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The purpose of this exploratory consumer research study was to examine demographic and behavioral characteristics and motivations of wine travelers on the recently established Iowa Wine Trail in rural Northeast Iowa. An array of data on visitor lifestyles, interests, attitudes and values can provide more powerful and actionable research information than demographics alone. Equipped with an understanding of visitor motivations, wineries and vineyards can provide their customers the experience they want and expect, and not products and services they are assumed to desire.

Data for this study were collected using a questionnaire-based survey administered at three participating wineries over the period of April-November 2005.

The demographic profile of visitors on the Iowa Wine Trail falls within a common stereotype of a wine tourist: middle aged (36-55 years old), highly educated (college or postgraduate), in the moderate to high income bracket (higher than the median household income in Iowa), living in close proximity to the Iowa Wine Trail (mostly Iowa residents). The main motives for visiting the wineries were (in order by mean scores) “to taste wine”, “to enjoy the scenery”, “to have a good time with friends and family”, “to relax”, “to support local wine producers”, and “to taste locally produced foods”. This finding supports the statement that wine tourists are often drawn by the whole “local experience package”, and not only by the wine product itself.

Findings of this study provide demographic and behavioral characteristics and motivations of wine tourists in rural Northeast Iowa only and should not be generalized to other rural areas.

The Iowa Wine Trail attracts typical wine customers, but also younger visitors and females. Rather high incidence of repeat visitors for a trail that is still in its infancy (52 percent), with the mean number of previous visits being 2.64. Importance of word of mouth and eMarketing: over 40 percent of visitors to the Iowa Wine Trail based their choice on word of mouth (to include prior recommendations, suggestions, or reputation), and almost a third of travelers indicated utilizing web sites for information seeking – a number that is higher when compared to other specialized markets in Iowa. The Iowa Wine Trail appeals both to stereotypical wine tourists and those visitors who are not primarily involved with the wine product but nonetheless still visit wineries. Power of rural ambience and appeal of the Iowa landscape: while wine tasting appeared to be the main motive of visiting the wineries, scenery and landscape of the Upper Mississippi River, along with the opportunity to enjoy time with friends and family and taste local foods, scored similarly high.

While demographic characteristics of wine tourists have been explored, few studies focused on visitor motivations. In addition, most of wine tourism research has focused on established and functioning wine regions/appellations. Not much is known about the emerging wine culture in rural Midwestern states embracing opportunities of wine and tourism development, en route to diversification from traditional agriculture.

International tourism is steadily growing. Some people welcome this growth which supports economic and social development. Others are suspicious and afraid of the threat which tourism could create for the tourist destinations, the loss of cultural identity and of social alienation to its society. Reality is more complex than these two contrary positions suggest. After analyzing the existent attempts to explain the social effects of tourism, this paper intends to illustrate the variability of these effects. In this regard, the globalisation of human activities and its consequences on cultural identity are taken into account.

What do you know and when did you know it? That's a hard enough question to answer personally, but getting a grip on what an organization knows is tougher still. And it implies more than accumulating billions of bytes in the corporate databases. In business, the line between information and knowledge can be subtle.

The structure of public school systems does not foster or grow leadership. Instead, individuals are promoted through the system most frequently as a result of having held certain positions. Teachers become classroom personnel. Classroom personnel become administrators. Administrators become principals. These progressions from classroom to principal are infrequently accompanied by educational pathways or professional development that ensures that those entering into positions of leadership are actually prepared to lead. Instead, people ascend to positions of leadership after having obtained the “right” credentials or walked in the “right” shoes. The consequence of this practice has led to a significant number of people who hold leadership positions but are ill-equipped to lead. This chapter will address this situation by contemplating what can be done to (a) prevent people who should not be leaders from becoming leaders and (b) create a system that cultivates leaders who both hold leadership positions and are positioned to lead.

With an increase in global outsourcing, there is a need for risk mitigation strategies for outsourcing partner selection. Most outsourced services are getting commoditized, making it difficult to clearly differentiate capabilities of service providers. Also, the move towards knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services is an area where the risks of failure are perceived to be higher. Since the knowledge dimension is a critical one for any outsourced activity, an objective assessment of knowledge gaps is important in the overall process of evaluation of the external provider. This paper aims to address the issues involved.

The paper builds the linkage between the measurability of the knowledge dimension and outsourcing project success through a set of propositions. It proposes a formal process of “knowledge gap assessment” as an input to assessing partner viability. It also identifies two important dimensions that are specific to an outsourcing relationship. Finally, the paper outlines a conceptual framework that takes these dimensions into account through a process of benchmarking using role simulations that could be used as a generic tool for performing such an assessment.

Such an assessment can help to classify prospective service providers as exhibiting low‐, moderate‐ or high‐knowledge gaps in different knowledge categories. Depending on the cost of bridging these gaps the associated risks can be classified as low, medium or high, facilitating appropriate managerial decisions.

This paper proposes a conceptual model and a set of propositions which will need to be tested and refined through further empirical research.

The framework can be a useful tool for partner selection by firms who are looking to outsource activities. A simulation‐based benchmarking approach is likely to provide a more objective assessment of a firm's knowledge‐based capability, both when compared to the parent (outsourcing) organization as well as other short‐listed service providers.

This paper fulfils an identified need for minimizing risk in both business process outsourcing as well as KPO projects by focusing on the knowledge dimension and offers a practical framework to enable the same.

The aim of this study is to examine the roles of social identity and perceived cultural distance in forming the attitude of Hong Kong residents toward the relaxation of the individual visit scheme (IVS).

Face-to-face interviews with local Hong Kong residents were conducted. A total of 24 respondents’ interviews were qualified for qualitative analysis using the snowball sampling technique.

The perceived positive and negative impacts, social identity and perceived cultural distance of Hong Kong residents were important in explaining their attitude toward tourism development. Perceived cultural distance influenced both the perceived negative impacts and social identity of residents, which, in turn, affected their attitude toward mainland Chinese tourists and tourism development.

The sample size for the interviews was relatively small; however, it was acceptable for qualitative studies.

First, the Hong Kong Government should enhance civic education among mainland Chinese tourists to reduce their cultural conflicts with Hong Kong residents. Second, the Hong Kong Government should enhance national education among Hong Kong residents to mitigate the negative influence of the relaxation of the IVS.

This study sheds light on the roles of perceived cultural distance and social identity in the attitude of residents toward tourism development, thus narrowing research gaps. Moreover, the current study applies an intercultural-interaction perspective, social identity theory, common in-group identity theory and social distance theory to understand resident attitude toward tourism development.

Outsourcing has become an important strategic tool in today’s competitive business environment. This paper describes the steps within four stages of outsourcing process: planning, developing, implementing and evaluation. The role of outsourcing being not only a cost‐saving method but also part of the overall management strategy to focus on core competitiveness is emphasized in the discussion. Additionally, the detailed steps and considerations that are required for successful implementation of an outsourcing effort are also addressed.

Using a health belief model (HBM), this study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Iranian midwives in relation to HIV/AIDS protection behavior and to determine the needs of interventional programs for promotion of the behavior among midwives of maternity care units.

This was a cross‐sectional study in five selected hospitals in Isfahan. All 58 midwifery personnel of maternity wards of these hospitals participated in the study. Tools for data collection were a checklist to assess midwives' practice and a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitude, and the HBM of midwives about HIV/AIDS‐protection methods.

A total of 58 midwifery personnel with average working experience of 10.92±7.98 years were assessed in the study and with a high knowledge, positive attitude and moderate practice about HIV/AIDS protection methods. The midwives perceived two main barriers, which impacted on their self‐efficacy and their protection behavior. These barriers were the emergency conditions of the work and the low availability of protective equipment.

HIV/AIDS protection behavior and HBM of midwives can be promoted by overcoming management barriers such as inadequate midwifery personnel in emergency conditions and insufficient protective equipment. The behavior also needs to be promoted by educational interventions which focus on improving midwives' perceived risk of HIV/AIDS infection.

This conceptual paper aims to examine how the concept of host and guest interaction could help remedy the socio-economic impacts as created by tourism in Jamaica. The paper identifies that tourism development in Jamaica has created a range of negative social impacts, which include changes in attitude, aspirations and lifestyles of young people, who may come from poor backgrounds but are increasingly exposed to the consumerist lifestyles of wealthy visitors and the so-called role models in the society, “the Dons”.

A qualitative approach was employed as the focus for this study. The survey of residents, and tourists in Ocho Rios and Negril in Jamaica were primary sources of data for this paper.

The tourism industry in Jamaica has seen a great diversification in recent years. The industry now ranges from conventional tourism (sun, sand, sea and sex) to cruise tourism, moderate community based tourism, heritage and cultural tourism, and more recently nature-tourism. However, social factors remain a deterrent. It is apparent that relying on the concept and principles of host and guest interaction presents a strategic option for success and if one is to understand the impact of tourism on the residents, the inter-action between the various elements in the system must be understood.

The attitudes of Jamaicans are important in determining the level of host and guest interaction and the level of success in the industry. Attitude is the fulcrum from which quality service is delivered; as such, the people must be in tune with the industry at all levels in order to achieve a sustainable tourism industry.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and discuss floor finishes used in health-care facilities and their selection criteria in the form of advantages and disadvantages. The authors also identify the top three health-care floor finishes and selection criteria based on the literature review results. Although flooring materials have a considerable impact on the life-cycle cost and indoor environment of health-care facilities, what criteria may be used for such flooring choices is not thoroughly studied.

The authors performed a systematic review of the literature on certain flooring systems currently used in health-care facilities and the criteria applied for their selection. Peer-reviewed studies and articles published after Year 2000 consistent with the research design were included.

Sixteen different selection criteria that influence the choice of floor finishes in health-care facilities were determined and discussed. The results show that the top three-floor finish materials preferred in health-care facilities are sheet vinyl, rubber and carpet, and the top three selection criteria for floor finishes are indoor air quality, patient safety and infection control.

The results of this study will assist building owners, architects and interior designers with implementing an informed design decision-making process, particularly in relation to floor finish selection. The findings will also provide guidance to floor finish manufacturers to improve their products based on facility managers’ preferences.