Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2013 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
In the current economic context, enterprises are struggling to obtain competitive advantages on the\r\nmarket, by exploiting the opportunities offered by information technology. The research in this\r\npaper aims to encourage the use of modern approaches in order to increase enterprise agility,\r\nthrough the transition to Service-Oriented Enterprise (SOE). The proposed solution is based on\r\nreaching a superior level of maturity of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) within the\r\norganization. SOE integrates the latest technologies with service-oriented business processes\r\nwithin an approach which requires the creation of an agile architecture and also major changes at\r\norganizational level. Structured in two main parts, the paper first highlights the SOA maturity levels\r\nin organization according to several factors, as well as the knowledge of the impact and the changes\r\narising from SOA adoption. In addition, an architectural model for service-oriented enterprise is\r\nproposed, based on up-to-date technologies like SOA, Cloud Computing, Business Process\r\nManagement and Case Management. This model is intended to facilitate the interoperability\r\nbetween business partners as well as the alignment of information technology strategy and\r\nbusiness strategy, and ultimately to increase enterprise agility....
A systematic prioritization model maintains standards based on different levels of categorization to\r\nevaluate the sustainability of geosites. This approach makes use of an analytical hierarchical method to\r\nmanage and prioritize a geotourism system on the base of tourism demand. The research concentrated\r\non the importance of sustainable tourism planning to develop and investigate successful tourism\r\nactivities using algorithmic hierarchical analysis. Nine indicators were used to integrate, identify and\r\nprioritize the potential geosites. They were: Distance from the Geosite Index (DGI); Accessibility of the\r\nGeosite Index (AGI); Climate Conditions Index (CCI); Regional Topography Index (RTI); Types of Rocks\r\nFormation Index (RFI); Geological History Index (GHI); Geological & Geomorphologic Forms Index\r\n(GGFI); Tourist�s Infrastructures Index (TII) and Regional Safety Index (RSI). The primary variables used\r\nto generate the indices were: rainfall, temperature, moisture, height, formations� type, formations� age,\r\nstratigraphy, amount of fossils, intrusions, faults, ripple marks, volcanic shears, weathering forms,\r\ncaves, lakes, springs, waterfalls, canyons, gullies, mines, tourist�s welfare services and safety\r\nprotections. The significance of the analytical hierarchical process in multi-criterion decision making to\r\nsolve spatial problems of ranking and prioritizing tourist spots was validated and then verified for a\r\ncase study in Iran. This proposed modeling technique can be applied to rank geosites around the world\r\nand provide criteria to allocate funds for geotourism developments....
The paper aims to examine the relationships between the perceived organizational support and\r\nexpatriates� organizational commitment. A total of 131 questionnaires was distributed to expatriate\r\nwho are currently serving at a public university and a sample of 93 returned-questionnaires was\r\nused for further analysis. The data were analyzed using Pearson''s correlation and regression\r\nanalysis to investigate the relationship perceived organizational support and organizational\r\ncommitment. The correlation analysis proved that the perceived organizational support was highly\r\nimportant to affective and normative commitment whereas its relationship with continuance\r\ncommitment is not relevant. Finally, the regression analysis revealed perceived organizational\r\nsupport as being more significant at influencing organizational commitment. Furthermore, the\r\nregression results also showed that 40.6 % of total variance of POS was explained by organizational\r\ncommitment. This denotes that POS play a vital role in promoting organizational commitment. In\r\naddition, discussions, implications, as well as conclusions of the study were also highlighted....
The main objective of the authors is to analyze the perception of hotel owners and managers on the importance\r\nof success factors, like human resource management and cost management. The central\r\nquestion is: What do owners and managers think about the influence of these factors on a hotel�s success\r\nand which interdependencies can be observed empirically. They further analyzed whether there\r\nwere differences in manager perceptions that could be correlated to basic hotel characteristics such as\r\nquality standard, operating mode, hotel type or size. The results were based on 95 answers of hotel\r\nowners/senior managers in Germany. Important results for human resource management were the fact\r\nthat managers are largely aware of its importance and aim at the goals that are supposed to influence\r\nsuccess. Only with regard to a more long term perspective hoteliers displayed some deficits in a temporary\r\nunderstanding of human capital management. In the area of cost management the main starting\r\npoints identified by hotel managers were in cost cutting, including general as well as personnel costs.\r\nAnother result was that about 80% of the target group has an understanding of short and long term\r\nbusiness success drivers which is more than expected. This understanding is higher for managers in\r\nchain hotels. Managers of individual hotels need some improvements especially within completion of\r\nthe short term performance point of view towards a more long term value perspective. This mainly refers\r\nto the transfer of perceived differences between business and value drivers into management action....
Nature reserves are a means of conserving natural and cultural treasures which if lost, can never be restored for its importance. Several international organizations cater for nature reserves. In 1966, the Tourism and Conservation Authority was established. It belongs to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which caters for nature reserves and their management. With the growing attention being paid to the environment, the year 2002 was declared the ''International Year of Tourism and Environment'', in accordance with a decision taken by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 1998. Later on, this decision was approved of by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The problem expounded in this study is the wide gulf between theory and practice when a certain area is declared ''protected''. An example is the ''Nile Islets'' which were declared a nature reserve in accordance with a political decree that was not based on any environmental survey or study of the area. Moreover, the classification of protected areas in Egypt is not accurately defined. There is considerable overlap between protected areas, and it is evident that most of them suffer from lack of organization, management and protection. Many important historical, archaeological and rich cultural heritage sites in Egypt suffer remarkable deterioration. Some have completely fallen apart, and some have vanished or have being sacrificed to the bulldozer. This research aims at: (1) deciding the criteria and considerations required to declare a certain area ''a nature or cultural reserve'' and the comprehensive tourism development needed; (2) evaluating the current condition (status quo) in the protected area of Al-Moez Street in Cairo. The methodology used in this research work includes: (1) The descriptive analytical method, (2) case study method, (3) survey method, (4) deductive method, and (5) analysis of the primary and secondary data related to the field of study using the statistical program SPSS - V - 11. Research findings have revealed that the criteria and principles of the sustainability of urban and tourism development of Al-Moez Street have been taken into consideration to a reasonable extent. This is also confirmed by the findings of the statistical analysis and the positive and negative aspects that have been observed by a team who paid frequent visits to the area....
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