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The continuation of globalisation and liberalisation processes has prompted the restructuring of many national and local property markets. The research examines the evolution of Istanbul's retail property market to identify how global and local agents engage with one another to produce a unique “glocalized” outcome.

The morphogenetic approach is adapted and applied to analyse the dynamics of market change. The focus is on the character and behaviour of national and international market actors and how they interact with the wider political economy. The research uses a combination of elite interviews, document analysis and corporate case studies to obtain empirical evidence.

The liberalisation of the Turkish economy heralded the entry of the first international companies into Istanbul's retail property market in the 1990s. International involvement expanded rapidly after 2004, accelerating the process of market re-structuring. However, while the number of global buy-outs increased, the expansion of local property companies–and the establishment of some international/national corporate partnerships–was even more marked. This resulted in a “glocalised” market with a strong and distinctive local culture.

Istanbul has been a major centre of trade for millenia. This is the first substantive analysis of the recent restructuring of the city's retail property market. Previous research on market maturity and market evolution has paid limited attention to the dynamics of change. The paper describes the use of a process-based theoretical framework (morphogenesis) that was explicitly designed to analyse structural shifts in socio-economic conditions through an examination of the characteristics and behaviours of the actors involved.

The purpose of this study is that on the basis of the competitive edge theory, source mechanism and evaluation approaches of industrial cluster competitiveness, combined with international trends in the automobile industry and the features of Chinese automobile industrial cluster development, an evaluation index system about cluster competitiveness of auto industry is built with comprehensive consideration of factors such as cluster development environment, external scale effect and internal competitiveness from the perspective of value chain of automobile industry.

An evaluation index system for automobile industrial cluster competitiveness was realized by integrating current strengths and future growth capacities with multidimensional, dynamic and comprehensive characteristics, which included 3 second-level, 10 third-level and 16 fourth-level indices. In the light of evaluation methods, a group intelligence optimization algorithm – (cuckoo search) – and traditional methods of complex decision-making system – analytic hierarchy process (AHP) – were combined to propose the cuckoo-AHP evaluation method. It was applied for the calculation and optimization of weight values in an automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluation index for the purpose of obtaining better scientific and more reliable results.

The research might further enrich the evaluation theory of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness and also can be useful for showing how traditional evaluation methods can be combined with intelligent algorithms to carry out better automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluations. In addition, studies of channels for kick-starting Chinese auto industrial cluster competitiveness are expected to provide references for how to enhance the cluster competitiveness of the Chinese automobile industry.

Changsha and Liuzhou, the Guangxi automobile industrial clusters as the two empirical analysis objects selected for this paper, are geographically adjacent to each other. The automobile industries of the two cities are local pillar industries with the strong support of the local government. Both clusters have their own advantages and weak points with different characteristics of cluster development, and they enjoy a representative significance amongst China’s numerous auto industrial clusters that are taking shape. Comparative analysis of both clusters serves as a good reference for the objective evaluation of the competitiveness of Chinese automobile clusters in terms of their real and practical developments and in respect of the success of reasonable scientific and industrial cluster policies.

Multidimensional, dynamic, integrated evaluation index systems are constructed around automobile industrial cluster competitiveness, which has taken into account developments in current strengths and future growth capacity. The cuckoo-AHP evaluation method has been formed by combining the traditional decision-making method known as AHP with a new meta-heuristic optimization algorithm called “cuckoo search”. Both have been used in evaluations of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness in Liuzhou and Changsha, which will be beneficial for enriching automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluation theory and new evaluation methods that will enable better evaluations of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights for the evaluation of town centre management (TCM) effectiveness, by proposing the importance‐performance analysis (IPA) as a valuable tool to ensure a multi‐perspective evaluation. The need for more empirical methods of measuring town centre effectiveness is related to the risk of commonly used evaluation methodologies reflecting only the success criteria of dominant stakeholders.

By reviewing the service management literature, a definition of the “town centre product” is proposed, and how IPA can be used to analyse the city users' quality perceptions is emphasized. The theoretical framework is enriched by an empirical case study: the city centre of Benevento.

The results provide a clear guidance for the implementation of a TCM scheme in the historical centre of Benevento, by identifying the main area of intervention.

The paper addresses a gap in the academic literature by using the IPA as an alternative evaluating paradigm of TCM and providing a definition of the town centre servicescape. Further research could investigate the impact of the selected environmental variables on the city users' internal responses (e.g. satisfaction) and behaviours (e.g. desire to shop), beside on their quality perceptions.

The paper proposes a handy tool both for the exante and the expost evaluation, As well, it could be used as a benchmarking tool.

The paper has significant implications both for practitioners and for academics. It provides an original framework for further research and factual implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the of characteristics of Lagos, Nigeria property market and its submarkets on the prism of the market practitioners’ characteristics, market transaction structure and market maturity. This is done with a view to provide information capable of improving the flow of foreign real estate investment to the Lagos property market.

Primary data were sourced through questionnaire administered on firms of property practitioners in the market. A total of 190 firms were selected using the stratified random sampling technique based on their geographical location. Descriptive statistics and Mann−Whitney U Test were employed for data analysis.

The results showed that the Lagos property market was characterised by practitioners whose highest level of education was majorly first degree, and with a mean computer literacy ranking of 3.38 on a five-point Likert scale. Also, major transactions in the market included letting and sales. The market maturity index of the market was 2.95 and therefore adjudged as an emerging market. The analysis also revealed that there was no significant difference in the characteristics of the submarkets.

The results of the study are capable of enhancing investment decision in the market.

The study differentiates itself from and adds to the previous studies on market characteristics through an examination of the property market on the prism of the market transaction structure, market practitioners’ characteristics and maturity of the market holistically in the context of an African emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of measures to combat Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on competitiveness in tourism in Nigeria taking strategic dexterity as the moderating variable.

Survey research design approach was used for the study. A total of 235 valid questionnaires gathered from the personnel of ten urban tourist centres in Nigeria were used to examine the goodness of model fit, measurement model and structural correlations between constructs. Partial least squares structural equation modelling approach (PLS-SEM) using Advanced Analysis for Composite (ADANCO 2.2.1) was used to evaluate the hypotheses.

This study finds that travel restriction, boarder closure and strategic dexterity were significant to competitiveness, among which border closures has generated the highest path coefficient. Moreover, the study finds a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness. Future studies can reproduce the study by incorporating mediating variables covering the all-tourist centers in Nigeria.

This study might be valuable for tourism-related stakeholders, researchers and policy makers as the result finds indicate strong effect of travel restrictions, border closure on competitiveness of urban tourism. Equally, the study provides new insight as the findings shows a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness.

This study might be valuable for tourism-related stakeholders, researchers and policy makers as the result finds indicate strong effect of travel restrictions, border closure on competitiveness of urban tourism. The study provides new insight as the findings shows a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness.

This study is among the few that analyses the effect of measures to combat COVID-19 pandemic on competitiveness in the urban tourism: strategic dexterity as the moderating variables. This study also contributes methodologically through the introduction of PLS-SEM approach.

Mass tourism in urban settings has proven to be economically significant in many parts of the world. To date, however, the academic debate on sustainable tourism has focused primarily on the ecological and socio-cultural sustainability of tourism in rural and coastal, rather than urban, settings. This paper aims to review the emerging debate on sustainable urban tourism, its complexities and challenges, and questions how urban destinations that are striving to become sustainable cities, can leverage benefit from the implementation of sustainable policies and practices to achieve tourism ‘destination’ competitiveness.

The paper uses a qualitative, exploratory research approach using in-depth interviews to seek responses from key stakeholders on their views and experiences of sustainability in the context of an urban destination. Thematic analysis is used to analyze and present the findings.

This study concludes that destinations need to be viewed in their broader regional context. Rather than be viewed solely as destinations that are ‘kind to the environment,’ sustainable urban destinations need to demonstrate a deeper commitment to all stakeholder groups, and especially local residents, to provide a fair and desirable ecosystem for achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper reflects on the potential relationship between ‘urban sustainability’ and the ‘destination competitiveness’ of an urban tourism destination. This then will provide the platform for sustainability to truly contribute to future destination competitiveness.

The aim of this paper is to present a systematic approach to provide decision makers in the Taipei City Government and private developers with an opportunity to review their decisions on urban renewal project selections, and to provide a model which could be adapted for other locations.

Porter's diamond model of competitive advantage is applied to establish evaluating criteria on urban competitiveness quality, and a fuzzy set theory combining the PROMETHEE method is used to determine the priority of projects. In assigning scores for urban sustainability, the expected return for each project is calculated for the economic dimension and a subjective scale has been used for the social and environmental dimensions. Genetic algorithms (GA) are introduced to search optimal solutions considering cost‐score tradeoffs for decisions on investment ratio determination and renewal type selection. The proposed approach is tested by evaluating 13 urban renewal projects in Taipei City.

The three‐stage model proposed by this study has established a comprehensive and systematic approach that considers key factors in urban renewal, assesses renewal projects from the standpoint of urban competitiveness and sustainability, and provides decision makers with helpful guidelines for investment.

There is difficulty in re‐examining social and environmental issues of the city government's earlier decisions became decision makers did not fully consider these two issues at the beginning of the planning stage, which is a limitation of this research.

The results documented in the paper provide many other cities facing similar renewal decision problems with insightful strategies and useful implications.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dynamic competitive profile of Istanbul and to compare it to ten other European cities by using a multidimensional approach.

Starting from a review of existing competitiveness models, the paper develops a methodology that takes into account the complex shifting nature of the network of “mobilities” interacting within and around the destination.

The proposed approach proves to be effective in designing a dynamic competitive profile of every city and in identifying the factors that drive competitiveness within and between different competitive clusters of cities.

The new approach presents several original elements, since it embeds the evolution of the system of diverse intersecting tourism and non tourism “mobilities” that characterize an urban destination, and integrates different dimensions and disciplinary points of view.

Previous scholarly studies on institutions tend to create a sombre picture of institutions by ignoring to examine the antecedents of formal and informal institutions. The purpose of this paper is to overcome this limitation by proposing a conceptual framework of the antecedents of formal and informal institutions of entrepreneurial climate in a less developed market setting.

This study builds on a comprehensive survey of the literature on institutions by using a synthesis thematic methodology to identified key scholarly studies which have been published in previous theoretical and empirical studies and proposes a conceptual framework of the role of formal and informal institutions in defining entrepreneurial climate in a developing economy’s context.

The findings of the paper suggest that political factors and economic factors define formal institutions whilst socio-cultural factors define informal institutions. These factors rooted in political, economic and socio-cultural factors have a major influence on the rate and nature of entrepreneurial activity in a developing country setting.

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and intuitional theory by focusing on the antecedents of formal and informal institutional factors that shape entrepreneurial climate in Ghana.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first review that explores the nature of entrepreneurial climate and proposes a conceptual framework of the role of formal and informal institutions in defining entrepreneurial climate in Ghana.

Innovation efforts of small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral regions are limited both by innate resource limitations and by location factors such as excessive distance from key markets and higher cost bases for new technology. However, the emergence of the knowledge economy may enable leveraging of knowledge to address such innate limitations. The aim of this study is to twofold. First, the study explores how SMEs in peripheral areas, i.e. challenging regions, seek to implement innovation from a path perspective by examining the contributions from antecedent and mediator variables or constructs, including knowledge-based factors identified in the literature, using a cross-sectional survey of SMEs at firm level. Second, to further examine how these path model constructs and relationships contribute in a causal manner to innovation implementation at an activity level of analysis based on knowledge-based view and dynamic capability theory, using a case study analysis.

A sequential mixed method approach is used. In relation to the first aim a hypothetical path model is tested using structured equation modelling techniques based on a cross-sectional survey of SMEs in peripheral regions (n=604). For the second aim, to further examine how the path model constructs and relationships contribute to innovation implementation in a causal manner at an activity level of analysis, an explanatory case-based approach is used based on dynamic capability theory.

The findings show that at a firm level knowledge factors influence innovation implementation as mediating factors through knowledge acquisition and assimilation which is consistent with potential absorptive capacity, and knowledge sharing linkages. Antecedent factors of lifecycle, leadership, culture and historical propensity to innovation were found to interact with the mediating variables of knowledge acquisition and assimilation, TQM/business improvement and knowledge sharing linkages (external), to produce a range of innovation outputs, including knowledge transformation and sales of new products and services from innovation activities. Based on the case study findings the underlying knowledge-based dynamic capabilities which contribute to the relationships within the path model were identified and further research agendas established.

There is a relative paucity of studies on innovation implementation within SMEs in peripheral regions using a knowledge-based perspective at firm level, as opposed to regional level (e.g. regional innovation studies). In this context unique resource limitations and the contribution of knowledge-based factors need to be addressed. This study seeks to compliment regional level studies by making a contribution at both a cross-sectional SME or firm level and at an activity level of analysis in this area and to identify areas for further research.