1,721,059 research outputs found
An Analysis of the Efficiency of Italian Cruise Terminals
No full textThe cruise industry has recently witnessed considerable growth, during which time the Mediterranean Basin and, in particular, the Italian area has gained an increasingly
competitive position. A significant role in the investment and management decisions and in the level of efficiency and performance of terminal cruise operations is played by the
possible partnerships between private and public actors (port authorities, cruise terminals, cruise line companies). The aim of this paper is to measure the technical efficiency of Ital-
ian cruise terminals in the Mediterranean Basin when public and private actors participate
in the management of terminals. Cruise terminal efficiency is measured by the calculation of the production function with multi-outputs. We apply stochastic frontier analysis based
on the distance function. The study shows that the partnership between private and public (with a strong private management component) has a positive impact on the technical ef-
ficiency of the cruise terminals.
Keywords : Cruise Terminals, Efficiency, Management.
jel Classification: L91, R42
Measuring the scope of inter-firm agreements in the container shipping industry: an empirical assessment
No full textIn container shipping industry inter-firm agreements are becoming progressively popular as ship-owners share their slot capacity with commercial partners in order to have fully loaded container ships and reduce financial risk. This manuscript focuses on the co-operative agreements among shipping firms, i.e. vessel sharing and slot charter agreements within consortia and strategic alliances. Through a quantitative approach based on network and OLS regression analysis, we scrutinise the propensity to co-operate, the geographic extent and leveraging effect generated by this commercial practise on the container-shipping industry. Results show that carriers, usually regarded as independent, are instead fairly co-operative, especially when involved in trade lanes originating from the Far East. Finally, we show that carriers increase their commercial objectives by leveraging the operated fleet capacity. We conclude with some implications for managers and practitioners as well as a discussion on limitations and future extensions of this study
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Governance and efficiency of Italian cruise terminals
No full textOver the past 25 years the cruise industry has witnessed considerable growth. The increasing size and passenger
capacity characterizes the maritime industry, e.g. new vessels can accommodate more than 3000 passengers.
Cruise production is concentrated in the hands of a few players, in fact, 77% of capacity (calculated in terms of
berths) belongs to the top five world cruise companies (Carnival Corporation & PLC, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
Ltd, Star Cruises Ltd – NCL, Louise Cruise Lines and MSC Crociere S.p.A.). During the growth phase of the cruise
industry, the Mediterranean has gained an increasingly competitive position. It has become one of the top
destinations chosen by cruise companies for its position, temperate climate, historical‐artistic resources, and
political stability, but the importance of Mediterranean cruise ports also depends on services that ports offer to
the cruise shipping enterprise. Moreover, the features of ports and passenger terminals have attracted cruise
companies to this area and they have also influenced the decision of cruise operators to invest in cruise
infrastructure. The characteristics of the partnerships between Port Authorities, Cruise Terminals and Cruise
Companies play a significant role in investment and management decisions of every shipping player. Cruise
shipping lines in this context are faced with a make or buy decision to directly control some specific operations
and to obtain preferential port spaces in order to gain competitive advantage over cruise competitors. The aim of
the paper is to measure the impacts on performance of cruise terminals when public‐private partnership is
implemented. Despite the spread of public‐private partnerships in the management of cruise terminals, there are
few studies dedicated to this topic. Cruise terminal efficiency is measured by the calculation of the production
function with multi‐outputs. The data analysis is conducted with the construction of an extensive dataset on
Mediterranean cruise terminals and we apply stochastic frontier analysis based on the distance function. The
study provides interesting insights into the organisational and governance behaviour of cruise shipping lines, but
in particular we examine how the structural organisation of cruise terminals is moving towards higher
operational efficiency
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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