Context Of Economic Crisis Research Articles

Did the context of economic crisis affect the image of Portugal as a tourist destination?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how Portugal has dealt with economic crisis with reference to the tourism industry and from the perspective of a global distribution systems (GDS) operator. Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on information drawn from official information sources and relevant data from Travelport. Findings – In recent years, Portugal has developed a positive image in its source markets as a result of a refined strategy and because of the intrinsic quality of its offer and price competitiveness, thus making it an attractive destination. Now the challenge is to maintain the pace and actions in support of Portugal’s image, thereby ensuring its sustainability, with particular attention to security and the maintenance and cleanliness of public spaces. Originality/value – This article presents the perspective of a GDS operator with respect to the impacts of the Portuguese economic crisis on tourism and the responses made to address these challenges, thereby highlighting the resilience of tour operators.

Portuguese tourism – facing the crisis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is address two questions: “Did the context of economic crisis affect the image of Portugal as a tourist destination? And What were the answers and lessons learned?”. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have no information to assess the effect of the crisis on the brand image of Portugal as a tourist destination. The paper limits itself to what is a first step in this assessment and assumes that periods of low demand for destination Portugal are linked in some way to the economic crisis. The paper examines the UK market demand for holiday travel to Portugal from 2009 to 2013 and additionally the revenue contribution from tourism to Portugal’s balance of payments. The data are analyzed in the context of two decisions relating to Portuguese tourism governance: the anti crisis measures of 2009 and the new model for tourism promotion of 2013. Findings – The paper assumes that during the period 2009-2013 the demand for Portuguese tourism was not affected by the crisis and, if any damage has been done to the international brand image of destination Portugal, its consequences are not dramatic. In fact, the demand for destination Portugal in the UK market remained strong and is higher than the market as a whole. The same applies to destination Greece and the decline in demand for destination Turkey seems to be linked to social and political crisis in the country. Given this context, it is interesting to note that revenue from travel and tourism in Portugal achieved a growth rate that had not occurred before in the recent past. Research limitations/implications – The scope for analyzing empirical data is limited to the statistical information for Tourism in Portugal. However, it is possible to identify patterns of demand behavior of demand that help provide clues to the variations in tourism flows. Practical implications – In 2013, the index of overnight stays and income to the Portuguese hospitality industry exceeded that of 2009, but the index of average revenue per overnight stay at current prices was still lower than that of 2009. It would appear that the anti-crisis measures that the government took in 2009 had little or no impact nor do the changes to the tourism promotion Model in 2013 reveal why the Government considered 2013 to be “the best tourist year ever” or in 2014 “an historic year”. Originality/value – The paper provides a bottom-up perspective, based on observation, measurement and analysis.

Did the context of economic crisis affect the image of Portugal as a tourist destination?

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce the articles 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 articles selected. Findings – A contextualization for the economic crisis affecting Portugal is presented and its impact on the Tourism Industry discussed. The articles range from a series of research studies on Portuguese Tourism, demonstrating its evolution over the past three years (2011-2013), and various viewpoint/position papers reflecting the perspectives of the main stakeholders of this industry and how they analyze the context of crisis that is affecting the country since 2010. Research limitations/implications – The articles selected for this issue contribute to shed light on an important phase of Portugal’s history, allowing for an understanding of the impacts of the financial crisis on domestic tourism and sectors such as restaurants and hotels, as well as the government’s perspective on the evolution of the industry over past three years. The information presented and analysed reveals some interesting lessons, namely, that a financial crisis may not affect directly the growth and development of the tourism industry. Originality/value – The present theme issue analysis the context of financial crisis that Portugal is facing and brings together, for the first time in a single publication, the views of major stakeholders of the Portuguese Tourism Industry.

Did the context of economic crisis affect the image of Portugal as a tourist destination?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the governmental perspective on the effects of the economic crisis on Portugal as a touristic destination. Design/methodology/approach – The main political decisions related to tourism were analysed and related to the sector’s present performance. Findings – Portugal’s public and private entities were able to use the crisis as an opportunity to increase the quality and competitiveness of the tourism sector and, as result, grow more than its main competitors. Originality/value – This paper concludes that there are still some challenges that the tourism sector faces, like the decline of the internal market and the level of prices, but overall, the sector has been showing signs of resilience that shall allow it to overcome its main issues.

Le Socialisme français en crise

This article analyses the gravity and reasons for the crisis currently affecting the French Socialist Party. Going beyond the electoral disasters of 2014, it situates this crisis within the context of the destabilisation of the French party system due to growing divisions on the left and on the right caused by the evolution of the European Union in the current context of economic crisis. The left/right cleavage that structures the functioning of the political system is being called into question by an alternative cleavage that increasingly opposes the supporters of European integration against their opponents. The cross-cutting nature of these two cleavages will henceforth prevent the left from uniting on a programme of government. Within the Socialist Party itself this phenomenon is a factor of serious division and, as a result, makes the government's parliamentary base more fragile. It further deepens the long-standing differences on economic policy because of the explicit choice made by the Socialist government in favour of a supply-side approach. The Socialist Party seems to have arrived at the end of a political cycle where it will have to make choices that it has postponed for many years, with the risk of breaking up and with the threat of starting an electoral and political decline that could ultimately deprive it of its status as a party of government.

A long term perspective on immigration and the crisis

- Grupo de investigación Antropología y Filosofía (SEJ-126). Universidad de Granada. - Área de Antropología Social. Universidad de Jaén. - Laborarorio de Antropología Social y Cultural (HUM-472). Universidad de Almería. - Departamento de Filosofía II. Universidad de Granada.

Legal Acknowledgement of the Category of Economically Dependent Workers

In the current context of economic and social crisis, our study aims to determine whether labour law protection should be granted only to employees or whether other categories of workers should also be protected. As a part of the research project, ‘Which securities for (which) workers in time of crisis?’, we introduce some clarifications in relation to the second part of the question (‘which workers’?), considering, in particular, the intermediate category of economically dependent workers in different European States. However, there is a certain degree of uncertainty surrounding the definition of economically dependent work and confusion as regards the designation of the phenomenon and its overlap with the problem of false self-employed workers. Some States have legal concepts of an economically dependent worker, while in many others it is a phenomenon that remains under discussion.

Gentrificación en Madrid: de la burbuja a la crisis

En paralelo a las dinamicas de explosion urbana en Madrid durante la decada 1997-2007 tambien los procesos de gentrificacion se profundizaron en el centro de Madrid. Este articulo describe dicho fenomeno en tres barrios del centro de la ciudad: Malasana, Chueca y Lavapies; aportando evidencias procedentes del estudio de los cambios en la estructura demografica principalmente, pero tambien comercial, e inmobiliaria. El analisis muestra que efectivamente ha habido una profunda transformacion urbana en los ultimos quince anos, y que los procesos de gentrificacion en el centro de Madrid se estan consolidando, si bien con ciertas particularidades y ambivalencias. El estudio se acompana de una reflexion sobre las nuevas tendencias ideologicas en el planeamiento urbano y las politicas publicas, que han desplegado mecanismos, tanto discursivos como juridicos, que son coadyuvantes a los procesos de gentrificacion, y que a dia de hoy se apoyan en la regeneracion y rehabilitacion como un nuevo nicho productivo. Finalmente se toma en cuenta el contexto de crisis economica y social para lanzar nuevas hipotesis sobre el desarrollo de la gentrificacion en la ciudad, entre la intensificacion y la resistencia

Managing and resisting ‘degeneration’ in employee-owned businesses: A comparative study of two large retailers in Spain and the United Kingdom

Employee-owned businesses have recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest as possible ‘alternatives’ to the somewhat tarnished image of conventional investor-owned capitalist firms. Within the context of global economic crisis, such alternatives seem newly attractive. This is somewhat ironic because, for more than a century, academic literature on employee-owned businesses has been dominated by the ‘degeneration thesis’. This suggested that these businesses tend towards failure—they either fail commercially, or they relinquish their democratic characters. Bucking this trend and offering a beacon—especially in the United Kingdom —has been the commercially successful, co-owned enterprise of the John Lewis Partnership whose virtues have seemingly been rewarded with favourable and sustainable outcomes. This article makes comparisons between John Lewis Partnership and its Spanish equivalent Eroski—the supermarket group which is part of the Mondragon cooperatives. The contribution of this article is to examine in a comparative way how the managers in John Lewis Partnership and Eroski have constructed and accomplished their alternative scenarios. Using longitudinal data and detailed interviews with senior managers in both enterprises, it explores the ways in which two large, employee-owned, enterprises reconcile apparently conflicting principles and objectives. The article thus puts some new flesh on the ‘regeneration thesis’.

Crisis económica y capital social: comunitarización y rehogarización de la inclusión

The authors take a critical approach to the concept of social capital, highlighting its potential for exclusion from a gender point of view, and point out the risks involved in applying it uncritically in designing social and inclusion policy. They also warn of the risks of returning the sources of social inclusion to the community and the home in the current context of economic crisis, and stress the importance of conceiving a paradigm shift in the relations between the authorities, social action networks and the family network.

Content vs. Process in the HRM‐Performance Relationship: An Empirical Examination

This study investigates the impact of a human resource management (HRM) system, which integrates both content and process of human resource (HR) practices, on organizational performance, through collective employee reactions. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,250 Greek employees working in 133 public‐ and private‐sector organizations, which operate in the present context of severe financial and economic crises. The findings of the structural equation modeling suggest that content and process are two inseparable faces of an HRM system that help to reveal a comprehensive picture of the HRM–organizational performance relationship. Based on the findings that collective employee reactions mediate the HRM content (i.e., organizational performance relationship) and HRM process moderates the HRM content (i.e., employee reactions relationship), the study has several theoretical and practice implications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Convergencias y divergencias de los discursos e imágenes de la inmigración en etapas de bonanza y de crisis

En este artículo se presentan algunos de los resultados de dos investigaciones encadenadas. Ambas centradas en el estudio de la memoria migratoria y las formas de xenofobia informadas por autóctonos y foráneos en España. La primera hecha en una etapa de bonanza económica (2006-08); la segunda, en momentos de crisis (2010-12). En concreto, se sintetiza el análisis comparativo de los materiales cualitativos reunidos en ambos proyectos, que se acompaña del contraste aportado por los datos estadísticos, de encuesta y otras fuentes disponibles. El contexto actual de acentuada crisis económica y financiera ha supuesto una oportunidad investigadora para comprobar si el aumento de la competencia (por el empleo, las prestaciones y ayudas públicas) propicia el recrudecimiento de los discursos e imágenes negativas de la inmigración. Se revelan varias de las razones detrás de la formas de xenofobia y su reverso, las xenofilias, en las coordenadas de espacio y tiempo referidas.

Quando la Generazione Erasmus incontra la Generazione Precaria. La mobilità transnazionale dei giovani italiani e spagnoli

Uno dei più importanti risultati del processo di integrazione europea è la costruzione di uno spazio transnazionale in cui i cittadini europei possono muoversi liberamente. La mobilità favorisce dinamiche di europeizzazione dal basso –o di europeizzazione orizzontale–, e lo sviluppo di pratiche cross-nazionali e amplia le risorse individuali e relazionali a disposizione dei giovani per progettare i propri percorsi professionali e di vita. La Generazione Erasmus definisce giovani socializzati a un humus culturale transnazionale e fortemente identificati con l’Europa. Nell’attuale contesto di crisi economica, a sperimentare la mobilità sono sempre più i giovani altamente qualificati dei paesi dell’Europa del sud, quale strategia individuale cui ricorrere per trovare risposta ai problemi connessi alla precarietà, alla disoccupazione, alla sotto-qualificazione degli impieghi. Il risultato è che la mobilità può assumere il volto di un obbligo, più che di una scelta e, più che dinamiche di europeizzazione orizzontale, può favorire una “fuga dei cervelli” dai paesi del sud ai paesi del centro e del nord Europa. L’articolo, focalizzandosi sui giovani italiani e spagnoli, si chiede cosa succede quando la Generazione Erasmus incontra la Generazione Precaria, analizzando cause ed effetti della mobilità, sul piano micro e macro sociale e sul piano politico.

‘Un président normal’? Presidential (in-)action and unpopularity in the wake of the great recession

This article investigates why Francois Hollande, the new French President, has become so quickly unpopular after his electoral victory in May 2012. We ask whether this has to do with a lack of effective policy change compared with the 10 preceding years of conservative government and the context of economic crisis. We assess the impact of political alternation and the crisis on policy change and then look at the consequences for popularity ratings. The main results show that Hollande does not seem to be greatly different from previous presidents as the great recession has apparently not dramatically changed the dynamics of French politics. The crucial changes seem to occur before, in the 1990s.

Prekérní práce pečujících žen v kontextu ekonomické krize

Prekérní práce pečujících žen v kontextu ekonomické krize

THREAT OF LOSING THE JOB AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOURS AS CONSEQUENCE: COMPARING SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE AND JUSTICE CONTROL MODEL AS THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS

In the current context of economic crisis, more flexibility from the workforce and organizations is required by the labour market. Job insecurity is a major source of psychological strain during these organizational changes. Research suggests that stressful working conditions may contribute to employees engaging in counterproductive work behaviours in an attempt to regain control over their environment. Alternatively, the fear for uncertainty may lead to avoid any behaviour increasing the likelihood of job loss. In this study we compare two different mediating mechanisms to investigate the relationship job insecurity and deviant behaviours in order to understand the psychological processes underlying. Specifically, psychological contract, rooted in the exchange perspective, and procedural justice, explained by the control model, are the theoretical explanations that we propose. In a sample of 322 blue-collar workers, the results showed that job insecurity is positively related to deviant behaviours indirectly (full mediation) through both breach of psychological contract and procedural injustice: both indirect effects have the same strength in explaining the relationship. The consequences of these findings for theory and practice are highlighted in the discussion.

CRM and RQ as key factors in retail setting services in an economic crisis context. The case of travel agencies

Travel agencies face a generalized economic crisis. To establish and nourish a permanent relationship with clients can become the key for its survival. This work analyzes the effects of the actions of customer relationship management (CRM) on the perception of the quality of the relationship (RQ), as well as its consequences on loyalty, word of mouth, usage quantity and purchasing intention, considering as moderator the switching barriers. Results of structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis confirm that RQ can be improved through CRM actions and the switching barriers do not affect RQ outcomes. The practical implications of these results are discussed.

The political economy and geopolitical context of India's economic crisis, 1990–91

The Indian economy suffered a balance of payment crisis in 1991, which provided the context for the rolling out of neoliberal policies, also referred to as the New Economic Policy in India. This paper examines the national and global causes and context of India's economic crisis and adoption of neoliberal policies. While grounding my analysis in historical‐geographical materialism, I argue that India's economic crisis was a product of certain contingent conditions. I draw attention to India's pre‐neoliberal economic regime and analyse how the earlier‐established relationship between revenue generation and expenditure ran into trouble; what changes occurred in the organization and management of revenues and capital; nature of interventions of the state in the circulation of capital; changes in the physical aspects of circulation of commodities, together with foreign trade and the formation of the ‘world market’; and the rise of the United States as the only global superpower. I conclude that India's economic crisis of 1990–91, and the neoliberal policies that followed, are products of contingent historical and geographical conditions. A teleological approach towards examining global capitalism and production of economic crisis often neglect such contingencies and provide a set of causalities that may, at best, be classified as incomplete.

Clinical decisions in patients with diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors. A statement of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine

Although the mortality associated to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has been reduced in the last decades, CVD remains the main cause of mortality in Spain and they are associated with an important morbidity and a huge economic burden. The increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes could be slowing down the mortality reduction in Spain. Clinicians have often difficulty making clinical decisions due to the multiple clinical guidelines available. Moreover, in the current context of economic crisis it is critical to promote an efficient use of diagnostic and therapeutic proceedings to ensure the viability of public health care systems. The Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) has coordinated a consensus document to answer questions of daily practice with the aim of facilitating physicians’ decision-making in the management of diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors from a cost-efficiency point of view.

Rural areas face the economic crisis: Analyzing the determinants of successful territorial dynamics

This paper aims to identify the factors that have determined successful territorial dynamics (STD) in rural areas of Andalusia during economic expansion periods, and analyzes their stability in the current context of economic crisis. In order to do so, we have designed a methodology that, on the one hand, identifies STD using data envelopment analysis (DEA), and on the other, determines the impact of a wide range of territorial variables that define the aforementioned dynamics. The results highlight how different aspects of economic, human, natural, and social capital such as economic diversification (rural tourism), agriculture (CAP funding, young farmers, organic production), access to services (infrastructures and facilities), demographics (foreign population), natural resources (Natura 2000), and governance (rural development funding management) can drive STD in rural areas. While the stability of some of these factors is being threatened by the impacts of the crisis, the stability of others turned out to be less affected and even enhanced. Rural territories, that have based their development on these latter stable factors, are better prepared to face the consequences of the crisis. These territories could be a priori considered as pre-resilient territories, able to develop and deploy new resources and capacities, which enable them to prepare favorably to the dynamics of change driven by the aforementioned crisis. This study is especially valuable since the results obtained could provide useful information for policymakers in the design of public policies, allowing rural areas to respond more favorably to the current economic crisis.