Leveraging the cultural and economic value of fairs and festivals in India

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Munjal ◽  
Vinnie Jauhari

Purpose – This paper aims to summarize and review the opportunities and challenges that India offers in terms of leveraging the cultural and economic potential of the fairs and festivals. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from the findings of the theme issue contributors. All the papers in the theme issue have drawn inputs from diverse types of fairs and festivals organized in different parts of India. Findings – The paper summarizes the key opportunities and challenges with respect to leveraging the cultural and economic potential of fairs and festivals in India. Some of the issues that emerge across the board revolve around lack of basic infrastructure, indifferent government support, local apathy toward cultural commodification and poor stakeholder engagement. Practical implications – There are a number of practical implications for practitioners and policy-makers that will allow India to optimally leverage the huge cultural and economic potential that the various fairs and festivals offer, but this requires a holistic understanding that will ensure that aspirations and concerns of all key stakeholders are taken into account. Originality/value – The on-the-ground narrative brings out the real issues, challenges and opportunities that can then be analyzed to offer direction to policy-makers, tourism sector and government at various levels. The outcomes of the theme issue summarize the above.

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinnie Jauhari ◽  
Sandeep Munjal

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges that India offers in terms of leveraging the cultural and economic potential of the fairs and festivals. Design/methodology/approach – This paper sets the tone for the theme by evaluating “fairs and festivals” being organized all year round in different parts of the country, as drivers of economic growth and cultural continuity. Findings – The paper probes the key opportunities and challenges with respect to leveraging the cultural and economic potential of fairs and festivals in India. Practical implications – There are a number of practical implications for practitioners and policymakers that will allow India to optimally leverage the huge cultural and economic potential that the various fairs and festivals offer. This requires a holistic understanding that will ensure that aspirations and concerns of all key stakeholders are taken into account. Originality/value – The research through this theme issue will document the cultural and economic impact of a range of specific fairs and festivals in India. Can these cultural resources be sustained and deployed effectively to have a positive economic impact on the lives of communities connected?


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 504-510
Author(s):  
Gunjan M. Sanjeev ◽  
Richard Teare

Purpose The paper aims to profile the theme issue of Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes titled “How is the need for innovation being addressed by the Indian hospitality industry?” with reference to the experiences of the theme editor, contributors from the industry and academia and the theme issue outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editor to reflect on the rationale for their theme issue question, the starting-point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process. Findings It highlights recent innovations that have taken place in the Indian hospitality industry especially in the areas of customer service, cost competitiveness, culinary management, revenue management and technology. Practical implications As hotel sector investment in India intensifies, this theme issue will be of interest to hoteliers, policy makers, analysts and others interested in the role that innovation can play in helping to facilitate differentiation between competing hotel products and services. Originality/value There is limited literature available on industry innovations in the Indian context. All the papers in this theme issue were written after several cycles of interaction between academics and practitioners and so they incorporate real–time, relevant and contemporary data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunjan M. Sanjeev ◽  
Rumki Bandyopadhyay

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the facts and trends relating to the innovations that are taking place in the Indian hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws facts and emerging trends from the existing literature and other reports. The paper also serves as an introduction to areas covered by theme issue contributors that are discussed in detail in their respective papers. All the papers bring out key findings after several rounds of discussion with practitioners. Findings Some of the key emerging areas are customer service, cost competitiveness, culinary management, revenue management and technology. The paper also suggests that it is important to understand how innovations are being managed across different functional departments and whether managers face barriers to the implementation of innovative ideas and processes. Practical implications The Indian hospitality industry continues to expand despite tough competition. But, it is imperative that hotels are able to find ways to differentiate their products and services and by innovating, it is possible to sustain and create new forms of differentiation. Given this reality, the paper is of interest to hoteliers and policy makers who want to know more about the emerging innovation trends in the Indian hospitality industry. Originality/value There is limited literature available on innovations in the Indian context. Further, all the papers in this theme issue were written after several rounds of interaction with practitioners so as to incorporate real-time, relevant and contemporary data.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (8) ◽  
pp. 2143-2160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhaiza Zailani ◽  
Kanagi Kanapathy ◽  
Mohammad Iranmanesh ◽  
Marco Tieman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that motivate the halal food firms in Malaysia to practice halal orientation strategy (HOS). Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained from a survey of 137 halal food firms in Malaysia, and analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Findings – Results showed that halal market demand, government support, expected business benefits, and integrity positively affect HOS. Practical implications – The findings of the study will help policy makers and managers of halal food firms to understand external and internal drivers of HOS, which may lead to successfully motivating the implementation of HOS in halal food firms. Originality/value – Although HOS plays a key role in protecting the halal status of any given product, this topic is rarely explored. This study thus contributes to the advancement of knowledge on factors that motivate the halal food firms to practice HOS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ylva Fältholm ◽  
Cathrine Norberg

Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain increased knowledge about gender diversity and innovation in mining by analyzing how women are discursively represented in relation to these two concepts, and in doing so establish how diversity management is received and communicated in the industry. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on analysis of texts including references to gender diversity and innovation in mining found on the web. The tool used to retrieve the data has been WebCorpLive, a tool designed for linguistic analysis of web material. Findings Although increased female representation is communicated as a key component in the diversity management discourse, based on the idea that diversity increases innovation and creativity, closer analysis of texts on diversity and innovation in mining shows that what women are expected to contribute with has little explicit connection with innovation. Research limitations/implications The study contributes with increased knowledge about diversity management by providing an example of how it is received in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Practical implications The findings indicate that for diversity management to have a real effect in mining, it needs to be based on gender equality and social justice motives, rather than on a business case rationale – the principal motive today. To enable this change, stereotypical gender patterns, as shown in this study, need to be made visible and problematized among policy makers, practitioners and actors on all levels of the industry. Originality value The study contributes with new knowledge about gender in the mining industry previously not attended to by using a method which so far has been sparsely used in discourse analysis, although pointed out as promising.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 631-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Costa ◽  
Mónica Montenegro ◽  
João Gomes

Purpose This paper aims to introduce the papers in this issue and explain the pertinence of the strategic question. Design/methodology/approach A brief context for the strategic question is provided, as well as the issue alignment and a content analysis of the papers selected. Findings From the analysis of the papers selected for this theme issue, it becomes clear that tourism has become one of the major players in international economic, social and technological sectors, while representing one of the main income sources for developed and developing countries. Originality/value The papers selected for this issue shed light on an important problem: increasing tourist flows and overtourism at some world top destinations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 996-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kea Tijdens ◽  
Miroslav Beblavý ◽  
Anna Thum-Thysen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to overcome the problems that skill mismatch cannot be measured directly and that demand side data are lacking. It relates demand and supply side characteristics by aggregating data from jobs ads and jobholders into occupations. For these occupations skill mismatch is investigated by focussing on demand and supply ratios, attained vis-à-vis required skills and vacancies’ skill requirements in relation to the demand-supply ratios. Design/methodology/approach Vacancy data from the EURES job portal and jobholder data from WageIndicator web-survey were aggregated by ISCO 4-digit occupations and merged in a database with 279 occupations for Czech Republic, being the only European country with disaggregated occupational data, coded educational data, and sufficient numbers of observations. Findings One fourth of occupations are in excessive demand and one third in excessive supply. The workforce is overeducated compared to the vacancies’ requirements. A high demand correlates with lower educational requirements. At lower occupational skill levels requirements are more condensed, but attainments less so. At higher skill levels, requirements are less condensed, but attainments more so. Educational requirements are lower for high demand occupations. Research limitations/implications Using educational levels is a limited proxy for multidimensional skills. Higher educated jobholders are overrepresented. Practical implications In Europe labour market mismatches worry policy makers and Public Employment Services alike. Originality/value The authors study is the first for Europe to explore such a granulated approach of skill mismatch.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Button ◽  
Chris Lewis ◽  
David Shepherd ◽  
Graham Brooks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges of measuring fraud in overseas aid. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on 21 semi-structured interviews with key persons working in the delivery of aid in both the public and voluntary sectors. It uses the UK Department for International Development as a case study to applying more accurate measures of fraud. Findings – This paper shows there are significant challenges to using fraud loss measurement to gauge fraud in overseas aid. However, it argues that, along with other types of measures, it could be used in areas of expenditure in overseas governments and charities to measure aid. Given the high risk of such aid to fraud, it argues helping to develop capacity to reduce aid, of which measuring the size of the problem is an important part; this could be considered as aid in its own right. Research limitations/implications – The researchers were not able to visit high-risk countries for fraud to examine in the local context views on the challenges of measuring fraud. Practical implications – The paper offers insights on the challenges to accurately measuring fraud in an overseas context, which will be useful to policy-makers in this context. Social implications – Given the importance of as much aid as possible reaching recipients, it offers an important contribution to helping to reduce losses in this important area. Originality/value – There has been very little consideration of how to measure fraud in the overseas aid context, with most effort aimed at corruption, which poses some of the same challenges, as well as some very different challenges.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-390
Author(s):  
Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena ◽  
Altaf Sovani ◽  
Alanna MacDonald

Purpose This paper aims to provide a backdrop to the Worldwide Hospitality Themes (WHATT) theme issue (volume 9, issue 4) on aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry of Canada. Design/methodology/approach Canadian hospitality and tourism educators and their counterparts in the industry have collaborated periodically to discuss the challenges they face and to find practical solutions. Outcomes of ten key initiatives in Canada during the past 15 years that brought leaders of the hospitality and tourism industry and academia together to create 50 academic papers are summarized. Findings This paper provides key information on Canada, its people, its economic conditions and the challenges of the five sectors of the tourism industry in Canada. By introducing the main challenges faced by each sector, this paper provides a foundation for the other articles that follow in this WHATT theme issue. Practical implications Canadian tourism is losing ground, tourism marketing budgets are significantly reducing and there is a labour shortage crisis which are identified as key challenges requiring urgent attention. In conclusion, the authors suggest practical solutions. Originality/value Readers who are interested in the Canadian hospitality and tourism industry will find this paper to be of interest.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 670-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Costa ◽  
Silva Carvalho

Purpose This paper aims to identify the current state of the Portuguese tourism, its opportunities and challenges based on the conclusions of the International Tourism Forum (ITF)/Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) Round Table attended by representatives of the main public and private entities of the tourism sector in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents and discusses the main conclusions resulting from the ITF/WHATT Round Table. The event was organized by the Institute for Tourism Planning and Development, under the theme “Tourism in 2016: from trends to results”. Findings The ITF/WHATT Round Table concluded that the tourism industry worldwide and in Portugal, in particular, is facing major challenges that call for innovative ways of managing the tourism experience. On the other hand, world tourism growth was seen as a reality that will remain, and destinations will have to continue working to achieve better tourists instead of getting more tourists. Practical implications This analysis provides knowledge about the current state of the Portuguese tourism, its challenges and opportunities while identifying innovative ways and likely solutions to improve the experience of tourists visiting Portugal. Originality/value The profiling of the current state of the Portuguese tourism, its opportunities and challenges contributes to the design of more effective strategies to improve the Portuguese tourist offer and the experience of tourists visiting Portugal.


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