Search results

In the 1990s, following the challenges imposed by globalisation, the liner shipping industry experienced profound changes, leading major carriers to create ad-hoc logistics business-units. Nevertheless the vertical integration of shipping lines along the transport chain faced important entry barriers in various regions.This paper aims at analysing the impact of such barriers on carriers’ pathways of expansion in the logistics business. It mainly focuses on the East-Asian market, as a relevant empirical case in which important institutional and socio-political obstacles are still in force .Main results disclose sui-generis paths of expansion achieved by major carriers, in contrast with linear constructs of time and space proposed by classical TNC theories. In such respect, port operations reveal to be the most critical stage of the chain. The ‘sidestep’ of the port phase, leading to investments in other on-shore activities (warehousing, inland terminals, etc.) as well as the implementation of aggressive financial campaigns (acquisitions and takeovers), reveal the unfaltering will of top shipping lines: the quick achievement of a successful vertical and horizontal expansion despite environmental obstacles.

A new academic structure for senior secondary and higher education was introduced to Hong Kong in 2009/2010. This paper aims to: (1) compare the cohort from the old academic structure (Cohort 2010) and the cohort from the new academic structure (Cohort 2015) on the 14 categories of generic competencies; and (2) compare these attributes among students from different divisions in a tertiary institution in Hong Kong.

Self-Assessment of All-Round Development (SAARD) questionnaires were distributed to students who took the two-year sub-degree programmes offered by the College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2010 and 2015 on a self-administered basis. A total of 4,424 students have returned the questionnaires. Data were analyzed with t-test to compare between the two cohorts.

When comparing Cohort 2015 with Cohort 2010, significantly higher scores were observed on five areas such as global outlook and healthy lifestyle (p<0.05). Significantly lower scores were observed on the other five areas such as problem solving, critical thinking and leadership (p<0.05). Students from all divisions unanimously showed higher perceived rating on social and national responsibility but lower perceived rating on leadership (p<0.05).

The elimination of one public examination, the newly included components such as Other Learning Experiences (OLE) and the compulsory Liberal Studies were believed to contribute partially to the diverse responses of the two cohorts. The dramatic change of the curriculum has not changed the examination culture in Hong Kong which may hinder the development of generic skills among students.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how emerging open standards are replacing traditional industrial networks. Current industrial Ethernet networks are not interoperable; thus, limiting the potential capabilities for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). There is no forthcoming new generation fieldbus standard to integrate into the IIoT and Industry 4.0 revolution. The open platform communications unified architecture (OPC UA) time-sensitive networking (TSN) is a potential vendor-independent successor technology for the factory network. The OPC UA is a data exchange standard for industrial communication, and TSN is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standard for Ethernet that supports real-time behaviour. The merging of these open standard solutions can facilitate cross-vendor interoperability for Industry 4.0 and IIoT products.

A brief review of the history of the fieldbus standards is presented, which highlights the shortcomings for current industrial systems in meeting converged traffic solutions. An experimental system for the OPC UA TSN is described to demonstrate an approach to developing a three-layer factory network system with an emphasis on the field layer.

From the multitude of existing industrial network schemes, there is a convergence pathway in solutions based on TSN Ethernet and OPC UA. At the field level, basic timing measurements in this paper show that the OPC UA TSN can meet the basic critical timing requirements for a fieldbus network.

This paper uniquely focuses on the specific fieldbus standards elements of industrial networks evolution and traces the developments from the early history to the current developing integration in IIoT context.

Around three million infants die within the first four weeks of life each year – nearly all (98%) of these deaths occur in developing countries. Approximately one million newborns die each year in India. Therefore, this study aims to determine the patterns of reported neonatal morbidity and care-seeking behavior and identify factors associated with it.

A cross-sectional study was conducted during November 2016. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the sample. Statistical techniques like Binary Logistic regression and chi-square test were used.

The results of the study showed that around 31% mothers of neonates reported that their neonates suffered from some kind of morbidity. Fever, jaundice, cough and cold, the low birth-weight and difficulty in breathing were the most common dangers signs reported. Birth order and mother’s knowledge of neonatal danger signs were found to be significantly associated with reporting of neonatal morbidity. In all 95% of the mothers sought care for their newborns. Among those who had problems, 59% consulted private hospitals/clinics, 30% visited District Hospital/Taluka Hospital or higher facilities and another 9% to Primary Health Centers/Community Health Centers. Further, findings show that nearly half of the neonates taken to government facilities have got free treatment, whereas an average cost of 7,156 INR were recorded for treatment, 935 INR for outpatient department and 13,774 INR for inpatient department cases.

There is an urgent need to implement intervention modalities that focus on increasing the level of parental education and access to treatment, and advocating the message regarding newborn danger signs during pregnancy is pinpointed.

Vertical line extension is an attractive growth strategy that allows brands to address heterogeneous consumer needs and react to competitive pressure. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and summarize vertical line extension research to derive general insights into vertical upward and downward line extension.

Drawing on a systematic review of 536 academic articles and predefined inclusion criteria, this research identifies and evaluates all articles that add knowledge to the topic of vertical line extension (n = 64).

This research derives general insights in several vertical line extension-specific issues. Different forms of vertical line extension, conceptual differences between upward and downward extensions, as well as the role of perceived fit, extension degree and the parent brand are crucial for the study and evaluation of extension and parent brand feedback effects. Those effects are complex and often work in opposing directions not only for the parent brand but also for the extension. Future research needs to face that complexity as well as methodological issues and different research contexts to further advance the literature stream.

This paper provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of vertical line extension research characteristics and results. It provides new insights on the characteristics and effects of vertical line extensions and guides future research on the topic.

This paper explores international trade of the Chinese manufacturing industries through the lenses of network analysis (NA) to visualise the world trade network of the Chinese economy, describe its topology and better explain the international organisation of Chinese manufacturing industries.

The authors built a dataset of 40,550 Chinese companies and their 107,026 subsidiaries in 118 countries from Orbis-BVD and used a NA to investigate the connection between China and other countries. In particular, the authors studied the connections between Chinese companies and their subsidiaries in order to build a network of Chinese industries.

The authors found that the network of Chinese companies is ramified but not wide and it can be divided into two clusters. Moreover, the relations between China and other peripheral countries are strongly mediated by a few leading locations (e.g. Hong Kong and the USA).

This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the authors provide empirical evidence on the magnitude and ramifications of Chinese enterprises in the world. The existing studies generally focus on applying NA to sectoral insights (Mao and Yang, 2012; Shaikh et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2016; Wanzenbö ck, 2018; Krichene et al., 2019), whereas in this work the authors take a comprehensive view of the entire Chinese manufacturing system. Second, this paper complements the existing literature identifying the difference between cluster levels in Chinese manufacturing (Wu and Jiang, 2011) by proposing a cluster centralisation method to analyse the international network of Chinese firms rather than just the national network. Finally, the results also shed light on the international trade relationship between China, Hong Kong and the USA.

Container shipping is generally considered a global business. This truth may not hold from a single-company perspective. The companies’ physical operation networks show that container carriers operate differently and follow different paths in their internationalisation development. Additionally, the degree of internationalisation, measured on the basis of sea-oriented operations, differs from that measured according to land-oriented front-end marketing and sales activities. The purpose of this study is to further examine the internationalisation patterns of shipping lines.

An examination of the front-end activities and the structures of leading container-shipping companies is conducted. The sales office networks of the sector’s 20 largest companies worldwide (by twenty-foot equivalent unit capacity) are analysed as key indicators. The numbers of sales offices are measured by analysing the websites of the sample (20 companies), as well as annual reports and other publicly available data sources.

The findings show that not all shipping companies are international, by virtue of the industry. While it is difficult to observe differences in the overall patterns of the sales networks at a macro level, some companies differ in their activities. The data set also shows that market share and total capacity are not necessarily good indicators of a carrier’s worldwide presence.

This research is based on secondary data. Other important transactional and market-oriented considerations should be examined before drawing conclusions about the internationalisation of container-shipping companies and of the industry.

This paper contributes to the relevant existing research, particularly by adding its view on the demand-oriented criteria as suggested by Dunning and Lundan (2008).

In the 21^st Century, a region 's growth and prosperity will depend upon its intermodal transportation infrastructure and its ability to efficiently move goods, materials, and people within the system whether it be from origin to destination; from supplier to customer through the various levels of the supply-chain; or from point to point within the system. Planning for the future focuses on improving a region 's intermodal transportation system efficiencies and infrastructure, its connection to other economies, and on the development of logistics institutions and facilities.

With China 's rapidly developing economy and society, record numbers of new modern facilities such as airports, ports, highways, logistics parks and warehouses are being built. Along with this, companies have made extensive investments in information technologies and software to support the tremendous growth that has taken place in the logistics industry. The development and improvement of China's historic inland water transport system is essential to their continued future growth and prosperity. In Korea, past and present National Governments have emphasized the importance of developing a North East Asian Logistics and Business Hub in their region and have worked on strategies, which include water transport, as part of an important national agenda to that end.

This article looks at how trade flows in the Yangtze and Yellow Sea Regions and between China and South Korea might be enhanced by application of improved shipping methods in marine commerce that will promote economic growth in the region. The application of logistics practices and use of barges is explored for the movement of containers on inland and coastal waterways as well as in short sea shipping which could greatly facilitate the region 's situation with respect to future economic growth.

This paper analyses container throughput developments in the East Asia container port system. Throughput evolutions and concentration/deconcentration patterns in the multi-range container port system of East Asia are analysed. The paper also provides a more in-depth qualitative analysis of the reasons underlying the observed trends and results. It is demonstrated that the East Asian port system is undergoing major structural shifts in cargo patterns and is witnessing a cargo deconcentration trend as a result of the rise of the Chinese ports and the relative stagnation of the Japanese range.