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This paper develops a robust hospital readmission prediction framework by combining the feature selection algorithm and machine learning (ML) classifiers. The improved feature selection is proposed by considering the uncertainty in patient's attributes that leads to the output variable.

First, data preprocessing is conducted which includes how raw data is managed. Second, the impactful features are selected through feature selection process. It started with calculating the relational grade of each patient towards readmission using grey relational analysis (GRA) and the grade is used as the target values for feature selection. Then, the influenced features are selected using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) method. This proposed method is termed as Grey-LASSO feature selection. The final task is the readmission prediction using ML classifiers.

The proposed method offered good performances with a minimum feature subset up to 54–65% discarded features. Multi-Layer Perceptron with Grey-LASSO gave the best performance.

The performance of Grey-LASSO is justified in two readmission datasets. Further research is required to examine the generalisability to other datasets.

In designing the feature selection algorithm, the selection on influenced input variables was based on the integration of GRA and LASSO. Specifically, GRA is a part of the grey system theory, which was employed to analyse the relation between systems under uncertain conditions. The LASSO approach was adopted due to its ability for sparse data representation.

Discussions on the implications of power relations among the state, market, and society in urban plans and planning processes are usually centered on urban issues. Studies on suburbanization generally look at suburbs and satellite towns as “spillovers” of high density in the cities, deteriorating conditions of the innercity – particularly in the case of the United States – as well as the longing for living closer to nature. During the twentieth century, both the garden suburb and garden city movements in Britain influenced the planning of new communities overseas. The garden city movement of Ebenezer Howard, emphasizing new and attractive planned towns with their own socialisitic administration, employment, and local facilities, has strong echoes in Singapore's new towns, although the adaptation of the concept in Singapore is more towards the physical landscapes and built greeneries rather than embracing the whole idea of the garden city.

There are ten universal principles of United Nations Global Compact in four areas namely human rights, labour, environmental and anti-corruption, and this chapter will explore the sixth principle of labour standard on elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation, in particular the doctrine of constructive dismissal in Malaysian labour relations. Constructive dismissal is creating a new challenge in labour relation in Malaysia.

This chapter specifically analyses some of the constructive dismissal awards and its implication to labour relations in Malaysia. The methodology employed in this chapter is the analysis of case laws using criterion-based sampling from the Industrial and Superior Court awards on constructive dismissal.

There has been an increasing number of awards on constructive dismissal made by the Malaysian Industrial Court over the last nine years. From the year 2009–2013, the Industrial Court has made 663 awards on constructive dismissal, mostly against employers. With compensation awarded to each employee amounted to as much as 24 months of back-pay salary plus a month’s pay for every year of service, employers can no longer neglect this pressing issue.

The concept of constructive dismissal falls within the purview of section 20 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 in Malaysia. Constructive dismissal is a ‘deemed dismissal’ if an employer is guilty of a breach of the employment contract which goes to the root of the contract. It arises when a workman terminates his/her contract of employment and considers himself/herself discharged from further obligations because of the employer’s conduct.

With a good understanding of the constructive dismissal awards, it is expected that organizations will manage and treat their human resources as their greatest assets and prevent constructive dismissal claims from taking place. This will eventually help to improve and maintain harmonious labour relations. This chapter is likely to provide insights into the Malaysian labour relations environment for international business operations.

In the context of Malaysian labour relations, studies on constructive dismissal are limited as it is considered as a new area and a specific area of study. This chapter therefore hopes to fill the existing gap in the literature, to highlight some of the recent awards and lessons to prevent constructive dismissal claims from taking place and generally to contribute to the constructive dismissal literature.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two corruption scandals in Singapore to illustrate how its government has dealt with these scandals and to discuss the implications for its anti-corruption strategy.

This paper analyses the Teh Cheang Wan and Edwin Yeo scandals by relying on published official and press reports.

Both scandals resulted in adverse consequences for the offenders. Teh committed suicide on 14 December 1986 before he could be prosecuted for his bribery offences. Yeo was found guilty of criminal breach of trust and forgery and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The Commission of Inquiry found that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was thorough in its investigations which confirmed that only Teh and no other minister or public official were implicated in the bribery offences. The Independent Review Panel appointed by the Prime Minister's Office to review the CPIB's internal controls following Yeo's offences recommended improvements to strengthen the CPIB's financial procedures and audit system. Singapore has succeeded in minimising corruption because its government did not cover-up the scandals but punished the guilty offenders and introduced measures to prevent their recurrence.

This paper will be useful for scholars, policymakers and anti-corruption practitioners interested in Singapore's anti-corruption strategy and how its government handles corruption scandals.

I study a series of restructuring activities undertaken by Guoco Group Limited in recent years and the implications on minority shareholders. The divestment of Dao Heng Bank Group to DBS Group reaped substantial benefits for Guoco, including an enormous cash reserves to fund future investments. However, the cash hoard was not implemented to the best use by Guoco’s managers. Subsequently, Guoco was involved in a number of share buybacks schemes. The share‐buybacks met strong resistance from the minority shareholders and eventually forced out the second largest shareholders. Guoco was also engaged in related party transaction involving its subsidiaries in the property development business. Overall, I find evidences suggesting that corporate restructuring activities enhance the controlling owner’s grip on the group at the expense of the minority shareholders.

In the face of Singapore's land scarcity problem, there is an increasing prevalence of strata‐titled developments providing private housing in Singapore. This paper considers the awareness in certain quarters of certain fundamental aspects of this unique form of property ownership. The particular aspect which this paper considers is the understanding and interpretation of the term “common property” among two important groups of people. The first group comprises those who purchase strata title properties – they are referred to as “subsidiary proprietors”. The second group comprises “managing agents” (MAs), who may be delegated this task of professionally managing and maintaining the strata‐titled development. The findings of a survey are that their understanding of this fundamental term is inadequate. Based on these findings, the paper concludes with recommendations for improving the level of professionalism among MAs through licensing and courses for continuing professional development. This will bode well for the overall state of strata‐titled developments which are not only here to stay, but are expected to increase in number in Singapore.

The aim of this study is to trace the factors that have contributed to the adoption and institutionalization of foresight practices within the Singapore Public Service, Government of Singapore.

This study discusses the history of the adoption and institutionalization of foresight practices in the Singapore Government; this study has carried out content analysis of secondary literature and conducted 11 in-depth semi-structured interviews with elite informants.

This study finds that the adoption and institutionalization of foresight practices in the Singapore Government was brought about by a combination of five factors. The most foundational factor in our model is the role of institutional entrepreneurs, who drew upon the symbolic representation of Singapore’s vulnerability to legitimize the use of foresight, thus resonating well with local technocratic groups to maintain steady economic progress. This study further argues that the underdevelopment of foresight in the local private and academic domains can be at least in part explained by the historical connotations of foresight that were uncovered.

As the findings are fruit of the authors’ interpretation of the secondary literature/interview data, they require further triangulation by future research.

This study presents the interpretation of elite informants’ accounts and historical documents to explain one of the most exemplar yet classified case studies of governmental foresight globally.

Applies Kirzner’s concept of entrepreneurship to explain the economic success of Hong Kong. The city economy possesses neither natural resources, nor sophisticated technologies, and yet it has successfully developed into one of the most prosperous economies in East Asia. This study argues that Hong Kong’s industrial dynamism relies mainly on a large number of adaptive entrepreneurs who are constantly alert to opportunities, maintain a high degree of flexibility in their production and respond rapidly to change. In the textile and garment industry, firms survived by pursuing a product imitation strategy, operating at a small‐scale, extensively utilizing subcontracting networks, producing customer label garments as well as performing spatial arbitrageurship. Employing these adaptive entrepreneurial strategies, Hong Kong manufacturers have learnt from foreign firms and imitated their products. By selling improved commodities at lower prices, they have competed against the original suppliers from the western advanced countries. Furthermore, to exploit new profit opportunities, Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs have shifted their production activities from one product to another, from one industry to another, from higher cost to lower cost regions, from traditional fishing and agriculture into manufacturing, and then to finance and other services. Their efforts have brought about structural transformation in the economy and enabled Hong Kong to catch up with early industrialized nations.

The authors examine the determinants of ESG disclosure and differentiate between voluntary and mandatory disclosure regimes in Hong Kong.

The authors analyse both Bloomberg ESG scores and a disclosure index score, manually constructed according to the 2019 Hong Kong Exchange ESG Guide using regression tests.

The results indicate that the level of concentrated ownership is negatively associated with the quantity of ESG disclosure only in the voluntary disclosure period, suggesting that agency problems are alleviated when ESG reporting is mandatory. The findings also show that larger firms significantly disclose higher levels of ESG information in both voluntary and mandatory disclosure periods. Furthermore, the extent of ESG disclosure significantly increases when firms' sustainability reports are audited by Big 4 accounting firms only in the voluntary disclosure period. Finally, the control variables are significantly related to the level of ESG disclosure showing that ESG disclosure increased over time and is significantly different among industries.

The authors make contributions to the literature on non-financial disclosure in relation to ESG reporting by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and ESG disclosure in the Hong Kong context under both voluntary and mandatory disclosure regimes. This study also provides important implications for other stock markets and relevant stakeholders including preparers, users and the sustainability profession.

Present research aims to study the determinants of big data analytics (BDA) adoption intention and outsourcing in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The partial least squares approach was employed to analyse data collected from 187 SMEs.

The findings indicate that relative advantage, competitive pressure and environmental uncertainty significantly influence SMEs' BDA adoption intention. Top management support moderates the association between the regulatory environment and BDA adoption intention. Furthermore, organisational readiness moderates negatively the association between BDA adoption intention and propensity to outsource BDA.

The findings benefit SMEs' managers/owners in making well-informed decisions in the BDA adoption process.

The majority of the previous research on BDA adoption intention is limited to large corporations. To address the gap on determinant factors of BDA adoption intention among SMEs, the drivers of BDA adoption intention and propensity to outsource were investigated using the technology-organisation-environment model.