Energy efficiency has long been an important issue to the global economic and political theaters; however, searching for an effective and concise measure for efficiency remains a contentious and intriguing topic. There are two obvious flaws with the commonly used metrics in existing literature. First, there is a sense of confusion and misunderstanding between the definitions of energy efficiency and efficacy. As a result, the formulae and methods for measuring efficiency are often the subject of criticism. Second, even if the definition of efficiency is clear, the method of estimation can be quite cumbersome, making it difficult to comprehend or implement. This study attempts to address these two issues. With an OECD comparative dataset, it first presents the contradiction between efficiency and efficacy, explains the loss of effectiveness with the existing measurements, and then proposes a new and easy-to-use method for gauging energy efficiency, so that the succinctness and robustness of the measurement can be re-established. The paper serves as a guide to those who are interested in the controversial issues related to measuring energy efficiency. Both practitioners and policy makers will find an easy and reliable tool from this paper for measuring energy efficiency.

Ironically, with an overwhelming usage of plastic shopping bags, and product packaging among Thailand’s small medium enterprises like the nation’s tourism street markets, literature, and informed practices on Thailand’s domestic plastic policy communications towards a policy understanding, are still insufficient. The current condition has eventually made this study possible. The research significance has reflected the diffusion of transnational communication framework towards domestic policy transfer and underscored a better attempt of policy understanding process especially towards tourism’s SME. The research employed a quantitative methodology with a total of 380 paper questionnaires distributed to SME sellers at Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. While the research endeavored to exercise the policy communications evidence of two major plastic policies in Thailand (National 3R Strategy Campaign & Plastic Debris Management Plan 2017-2021), of 380 respondents, 300 (79% response rate) were validated and proceeded to the next sequence of the survey as they had knowledge about mentioned two policies. With three types of communications venues proposed (non-formal, semi-formal & formal) and targeting three different policy understandings (objective, subjective & overall policy understanding), the finding has shown that all proposed communication venues, although robustly designed by an applicable theoretical foundation, did not contribute to the plastic’s overall policy understanding. Nevertheless, formal communication venues contributed positively toward an objective understanding of the policy, and non-formal venues toward subjective understanding. Most significantly, the distinctive finding of this research is a strong argument that Thailand’s government has not fully deemed the effective strategy and framework for its domestic plastic policy transfer - notably to tourism’s SMEs.

Purpose: Officially published on October 11th, 2021, Thailand government under Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) expanded the areas for MICE ((Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions Cities) cities development nationwide and took pride in its inclusive initiative in developing the lower-tier cities, regardless of the uncertain pandemic. Based on the report by TCEB Annual Report (2021), the 13 primary MICE to be developed under “MICE City Initiative'' include the tier-one, tier-two and tier-three cities. This research aims to explore Thailand’s lower tier cities’ MICE attributes (the lower tier cities under MICE development) as to underpin an informed data for all scholars, MICE professionals and government   Theoretical framework: This research recommends the development of dynamic and internal capabilities over their implications on MICE and destination level attributes   Design/methodology/approach: By enabling the importance-performance (IP) analysis, and with 435 volunteers from the scholars and professionals in tourism, hospitality, MICE, travel businesses, this research has been able to serve the novelty within the study of lower-tier city development and capabilities.   Findings: The finding of this study highlights (i) the first underpinning of the MICE capabilities analysis from the context of Thailand’s lower-tier cities - the research area that is oftentimes overlooked and consequently lacking; (ii) the overarching exploration on MICE attributes; (iii) the responsive and in-depth informed-research for the development of the lower-cities in Thailand; (iv) the offer of fresh MICE capabilities benchmarks for other ASEAN regions. In specific, the study discovered two significant concerns in the current MICE business in Thailand’s lower-tier cities; (i) the expected service standards in MICE facilities are still underperformed; (ii) whilst, the friendliness of tourism destinations is overperformed, hence, overkilled the importance.    Research, Practical & Social implications:  This research would serve a wide variety of travel and tourism and MICE professionals as well as scholars. Specifically for destination management; this research would navigate clear guidance for the holistic development of lower-tier cities in Thailand, and as a benchmark for other emerging countries.   Originality/value: This study takes a huge pride towards novel scholarship contribution of MICE business capabilities in the emerging economies. This research is able to further the application of previous research by J. Whitfield, et al. (2014) on MICE attributes, and the theories of dynamic and internal capabilities – while at the same time, offer benchmarks for other ASEAN’s MICE destination development.

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