Search results

This study aims to identify the perceived image of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities by university students in Hong Kong through both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the levels of familiarity and favourability, the characteristics of the GBA cities and the personal factors that affect the locational decisions (tourism, education, employment and migration) of the sampled students. This study also classifies both the students and the cities according to their perceived image.

This study, on a sample of university students in Hong Kong, investigated the linkage between their perceived familiarity and favourability of the 11 GBA cities using a questionnaire-based survey (n1 = 617). A follow-up, semi-structured interview (n2 = 32) was then conducted to qualitatively understand the underlying factors that determine the perceived city image and inform the students’ locational decisions.

Geographically, the familiarity-favourability (F-F) analysis indicates that Hong Kong university students are overwhelmingly familiar with and favourable to Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen. The 11 cities are classified into development-oriented, have specialized local economy, are personality-based and have a rich history and bring back nostalgic memories. From the F-F scores, Hong Kong students are classified into two main clusters of non-interested students and positive but unfamiliar students. The locational decisions of local students show a relatively stronger magnitude of favourability affecting all four purposes of relocation, an overriding preference for Hong Kong and the high determination of psychological characteristics.

As this study focuses on Hong Kong students as a sample, a further comparative study between mainland Chinese students in the GBA region and Hong Kong could be conducted to extend the main findings of this research.

The idea of “People-to-People Bond”, under the framework of the Belt-and-Road Initiative, and its socio-cultural aspect are emphasized as the key to transnational and regional policy success, which is relevant to the GBA region. The regional policies determine the movement of human capital and the interconnection of places for regional planning and development. The research outcomes correspond with the dearth of knowledge about the relationship between the characteristics of upcoming university graduates, their perceptions of GBA cities as destinations for varied purposes and their ultimate decision for relocation. Their interests and intended movements will exert short-to-long-term social and cultural influences to the region.

The promulgation and implementation of the GBA development plan for providing opportunities for tourism, education, employment and migration for mainland and Hong Kong university students. This research enriches the knowledge about the bottom-up and citizen-oriented approach in regional planning and policy formulation by advancing Govers and Go’s (2009) three-gap branding model and relying on an empirical foundation for these policy initiatives.

The importance of location to retail organisations has long been recognised in the geography and retail marketing literatures, with subjective and “gut feel” methods of evaluation emerging as highly significant factors in the decision‐making process. Through the application of existing frameworks we seek to highlight the importance of location to small independent retailers in the context of outdoor leisure retailing. The case of “UpFront”, a pseudonym for a retailer operating four outlets in Great Britain, is presented. It is shown that, although based largely on luck and opportunism, the firm's locational “strategy” has been crucial to its success as a leading player in the sector. Based on detailed interviews with the managing director and employees, the role and importance of location as a critical success factor to the organisation is presented. In conclusion, a call is made for greater engagement with the nuances of location to small retail organisations, given its impact on a large number of retail operations.

Although formal techniques of locational analysis have been available for over 50 years, most retailers traditionally made no use of them, relying instead on intuition guided by experience and “common sense”. However, the simultaneous advent in the last 15 years of low cost computing and the increasing availability of retail related data of all types has given retailers the opportunity to take a much more rational approach to decision making. This paper examines the extent to which retailers have taken advantage of the potential released by these developments, and adopted more “scientific” rules based methodologies. The analysis is based on an extensive questionnaire survey of UK retailers conducted in 1998 which encompassed organisations operating altogether more than 50,000 outlets across eight sectors. The survey sought to identify the use made both of particular types of techniques, and of Geographical Information Systems, which act as a platform for them. It was complemented by a series of in‐depth interviews with location specialists in a number of major retail organisations.

The expansion by grocery retailers in the UK has been a subject of much speculation and continues to raise questions about the scope and format of future investment in new stores. Suggests that a more dynamic perspective of the strategies of individual retailers is central to understanding this issue. Examines competing perspectives of locational change and suggests that retail potential needs to be defined locally not just with reference to the quality of retail floorspace but also to the strategic objectives of competing organizations. Such a perspective highlights how the format and locational choices of competing retail organizations themselves might serve to blur the boundaries of local market potential. Illustrates this with reference to an exploratory case study of the evolution of grocery retailing in two UK cities, Cardiff and Manchester. Highlights the implications of the changes in competing formats for the stability of the local retail system and identifies some related research issues.

Observes that since the 1980s, many African countries have embarked on macroeconomic policy adjustments aimed at setting their economies on the path to a market orientation. In almost all national contexts, financial sector reforms have been at the core of the broader programme of structural adjustment. The east African country of Tanzania is one of the exemplar countries in the continent acknowledged by the World Bank to have achieved relative success with its reform programme. Accordingly, this article examines the market‐driven transformation of the banking sector in Tanzania. It does this by providing a historical perspective on the reform process, describing the institutional environment in which marketing took place and identifying the facilitative factors and barriers to the development and adoption of a market orientation culture.

A key pre‐requisite of locational decision‐making in retailing is appropriate sources of data. These have become increasingly available from a number of internal and external sources in recent years. Coupled with concomitant decreases in the cost of technology, locational decision‐making can now, more than ever, be based on more than subjective practices alone. This paper aims to assess how the use of data varies across four named retail and service sectors, an area of research that has hitherto been neglected. A postal questionnaire was distributed to approximately 300 locational planning managers to ascertain the use of data in decision‐making. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine how the use of 21 named datasets varied by sector. A number of significant differences in data usage and sharing emerged and are reported here. It is concluded that data use is by no means uniform across different retail and service types, and that future research that addresses inter‐sectoral differences in locational planning practices would be appropriate.

This paper seeks to evaluate the particular conditions informing locational decision making and related network planning in the charity retail sector. Its purpose is to identify both differences and commonalities with related debates that have been focussed very largely on the grocery sector and the superstore format. Its wider purpose is to contribute to the growing literature on charity retailing which has not considered this aspect of retail management in detail.

Details the particularities of charity retailing locational decision making and network planning through a detailed case‐study consideration of a hospice charity's emerging retail store network.

Finds that existing conceptual and practical considerations pertaining to locational decision making in retailing require a nuanced re‐revaluation in relation to the locational and network planning of charity retailers. Identifies the importance of supply chain (stock donators) and workforce factors together with the customer demand in informing locational decision making.

Detailed academic consideration of location planning in the charity shop sector is absent in the literature. The paper addresses this.

Much of the existing literature on location does not address the problems faced by retail organizations at a strategic level, largely because it has tended to concentrate on the technical and policy issues relating to the evaluation and development of new sites. The reason for this lies largely in the geographic origins of most previous work, and while marketing has borrowed many of these concepts and approaches, it has not yet fully developed additional ones appropriate for a strategic management audience. Reviews research in the geography and marketing traditions, and builds on recently published work to outline two new conceptual models which serve to link strategic and monadic (individual site) decisions. Discusses the development of a more holistic perspective which underlines the strategic role of retail location and emphasizes key areas for research relevant to many of the issues currently facing retail organizations.

While many studies have investigated the impact of institutional factors (i.e. financial risk factors) in the host country on inward foreign direct investment (FDI), fewer studies have researched on the locational aspects of FDI in relation to the political economy. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the effects of the political economy on inward FDI in Poland’s regions and in other CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) countries.

The paper develops a theoretical argument postulating that political economy affects locational determinants of FDI inflow. To test this hypothesis empirically, several analyses were performed at the national level (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) and at the subnational level (Poland’s provinces). First, the “footloose” nature of FDI inflows using the time series analysis was examined. Then a fixed-effect panel data regression model and a dynamic adjustment model to quantify the impact of political ideology and agglomeration effects were performed.

After controlling for economic and institutional determinants of FDI, the findings indicate that, in transitional economies, ideology affects the locational choice of multinational corporations (MNCs). At the national level, the results show that political risk, liberalization and economic reforms are important drivers of FDI inflows. At the subnational level, the vote for a liberal party positively affects the distribution of FDI in the provinces. Another finding is that electoral cycles also affect FDI inflows at regional levels in Poland. Finally, this study provides some supporting evidence for the “footloose” nature of FDI in case of external shocks.

This study contributes to the literature on the locational determinants of FDI by showing that ideology constitutes an important factor for locational choices by MNCs. The findings have important implications for public policy decision-makers who are seeking to improve the attractiveness of their country or region as an FDI destination.

The conflict between institutionalism and neoclassicism in the 20th century has been investigated by scholars over the years. Many of them believe that in the postwar period, neoclassicism triumphed while institutionalism largely disappeared. The present chapter takes a very different view. The late 20th century represents a broad synthesis of neoclassical and institutional themes in a methodology we call pragmatic empiricism. That approach combines the mathematical model building and theoretical formalism of neoclassical economics with the institutional economist’s data-driven statistical analysis and concern for developing institutional forms. We use as a case study the history of American locational economics from the 1930s to the present. The mixing of institutional and neoclassical themes is quite evident in the work of three young scholars at Harvard who effectively initiated American locational economics. In the postwar period, we find a series of outstanding, well-published papers that capture the spirit of the “founders.” These papers do use more modeling, but they also focus on major institutional developments. A broader review of locational works is consistent with the pragmatic empiricism label. The history of locational economics supports the claim that institutionalism, far from disappearing, continues to provide fundamental questions and techniques for modern pragmatic empiricism.