Sharon C. Cobb

The Role of Corporate, Professional, and Personal Networks in the Provision of Offshore Financial Services

In a small island offshore financial center (OFC), different kinds of networks influence the provision of financial services. In this paper I will analyze the roles played by corporate, professional, and personal networks in the creation of a superior reputation among competing OFCs. Empirical evidence has shown that the success of an OFC is driven by appropriate financial regulation and supervision addressing the critical precepts of reputation and trust. Such spatially focused regulation can be created by networks of professional associations such as banking or insurance associations interacting with public sector officials on a regular basis. Continued growth of an OFC occurs through marketing efforts of both corporate and personal networks. The dynamic nature of these networks and their social structure encompassing power and gender relations will be explored.

Concept Mapping Strategies: Content, Tools and Assessment for Human Geography

Abstract This article examines the use of concept mapping for formative and summative assessment of northeast Florida middle school students’ knowledge of human geography. The students were participants in an afterschool, academic, college reach-out program that provided opportunities to test concept mapping strategies that support spatial thinking and stimulate interest in human geography. The study documents the use of concept mapping for assessment of seventh graders’ achievement of a specific lesson and for students’ human geography achievement across all implementation grades. Concept mapping results provided insight into aspects of the curriculum and instruction where appropriate modifications could better facilitate meaningful learning.

Globalization in a small island context: creating and marketing competitive advantage for offshore financial services

Economic globalization is a modem phenomenon well documented in a variety of literatures. Increasing fluidity of financial systems in conjunction with advancements in telecommunications support the seamless movement of assets and capital from place to place. Most attention on issues of global finance has been focused upon large places particularly the world financial centres of London, New York, and Tokyo but how do little places carve a niche to enable themselves to successfully participate in the new global economy? Why do many multinational companies choose to locate in small places? What competitive advantages may be forged from small jurisdictions? The answer to these questions will be pursued by analysing one relatively underexplored facet of the new global economy: offshore financial services.

Potential and Actual Accessibility to Hospital and Hospital Services in Northeast Florida

This paper attempts to answer several questions addressing the provision of health care services in the Jacksonville, Florida MSA. Previous literature in the field of medical geography has focused on describing potential accessibility to hospitals and healthcare services, but this study also models actual use of such services by using a hospital patient database. Findings from a GIS-based analysis using ESRI ArcGIS and the Business Analyst extension suggests that distance to the nearest hospital is not the best measure of access to hospital care because of the lack of consideration of hospital capacity. This study demonstrates that health services delivery can be better understood and planned when the potential accessibilities to services and the actual utilization of such services are jointly considered.

Why Offshore? Exploring the Geographies of Offshore Financial Centers

The global economy of the 21st century is characterized by the increasing differentiation between the haves and the have-nots, the educated and illiterate, the skilled and unskilled. This inequitable trend is well documented in the arena of technology and the concomitant analysis of global geographies of production, but less attention has been paid to factors associated with the hypermobility of capital and the services provided by those functioning in offshore finance centers (OFCs).