia Veiga, Paulo Águas and José António C. Santos
The purpose of this study posited that tourism companies and more especially hotels located in tourist destinations dependent on air transportation, need to commit more strongly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study posited that tourism companies and more especially hotels located in tourist destinations dependent on air transportation, need to commit more strongly to sustainability because of their greater distance from the main outbound markets. The research focused on determining whether hotels’ star rating, location, age and size influence their sustainability communication and on identifying the characteristics of the messages used in hotels’ sustainability communication.
Design/methodology/approach
To accomplish these objectives, a sequential mixed methods design with three interconnected phases was used, including quantitative data and content analysis.
Findings
Less than 10% of hotels located in a tourist destination strongly dependent on air transportation and peripheral to the main outbound markets actually communicate about sustainable practices on their websites. Communication practices are dependent on hotels’ star rating, location, size and age.
Research limitations/implications
The study limitations are that it was conducted in only one destination and that the hotel websites’ layouts are heterogeneous, which means that the analysis and comparison of the relevant information is extremely challenging. In addition, the research only considered hotels or similar lodgings, leaving out other types of accommodation.
Practical implications
Hotels in tourist destinations dependent on air transportation need to adjust their sustainability communication in response to the trend among tourists toward greater consciousness about the environmental impacts of their individual tourism-related choices. Hotels also need to provide more accurate and detailed information on sustainable practices, with both affective and rational appeals that focus on tourists’ experiences.
Originality/value
The study was conducted in a destination dependent on air transportation and peripheral to the primary outbound markets.
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The purpose of this paper is to review the 11 lessons propounded by Robert McNamara in the film The Fog of War and to consider them in the context of theories of strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the 11 lessons propounded by Robert McNamara in the film The Fog of War and to consider them in the context of theories of strategic management, particularly the formulation of strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The film is taken as a case study and the evidence is considered against the background of Mr McNamara's career and contemporary events, triangulated wherever possible by additional accounts so that bias is avoided as much as possible.
Findings
The paper finds that, despite a lifelong rational, empirical approach, Mr McNamara has discovered that there are limits to these methods. The importance of values, morals and ethics emerges. The importance of these messages is that the business strategist should acknowledge the limits of rationality and the importance of intangible factors, not least the vagaries of human nature.
Originality/value
The paper is a part of a continuing study by the author of the parallels between military/grand strategy formulation and the similar activity in business.
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Haizhe Yu, Xiaopeng Deng, Na Zhang and Xicheng Zhang
Blockchain technology (BCT) is considered a promising tool to improve the productivity of construction project management. Existing research has studied its potential costs and…
Abstract
Purpose
Blockchain technology (BCT) is considered a promising tool to improve the productivity of construction project management. Existing research has studied its potential costs and benefits for the construction industry. However, the potential costs and benefits of BCT failed to be compared as actual costs and benefits of specific applications for stakeholders. To fill this gap, this study seeks to analyze the cost-effectiveness of BCT-based applications in construction project management.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is conducted with a customized systematic literature review based on transaction cost theory to enable qualitative comparison. With a deliberately designed structure confining extraneous variables, the costs and benefits of BCT-based applications are identified and compared. The inherent dependent relations of processes and the evolution relations of functions are identified. The cost-effectiveness of blockchain adoption is then analyzed.
Findings
Seven functions and six challenges are identified within five processes. The result suggests all identified functions are cost-effective except for manual instruction (coding smart contracts manually). The smart contracts require explicit definition and logic to be effective. However, the construction projects essentially require the institution to be flexible due to unpredictability. The adoption of smart contracts and corresponding additional requirements can increase the transaction cost of bounded rationality.
Research limitations/implications
As manual instruction is fundamental to realize other functions, and its advanced substitute relies on its broad adoption, its cost-effectiveness must be improved for applications to be acceptable to stakeholders. The establishment of a universal smart contract model and a universal, legitimate and efficient database structure are recommended to minimize the cost and maximize the effect of applications.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the knowledge by providing a comprehensive analysis of BCT adoption’s cost-effectiveness in construction project management. The adopted review structure can be extended to analyze the qualitative benefits and challenges of management automation in the early stages.
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I. Introduction For over forty years, a model for Third World development has gained widespread acceptance. Three key premises underpin the traditional development model: (1) the…
Abstract
I. Introduction For over forty years, a model for Third World development has gained widespread acceptance. Three key premises underpin the traditional development model: (1) the identification of “development” with the maximization of the rate of national economic growth; (2) the quest to achieve Western living standards and levels of industrialization which require the transfer of labor from the agricultural to the industrial sector as well as increased consumerism; and (3) the integration into the interdependence of Third World nations in the global economy and the global marketplace. Increasing the demand for a Third World nation's exports (in other words, export‐led growth) is viewed as leading to the maximization of a nation's Gross National Product (GNP).
Bureaucracy is under attack and has been for some time, specially these past 30 years. This chapter will outline the specific qualities of bureaucracy, the challenges to it that…
Abstract
Bureaucracy is under attack and has been for some time, specially these past 30 years. This chapter will outline the specific qualities of bureaucracy, the challenges to it that different critics have posed and the possible futures of bureaucracy that are being imagined. In the 1980s, as a key part of an extremely liberal and influential critique of bureaucracy, new imaginings of how to organize corporations and public sector organizations began to emerge. By the late 1990s these had morphed into a view of the network or hybrid organization as the way of the future. The chapter will suggest that the global future of bureaucracy is not as simple as some of these criticisms suggest when they see it left behind in the emergence of innovative new forms. Instead, it is suggested, there is a spatial disaggregation of organizations occurring that heralds some unsettling new futures of organizations emerging.
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Norshamliza Chamhuri, Nur Syahirah Che Lah, Peter J. Batt, Muhammad Nadzif Bin Ramlan, Norain Mod Asri and Azrina Abdullah Al-Hadi
Palm oil has consistently been a staple ingredient in the Malaysian diet. Despite various promotional efforts throughout the years, the health aspects of palm oil have often been…
Abstract
Purpose
Palm oil has consistently been a staple ingredient in the Malaysian diet. Despite various promotional efforts throughout the years, the health aspects of palm oil have often been undervalued, leading consumers to overlook its benefits. This study has two objectives: (1) to explore consumer behaviour in purchasing decisions for food products containing palm oil in an emerging market and (2) to examine consumer awareness of palm oil as an ingredient in various edible products related to health.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative methodology that utilises a self-administered questionnaire was adopted for data collection. The conceptual framework and hypotheses were tested using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) on a dataset of 342 respondents.
Findings
The findings revealed that three hypotheses – attitude, subjective norms (SNs) and perceived health benefits – positively impact the intention to purchase palm-oil-based food products. Additionally, results indicate that Malaysian consumers practice sustainable consumption when purchasing palm-oil-based food products.
Originality/value
There is a need for a greater understanding of the importance perceived health benefits have in influencing consumers' consumption of food products containing palm oil in an emerging market such as Malaysia. This research study addresses the gap in existing knowledge.