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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of new socialist countryside (NSC) construction among different provinces in China. China prioritized a NSC reform policy in 2005 to address the growing disparities in incomes and living standards between rural and urban populations. These policies are evaluated to measure the extent of effective reform concerning farmer, agricultural, and rural economic development.

An index system is developed and factor analysis is performed to describe the relative contributions of economic reform. Aggregate index scores are computed to rank provincial progress.

Rankings indicate the progression of rural economic reform is moderate, at best, and mostly isolated to well‐developed eastern provinces. Reform growth is also uneven across similarly rural provinces, indicating a need for continued attention in these poorer areas.

Continued applications of the index and scoring procedure developed here will provide useful insights as time progresses and reform efforts continue.

Compares and contrasts the contractual roles of modern waybills against the traditional straight bills of lading in the context of Greek, US and English law. Chronicles the development of international lading bills; identifies the emergence of straight bills and waybills to ameliorate the logistical problems associated with order bills of lading. Discusses the legal status and contractual roles of these lading bills in the context the legislative provisions and associated case law in each of the three countries. Concludes that sea waybills (regulating marine transport of goods) and straight bills of lading have, in essence, the same contractual status, despite the confused and unconsolidated picture of international lading provisions and practices. Recommends measures ‐ involving amendments to English legislation ‐ to consolidate the regulation of international trade.

Ours is a complex world. On these five words will be built a foundation for an alternative way of framing our thinking about risk management. Complexity means many things, but a key feature is that outcomes cannot be predicted with certainty. In the best cases, opportunities arise to analyse and develop some understanding of the uncertainty within a complex system, and in the most fortunate of such circumstances it is possible to anticipate specific outcomes with some degree of accuracy. The authors call such circumstances risks – that is, measurable uncertainties. Complexity, however, consists mainly of interconnected uncertainties and unknown/unknowable possible outcomes or effects. And, of course, complex systems can include humans whose (in)ability to perceive and interpret such environments makes things – well – more complex.

This book ultimately will focus on how the authors construct a way to lead and manage in this environment, but first it is critical that the terminology and description of this world be given some precision. Therefore, Chapter One begins with an introduction to the idea of complexity, including some mention of the principles and concepts that inform our understanding of it. In turn, this discussion introduces uncertainty. Risk, as a category of uncertainty is discussed and the implications of its measurability are presented, which leads to a discussion of human perception and behaviour under conditions of uncertainty. Attention is then drawn to the unknown and the unknowable, and to emergent phenomena. Since the focus of this book is on public sector risk management, the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the idea of public risk.

Transformational leaders engage their employees’ self-concept in such a meaningful way that it results in an extra effort exerted by employees in addition to what is expected of them. This extra effort or pro-social behavior leads to contextual performance (CP) which supplements the individual’s task performance and lead to superior organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the influence of transformational leadership (TL) on employees’ CP. The paper also tests the moderating role of integrity on the relationship between TL and CP.

Data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires from 480 Indian information technology (IT) employees across India. Harman’s single-factor test was used through analysis of moment structures (AMOS 20.0) to test the bias associated due to common method variance. Regression analysis was carried out through a series of hierarchical models in SPSS 20.0 to test the direct and interactive effect of integrity between TL and CP.

The result supports the assertion that TL has a positive influence on employees’ CP. However, the moderational effect of integrity on the relationship between TL and CP was found to be insignificant.

The findings of the study have confirmed that employees deriving higher degree of integrity at work will engage in discretionary behaviors and they are more likely open to organizational changes and improvement. The IT organizations may take clues from the findings of the study for creating conducive working environment where affective organizational commitment can influence the CP and job satisfaction.

This study is critical in a sense that as the Indian IT industry has one of the highest turnover rates in the service industry, it would take a strong and compelling reason for the IT professionals to stay committed to the organization, derive satisfaction at work and help peers and others by engaging in extra role of CP.

This study aims to determine white wine drinkers’ interest in Grüner Veltliner wine, a potential signature wine for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the USA and identify the consumer segments likely to look for and purchase this wine varietal.

A total of 676 wine consumers from the Mid-Atlantic region in the USA were compared based on familiarity with Grüner Veltliner wine, variety-seeking (VARSEEK) scores and the likelihood of looking for and purchasing Pennsylvania Grüner Veltliner wine.

Although only a third of participants had some experience with Grüner Veltliner wine, 77% were “somewhat interested” to “very interested” in being able to sample and taste the wine, and 66%–67% were “somewhat likely” to “very likely” to look for and purchase the wine from both growing regions. Generation, wine consumption behavior and familiarity with Pennsylvania wine and Grüner Veltliner wine differed between participants based on purchase intent and VARSEEK scores (i.e. low VARSEEK/likely, high VARSEEK/unlikely). Differences in factors motivating Grüner Veltliner purchasing were also identified between low VARSEEK/likely and high VARSEEK/likely participants.

The paper presents evidence of potential demand for a signature wine from an emerging wine region. This provides direction for target marketing and related promotional strategy, along with identifying wine consumers interested in tasting and purchasing the wine.

In a recent speech LORD ROSEBERY charged the people of this country with possessing, to an inordinate extent, the fatal gift of complacency, and he observed that the nation which is not progressive is retrogressive. “Rest and be thankful,” said LORD ROSEBERY, is a motto which spells decay, and those who have any experience of the methods of the manufacturers of the country will admit that this seemingly severe impeachment is by no means unfounded or uncalled‐for. Industries, of which at one time the English were masters, are now gradually falling into other hands. The workers of other lands are successfully competing with our own, and yet, in spite of this condition of our mercantile affairs, the spirit of complacency is rampant. The sons are content to continue in the footsteps of the fathers, oblivious of the fact that time and seasons do not stand still and that they may be overwhelmed by the advancing flood of competition. The trade conservatism which was in the past opposed to the introduction of the steam‐engine, the power‐loom, and other mechanical appliances, is still responsible for the extreme slowness with which English firms appreciate the necessity for such innovations in the conduct of their business as would place them in a position to hold their own in the markets of the world. In respect to the protection of pure food production Great Britain and the British manufacturers are still a long way behind. Although the Sale of Food and Drugs Act of 1875 was one of the first Acts passed in any country to prevent the sale of adulterated food and drink, its machinery is cumbrous, and the subsequent Amendment Acts have not added materially to its efficiency; with the result that the Adulteration Acts do not compare favourably with those of many other countries. The spirit of complacency in regard to food products has affected alike the producer and the distributor, and the result is that in many instances there is no adequate inducement to produce anything but a mediocre article—such an article, in fact, as only escapes condemnation because of the faulty construction of the machinery of the law.

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have challenging behaviours that can create significant teaching challenges in group settings such as in mainstream pre-school inclusive settings. This study aims to identify and understand, from the perspectives of mainstream pre-school teachers in Singapore, the type of common challenging behaviours observed in pre-schoolers (mean age = 4.5 years, SD = 1.1, range = 3-6) with ASD.

Participants consisted of 62 teachers (mean age = 35.8 years; SD = 10.8) teaching in mainstream pre-school centres located in Singapore completed an open-ended survey. Twelve codes were generated and served as guidelines for coding the qualitative data. Codes with similar themes were then grouped to form four construct categories: social communication, restricted and repetitive behaviours, attention and learning and others.

Results indicated that difficulty with change/transition and social/peer interaction were the most concerning issues across all settings, whereas “lesson time” and “circle time” were the two most common activities/settings in which the concerns were reported by teachers.

Findings from this paper may add to the limited research looking at the challenging behaviours exhibited by children with ASD in mainstream pre-school settings in Singapore. Understanding the type of challenging behaviours presented in pre-schoolers with ASD and the activities/settings in which these behaviours occur may help the teachers to link the difficulties to specific interventions to further support their inclusion in a mainstream pre-school setting.

Investment decisions by agribusiness firms are costly and subject to high volatility and uncertainty. In many cases, the project value is not only determined by its cash‐flows stream and financial side effects but also by the presence of substantial future uncertainty such as project implementation delay and growth opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an agribusiness project taking into account these two options and to illustrate the how risks that evolve over time can affect sequential investment decisions in the oleic oil industry in Tunisia.

The methodology used to capture the investment project value and analyze the impact of lags between the initial investment decision and its implementation on project value is based on a decision tree method and binomial lattice method (which adds growth option). The project valuation is based, first on actual data at the time of the initial decision and second the authors use the full information to report on the true value of the investment opportunity as real time evolved.

Findings show that time to build is a very important factor in valuing an agribusiness especially when efficiency is strongly governed by climatic conditions and international market uncertainty. Our real options approach shows that production delays can deteriorate the follow‐on project value by as much as 53 percent. The implicit growth option falls to only 27 percent of the total project value while it was about 58 percent according to the standard forecast. The delay in project implementation not only affects the firm project financing costs and the loss of revenue, but also it contributes to modify the initial marketing strategy.

The paper is a first application of real option approach to the oleic oil industry. The methodology used in the paper can be adapted by practitioners and investors to adequately value oleic projects.

With a considerable increase in international students studying in Asia, Taiwan has become one of the most popular study destinations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors and processes leading to the choice of international students studying in Taiwan. In addition, an appropriate model of students' choice that explored the impact of the motivation, career planning and the decision-making process on student's choice was constructed.

This study was conducted using the mixed-methods methodology. A qualitative approach was used for in-depth interviews with 15 international students studying in Taiwan. The data collected from the interviews were used to create questionnaires to survey over 500 participants. The responses were subsequently used for quantitative analysis.

The results revealed the main factors of the motivation of international students to study abroad in Taiwan. A model of how the students' choice process operated was also provided. The quantitative findings indicated that students' motivation and career planning were significantly correlated, whereas both factors directly affected the decision-making process. On another note, the students' decision-making process remained a mediator between motivation, career planning and students' choice.

This research contributed to methodology development and the practicality of HE management. In addition, a comprehensive model was developed that diagrammatically demonstrated international students' choice in Taiwan.