Inhyuck “Steve” Ha

Film festivals: an empirical study of factors for success.

Film festivals have become an increasingly popular method of generating economic benefit to communities, yet there is little mention of this festival segment in the academic literature. Seen as a meeting place between filmmakers, distributors, and viewers, film festivals can be an important factor in enlivening local cultural life, building a town, city, or regions image, and fostering its attractiveness for tourism and thus its economic development. In addition to providing a cultural experience for the local community, and providing economic benefits as a tourist draw, film festivals provide a service to the film industry by supplying a forum for filmmakers to show their films and film buyers and distributors to view them. This article reports on a study of film festival attendees that was undertaken to evaluate the success of a regional film festival and assist film festival managers and sponsors in future planning. Attendee characteristics and festival experience were evaluated, as well the festivals economic impact on the local community. The article also provides an overview of unique characteristics of the film festival industry.

A Comparative Analysis of Attendee Profiles at Two Urban Festivals

ABSTRACT The success of tourism as a sustainable means of economic development has prompted communities to undertake a comprehensive look at their tourism development options. One of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry, incurring significant growth over the past two decades, has been with festival events. As a result there has been an increasing need for festival organizers to better understand festival types and their attendee profiles to assist in planning, marketing, and managing different types of festival events to insure their success. This article reports on a comparative analysis of attendee profiles at two urban festivals held annually in Asheville, North Carolina: (1) a summer street festival and (2) a winter film festival. Attendee characteristics, spending patterns, and economic impact were compared and significant differences were found between the two groups.

Exploring the Impacts of Key Economic Indicators and Economic Recessions in the Restaurant Industry

The purpose of this study is to investigate the major economic variables associated with sales at full-service restaurants. The study also examines if there is any cyclical movement in the full-service restaurant segment in conjunction with economic recession periods. A Pearson correlation analysis and a 5-year moving average method were used to identify the relationships between full-service restaurant sales and key economic indicators, as well as the existence of a business cycle in the full-service restaurant industry for the past 4 decades, respectively. The results of this study revealed that gross domestic product is positively correlated with the sales of full-service restaurants. The 5-year moving average of sales generated at full-service restaurants indicates that the sales at full-service restaurants show a pattern of a business cycle almost every 10 years.

The economic impact of a heritage tourism attraction on a rural economy: the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Cultural heritage tourism has emerged as both an important economic tool and marketing tool when seeking a competitive advantage in the tourism industry. This study examined the economic impact a heritage railway has on a regional rural economy, namely the Great Smoky Mountains railroad (GSMr), a member of American heritage railways. Findings revealed the GSMr has exerted a profound effect on the region. It has contributed significantly to the regional economy, and has provided excellent value for the services rendered based on visitor satisfaction ratings. It has helped to diversify the regions tourism offerings, enhance its uniqueness and revitalize its tourism industry. Results from this study will assist GSMr management in the future planning and development of its heritage railway train excursions and marketing strategies.

Bad Credit and Intergroup Differences in Loan Denial Rates

Research has found wide disparities in loan denial rates among different racial/ethnic groups. Two competing explanations for these gaps arise. One argument is that these disparities result from underlying racial disparities in credit worthiness. A competing view is that the disparities arise from a pattern of racial discrimination among mortgage lenders. This paper adopts a stratification economics approach to evaluate these competing claims. Using Freddie Mac’s Consumer Credit Survey dataset, we test the hypothesis that measures of discrimination disappear when one accounts for racial differences in credit scores. A novel contribution of the paper, built upon the premise that inter-group inequalities sustain themselves through self-fulfilling mechanisms, is to test the hypothesis that loan denials explain misperceptions of credit worthiness. We demonstrate that one cause of the appearance of poor credit risk among black applicants is that blacks with good credit risk underestimate their credit worthiness and apply for loans in lower numbers. Our findings suggest that even nondiscriminatory lending behavior has the unintended effect of screening out low-risk blacks and thereby yields higher denial rates among blacks. This in turn confirms prior beliefs about the poor credit of average black applicants. Much, but not all, of the racial disparity in loan outcomes can be explained by racial differences in credit scores and the resulting racial disparity in loan outcomes explains much of the racial difference in false perceptions about bad credit. Thus, a possible self-fulfilling mechanism remains within the credit market that perpetuates views about black bad credit.

Affirmative Action Retrenchment in Public Procurement and Contracting

This article provides estimates of the impacts of a race-neutral programme called an Emerging Small Business Enterprise (ESBE) Programme in New Jersey in 2003–2004 on women- and minority-owned contractors. We show that although women- and minority-owned firms conceptually benefit from ESBE set-asides, they do not benefit as much as non-Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs), resulting in a reduced share of total contract dollars awarded to DBEs.

Black-White Disparities in Test Scores: Distributional Characteristics

This paper investigates the distributional characteristics of racial differences in mathematics achievement, with particular attention to the potential influence of unexplained, and possibly unwarranted, racial differentials in rates of school suspension. It is well known that black students consistently score lower than whites on achievement tests, on average, even after controlling for family and schooling factors. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, we decompose the racial gap in mathematics test scores from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised (PIAT-R) into a component due to racial differences in underlying characteristics and another component that is unexplained by differences in measured characteristics. We account for the possible endogeneity of suspensions in our analysis and show that the portion of the racial gap that is unexplained differs between the top and the bottom of the test score distribution. Our results suggest that researchers should pay more attention to the problem of concentration of black students among those at the bottom of the distribution and their scarcity among those at the top of the test score distribution to better understand the factors that account for the observed disparities.

How Do Economic Recessions Affect the U.S. Restaurant Industry

The objective of this study is to examine how the U.S. economic recessions have affected the restaurant industry using the key economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment rate, and interest rates. The analysis has been conducted separately for the full-service restaurant and limited-service restaurant sectors. Despite growing concerns about the consequences of economic recessions in the restaurant industry, little research has been conducted in this area. During an economic recession, limited-service restaurant sales might increase since consumers opt to use relatively inexpensive dining options such as fast-food while full-service restaurant sales are more likely to plunge due to high menu prices. The results of this study will provide useful guidance and assistance to restaurant operators as well as practitioners, in particular during periods of economic recession.

The impact of service quality and customer satisfaction on consumer spending in wineries

The purpose of the study is to examine the key attributes of winery service quality that affect winery visitors’ satisfaction. The study also investigates the key factors that affect winery visitor...

Exploring the Impacts of McService on Customers’ Loyalty: An Emerging Market’s Perspective

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to examine the key service quality attributes that affect Korean consumers’ loyalty toward McDonald’s in Korea. A survey instrument was developed to examine the key service quality attributes that influenc Korean consumers’ loyalty. The surveys were distributed to Korean college students. The results of the study suggest that social place and employee service quality are the two major dimensions that significantly affect Korean respondents’ intent to return to McDonald’s. Interestingly, convenience, value, and food quality were not found to be major dimensions that impact Korean respondents’ intention to return to McDonald’s. This finding is starkly different from the common belief that McService is based on value and covenience, as emphasized by McDonald’s value statements. The results of the study suggests that Korean consumers view McDonald’s as a social gathering place and expect high service quality from McDonald’s.