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A global mind, a joy forever

This dissertation increases our insight into the role of the service employee’s intercultural competences in the service to culturally diverse customers. Investigating the effect of the intercultural competences of service employees is of major importance because, as a consequence of globalization, the number of intercultural service encounters has increased dramatically and still does. The delivery of service to a culturally diverse customer-base requires a combination of knowledge, skills and attitude; the intercultural competences (also known as Global Mindset). In this study the hotel sector has been investigated specifically. The hotel sector is an important economic player that continues to grow inspite of economic downturn. The special characteristics of hotel services make the sector also very suitable for the research of face-to-face encounters in an international context. In this dissertation, a holistic approach has been chosen, meaning that in the four empirical studies not only the perspective of the manager, but also that of the employee and the customer was investigated. All three of the above-mentioned are actors in intercultural service according to the argumentation of the ‘service-profit chain’ (Heskett, Jones, et al., 1994). Together, the manager, employee and the customer form the so-called ‘service triangle’ (Bitner, 1990).

Walled off: tourism and justice in oppressed communities.

Good practices in cultural heritage management and the use of subsurface knowledge in urban areas

City growth threatens sustainable development of cities. Over the past decades increased urbanization has created more pressure - not only on the suburban outskirts - but also in the inner core of the cities, putting important environmental issues such as water management and cultural heritage under stress. Cultural heritage, either standing monuments or archaeological remains, is internationally recognized as an important legacy of our history. The European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage incorporates concepts and ideas that have become accepted practice in Europe. Conservation and enhancement of archaeological heritage is one of the goals of urban planning policies. One of the key objectives of the European policy is to protect, preferably in-situ, archaeological remains buried in the soil or seabed and to incorporate archaeological heritage into spatial planning policies. Conflicts with prior uses and unappreciated impacts on other subsurface resources, amongst them archaeological heritage, make use of underground space in cities suboptimal. In terms of ecosystem services, the subsurface environment acts either as a carrier of archaeological heritage in situ (stewardship) or supports above-ground cultural heritage. Often, it’s not enough to protect the heritage site or monument itself: new developments outside a specific protected area can lead to changes in groundwater level, and cause serious damage to heritage buildings and archaeological deposits. This paper presents good practices in cultural heritage management and the use of subsurface knowledge in urban areas.

Enhancing DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Business Bay

My journey as a student for the past four years within the bachelor programme Hotel Management at Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Apeldoorn is coming to an end. As the final academic chapter, completed the Young Professional Semester in order to obtain my bachelorandapos;s degree. DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Business Bay represents the company which welcomed me to complete this semester. Throughout this period, I worked on a pertinent issue and put together a professional product for my client, Mr. Hany Ahmed, the General Manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Business Bay. I am immensely grateful for my place as an intern within this organization because here I learned about excellent teamwork, business development and sales strategies.

Business Process Management and Process Performance

Abstract Business Process Management (BPM) is an important discipline for organizations to manage their business processes. Research shows that higher BPM-maturity leads to better process performance. However, contextual factors such as culture seem to influence this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of national culture on the relationship between BPM-maturity and process performance. A multiple linear regression analysis is performed based on data from six different countries within Europe. Although the results show a significant relationship between BPM-maturity and process performance, no significant moderation effect of national culture has been found. The cultural dimension long term orientation shows a weak negative correlation with both BPM-maturity and process performance. Through a post-hoc moderation analysis on each dimension of BPM-maturity, we further find that long term orientation negatively moderates the relationship between process improvement and process performance. Three other moderation effects are also discovered. The results of this study contribute to insights into the role of culture in the field of BPM.

CREM voor woningcorporaties

Doordat er vele meningen zijn, vindt iedereen wel iets van maatschappelijk vastgoed en de besturing daarvan door corporaties. Maar wat is een toegangsbewijs voor een competitieve strategie van woningcorporaties om de druk van belanghebbenden te weerstaan? En hoe kan deze vorm gegeven worden met Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) voor besturing van maatschappelijk vastgoed van een woningcorporatie? Dit artikel maakt deel uit van het promotie onderzoek Waardedenken & Besturen, een onderzoek naar maatschappelijk en financieel rendement van woningcorporaties