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The purpose of this of this paper is to show that judging by the number of mergers that still go sour, there is plenty of room to intensify the kind of operational due diligence that can uncover deal‐breaking factors before they destroy shareholder value. The paper focuses on specifically supply chain and IT as the two operations areas that deserve special attention because they still get short shrift.

The paper was written based on survey findings, publicly sourced information, case study work and Accenture's point of view based on work at over 400 M&A client engagements, three quarters with companies in the Global 1000. The two surveys cited are: 2006 Accenture study of supply chain managers; and Third Annual Due Diligence Symposium 2007 Survey.

The paper finds that when senior, experienced operations experts are involved in due diligence and pre‐merger planning, the major risks and potential deal breakers are exposed quickly – before deal momentum pushes things to the point where participants are reluctant to walk away. Also, with this input, deal makers can accurately assess the true investments needed as well as the “to be” operating costs of the joined companies. Those numbers can be used to adjust post‐merger cash flow projections, which are often extrapolated based on percentage estimates and projected top‐down rather than bottom‐up based on major projects under way or on operating model complexity. The operations experts allow new potential sources of value to be identified and considered as part of the valuation of the target company. The purchase price may then be adjusted up or down.

Dealmakers have significantly improved their understanding of, and skills in conducting, many elements of mergers and acquisitions, especially valuation and merger integration. Yet in example after example, due diligence processes have proven to be an Achilles heel. Dealmakers today must use every tool at their disposal to improve their odds of a successful deal while at the same time avoiding bad acquisitions. That means placing the same importance on operational due diligence as on valuation, traditional due diligence and merger integration. It also calls for using operational due diligence to pinpoint initiatives that protect and create value after an acquisition. The shift to this next level of due diligence will require enhancing rather than replacing traditional due diligence activities. The due diligence lists will be longer, yes, but importantly, they will be forward‐looking, gauging current observations against future operating needs.

Since the end of the United States’ Vietnam War and Indochina’s second war, little scholarly attention has been paid to a war that has so greatly affected the American public’s attitude towards politics, and their views towards their country’s management of foreign policy. Now that the USA has lifted trade embargos, and has normalized relations with Vietnam, many higher education institutions are offering additional courses about the Vietnam War. There are many perspectives of the war – civilian, military, political, French, North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, and American – that need to be identified and acknowledged to fully understand and explain the involvement of the USA in Vietnam. This selective, annotated bibliography of print sources and Web sites is meant to provide guidance to academic libraries desiring to build a collection of resources.

The purpose of this paper is to present and test a conceptual model for understanding consumer responses to cause related voucher schemes (CRVS), considering the initiatives of two UK-based grocery retailers (Tesco and Morrisons).

The conceptual model incorporates six theoretically derived exogenous constructs, i.e. status of the cause, company-cause fit, personal involvement with the cause, attitudes to the company, perceived sincerity of the company and perceived ubiquity. These are hypothesized to influence consumer responses to three primary endogenous variables: interest in the company, favourability of attitudes to the company and use (impact on purchasing intentions). The model is tested using survey data (n=401) collected in two UK cities.

All but two of the hypothesized path relationships were confirmed and the percentage of explained variance for the primary endogenous variables compares well against previous models. Attitudes to the company, perceived ubiquity and favourability were identified as significant predictors of behavioural intentions (use).

In selecting a cause, managers need to think carefully about the status of the cause, its degree of fit with the company and how to build personal involvement. CRVS initiatives should be focused, with consistency in communication. If a company suffers from negative consumer attitudes, a CRVS alone is unlikely to turn around their business performance.

The paper represents the first academic assessment of consumer responses to CRVS, introducing and validating a conceptual model.

Drawing on leader-member exchange theory and regulatory focus theory, the purpose of this study is to explore the effects of hotel employees’ regulatory foci on their voice behavior and the moderating role of leader-member exchange.

The questionnaire includes demographics, regulatory foci, leader-member exchange and voice behavior sections. The data was collected via a survey of 10 international tourist hotels in Taiwan and 479 valid questionnaires were completed. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to test the composite reliability, discriminant validity and convergent validity. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The outcome of this study indicates that both promotion focus and prevention focus can benefit employees’ voice behavior; however, prevention-focused employees have more positive voice behavior than promotion-focused employees. In addition, the leader-member exchange can moderate the relationship between regulatory foci and voice behavior.

This is an empirical study in the hotel field to examine the moderating effects of leader-member exchange on the relationships between regulatory foci and voice behavior. This research is contributed toward human resource management literature in the hospitality and tourism domain. Practices for managers and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Examines the recent research on advertising in mainland China over the 1979‐1998 period. Suggests that findings show a sustained effort in academic research/publications on advertising in China is in the early stage of its development and whilst many areas have been researched, there are many more yet to be touched. Concludes that the research is seldom based on established theoretical or conceptual framework and the research methods and types of analysis used have not been very advanced when compared to general advertising research.

Defines “insider trading” and looks at the effects of insider trading on an economy. Considers the factors which have caused legislation and the rationale behind insider trading. Compares the economic and financial approaches to the problem. Outlines the European, UK and US positions covering legislation, arguments, prohibitions and penalties. Cites important cases in the USA, which have caused changes in the law. Concludes that there is a need for standardization, together with better access to timely information but highlights that the markets require freedom within which to work effectively and accepts that there will always be an element of insider trading in any market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of home and host country leader–member exchange (LMX) on expatriate voice and determine whether perceived organizational support (POS) moderates the relationship between home or host country LMX and expatriate voice.

This study surveyed 300 expatriates (expatriation of at least six months) working for Taiwanese banks. The participants had expatriated to Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, the USA and Vietnam. Convenience sampling was adopted.

Based on an analysis of 132 expatriates working for Taiwanese banks, home and host country LMX were positively related to expatriate voice. Moreover, host country LMX accounted for more variance in expatriate voice than home country LMX did. Financial POS moderated the relationship between home country LMX and expatriate voice. Career POS and adjustment POS moderated the relationships between home and host country LMX and expatriate voice.

In the field of expatriate management, whether expatriate voice is influenced by home and host country LMX requires further exploration. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effects of home and host country LMX on expatriate voice in host countries, as well as the moderating effect of POS on the aforementioned relationships.

This study aims to explore the high turnover intention issue in Taiwan’s tourist hotel industry. Due to a lack of empirical research regarding front-line employees’ psychological contract breach perceptions in tourism literature, this study develops an integrated model to examine the causal relationship among transformational leadership behaviors, leader–member exchange (LMX), psychological contract breach and turnover intentions.

Data from the 226 frontline employees in Taiwan’s tourist hotel industry were employed to examine the proposed hypotheses by using a series of structural equation modeling analyses.

Statistic results revealed that transformational leadership behaviors influence LMX and LMX in turn influences psychological contract breach, which consequently leads to lower turnover intention.

The results of this study suggest that hospitality organizations should recruit individuals who have the potential to exhibit transformational leadership skills, along with designing leadership training programs for middle- and high-level managers.

This study provides hospitality organization leaders with the necessary information to formulate a beneficial relationship with their front-line employees, which, in turn, weakens their perception of psychological contract breaches and reduces their willingness to leave the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to study the components and service standards of delightful service by conducting a comprehensive literature review and applying the Delphi survey method.

This study conducted a three-round Delphi survey to consolidate the experience of 11 experts in implementing delightful service. To ensure the recruitment of experts who were knowledgeable in delightful service delivery, the panellists were chosen from service- and hospitality-related industries; the respondents were hotel managers, senior frontline service personnel and academic educators who were knowledgeable in both the service industry and service innovation.

By integrating professional experiences from both academics and hotel practitioners, we conclude that hotel facilities and amenities, environment and ambiance design and service personnel’s service delivery practices are essential elements for creating a unique and unforgettable consumer experience. Distinctive hotel facilities and ambiance provide a unique experience, which can leave memorable impressions on customers. Being able to detect customers’ emotional conditions and hidden needs through attentive and proactive service practice and providing attentive and customized service are pivotal for service personnel. Advanced service performance enables attending to customers’ personal well-being and caring for their unique needs effectively. The proposed standard for service provision exceeds customer expectations.

First, the number of panellists was low, limiting the generalizability of the results. Future studies should increase the number of panellists. Second, this study focused only on the hotel industry in Taiwan. The results may not be generalizable to other hospitality industries or other countries. Future studies can duplicate this study in other hospitality industries and in other countries to broaden the understating of the elements and service standards of delightful service.

The results of this study provide a practical guideline for implementing delightful service. Hotel practitioners are advised to increase the degree of refinement, variety and attentiveness of their facilities and amenities; use sensory elements in their hotel environment and ambiance design; and advance staff members’ service skills to be more proactive, attentive, empathetic and customer-oriented. Carefully designing the core product and advancing the service delivery style can provide hotel guests with an exceptional and unique lodging experience, thus achieving delight.

This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the implementation of delightful service.

This study aims to explore the role of trust and effect of age in the process of technology acceptance.

Using data collected from an online survey, this study conducts structural equation modeling to assess the relationship between technology adoption and users’ trust in that technology.

Findings of this study indicate that the formation of trust in technology is based on user experiences (i.e. the perception of usefulness and ease of use), while the perception of trust in technology is similar to human-like trust (i.e. competence and benevolence). This study clarifies that trust has a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived technology ease of use and behavioral intention to use. Trust belief of competence is found to be more effective on adoption behavior than trust belief of benevolence. In exploring the moderating effect of age, results find that easy use of an app is crucial for elderly people to create trust belief in technical competence and develop behavioral control over such technologies. Trust in technology is an essential factor that should be widely applied when analyzing technology adoption behaviors.

This study contributes in three ways. First, it reveals both how trust in technology is formed and the effect of that trust on technology adoption. Second, it extends the discussion of age as a variable in tourism app usage. Third, it shows how the experience of usage influences intentions towards the adoption of tourism apps.

重新认识旅游APP的技术信任：年龄的调节作用

本研究旨在探索技术信任和年龄对技术采用行为的作用。

本研究通过发放网络问卷收集数据，并构建结构方程模型验证并分析技术信任感知对技术采用行为的影响方式。

研究发现，技术信任是基于用户体验而形成的（如，对技术有用性和易用性的感知），用户对技术信任的感知与人际信任相似（如，对其能力信任和善意信任的感知）。研究结果表明，技术信任对感知技术易用性与使用意向之间的关系具有显著的中介作用，在这个过程中，用户更关注技术的能力信任而非其善意信任。此外，年龄对实现技术信任有一定调节作用，如，对于老年人用户而言，易用性更容易建立技术的能力信任，并有效帮助增强其对技术的控制感知。因此，技术信任应作为技术采用行为研究的重要考量因素。

首先，研究揭示了技术信任的实现路径，并解释了用户的技术信任感知对技术采用行为的影响方式。 其次，本文将年龄作为调节变量检验了其对用户技术采用行为的作用。 最后，本文讨论了旅游APP使用体验是如何影响用户采用意向的。