What travel scenarios are the opportunities of car sharing?

In face of high-investment and low-revenue crisis, it is critical for new-born car-sharing companies to focus on niche market. Existing literatures have already discussed the niche market of car sharing based on people’s irregular travel demands and scenarios; however, current research findings are still lack of adequate travel data support. Aiming to solve this problem, we develop a travel scenarios mining method that first define land usage types of travel Origin-Destination (OD) locations using spatial clustering analysis of city’s Points of interests (POI) data, and then discover the most representative travel scenarios using association rules mining method with car-sharing records data. Applying this approach to the car-sharing service case in Beijing, China, we find that: day-time business trips and evening entertainment trips around the city centre, commuting trips in off-peak time, and short-distance city travel for tourism are three travel scenarios suitable for car sharing’s niche in the initial stage of market entering. Furthermore, spatio-temporal consumption profiles and competitive advantages of car sharing in the three travel scenarios are analyzed. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. In this study, we address the question of finding niche market and suggest that it is critical for car sharing industry treading through the crisis in the early stage of development.

PENGARUH PROMOSI DAN SERVICESCAPE TERHADAP KEPUTUSAN MENGINAP MELALUI CITRA MEREK DI EL ROYALE HOTEL BANYUWANGI PADA MASA PANDEMI

During this Pandemic Covid 19 situation, the competition in the hotel industry becomes more competitive. The niche market especially in this industry become smaller and tighter. Thus, the hotel businesses have to be more aware with all the factors than can affect the customer to do the purchase decision to keep their sustainability and to win the competition. Some of the important factors that can affect the consumer decision are promotion, servicescape and brand image. The study was conducted to find out the influence of promotion and servicescape of stay decisions through of brand image at El Royale Hotel Banyuwangi. This research uses a type of quantitive research with path analysis as the method. The tool that was used by the researcher is IBM SPSS 26. The population of this study is the visitors who stay at El Royale Hotel Banyuwangi, with the number of samples used are 100 based on Slovin Formula and taken by purposive sampling technique.The sampling’s criteria that are used in this research are the guests above 17 years old, and the guest who act as a decision maker. The result of this study is show that (1) partially promotion and servicescape affect the brand image positively and significantly. (2) partially promotion, servicescape and brand image affect the stay decision positively and significantly. (3) Brand image able to mediate the influence of promotion to stay decision. (4) Brand image is not able to mediate the influence of servicescape to stay decision.

Surviving is Succeeding: How Tech Workers Handle Job Insecurity During COVID-19

This study explores how tech professionals respond to job insecurity during COVID-19. Data for this study came from 51 in-depth interviews with tech professionals employed in tech hubs on the west coast of the US. Depending on the niche market where their companies are situated, tech professionals have diverse experiences of job insecurity. While a minority of my respondents indicate that they felt secure about their job during COVID-19, most have experienced job insecurity. I found that participants responded to this experience by evaluating their (in)dispensability to their employers, working to increase their indispensability, and engaging in spiritual and religious practices. As the COVID-19 pandemic had diverse—and sometimes conflicting—impacts on the tech profession, this study offers an empirical understanding of how a group of relatively well-resourced professionals handle job market uncertainties associated with this pandemic. It also shows how macro- and meso-level factors work together, shaping tech professionals’ experiences of and responses to job insecurity. Findings from this study contribute to scholarship on job insecurity in the tech industry. These findings also offer practical implications for tech employers who seek to support their employees during times of economic instability.

Facilitating circular site preparation; developing the instrument PrCiSi

The urge to strive for closed material loops is felt in the construction industry. However, before the built environment can be regarded as circular, not only the material usage in buildings, but also preparations taken on sites need to be circular. In this paper a new instrument is presented to help project leaders at municipalities and contractors to assess how circular their process of site preparation is. The instrument, by the name of PrCiSi, has been developed on basis of a literature study on sustainable material usage and interviews among stakeholders in this niche market. The instrument has been tested on the site preparation processes for the residential neighbourhoods Olstergaard and Noorder Koeslag in the municipality of Olst-Wijhe. Of course, there is still room for improvement and more test cases are welcomed, but three main subjects, namely materials, equipment and personnel, seem to form a proper basis. A large number of test cases might help us to further develop the scoring system. However, being convinced that we can cross a boundary here, we are happy to share with you the current status to inspire you to use and improve this instrument with us.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Development Prospects

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of a country. SMEs create most of the employment opportunities and comprise 90% to 95% of economic activities. Therefore, these make SMEs indispensable for the development of a country. Also, SMEs are the source of innovativeness, and they are the ones that respond to niche market needs that are ignored by large businesses. Small and medium-sized enterprises are an important instigator for the improvement and renewal of national economies. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the concept of SME, differentiating features of SMEs, market economy, and state the importance of SMEs for the Republic of Turkey.

Part III Innovation and Trade-Finance Challengers, 13 The Bank Payment Obligation as a Signal Step in the Evolution of Digital Trade Finance

The bank payment obligation (‘BPO’) is a new digital financial instrument intended to secure payment and facilitate finance for goods and services in the supply chain. Like the letter of credit, it relies on the banking network to transmit trade and payment information; unlike the letter of credit, however, it is based on the electronic transmission and matching of structured data on an independent transaction matching application. It thus avoids the physical examination of documents by the banks and moves payment services further in the digital era. Focusing on the legal aspects as envisaged in the Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligations (‘URBPO’), this chapter notes that the BPO will co-exist with the pre-existing trade methods of open account and letters of credit, and will operate best in the niche market where the trading parties have prioritised digital trade. In a wider perspective, its principles will likely inspire the further digitalisation of trade finance.

Contemporary Danmei Fiction and Its Similitudes with Classical and Yanqing Literature

Danmei, aka Boys Love, is a salient transgressive genre of Chinese Internet literature. Since entering China’s niche market in 1990s, the danmei subculture, predominantly in the form of original fictional creation, has established an enormous fanbase and demonstrated significance via thought-provoking works and social functions. Nonetheless, the danmei genre is not an innovation in the digital age, in that its bipartite dichotomy between seme ‘top’ and uke ‘bottom’ roles bears similarities to the dyad in caizi-jiaren ‘scholar-beauty’ anecdotes featuring masculine and feminine ideals in literary representations of heterosexual love and courtship, which can be attested in the 17th century and earlier extant accounts. Furthermore, the feminisation of danmei characters is analogous to an androgynous ideal in late-imperial narratives concerning heterosexual relationships during late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the depiction of semes being masculine while ukes being feminine is consistent with the orthodox, indigenous Chinese masculinity which is comprised of wen ‘cultural attainment’ epitomising feminine traits and wu ‘martial valour’ epitomising masculine traits. In terms of modern literature, danmei is parallel to the (online) genre yanqing ‘romance’ that is frequently characterised by ‘Mary Sue’ and cliché-ridden narration.

Hiding in Delight: Transgression, Irony And the Edge of Vice

This study examines a Montreal-based underground magazine and its use of "edge" as a strategy of retaining subcultural capital and limiting its readership, thus creating a narrow but profitable niche market that extends Thomas Frank's work on rebel consumption. Vice, through its content, tone and business strategies, unites a series of diverse but related issues including subculture, transgression, cultural intermediaries, the political economy of magazines, the audience commodity, the politics of pleasure and how media texts constitute audiences as consuming subjects. Through a combination of interlocking discursive and aesthetic strategies that involve transgression and irony, Vice is able to minimize aspects of the audience commodity as described by Dallas Smythe while foregrounding its subcultural capital. In this way, it is able to convert subcultural capital into economic capital while remaining a relevant and authentic underground publication.

Hiding in Delight: Transgression, Irony And the Edge of Vice

This study examines a Montreal-based underground magazine and its use of "edge" as a strategy of retaining subcultural capital and limiting its readership, thus creating a narrow but profitable niche market that extends Thomas Frank's work on rebel consumption. Vice, through its content, tone and business strategies, unites a series of diverse but related issues including subculture, transgression, cultural intermediaries, the political economy of magazines, the audience commodity, the politics of pleasure and how media texts constitute audiences as consuming subjects. Through a combination of interlocking discursive and aesthetic strategies that involve transgression and irony, Vice is able to minimize aspects of the audience commodity as described by Dallas Smythe while foregrounding its subcultural capital. In this way, it is able to convert subcultural capital into economic capital while remaining a relevant and authentic underground publication.