Extant literature identified the value of innovative firm behavior for organizational success for manufacturers and service providers (Christensen, 1998; Damanpour, 1991; de Brentani, 1993; Easingwood, 1986; Schumpeter, 1939; Senge, 1994). Increasing complexity of consumer markets, information technologies and an economic environment that forces organizations to rethink their business strategies are especially characteristic for service providers, making the development of new services an essential, but also risky task. A series of organizational conditions, such as a formalized new products/service development process, managerial support for innovation and a culture that encourages innovation were identified as critical for the successful development of innovations. Little research, however, has been done to understand the role of partners for the development of new service, and in particular to evaluate which aspects of new service development benefit the most from partner involvement. To understand the link between organizational settings for innovation and inter-organizational relationships in the new service development process, this study incorporates three areas of research: innovation, supply chain management and inter-organizational relationships. This study was framed within tourism destinations, especially destination marketing organizations (DMOs). They are responsible to market and develop a destination and, due to their role as information intermediaries, their need to collaborate with destination businesses to deliver a seamless tourism experience. This study consists of two major phases. First, a national study among the population of American DMOs was conducted to identify the extent of innovation, the drivers of partner integration in new service development as well as their impact on new services. Second, the value of organizational innovation settings on partnership integration was identified. Study results provide insight into the current status of innovation development and partner integration in the new service development process. The results also indicate that the nature of DMOs was changing from pure marketing organizations to management organizations that actively participate in destination development through innovation. In this study innovation was measured by three core elements: orientation towards demand, strategic and corporate fit as well as newness. DMOs do collaborate with partners to develop new tourism products and services. Partner integration was driven by top management support, as well as a strategic and long-term perspective towards partnerships. Furthermore, partner integration was found to have a positive effect on the strategic and corporate fit as well as market orientation. Lastly, DMOs that organize for the development of new services were found to achieve a more positive effect on innovation. This study concluded that organizations strategically need to engage in inter-organizational relationships with the goal to incorporate partners in the new service development process. Furthermore, organizational strategies towards innovation are critical as they enable the organization to achieve better results. Partnerships, thus, are critical for innovation, whereby innovation can be programmed given that it is supported through organizational settings. / Business Administration

In this study, Albanian migrants' choices to settle in the UK are addressed. The leading question is why they migrate from Albania and why they choose to enter the UK clandestinely instead of other European countries, where they can travel with a passport (do not need a Visa). The study also assesses their expectations of the UK and future intentions for residency. Data were gathered using a mixed-methods research design with a pragmatic approach by analyzing quantitative surveys, further supported by six qualitative follow-up interviews. The results indicated that the socioeconomic and political conditions in Albania were the primary factor pushing the migrants to migrate. The United Kingdom is chosen as a migration destination because of the general view of the country in terms of economic prospects and quality of life. The findings also revealed that social networks were an essential determinant in the decision of destination selection, shaping the image of the destination country. Thus, regardless of their undocumented status, most participants do not plan to return to their home country.

Origin-Destination (O-D) trip tables represent the demand-supply information of each directed zonal-pair in a given region during a given period of time. The effort of this research is to develop a linear programming methodology for estimating O-D trip tables based on observed link volumes. In order to emphasize the nature of uncertainty in the data and in the problem, the developed model permits the user's knowledge of path travel time to vary within a band-width of values, and accordingly modifies the user-optimality principle. The data on the observed flows might also not be complete and need not be perfectly matched. In addition, a prior trip table could also be specified in order to guide the updating process via the model solution. To avoid excessive computational demands required by a total numeration of all possible paths between each O-D pair, a Column Generation Algorithm (CGA) is adopted to exploit the special structures of the model. Based on the known capacity of each link, a simple formula is suggested to calculate the cost for the links having unknown volumes. An indexed cost is introduced to avoid the consideration of unnecessary passing-through-zone paths, and an algorithm for solving the corresponding minimum-cost-path problem is developed. General principles on the design of an object-oriented code are presented, and some useful programming techniques are suggested for this special problem. Some test results on the related models are presented and compared, and different sensitivity analyses are performed based on different scenarios. Finally, several research topics are recommended for future research. / Master of Science

The motivation behind this research is the need for a real-time implementable, yet accurate, procedure for estimating an origin-destination (O-D) trip-table based on entering and exiting traffic volume data for a given freeway section. These tables help in on-line control of traffic facilities, and consequently, are of significant use in alleviating traffic congestion. The dynamism of the approach captures the variations in the traffic counts with time which are in tum used to predict user travel patterns. Two models have been developed for this problem, one based on a least squares estimation and the other based on an <i>1</i>₁ norm approach. Two projected conjugate gradient schemes are investigated for solving the constrained least squares problem, and an interior point affine scaling algorithm that is applied to the dual problem is explored for solving the <i>1</i>₁ estimation linear programming problem. Computational results are presented on a set of test problems involving the determination of O-D trip tables for both intersection and freeway scenarios in order to demonstrate the viability of the proposed methods. These results exhibit that, unlike as reported in the literature based on previous efforts, properly designed parameter optimization methods can indeed provide accurate estimates in a realtime implementation. Hence, this research presents a competitive alternative to the iterative statistical techniques that have been heretofore used because of their real-time processing capabilities, despite their inherent inaccuracies. We hope that the proposed technology enhances existing methods for constructing O-D trip-tables from traffic counts. / Master of Science

Yes / Residents are pivotal in the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Yet, their role as place-brand ambassadors needs better understanding, particularly in relation to social media, which directly link visitors to residents through user-generated-content (UGC). This paper explores residents’ roles as place-brand ambassadors on Twitter, using the case of Onomichi (Japan), where decreasing population meets economic dependence on tourism. From a content analysis of residents’ tweets, four distinct roles are identified, and corresponding types of content are mapped on a two-dimensional continuum based on direct vs. indirect word-of-mouth and the level of sentiment. Authors discuss implications for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs). Findings highlight the increasingly shifting role of residents towards being primary sources of place-marketing, especially due to social media, and as active proponents (rather than passive targets) of place-branding in the digital age. Such organic place-marketing may be the key to sustaining tourism in the face of rising anti-tourist sentiments worldwide.

Ce mémoire revisite à l’aide de méthodes d’économétrie spatiale le modèle gravitaire PODM (Passenger Origin-Destination Model) que Transports Canada utilise pour prédire le trafic aérien domestique de passagers. Différents modèles spatiaux de panel sont estimés par maximum de vraisemblance et par la méthode des moments. Les résultats montrent que l’approche traditionnelle ne détecte pas d’effets de la distance entre l’origine et la destination sur le volume du trafic intérieur de passagers. Ce sont les caractéristiques de la région d’origine et de destination (PIB, revenu disponible, population) et les caractéristiques du trajet (prix moyen du billet, nombre de vols offerts) qui sont les déterminants les plus importants des flux de passagers. Dans les modèles spatiaux explorés, les interactions spatiales se révèlent d’importants déterminants aux côtés des caractéristiques locales. La prise en compte de ces effets spatiaux pourrait permettre d’améliorer les prévisions de trafic de passagers au Canada. Mots clés : interactions spatiales, données de panel, maximum de vraisemblance, méthodes des moments.

Les temps changent, et de nouvelles temporalités sont venues modifier l’organisation du temps des individus. Les nouvelles technologies de l’information combinées à l’usage grandissant du véhicule en mode solo ont contribué à l’étalement urbain et à l’accroissement des distances qu’ont à franchir les migrants pendulaires. Les déplacements quotidiens de milliers de personnes sur un territoire urbain à des fins de travail, d’étude et de loisir ne se font pas sans heurts. Il va sans dire qu’un usage accru des moyens de transport collectif réduirait considérablement les méfaits occasionnés par les migrations pendulaires. Encore faut-il que l’offre de transport en commun réponde à la demande des migrants pendulaires. Puisqu’il y a différents types de migrants pendulaires, l’offre de transport doit s’adapter à tous si l’on veut rejoindre une masse importante d’utilisateurs. Les nouvelles temporalités ont redéfini l’usage du temps pour une majorité d’individus. Cette recherche vise donc à vérifier si l’offre de transport en commun, faite par la Société de Transport de Montréal et la Ville de Montréal, répond adéquatement aux besoins des navetteurs d’aujourd’hui. / Times change and the New Temporalities have modified the individual’s organization of time. The new information technologies combined with high car dependence contribute to urban sprawl and to the increase in distance for commuters. Thousands of daily moves made by commuters, moving in an urban territory, are not without consequences. A massive use of public transportation would lead to a decrease of inconveniences associated with daily commuting. Public transit companies have to provide commuters with excellent service. The offer has to be adapted to people’s needs, in order to reach a mass of users. The New Temporalities have modified the way most people use their time. The goal of this research is, then, to verify if the public transit supply of « La Société de Transport de Montréal et la Ville de Montréal» is adapted to today’s commuters’ needs.

Le droit de propriété, théoriquement absolu, est restreint dans le cadre de la copropriété divise étant donné le contexte individuel et collectif dans lequel il s’exerce. En fait, l’intérêt collectif peut lui imposer des restrictions, mais à certaines conditions. L’une d’entre elles, essentielle, est le respect de la destination de l’immeuble. Or, la notion de destination de l'immeuble ne fait l'objet d'aucune disposition législative permettant de la définir. Afin de préciser cette notion, deux conceptions ont été développées. La première est à l’effet qu’on doit tenir compte, dans la recherche de la destination de l'immeuble, de ses caractères et de sa situation. La deuxième prévoit plutôt qu'il faut distinguer ces trois éléments. Même si la première thèse est majoritairement admise en jurisprudence, nous croyons que les tribunaux interprètent trop largement cette notion, qui devrait être mieux circonscrite. Après une revue de la littérature et une analyse jurisprudentielle, nous développerons notre propre conception de la notion de destination, qui sera une voie mitoyenne entre les deux conceptions établies, et proposerons des améliorations quant à la rédaction de cette clause dans la déclaration de copropriété. / The right of ownership, absolute in theory, is restricted in the context of divided co-ownership because of the individual and collective environment in which it occurs. In fact, the collective interests may impose restrictions which have to respect certain conditions. One of these conditions, essential, is the respect of the destination of the immovable. Unfortunately, the notion of destination of the immovable is not the subject of any legislation to define it. To precise this notion, two concepts have been developed. The first is to the effect that we must take into account in the search for the destination of the immovable, its characteristics and location. The second concept rather provides that we must distinguish destination from characteristics and location. While the first thesis is mostly accepted in jurisprudence, we believe that the courts interpretation of that notion is too extended, which should be more circumscribed. After a review of the literature and a jurisprudence analysis, we will develop our own concept of the notion of destination, which will be a middle ground between the two established concepts, and will propose improvements on the drafting of this clause in the declaration of co-ownership.

This diploma thesis deals with effects and consequences of touristification in the spa town of Teplice. The aim of this work is the analysis of current state of Teplice's spa therapy and monitoring of functional changes in the town. The emphasis is placed on activities, relational links and the level of co- operation and attitudes of the main participants in the tourism in the town. An inseparable part is also an opinion poll (investigation) among local residents. The aim of this dissertation is, except for findings and an evaluation of effects of touristification in the area of interest, also the suggestion of steps leading to stabilization and improvement of the situation. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This diploma thesis is about the tourist area Central Bohemia - South , which belongs to the tourist region Central Bohemia. The main target of this thesis is to evaluate the management organization in this destination, to carry out the study of the primary and secondary tourism offer and also to evaluate the presentation and promotion of this area and introduce proper suggestions and recommendations for improvement of management and promotion. Part of the thesis is also author's own research of preferences of potential visitors, image and the research of attitude of locals to visitors. Also the PEST analysis of this destination was carried out and then was created the list of strenghts and weaknesses of the tourist area and the list of opportunities and threats for the next development of tourism.