Amidst the plethora of research regarding the meaning of authenticity, there remains uncertainty as to the work authenticity performs in tourism. Existential authenticity conceptually shifts focus from the objects of touristic practice to a sense of Being, suggesting that authenticity can be achieved, albeit only in the liminal moments of tourism experiences. Psychoanalysis would contend otherwiseauthenticity will always be beyond our reach. In a 2006 publication, Tim Oakes broaches the topic when discussing authenticity as "an abyss". We revisit that idea, developing it further through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis to argue that authenticity is a fantasy. It is not an empty concept, however, but like all fantasies authenticity does important work, particularly in tourism marketing and touristic motivation and experience. To better understand how authenticity as a fantasy fosters tourism desire, it is necessary to develop a conceptual understanding of alienation in relation to tourism motivation. This paper moves alienation from the periphery to the center of tourism theories, demonstrates the dialectical relationship of authenticity/alienation, and posits that as a fantasy authenticity is a malleable concept that has the ability to contextualize the "something" that is missing from our lives. As such, it will remain salient in tourism.

No abstract

The usefulness of various statistics for comparing observed and predicted spatial interaction matrices is examined. Results indicate that some statistics may yield misleading information about error levels in predicted matrices. Other statistics are found to be unsuitable for significance testing. The concept of experimental distributions is discussed for several of the statistics. Although framed in the context of spatial interaction modeling, the discussion is relevant to most matrix comparison problems.

This paper presents a framework for assessing alignment between corporate strategy, procurement strategy and purchasing tools. The framework is built on generation of rents as its common denominator for assessing alignment between the levels. Three types of rents are identified: monopoly rents; Ricardian rents and entrepreneurial rents. The framework is then used for assessing the strategic origin of the following e-procurement applications: e-sourcing, e-tendering, e-informing, e-reversed auctions, e-MRO, Web-based enterprise resource planning and e-collaboration. The results indicate that the e-procurement tools are fully viable for creating monopoly rents, moderately viable for creating Ricardian rents and only somewhat viable for creating entrepreneurial rents. Therefore, it is necessary to first understand how the firm generates rents before procurement strategy and e-procurement tools are implemented in order to avoid misalignment.

Abstract:This exploratory study provides initial directions about how risk management programmes could be assessed in a supply chain setting and discusses how such a measurement system could be designed. Measures are needed both for the management to evaluate the success of actions taken in supply chain risk management, as well as for the (supply chain) risk manager to communicate the value of his work. A number of indicators could show whether it is successful, for example, in reducing risk consequences, addressing the right risk sources and developing the right risk management processes. A central question within assessing risk management programmes is how to link risk management activities to outcomes. A tentative framework, based on a quality model, is proposed to assess the performance of supply chain risk management work. It highlights the importance of trying to capture both the capabilities of supply chain risk management and the results of the work.