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The primary purpose of this research is to segment food festivalgoers based upon their experiential value. Once those segments are found, it aims to examine whether the segments differ with regard to their perceived level of satisfaction, delight and loyalty.

A self-administered questionnaire was designed to assess the on-site festival experiential value, satisfaction, delight and loyalty of local and overseas visitors at the Macau International food festival. Data were analyzed by using the factor and cluster approach. To profile segments, a series of chi-square tests, ANOVAs and multivariate analysis of variance were performed.

This study uncovered three underlying dimensions of experiential value and classified four segments based on their experiential value among the food festivalgoers, which provides insightful implications for festival organizers and marketers. The segments differed in age, education level and place of residence. Furthermore, the multi-experiential value group was the most important segment, showing the highest festival satisfaction, delight and loyalty.

Experiential value reflects a core value of festival attendees, where the experience is a determining factor in the creation of a successful festival and desirable outcomes. Limited studies, however, have been conducted to segment food festival markets according to their festival experience. This study identified experiential value, applying it as a segmentation criterion within a food festival setting.

In the second part of this report the action of nitrogen peroxide on flour is discussed at some length in an account of a series of researches that have been carried out by DR. MONIER‐WILLIAMS. His conclusions may be briefly stated as follows. The maximum bleaching effect is obtained when each kilogram of flour is treated with from 30 to 100 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide. The bleaching effect becomes more pronounced after keeping for several days. The amount of nitrous acid or nitrites that are present in bleached flour corresponds to about 30 per cent. of the total nitrogen absorbed, the proportion of nitrites present remaining nearly constant after the lapse of several days in the more slightly bleached samples. After the lapse of a short time it is still possible to extract about 60 per cent. of the nitrogen absorbed by the flour by means of cold water, but after several days the nitrogen that can be extracted by this means decreases. This may perhaps be attributed to the “absorption” of nitrous acid by the glutenin and gliadin. In highly bleached flour (300 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide per kilogram of flour) a considerable increase in the amounts of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates takes place. In highly bleached flour, after some time, about 6 or 7 per cent. of the nitrogen introduced as nitrogen by the nitrogen peroxide is absorbed by the oil, which acquires the characteristics of an oxidised oil. No evidence is forthcoming as to the formation of diazo compounds nor the production of free nitrogen. Bleaching was found to exercise an inhibitory action on the salivary digestion of flour.

TQM philosophy is that continuous improvement within an organization is possible. It is people‐oriented and customer focused. To be successful it must involve all people within the organization and must have customer feedback. Discusses in detail the reasons why this fails: managers do not delegate quality to involve everyone in the organization; appropriate consultants to implement the system are not evaluated properly; lack of employee involvement; failure of management leadership with too much emphasis on cost cutting and profits, not customer service; poor communication with workforce; resistance to change. Benchmarking must be established to measure the effects of TQM and a long‐term plan to establish goals. A good supplier relationship, teamwork and employee participation are all required concepts within a successful TQM programme.

The Institute of Circuit Technology held its 5th Annual Symposium on 12th and 13th June. The location was once again Brunei University at Uxbridge and a full and varied programme of papers was presented over the two full days.

Although previous research has investigated how performance feedback may affect firms’ strategic actions, their findings has been inconsistent. The relationship between performance feedback and firms’ strategic activities thus appears complex. Moreover, the authors contend that it may vary with the measurement strategies employed (i.e. social or historical feedback, operationalizations of strategic actions or accounting- and market-based performance indicators) and the national contexts.

Therefore, the current article presents a comprehensive meta-analysis of prior research, including 1,637,817 sample observations from 101 studies that span more than 18 countries.

The results indicate that (1) performance that are below or above aspirational levels generally has a positive relationship with firms’ strategic actions; (2) these relationships are contingent on the implementation forms taken by the key variables, such as performance feedback, strategic actions and performance indicators; and (3) the relationships are much stronger in countries where managerial discretion is greater.

The findings contribute to the clarification of long-standing theoretical and empirical debates regarding the relationship between performance feedback and strategic actions, as well as some pertinent directions for future research.

Increasing numbers of grandparents are raising their grandchildren because of problems within the parental generation such as drug and alcohol addiction, AIDS, divorce, and unemployment. Yet little is known about how grandparents who “parent” or “co‐parent” then‐grandchildren differ from other grandparents, or the extent to which parenting or co‐parenting grandchildren affects grandparent's psychological, physical, or financial well‐being, or feelings of family solidarity. The purpose of this research is to: (1) compare the characteristics of grandparents who go on to parent or co‐parent their grandchildren to grandparents who do not, and (2) assess the effects of entering the two caregiving arrangements — parenting and co‐parenting — on changes in grandparent's psychological, physical, and financial well‐being, as well as their feelings of family solidarity. The data for this study came from 659 grandparents from the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSG) who participated in at least two consecutive waves of data collection measured at three year intervals between 1985 to 1994: parenting grandparents (N = 12), co‐parenting grandparents (N = 27), and non‐parenting grandparents (N = 620). Analysis of the quantitative data reveals that grandparents who parent or co‐parent their grandchildren tend to be younger and less healthy than non‐parenting grandparents. Contrary to expectation, the data also indicate that there is no statistically significant decline in psychological, physical, or financial well‐being, nor in normative or marital solidarity after grandparents begin to caregive. Although the majority of grandparents show stability or improvement in overall psychological well‐being, some show decline. The qualitative data suggests that the extent to which grandparents can choose their level of involvement in caregiving influences and the age of the grandchild, whether they experience caregiving as positive or negative.

The number and breadth of research articles, diversity of topics, and improved quality in international marketing research have all grown rapidly over the past 30 years. Our sample of 26 research journals shows that the number of articles increased by almost 400% between 1970 and 2001, rising from fewer than 50 in 1970 to nearly 200 in 2001, and more than doubled between 1980 and 2001. More important, the quality improved even faster, while the range and diversity of topics expanded at least tenfold. Indiana University was a principal actor in this revolution.

In an address to the East India Association Sir John Woodhead drew upon his experience as chairman of the Famine Inquiry Commission to review in authoritative fashion what Lord Scarborough described from the chair as one of the most important requirements of to‐day, that of increasing the food supplies and improving the diet of the people of India. Of the present population of about 400,000,000, it has been estimated that fully one‐third are under‐nourished, while a still larger proportion are ill‐nourished for lack of a balanced diet. The staple articles of diet are rice, wheat and millet, and even when these are consumed in adequate quantities their deficiencies in proteins, fats, vitamins, and mineral salts must be made good by protective foods. The technological possibilities of increasing food production are very great. It is known that the yield of rice can be increased by anything up to one‐half by manuring and by the use of improved strains; and that potential increases in millet and wheat are of the order of 30 per cent. The Famine Inquiry Commission concluded that self‐sufficiency in cereals was practicable as well as desirable as a policy for the future, and that a large increase in protective and supplementary foods, such as pulses, vegetables, fruit and fish was entirely feasible. Nor is there any mystery as to how the increase is to be achieved. The methods which must be followed, such as the provision of an assured water supply, the utilisation of every source of fertilising material, the cultivation of improved strains of plants and beasts, the protection of husbandry from pests and of the husbandman from ill‐health—all these are familiar in plans for the improvement of the rural economy of India. What is novel, however, is the increasing recognition that only a concerted effort, on a national scale, employing the resources of the people and of the Government in close partnership, can avail to raise the Indian masses from ramshackle medievalism to ordered, progressive modernity. Improvement of diet is among the most important elements in that improvement of the standard of living which is the principal object of all Indian planning to‐day. At present, lack of purchasing power is the root of malnutrition as of many other evils; increased agricultural production and a better diet arc bound up with the process of increasing the national wealth through simultaneous industrial development. Urbanisation and higher living standards may in turn exert their influence upon the growth of population; for Sir John Wood‐head's commission found that among the upper and professional classes the birth‐rate is falling steadily. Throughout the whole population, indeed, the birth‐rate fell from 34 a thousand in 1940 to 26 a thousand in 1943; but this decline may be due to transient causes only. There seemed good grounds for hoping that the future pressure of population need present no immovable obstacle to the success of a really national movement for better livelihood.

Despite a large and growing literature on the subject, little is understood about the phenomenon of small business growth. Specifically, the small business growth literature has often emphasized “why” opposed to “how” firms grow. This chapter sheds light on this black box of growth by investigating the phases of planning and implementation processes separately to explore the choice of strategic expansion modes. It examines a much under-researched firm category: declining small firms. Employing a three-year longitudinal study using a multi-case study method, we find that while growth approaches are typically contextually (industry) derived, formalized planning greatly affects implementation. Further, resources are the key mediating variable between formal planning and implementation – firms with slack resources will typically implement their contextually influenced planned growth course, and firms with inadequate resources will typically implement through interactive learning, which causes them to downscale the growth plans or exit the market (merger or sale).